Edition

It proved much easier to import footage from the cinealta camera we were using for the shoot on Thursday. Because it records to a memory card it is already in a digital format so it doesn't require capturing. After reviewing the clips it became clear that the quality of the camera shows up the faults of the operator in some detail! Poor focussing on some of the shots we took are down partly to not taking the time to ensure it was done properly on set and also partly, I think, to lack of adequate monitoring (which I guess is the same thing!) Manual focus will require the use of a monitor or at least the expanded focus function to check the camera is set up the way it should be.
We were disappointed with the pace of our establishing tracking shot too. It seems that it's too easy to pull the dolly too quickly as it is difficult to keep it slow and smooth at the same time. We applied the plug-in Twixtor in After Effects to slow this footage down but the shutter speed we used wasn't ideal and it has made only a relatively small amount of difference. It's still an improvement and we learnt a little about a great feature of the software.
Going through the edit after adding exterior shots taken at the weekend we needed to make some stringent cuts to keep the time down to 45 secs. The narrative had to suffer a little because we didn't want to change the pace of the story too much. Repetitive elements that just didn't work were dropped and the final effect was a much better flow to the ad.
We wanted to give the piece a uniformity of look to link it all together so we experimented with the Magic Bullet plug-in in AE as well. We found a preset that gave us a contrasty and slightly saturated look, as well as a vignette that screams sinister. On consideration we may drop the vignette as one of the tilt shots make it look a little odd. Maybe we should just drop it there. Also need to experiment with the graduation of this effect as it seems to step a little too severely, drawing attention away from the scene.