Rushing the Rushes

After yesterday's first day of filming my Me, Myself, and I, I spontaneously decided this morning to go and start previewing the rushes in my spare time between classes today.

Although I am well aware that this exercise may seem futile at first glance without a fully completed production log and still no edit decision list, it indeed helped me in deciding on how to proceed filming tonight. For this exercise helped me in regard to the following aspects:

1. Continuity and pace. Since time was of the essence and I was simultaneously working as directress and actress on my piece, I was not able to constantly and fully monitor how the individual clips would turn out in the end and whether I was able to keep continuity throughout the piece. Reviewing every single clip on set would have cost me valuable time which I did not want to waste. Since I also experimented with a smoke machine I wanted to make sure I had enough time left even if something went awry without having to make compromises on the quality of my short film.

Checking and roughly editing the clips prior to filming session 2 gave me a chance of detecting continuity errors in a time-saving but nonetheless visual manner. This also helped me determine which shots I needed to retake in order for them to fit to the overall concept of the piece. This way, I was quickly able to tell why one clip did not work and how I would be able to improve it on set.

Which turned out to be extremely convenient and helpful, since I was:

a) able to detect two shots that, while really good on their own, did not yet fit into the overall feeling and pace of the story and thus I wanted them to be retaken,

b) not only able to accommodate the retake of said shots while the set and equipment are still easily accessible to us (as well as the memory of the previous shooting day and our decisions still fresh), but

c) I will also be able to bring the footage on set as a point of reference not only for continuity's sake but also for the exact angle and framing of the shots we will have to retake. This will be particularly helpful for our camera op who will have an easier time recreating that shot almost to perfection.

2. Sound. This plays mostly into the organisational aspects of reshooting material, but also into continuity since I was able to listen into the clips and determine whether any clip could have been botched by sound elements which were previously not detected by me or the crew. Furthermore, I was able to detect whether further foleys were missing. So far, I found none, but I was amazed by the quality of the sound taken, since even the usual background hiss you would normally get when recording was extremely reduced.

3. Stress and time management. Since I was able to preview most of the clips in the rough edit while technically still shooting, it took a lot of pressure and possible reorganisation out of the project. We are now conveniently able to retake shots without having to book the equipment, location and crew in again PLUS filling out the corresponding paperwork. Which we would have had to do if I previewed the material first after the wrap-up.

To sum it up, since I experienced a lot of benefits with this preview and edit (and since it already helped increase the quality of my piece) I will henceforth try to ensure that I fit ample time in between each shooting day to check the rushes and maybe even rough-cut the footage if in doubt. While this does indeed demand even more planning, consideration and time management for the pre-production and production itself, it undoubtedly ensures a higher quality and avoids unnecessary stress, which in turn may help keep the budget of a film to a minimum.