Post-production

The first rough cut we looks quite bad. Pacing issues, overstayed shots, unnecessary scenes and breaking the 180 degree rule. I tried address the issue but nothing was changed until Helen, our lecturer, pointed them out during a feedback session. It was a massive improvement by cutting down scenes that serves no purpose. E.g. the bedroom scene was cut from 40 seconds long to just 10 seconds. It was just a scene of the protagonist waking up and leaving the her bedroom.

But there was still a problem which was the lack of build up to the final scene. In the second cut, there was no sense of stalker's presence. "What is the main thing that drives a horror film? The audience knows the presence of the mysterious being but not the protagonist," Helen said to us. With that in mind, I suggested that we should film a few more shots to show more of the stalker. We had to be creative since the actress could not join for the re-shoots. 

Here's a list of the newly filmed scenes:

• Close up shot of the envelop
• Wide shots of the empty rooms
• Shots involving the protagonist are done with POV shots
• A better close up of the key rack
• Shots of stalker's hands and feet in both library and apartment

The new shots actually saved for film. However, there was one edit that I had a different take in mind. It was the shower scene, the new version was that it shows more of source of the mysterious noise (maybe too much). The film actually cuts to shots that reveals the stalker himself! One thing I've learn from good horror films is that you want tease the audience from the beginning and slowly reveals bits and pieces to build up the suspense until the climax where the all things are told to the audience. If the viewers released all tension right from the start, the climax would not be effective. That is why horror films like Alien (1979) and Jaws (1975) became classics.

So what I did proposed was to have the wide shots of the empty apartment after the close up shot of the protagonist showering. Then add in the key rack shot still full of keys. Cut back to the protagonist reacting to the loud noise. After she goes back to shower, the scene ends with the key rack shot showing one of the them went missing. The last shot will be accompanied by a suspense music that gets louder and cuts right before the next scene.

I think my suggested cut may work out better. Without needing to show the stalker, the viewer knows that there is a presence in the house. Remember, most of the story isn't told on the screen but in the mind of the viewer. Sadly, the others prefer to keep their cut.

The rest of the post-production was just colour correcting and sound editing. Each done by Ashmund and Luke. I did not get to involve much of this process. There was some problems to the colour correction and sound in the final render. The library scene was too dark and pale, some patches of weird colour and blur (due to using mask to colour correct), and sound that was not cut properly. Due to time constraint, we only changed the brightness of the library scene.

One more thing, letterboxing. To be honest, I don't know how or when to apply letterbox to a film and what kind of impact does it have on films. But here, Ashmund wanted it just because it looks 'cinematic'. To me, the term 'cinematic' should be join the ranks of words that don't really mean anything on their own like 'innovative' and 'emotional'. These words are tossed out there because they sound good and nobody ask to qualify what's been said with any actual context and definition.