Major Project: Post-Production: Rough Cut Feedback

Introduction

After a few weeks, Kate and I have now finished our rough cut - but it is very rough. At the moment, we have only organised all the footage to conform to the script and haven't done any sound, lighting etc adjustments. Nonetheless, we got together with Simon to see how he thinks that DownStage is forming. Of course, because this is very rough, he was aware that there is a lot of changes to be made. Nonetheless, below are some notes which we took during our tutorial with Simon.

Rough Cut Notes & Feedback

As expected, there are many changes to make. However, once Kate and I watched the rough cut, we noticed ourselves that our production is running over time - the rough cut is over 32 minutes when instead shouldn't be any higher than 30 minutes, which is including the credits. Therefore, we've decided to either remove or cut down the scenes shown below:

   - Jordan's introduction interview. This is mainly because we felt it wasn't entirely necessary and that
     he plays better as a character who doesn't speak much - it helps to make him seem enigmatic and
     help to allow the audience to question his sexuality (as we drop hints that he may be homosexual).
   - Jamie's interview after Ruby is announced as Wendy. Here Simon hinted that it seems irrelevant
     for what he says in his interview and that it breaks up the tension within the role announcing
     scene, which Kate and I both agreed was true.
   - Jordan's sighing scene, after Chantelle turns to look at him during her interview. This is mainly
     because we were unable to get a reverse shot showing Chantelle glare at Jordan, making Jordan's
     interview where he sighs seem out of place.
   - Use the title sequence to break up the first scene, as it is quite lengthy.
   - Cutting down the scene where Chantelle bribes John. This too is quite lengthy, and can be cut
     around so that the audience can work out whats happening without the need to watch all of it.

Below is the rough cut that we presented to Simon:


All in all, this feedback was helpful - Simon believed that DownStage was beginning to form well, however there is still much more work to do!