Final Cut

Once we had the rough cut at hand, our job was a lot simpler than before. Making the rough cut was hectic as it required shot listings, cuts and copies, imports and re-imports, text additions and a lot more. However, constructing the final cut was not so difficult as all we required was to refine cuts and add/adjust the changes our media teacher asked us to make. These included the shortening of a few shots which were so long that they were a source of boredom for the audience and the addition of a few inter-connecting shots which would reduce the abruptness of our scenes.
However, this turned out to be quite a troublesome task as I fiddled continuously with the management of audio, video, and background score cuts. Also, it was only after the sixth attempt that I was able to manage a full final cut of our rough cut as lack of memory in the computer system and load shedding led to the loss of our final cut around four times, exclusive of the one time when the entire audio went out of synchronization and nothing in the entire film made any sense, neither ,at this panicky stage, did me or Dua as we had little time left and our ancillary tasks were yet to be completed.
When editing our rough cut, we followed a particular pattern when working. We decided on adding effects to the video first, then move on to adding effects to the audio and then adding the logo roll-in, title and the closing credentials. Our last milestone was the addition of subtitles to the film.

Video Effects

Our film featured the usage of a few effects that included colour correction for the flashback scenes, dip to white and black for the transition between the past and the present or vice versa and dissolve. We didn't make use of a lot of effects as we wanted to maintain originality at its maximum throughout the film. The effects, however, were quite easy to use in premiere pro and getting the gist of them was quite an interesting realization.

                                      

                                 

 

Audio Effects

The audio effects in our film featured cross fades, audio gains, speed adjustments and the basic cuts and crops in the audio track. The cross fading effect was quite an effective tool to use in our film as it helped distinguish between the four short stories that our film was portraying. The audio gains in the sound score was used for the rise and fall in volumes of sound when dialogues appeared and re-appeared. We used speed enhancers for the one flashback scene in our film whereby the audio changes pace to represent hardship and pain in the third scene with Hammad. 

Logo Roll-In

Our logo roll-in was made through Photoshop CS3 which has the functionality of reverting to premiere's format. The typewriter effect was formulated through multiple layered files which were saved in jpeg format, separately and then imported into premiere in the same frame size to avoid any obstructions to the audience's eye as the film ran its course. We moved the camera across the frame by cutting the sequence into multiple shots and moving the frame in a regular pattern from the left to right. The addition of a easy-going sound score helped in making the roll-in an interesting transition.

                                     

Title

Our title video with the painted hands was shot by Dua. This effect was not very difficult to create as all it took was the placement of the video layer simultaneously with the title text's layer with the dissolve effect added to the sequence opening and closing layer with the audio cross fade in the film's opening sequence.

Credits and Subtitles

These two aspects of our short film were probably the most easily taken tasks as all it required was the used of the text tool, work space and the right font colour and the job was done. One tedium in this was, however, the closing down of  work space followed by the individual and manual import of each subtitle in their places. 

Here is the final cut of our short film after everything was completed therein:

Possibility Pakistan - A Short Film from Abira and Dua on Vimeo.

Rough Cut

Once we had all the shots ready, we were now suppose to shot list the best ones. At first I had no experience of Adobe Premiere but once I opened my own project therein, it felt like the entire work space was mine to work on. So I began importing shots and lining them up in respective layers neatly so as to avoid any chaos in the future. Once this was done, I began cutting through shots while managing the audio as we didn't have any voice overs to be synced in later on. While cutting through my shots, I faced a major obstacle in cutting my shots abruptly, so much so that it was becoming very obvious to the audience. Many a times I had to re-import shots so as to rework them into proper, usable shots. This was one tedious task as our shots were a little too long and cutting them from here and there was one messy work. Once, after taking one entire week of editing, I had my rough cut ready without a background score, it was a major relief as we had little time left and the rough cut alone had taken a little too long in its making. Then came the task of putting in a background score. This we had finalised very early on in our short film production to be a tabla instrumental and that score too was shot listed already so all we were to do now, was put it in and sync it with the video. During this process, I learnt the usage of cross-fading, audio gains and speed/duration as they helped add the desired effects in our films. I also faced many problems during this, like the cutting of the shot's audio while working on the background score if they landed mistakenly on the same layer. More than thrice, I had to redo the entire scene's editing owing to trouble with the background score. My rough cut without the background score was 12 minutes and once the audio was imported, the file was 9 mins long. This worried me immensely as the video had no effects, no titles, no credits, no logo as yet. How were we to shorten it when all its major conventions threatened more length. Putting this fear aside, I now began working on my final cut with the editing and everything and hoped that the length wont be a trouble. Here is a copy of our rough cut:

Abeera from Abira and Dua on Vimeo.

Shooting Day 5: Leftover Shots

Today we decided on completing our shoot finally. All we had to do was reshoot the Jamal shot which we had done wrong and complete the Hammad's flashback shots. So we firstly did the flashback shots whereby one was to be done in Dua's lawn while the second one was to be shot on a road. Flashback 1 required directions to  Hammad's on-screen father in terms of body language and Flashback 2  was to include a 180 degree rule which required a series of over the shoulder shots to get the right continuity in the scene. We managed both of these shots as I helped in directing Hammad and his father while Dua shot and in instructing Dua on the right image positioning so as to be considered a 180 degree rule.

Directing

When we moved on to Jamal's scene we faced a major obstacle which dealt with the broken table that could no longer be used as its top had eroded owing to heavy rainfall. We used an Art board to overcome this, however the art board required fixing if Jamal was to stand up from it to prevent it from falling down. For this, I supported the table with my head so as to prevent it from falling while Dua was on the camera. 

Supporting the table

Dua on the camera

Dua on the camera

With the cast and crew

Shooting Day 4: Scene 5.

This was a completely outdoor shoot. We had decided on doing this scene on the road in a purely natural way however, roads were risky and to be realistic, working naturally with a camera at hand was more than likely to put off people or strike their curiosity levels so much so that it effect our shooting. So we put off that idea and decided on going to another spring festival where we were likely to find many people. As we went therein we were able to see many people but the crowd was a riot. Shooting here meant crowd management on a second level and this time we were six young girls and one young boy only so we rejected this place too. We then thought of places where we could find a good crowd and sufficient room for shooting without any crowd issues. So we went by the Quaid-e-Azam Public Library which was linked to the Lawrence Garden. We got lucky as we came here because crowd-management was expected to be a major constraint here as well, however the availability of students from an arts institute attracted all the attention and we went by our shoot smoothly.

Shooting Day 3: Scene 1 and 3

Scene 1
On our next shooting day, we decided on completing our marketplace scene which was our opening sequence and to complete scene 4 which was the make-shift school one.
Scene 1 required an establishing shot which was to be a very effective one as it was to open the film to the audience. Hence we decided on taking a low angle shot of the skyline and then follow through downwards to establish the sequence. This was a tad bit difficult to handle as we had peopel coming from everywhere as it was to be shot from the very middle of the road and traffic at this time of the afternoon was a haphazard. However after takes and retakes, we finally had one good establishing shot that could open our film effectively. But wait! We had no battery left in the DSLR to support any other shots. Now, this was a major problem as the stalls we were to shot, might only be open till noon and not till late plus load shedding was a mess. no one knew if we'd have any light available at home or not. But fortunately,we did have electricity and withing one hour, we were back on our location so as to complete the shoot. We took shots of the juice seller, the vegetable seller, the bottle seller and the shoe mender. And managed it in due time. Me and Dua's brother assisted in crowd management while Dua underwent shooting. Our main constraint in this scene was crowd management as it was a busy marketplace and many people were attracted towards the limelight as they thought we were shooting a mainstream media product.

Capturing the sky line

Shooting

Managing traffic

The crowd

Scene 3
While shooting scene 3, we were able to complete the shoot smoothly and withing 15 minutes as it didn't consist of any camera angles, shots or movements. However, the first problem we faced was the refusal of the teacher to be shot in camera. For this, we required an immediate teacher who could substitute so we consulted the academy owner for help and he provided us with a teacher of just the same nature. Then was the trouble of directing the students on how they were to take turns, answering the teacher and responding to her with the right body language and confidence. Once this was done, we had everything ready. As it was a daylight shot, the effect of a make-shift institute was easily created. And our shoot went perfectly well.

Shooting Day 2: Scene 4.

Planned to do on the next day. Loadshedding didnt allow it. Did it after two days. The flashback in the shoot needed a third shooting. This third shooting couldn't take place owing to the unavailability of the actor, Hammad.
DAY 1
On the second day of our shoot, we decided to complete scene 3 with Hammad. It was to be shot in the dark so we scheduled for the late hours in the evening. however, our one major mistake was to decide on our location without any prior consultation with the location people. we needed a hay stack to shoot with Hammad as the hay stack was to serve as shelter for Hammad. When we went to the location, it turned out that the rain, the previous day had led to the shift of the hay to a dry place. Hence, we needed a back up and we needed it fast. So we decided on using Dua's backyard as our location. we used wooden planks to serve as poles for the house and two bedspreads to serve as shelter on top and below. The tree trunk at the back was used to signify a make-shift house, one's made by poor people in empty plots of housing schemes. Once the hut was made, we faced yet another obstacle. Of load-shedding. No light with the fact that it was dark, led to the postponement of our shoot to the next day.
The next day, we started on our shoot and successfully finished in due time. Our establishing shot required a focus shift which took alot of time and as it was a low angle shot, it was much troublesome to get it right. As the lighting for this scene was to be very minute, we required a manual handle on lighting which i was working on while Dua shot. Managing the candle and its flicker was another concern as it was a windy day and an almost outdoor shoot made it even more difficult. However, we did manage and got a very good shoot  completed. However, we still had to shoot the flashback scenes which were to be shot in daylight. We decided on doing these two scenes after the exams. However, when we met up the next time, our actors were unavailable so we couldn't do the shoot. So we decided on another meet-up and this time our shoot went smoothly as we had the actors and we had the setting. However, as Hammad's father was an addition to this shoot, he had to be taught as to how he was to work with the belt without actually hitting Hammad and this required proper directions and proper test shots. I directed Hammad and his on-screen father on expressions and body language while Dua shot.

Dua painting blood-like effect

Me directing Dua

Me with the props, expressions, angles

Dua on the camera

Shooting Day 1: Scene 2

The first day of our shoot was a very rainy Saturday and me and Dua were very uncertain about whether to shoot in this weather or not, considering that the location we'd be shooting in was a barely sheltered one-room house. As we were on a shooting schedule and our classes had resumed to give time for shooting, we decided to discuss this with our media teacher who told us that this weather was effective only if our shoot was outdoors. An indoor shoot with minimalistic light wouldn't be effected by this rain. Hence, despite a gloomy weather, we tromped off the back alley opposite Dua's house.

Upon reaching our location, we realised that the entire room had to be shifted so as to make sufficient space for around 8 people. That chaarpaai's therein had to be moved out. the lights had to switched off. The youngest of the family was sleeping; she had to be waked up. Bedspreads were then spread out over the floor so tour cast could sit on it. Our own lighting had to be put up in specific places so as to ensure sufficient lighting for our shooting. I assisted  in the setting of the room while Dua adjusted the lighting to her own specifics. Meanwhile I directed the rest of the cast as to how we were to proceed with the shoot. When all was set, it was already quite late as we had little time left with the load-shedding and late hours of the night. We began on with our shoot. Dua was on the camera while I took the lighting and the rest of the cast in control so that all went right. We faced trouble with space and the lighting as  both were very limited as per our scene's requirement.At first we tried using the tripod, yes, a very helpful tool it sure is but as we had less space, our handling of the equipment was largely perturbed, hence Dua decided to go without it and handheld the camera for the rest of the shoot.Space was quite an issue as roaming round for the confirmation of shots was very difficult however we did manage and got some really nice, effective shots with the right expressions and body language. Our establishing shot required a lot of nearness to our actor, Jamal. However lack of space hindered our mobility and we were restricted by many degrees. Our first shot, owing to no prior experience, took a lot of time and infinite takes and retakes. Yet, as we went home and rechecked all our sots, we realised that we had made a major blunder in of our major two-second shots, without which our shot wouldn't look good. Now, this was a major trouble as a two second shot would actually require so much work on set and location that we'd be wasting one entire hour. Doing it there and then was not a choice as it was a little too dark and I had an academy to go to. Hence, we decided upon doing all our major retakes, at the very end. One major problem we faced pre-production of our scene, was the working of an old lantern that Dua had dug up from somewhere. It required a wick and oil, however the lantern had rusted so much over the years that getting through inside the lantern was quite difficult. However, Dua's brother took it to the market and got it fixed in due time of the shoot and our issue was resolved.

Managing minimal lighting in a small area.

With the cast

Arranging the literally broken old table

Me on the lights

Dua trying to fix the tripod