After some time being allowed to pass for the initial campaign to establish itself, I was allowed to access the raw footage for me to take a new pass at cutting my version of the Woolrich 'For Whatever the World Throws At You' film for my showreel. Referring back to my storyboards and original shoot notes, and now being able to work with my regular Editor Stephen Dunne from the Whitehouse Post (London) on nights and weekends, we worked to find a cut closer to my original storyboards. While reviewing the footage with fresh eyes; Stephen and I discussed how to get round the shots storyboarded but not able to be realised on a very ambitious, shoot schedule, also on this second pass I was keen to reintroduce some of the narrative beats shot but not used in the official version of the film. I had a specific tone and look I wanted to pursue for this new version of the film both visually and sound wise; one of my wants was to intensify the freak storm in the film, I wanted to increase the storms presence, for it to be a character; the villain of the piece if you will! I wanted the Storm to be visceral and angry in this version; to achieve this I bought in some stock footage which I felt captured the mood, I was looking to then build it into the narrative and create a sense of 'Something Wicked Comes This Way' which was not achievable on the actual August, clear sky, shoot day. With Stock Footage bought I worked with VFX Post House HAPPY FINISH to develop the shots, so they narratively fitted into the film, amping up the sense 'Biblical' power and a sense of awe and scale to the footage, and adding VFX touches to give the storm a sense of ominous presence. Also in pre-production after seeing the great, initial idea of the couple cocooned in their coats, I felt someone should bear witness to this 'Biblical', freak storm. My first idea was to have a dog and my second idea was to introduce a Jam Jar with the discarded Photo floating in it. The dog was kept in the official film but the Jam Jar was lost. l've reintroduced the Jam Jar in my cut because I always felt it was to have both witnesses, the dog and the photo, both unable to witness, but unable to talk about the freak occurrence. Also I've reintroduced the story beat of the fish falling into a discarded sink, it was whimsical idea and created a humorous release to the previous dark, intensity of the storm in this cut also helped build to the end climax of the storm. This version of the film still makes sure Campaigns core concept that the Woolrich Parkas are the only protection you would need against the elements real and surreal - and that the hi-tech material used to make the coats repelled all liquids and oils that it may encounter. After finding a cut of the film I was happy with, I was able to develop some of the new shots and enhance other shots with the help of VFX Post House Happy Finish (London) whose patience and hard work helped me develop the tone and look I was aiming for, and for never saying no to my list of 'Guys, er.. could we do this?' requests and always finding time to improve the long process of working on the effects, or grading, cleaning up and enhancing some of the shots with invisible mending, as some of the takes I couldn't use initially, as I had a few technical problems, and no time to just get that one more take to get it right, the VFX really improved shots and are used in this Alt.Version of the Film. With that - the next task was the sound design! Over the next few weeks myself and Ned Sisson at Wave Sound (London) spent many a late night starting then scraping mixes until we found a sound mix that fitted this version of the film. I really wanted to push the idea that all the sounds in the film should only be sourced or derived from nature to complement the ideology of the film and that we should never fall back on the lazy use of electronic whooshes, whistles and bangs. The final sound mix was incredibly layered, some of the sounds we used were that of a submarine's metal body moaning under extreme pressure as it dived to the great depths of the Ocean; for the sound of the falling fish, I wanted sound that gave the impression that the fish were 'crying' as they fell; we also used the sound of chicken bones being snapped to create the sound fish impacting the ground. Thank you again to everyone whose hard work and late nights helped make this Alt. Version for my showreel only and not for commercial use...CRANK UP THE VOLUME ON THIS ONE!!! Credits: Creative Director: Jez Furlong @Cleverduck Creative and Cherryduck Productions Script: Jez Furlong/ Darren Statman Director. Darren Statman (Freelance) Advertising Agency: Doner - London Post Credits: Alt Version only. OFFLINE: Stephan Dunne@Whitehousepost.com/editors/london/ VFX/ GRADE/ happyfinish.com /Contact Alison Quinn SOUND: Wavestudios.co.uk / Ned Sisson

• published: 21 May 2014
• views: 1618