| Diary 27th May 1999 Filming and where is Derek? He said he'd be here but him and his Mini are nowhere to be seen. Tension builds as we wait around in reception. We will have to be going to Sheffield pretty soon and have to cram everyone and everything in Stacey's little car. Soon we're all off, in her undersized automobile and heading to location. I'm assigned sound man as Heather can't be with us. I was going to go filming anyway to give me an idea of the stuff I had to edit, but it looks like I'll have to do a bit more. I suppose I would have forfeited this if Heather had turned up but her absence isn't without good reason. I don't mind the extra role despite not much knowledge in the area of sound due to being the editor. I decide to work on the basic premix of 'plug the sound thing into the camera and what you hear through the head phones is what you're recording'. A basic philosophy that serves me well as I stand outside an antiques shop with a squirrel on a stick. Actually because we don't have an extension lead long enough to reach my position Dan has the headphones, giving me the odd signal of approval and calling one take off due to excessive traffic noise. I don't think I was close enough in that time but the rest seemed to get his approval. I nip off to a shop while Stace and Paul record a couple of handheld shots that don't require sound. I sit outside with my cake watching the world go by and glancing down at the equipment piled just inside the doorway. After a while I head down to the haunted cellar to observe Paul panning from a broom, past a mirror and into the main bit of the cellar. There are two versions of the same shot. In the first one the assistance of Dan is required, he's been cast the prestigious role of ghost. The idea is that he's in the mirror and then we pan to see where the reflection originated and Gasp! he isn't there. This is because the moment he's out of frame he runs and hides behind a piece of wood. Tricks of the trade, surely. In latter takes we swing the punchbag, eerily it gets faster by itself. The next shot, I think was the reconstruction involving Ray and his wife. The actors were willing but unable, however we got some pretty good shots. Zooming out from between stacked chairs to see horrified faces. As we're going to dub music over this point I am a casual observer of the many takes. The hardest shot to achieve of the day was undoubtedly Stacey's talk to the camera by the chairs that are stacked up. I'm sitting on the ground with my boom and all I remember is a series of hash ups and takes degenerating into laughter. We all know it well. A couple of times Stace said her lines perfectly then Paul mucked up the zoom at the end. Looking back at the material though we have a couple of complete takes to choose from. The last task of the long day was to interview the employees. We're extremely disappointed with the quality of the material, especially Jean I think, material that we instantly dismiss from our minds. The interviewer that was there at the rece was absent, so we had to make do with second best. After filming our cutaways and Stacey's questions it's time to pack up and go. Thursday 10th June Another days filming, initially postponed due to the absence of the supercam. We're due to arrive in Barnsley probation service where Dan's Mum works. There's no need for me to be there really as we have a sound person, but I thought I'd make myself useful and it's Barnsley and there isn't that much to do. I'm on the fringe of the action really as, between them , Stacey and Paul have build up an image of what exactly they like and reconstruct the incident. We also try to reconstruct the autumn coloured ghost - this makes my trip well worth while. The sight of Stacey running across the door wearing a binliner with dusters stapled to it will remain with me forever. It was completely stupid, yet a wonderful moment of everyone’s life. Friday 11th June Today we reviewed and logged the material. Monday 14th - Thursday 17th June This is where this diary gets a bit vague for a moment as I can't remember exactly what was done on what day or when. But by the end of this week, as I remember it, we had laid down the heart of the opening of the programme (walking down the stairs to the end of the first reconstruction). To start it off we had just used a caption on a black screen saying 'haunted dwellings' in a 'Ye Olde' type font. When we watched it back it was clearly inappropriate, hard to read and uninspiring. We decided to sort this out later - it's at the front of the programme and can easily be rectified at another time. Progress in this period was fairly good and we started to lay the interview down, paying specific detail to the sound, becoming annoyed at constantly having to alter the high/low frequency dials. Effort was also put into the construction of the programme itself, we decided to reconstruct the interviews with Rays words and become distressed at the timings of the programme. Adding it up we fall short by a couple of minutes or so we'll have to shoot more footage. Some time is spent on the internet looking up stuff about ghosts, preparing for a graveyard shoot sometime next week. Friday 18th June Today we are going to reconstruct an interview. We felt this was the only way to rescue our project as the interviews recorded in Sheffield were really poor and there wasn't that much we could use. This is because our interviewee had gone fishing and left us with his colleague and his dizzy wife. They tried really hard but reconstructing the things Ray said on the recce is the way to go. We've called upon the services of Simon and he's really helpful. We set up our stuff in the media in context room but light is giving us problems. We call upon the services of two red-heads that we bounce off the ceiling. Simon's back from learning his lines and filming commences. It all goes really smoothly. I'm on sound again and my part of the operation seems to go all right. In fact everything does. Almost. We view back the material to find the start of the 'interview' is too near the natural fuzz, static on the tape. The lack of control track would result in humoungous problems over the edit suite so we decide to re-record the first question, or answer I suppose. We actually have a complete version on tape because Mr Caskin suggested recording his responses twice, one in a closer frame. We couldn't start with the response in this form as it wouldn't look right starting so close in, so a re-shoot is in order. More annoying is having to set up the shot exactly the same way as before. The tape is rewound to the interview (by now we've recorded Stace's questions I think) and we draw around Simons figure on the monitor and a line in the background. Matching the shot's up is tricky but achieved after a couple of attempts and attention to detail. After this we record a two shot. It looks false and unnatural in it's current format so we search for props. A mug, paper, can of coke are called upon and Simon unplugs the phone and plonks it on the table. A cutaway or two and then we check over the material, getting an audio lead off John to connect to the monitor. Once the sound has been checked and the screen rubbed clean it's time to say thank you and goodbye to a helpful lecturer. Afterwards we view the product to date and it becomes apparent about the harsh difference in white balance. I think this was overlooked while we were originally assembling it as we were so concerned about the poor quality of sound. We decide to re-edit the material using a control on the mixer. Monday 21st June 1999 The task of editing continues today. Today we manage to work out the opening sequence. Previously we just put a stark caption 'haunted dwellings' on a black background at the start of the piece but today we have more ambitious ideas. We arrive at the edit suite at a leisurely twelve o'clock as Stace is just back from the weekend. Then it begins. Actually not quite as soon we would have liked as Cal and Helen are occupying the equipment, so we wait for them for around 20 minutes or so. Then we have a problem. Nothing major but we can't get the picture on the recorder because it's previous occupants have put something on the mixer that despite our frantic efforts, we are unable to reverse. After catching up with Helen and Cal who don't know what's happened we call upon the services of Lee, who sorts us out. Then it's the task of putting together our title space. Paul arrives at around this point and is really helpful. Although I have been to a four week course on editing I think people consolidate their knowledge through actually doing it and Paul has the experience to help us along. Alf helps out too and we finally have something Stace is happy to open the programme with. Recording it is not quite as straight forward as initially expected. The image we're using already needs a boarder effect to filter out the window frame, so we can't fade out on it. The problem's solved by recording the whole sequence onto another tape then playing it through and fading it out. Because it's at the very start of the programme we have to use out points and don't lay down any sound. It was complicated, but we were happy with the resulting ten seconds or so of film. The interview is the next on the agenda. We have to do it again using the colour correction facilities on the mixer, due to the harsh difference in white balance. This went initially unnoticed by myself and Stacey, as we were busy grappling with the problems of sound. It was recorded at an extremely low level, so we have to hype it up and fiddle about with the high/low frequency device on the sound mixer. Very fiddly, very annoying and we still can't get anything like the recorded quality because of the initial sound levels and background buzz. We get this wrong on a couple of occasions and have to back it up even more, eating more and more into the previous shot. In the end we have to re-edit him going down the stairs again in order to have satisfactory time of him at the bottom. By the time we've laid down a couple of segments of the interview it's 3 and Stacey has to go to work. Tuesday 22nd June 1999 Today we set about filming once more while other people have the more desirable task of enjoying their summer. We're not to be put out and happily go about our task, lugging equipment to Stacey's car and heading for today’s location. The core of the group, Stacey Paul and myself set up the equipment in the graveyard as a man approaches us. We haven’t asked for permission to film but he says it should be OK. He's only a gardener and doesn't seem to care that much. However about ten minutes later his superior comes across. We ask him. He tells us to ask someone else. Stace and Paul deal to this while I hopefully set the boom mike up. They disappear into a building to phone whoever it is has authority over dead people. It might have been God but I suspect it was someone from the council. After they tricked me into thinking we'd been refused permission and watch me pack my stuff away they burst out laughing and I feel foolish. I'll never believe another word they say. Then the serious business of devising the shots. This is technically Stace's area but Paul has a major contribution and is brimming full of ideas. Sound is my main concern as Stace wants to walk between several pillars and I can't be behind her due to a lack of extension lead. The problem would have been resolved by using clip mikes but we haven’t got any or the expertise to put them in place, or any clip mikes. I end up having to follow her in her three segments of the dialogue. At first this proves tricky as I crouch down below the frame, frantically trying to keep up with her as she moves but after a few takes this is too hectic and unfeasible. I extend the boom handle and allow the device to be below frame while I'm standing up. Much easier that way. Stace's presenting performance has improved dramatically as we have way more than enough useable takes in the can. Obviously this is way, way better than not enough so we're quite pleased with that first shot. The next shot is of Stace in an archway. I remember leaning my boom through another arch in order to pick up the sound from a reasonable distance. We viewed it earlier today and it seemed to be OK. Then it's time to move all our stuff for the next shot. Here Stace appears from behind a gravestone and says complicated dialogue that it soon becomes apparent that she will have to read. I'm sitting on a nearby grave pointing the gun mike up from her feet while Paul is holding the script nearby. The camera has to be left rolling as the task is achieved in a reasonable amount of time. We viewed the material later on and it's apparent that she's reading it, so we'll plaster a cutaway over the middle of it or something. Cutaways are the next thing on the agenda so my main role for today is mastered. Perhaps not mastered, but over anyway. Paul suggests it might be good to have the mike plugged in while recording these shots as a bit of ambience. I stand around loosely pointing the boom away from the traffic noise as Stace and Paul fulfil their roles. Several static shots are captured. We can't edit that much tomorrow - it's all booked up. We've got about an hour we can use to (hopefully) finish the first interview. This will be trickier than necessary due to constantly having to adjust the sound levels and tint the shades through the mixer. Anyhow another day awaits. We'll also book out a mirance and do Stacey's voice over. Wednesday Manage to get on the suite for a couple of hours today. We managed to tie up the interview with the last thing we get down being 'walk on the roads not on the moors' over a shot of Neil walking down the stairs. Monday 28th We returned to editing today, the deadline bearing down on us. We weren't able to edit last Thursday as it was a teacher training day and Friday Stace had work. It's back to it and quite a productive day. They always start off shakily though, calling upon Lee several times as we can't work out how to get a fade to black. Oh dear! But we get there in the end aided by his assistance. Stacey wants to re-record the last footsteps piece and fade to black. This is achieved but the sound of the footsteps is deleted when I recorded over the channel (with the sound of footsteps). Lee is called again as it should have worked but failed and frustration grips us. Then he explains that the sound mixing desk is off so nothing's coming through. It's all very complicated and sometimes we feel so simple. It is recorded again and this time we forget to fade out. Then we're onto the introduction to the Abbey second hand centre and start on the second reconstruction. It all goes pretty much as planned - the only thing we re-record is the handheld shot down the stairs. This is not due to the actual edit but we decide to alter the colour of the film, using the white balance altering device. Originally the difference in red between this and the following shot was too stark - the handheld being a much more potent red. Rather than redding up the following shots we decided to retreat and blue down the handheld one slightly. We ended up with around seven minutes of footage today and are halfway through the interview reconstruction. Tuesday 29th Today we were productive and efficient, we even didn't have to hassle Lee that much. With reasonable quality sound to work with and white balanced material the editing process seems a lot smoother and happiness overtakes frustration. The most trickiest thing we encounter is fading out of Simons interview. It's simple enough but very soon afterwards Stacey asks the next question, before the fade is over anyway. There probably are simpler ways around this problem but I select a piece of silence from in-between the answers and record it over the channel, wiping out the unnecessary interference. It is a short piece of silence so it has to be done twice to achieve the effect required. I wasn't really sure ho to do it on the desk and anyway, I felt that the background noise would need to be the same anyway. Stacey couldn't bear to watch while this was happening (faith in the editor!). The graveyard sequence goes quite swiftly. I suggested dropping the image of the cross over the ambience of the first shot we used. Tweeting birds - lovely. Then we have one eye on the clock as to the final timing. We work it out and have to cut out some of the static archway shot in order to bring it home with a fade at around 9 minutes 58 seconds. Paul - I think - talks just after the fade so we do the laying silence over thing there as well. Our final product is over bar the post production sound. We get out a mirance and record Stacey's voice overs for this purpose (obviously) and try to work out exactly what sound we'll put on tomorrow. We should have timed the sequences really. We know the 'heartbeat' prodigy music is too short for the first reconstruction, so we might use something by the future sound of london as well. I hope the voice overs fit the time we've allowed for them, this is my biggest concern really. I'm a troubled man. Wednesday 30th June 1999 After yesterdays swift progress today sees us back to the depressing haunts (excuse the pun) or the unglorified backwaters of the editing process. First we have to get the sound from the CD/tape onto a videotape. Sounds simple, but not for us. The area is foreign. Levels and the whole sound desk seems way beyond our comprehension as we fall into the tuition of Alf and Lee several times. We are just beginners and we need their expert guidance. Progress is painful. We have to lay some of the tracks down twice as the first attempt is either distorted or so quiet that it will have to be amplified so it has a hiss. While some of them are fine, they were done on assembly edit, making the control track was absent. This triggers of several confused and panicky moments when we try and work out what the hell's going on. In the end we manage to put down the music from where Neil looks up to the door and the 'heartbeat' style music going down the stairs. Also we manage to get the reconstruction of the cellar track laid down, fading it in and out. I think that was about all we actually achieved that day. Thursday 1st July 99 Today I make an incredibly glaring error, the result of which hampers the product considerably. Basically we wanted to lay down the sound on the tape again, Stacey's voice over. We select a nice yellow colour for the operation, trying to distinguish the different voice over from the rest of the rushes tape. The only problem is that it isn't the rushes tape in the recorder but the middle of our edited reconstruction. I realise what's happening almost straight away but it's way too late. A nice yellow colour appears in the middle of a couple of people playing draughts. This means problems, problems that we decide to resolve after putting the voice overs on. This operation itself isn't that easy. We still have tremendous trouble working out which sound level to set it at in comparison to the rest of the project. The first attempts were way too quiet. Frustration is building as we lay it down again. If anything this time it may be a little too loud. To our sheer dismay and my discredit as editor we find that half of the product was recorded on SVHS and the other half on VHS. It's the way we discover this adds to the dismay of the moment. It's when we insert SVHS over the recorded tape to cover up the yellow and the following static, huge glitches appear. Lee explains that this is a VHS/SVHS glitch and we must have recorded the middle segment on the lower quality format. This also results in a really bad sound glitch as it adjusts to the new format. It was all going fine until today but at almost the last hurdle due to two blatant errors, any hope of a reasonable final piece has been shattered. That's the way it seems but we cheer up when we record music over the title sequence and a ghostly laugh to end it off in a cheesy style. Friday 2nd July Today I wander into the edit suite alone, determined to salvage an ounce of pride from the main thrust of yesterday’s hash up. I record the reconstruction scenes again, only on VHS format. This disbands the glitches that were eating away at my soul as editor last night. I then lay down the music again. On the preview this is put on the other channel from the existing sound and isn’t quite in sync. In the end I choose to edit it in this way as it makes the music sound more creepier and echoey than the original. I decide to play it to Stacey later and if she doesn’t like it then the other channel could be deleted no trouble. Actually I could have mended the clicks at the start of the reconstruction by recording over audio one and laid down some of the voice overs at more appropriate levels but this didn’t seem to cross my mind at the time. Anyway I’m a lot happier after rectifying some of yesterdays glaring mistakes. Re-editing the 13 edits that weren’t SVHS standard was also feasible, but I decided against doing this due to the trouble of making the most of the interview sound. Adjusting the high/low frequency levels would be very tricky again I felt it wiser not to do this on deadline day. |