Final Project Development Blog 11

by Giovanni Peresson 19/05/24

This week I have finally arrived at the final draft of my film, having included the sound design, vfx, narration and music. I have had several people watch and review pointing out mistakes, typos or general issues and I been making slight changes each time.

I have completed the vfx side of the documentary creating titles and graphs in after effects which I had spent some time just trying different things out and finalised and typewriter effect white and red text. I chose red as the colour as I'm only using titles for key words as a representation of the bloodshed and dangers associated with the war on drugs. I also made sure in my statistical graphs to include a warning that I do my best in research but for people to verify the facts and point that my graphs weren't to scale just roughly done which is from an ethical point of view.

As for sound design, I have put a significant amount of detail in section without overblowing things using subtle sound effects and ambience which has really pulled everything together. Overall there where 102 separate audio files used throughout which has been by far the most I have ever used. I have also done eq, levelling and a little bit of surround sound for certain sound bites. All of this together has brought the film to the next level and I am very happy with the results. I haven't been hearing too much from Louvisa so for this version of the documentary I went ahead and sourced my own music using the youtube audio library to avoid copyright issues. But nevertheless I have still been able to find suitable music that elevates the emotions I am trying to convey throughout.

I have also finalised my narration with the new script from last week and implemented into the documentary. Ideally I would've used a voice actor but due to extenuating circumstances they where unable so I done it myself and kept practicing the script. Lastly on the documentary side of things I have finalised my colour grade which matches the tone I am trying to achieve.

I have completed my epk, just waiting on a statement form Maria to include and I have also still to create the trailer which I will get done next week since I have more time to focus on that. I don't think still I am going to proceed with a full a thirds draft of the dissertation but I will do read throughs in case I change my mind.

As this the last Sunday before submission I won't be creating any more blogs on the topic but as a quick summary of my feelings, I feel as though I have executed both the dissertation and film to the best of my ability using a variety of techniques throughout. The experience I have gained through the production of this film has inspired me to work on a couple of documentaries over the summer on topics that interest me. As for this film I do intent to submit to film festivals and since I have so much unused footage I wish to create a directors cut which could be 20-25 minutes long. I haven't worked on long format films at all and I feel as though I still have a lot to learn and editing a documentary that length will help.

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  This Blog has been written for educational purposes as part of CIN504 Final Project Blog 11.