Out O' Date

This illustrates the labelling process I undertook before cutting the footage. 

Here is the final time line, complete with an audio track exported as a WAV from sound track pro. 

Here I had to take take the audio track off a different clip so as when the woman gets out of the car there is just cause for the milkman to turn around. As was pointed out to me, if she wasn't to some how get his attention there would be no natural reason why he would so instantly turn to react to her arrival. When I took the export into final cut I had to use a compressor effect on the clip where the woman delivered the first line "what do you think your doing." I did this because being that she is so close to the camera when I decided to place the audio clip the recording is too quiet and sounded like she was much further way. The end result is a much louder piece of dialogue that sounds as if it could have been recorded nearer the camera than it actually was.

  

To further the realism of the scene I added foley of a car pulling up and layered it over a couple of clips preceding the shot above. When in sound track pro I altered the levels to better blend it into the atmos track, bringing the sound levels of the approaching car up and up until it can be seen (above). I also synced the distinctive sound of a car coming to a halt and peaked the levels, making the sound more distinctive and deliberate sounding. 

Another problem that I had to over come with this part of the scene is the fact that there's a continuity error in the form of the woman jumping from from walking from the car to being shot over-the-shoulder next to the milkman. In order to get around this problem I cut to some footage of the second milkman stood still looking in the direction of the approaching woman, resulting in it looking as if he is reacting to her arrival rather than the reality that he is waiting for his cue to deliver a joke. 

As most of the scene is made up of mid shots that needed cutting back and forth to it was important to  incorporate sound bridges in order to get the timing right between dialogue and therefore maintain the comedy. In the screen grabs below it can be seen where I've bridged dialogue in order to capture reactions and emotion of the non-speaker.    

I chose to make the most of the sound of the car door slamming to emphasis the woman's arrival into the scene. Introducing the sound as close to the cut as I could without breaking the match on action of the previous clip helps transition what is quite a jarring cut.    

Under the whole scene I added an atmosphere track that hides the gaps between the recordings of dialogue. In sound track pro I reduced the volume of the whole track so that it sounded more natural against the speech. 

During the sequence in which the two milkmen stand side by side and argue it was necessary for the sound recordist to capture two recordings, one for one actors set of lines and one for the other. As a result of this when played back to back, as is needed when cutting two and from characters, the levels noticeably change. The screen grab below illustrates how I've altered on of the recordings by reducing the volume at the beginning of the clip so that the level matches that of the one before.   

One of my favourite cuts in the scene is the one shown below. By cutting half way through the actors motion of removing his headwear it maintains a pace that helps with the timing of his reaction and therefore the comedic element.

Another way in which I maintained a pace is through the use of a jump cut near the end of the scene with the emphasised comic sound effect of the milkman getting injured helping to carry the transition.    

The last cut of the scene also helps to keep the pace. There no need to linger on the shot of the woman throwing the sign, once its out of frame the joke is finished and the audience can move on. Not only this but to see the injured milkman doubled over at the same time as the woman continuing to tell off the second milkman emphasises their inferiority and incompetence adding to the comedy of the situation.