'Close Encounters' by Junction Zero

(UK) Second Edit

The cast are Lucy from East Sussex and Dave from London. It's very much a one-man-band crew consisting of Djonny from Lutterworth, assisted by one runner, Fonny. The film was shot on Canon 7D using any available lights; and the location sound and ADR were recorded using Edirol R-44 sound recorder and Sennheiser gun mic and wireless kit.

Read 'Close Encounters' HERE

Second Cut Comments... have YOUR say!

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Comments: 1
  • #1

    JR (Friday, 07 February 2014 14:12)

    This is the best of the bunch. Great actress.

'Close Encounters' by Junction Zero

(UK) First Edit

First cut: Producers notes for the filmmakers

  • Music a little pedestrian – try something a little reckless – we get how hard this is, but it’s a little loungey.
  • Try a bit of foley too, it will bring it more to life.
  • Loose fade out at end, cut to black, will feel more confident

Write a comment

Comments: 11
  • #1

    Adolf El Assal (Sunday, 04 November 2012 16:17)

    work on the music and the grading.

  • #2

    Sandeep (Sunday, 04 November 2012 16:27)

    I think the audio needs a little fixing, ADR sounds quite rough. I agree with the producer notes, a cut to black would give the actors' hidden feelings some urgency. I would darken the image a little bit in the close ups, Dave's looking a bit on the warm side. I think the piano score could work if it were a little less intrusive, something similar to Phillip glass.


    Otherwise it's looking nice, I didn't read all the 50 kisses scripts (read about 10) and this one is the most memorable (and the filmmaking is pretty accurate I reckon), well done on the location too, a pretty good shot of the bridge and Big Ben. Good stuff

  • #3

    David Chavez (Sunday, 04 November 2012 18:06)

    I loved it. Great look to the film as well. I do agree though with the cutting to black instead of fading out. Also, just for fun play it once without music and see how it is. For some reason I feel it would be better with no music but a little more background noise.

  • #4

    Catherine (Monday, 05 November 2012 13:27)

    I like the set up here. Nice shot of the bridge and Big Ben! I agree with most of the above. Different/no music will change the feel a lot. And a cut to black will give much more impact than fading out.

  • #5

    Stephen Cooper (Tuesday, 06 November 2012 17:03)

    Think its shot beautifully. Love the opening shot. One of my favourite so far. Really captures the mood of the script. Personally I like both the music and the fade out at the end. Works for me, but thats me. I think the work that needs to be done is on the adr. Some of it feels out of snyx, other bits just a bit rough. Sort that and you'll have an even better film. Really liked it alot, well done.

  • #6

    Michael W. Penny (Tuesday, 06 November 2012 17:20)

    I actually like the softer music. Kind of gives it a sense of longing. Wouldn't be against trying something different, but with everyone telling you to change it, I'll throw it out there that I didn't dislike it.

    I agree ADR is out of sync in a few places. See what can be done. Especially noticeable near the end on her line of "it was great to see you..."

    Love the little awkward thing they do when they say goodbye. Nicely done.

    I agree on cutting to black instead of fading out might play well. I'd give it a try to cut right at the bags his the ground (and perhaps roll back the shot a bit so we have her looking at him for an additional second or two before the bags fall - just so we get a good look at her face before we cut). The sound of the bags hitting can motivate the cut to black. See how you feel about it?

    Overall a nice looking film. It was a great choice to shoot on that bridge with an interesting background. This was actually my favourite script from all 50 that I read, and I think you've done it justice here. Nice job.

  • #7

    Shaun Bond (Wednesday, 07 November 2012 14:05)

    This was very well shot indeed, congrats on that. When watching it the only thing that distracted me was that I felt the music was a little bit heavy handed and too melodramatic. But otherwise it was visually romantic and their acting together really sold the situation to me. Well done!

  • #8

    Claire Yeowart (Thursday, 08 November 2012 20:49)

    Loved everything except the music which felt too over the top. Something more subtle might work better. Very well shot but it's just the sound letting it down for me.

  • #9

    Suvasis (Friday, 09 November 2012 19:31)

    Great to look at and seriously well acted - did not think the dropped bag worked at the end given the degree of emotions shown- OR maybe should have cut right on that?

  • #10

    Andromeda Godfrey (Monday, 12 November 2012 17:03)

    Love the location. The shots are beautiful as are the actors. The sound, the music and the ADR let it down slightly. With a bit of tweaking this could be great.

  • #11

    JR (Friday, 07 February 2014 14:15)

    This is the best of the bunch. Great actress.