SYNCING SOUND

The task of syncing sound to the relevant takes has been highly frustrating. There are a list of problems that has made the job near impossible -

• Many of the takes Joel has recorded are labelled incorrectly, or differently to mine, meaning the task of syncing up a specific video clip to a specific sound take has been highly time-consuming. I thusly concluded that I would achieve a rough picture cut before considering the sound. Another reason for this is that a lot of the sound in the film may be re-done in ADR. Jordan and Paul (the director and producer) have yet to decide which scenes needs ADR'ing, but it has been confirmed that at least some of the major scenes will be redone.

• Some of the better picture takes that have been put into the edit don't feature a supporting, external sound recording. Because the actors aren't professional by any means, their performances differ from take to take. This has meant that in some cases, I have had to implement a cut when a character speaks primarily because you can psychically see their mouth moving.

I have been told these will be re-done in ADR.

• The incorrectly labelled sound clips were due to the takes not being marked/slated by the director/cinematographer, so Joel was unsure on what take was being filmed. I am aware this is not entirely Joel's fault, as I told the group to ensure they marked every take.

Whilst piecing together a rough-cut, I have merged together the better video/audio takes. To do this I did the following -

• Selected the correct sound take under the correct BIN that goes along with the video take
• Scrolled along to the sound of when the clapperboard was marked and create an 'in-point' using the letter 'I' on the keyboard

• Thirdly, I selected the corresponding videoclip and marked an 'in-point'

• I then highlighted the two clips (sound and video), right clicked and selected 'Merge clips', lastly selecting 'in points'

After doing this process, a separate (merged) clip was created and I dragged the clip onto the timeline. This left me with the video and 3 sound clips, two being the original sound clips captured from the camera, and the third being the external sound clip I had just attached to the clip. Therefore I deleted the camera sound which left me with a workable, professional quality merged clip.

I will repeat this process with the other clips that I feel need doing. Joel and Jordan have both told me to not merge many clips as (stated earlier) we will be ADR'ing a majority of the film, and the incorrect labelling (due to the lack of marking before takes) throughout has made the process painstakingly time-consuming.