Chapter 97

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"Let's stop here for now,"

Standing up from the chair in front of the monitor, Murphy put down the pen and notebook in his hand and said to Jody Griffith and the others, "Take a fifteen-minute break."

Jody Griffith, Paul Wilson, and the others involved in post-production also stood up from their workstations, some walking around, others standing by the window to look into the distance, relaxing in different ways.

Kerry Mulligan, who had been standing in the corner, immediately walked out with a large paper bag when she saw Murphy pause his work. Without caring about the others' gazes, she took out the fruit inside and offered it, "Have a banana."

She had bought it on her way from the acting class.

Murphy took it, looked around at the others, and Kerry Mulligan stood opposite him, placing the paper bag on the table, just blinking at him.

"Kerry..." Murphy reminded her with his eyes.

"Huh?" Kerry Mulligan was taken aback, "What's up?"

She noticed Murphy's glance toward Jody Griffith and immediately understood, grabbing the paper bag and walking over, saying, "You must be tired? I have some fruit here."

Paul Wilson took a banana, smiled, and said thanks. He wasn't surprised by the progress in the relationship between the boss and Kerry Mulligan. Anyone in the crew who paid attention had already noticed that Kerry Mulligan really liked their boss.

Just like Paul Wilson, no one found it strange that Murphy and Kerry Mulligan were together.

The fifteen minutes passed quickly, and Murphy clapped his hands, "Back to work!"

With some experience and better equipment, and after working together once, Murphy and Jody Griffith had developed a good level of默契 (rapport). This time, the editing work for post-production was clearly much faster. After spending three days reviewing all the footage, they completed the first rough cut in less than four days.

After color grading on the DaVinci Resolve and other post-processing, they entered the fine-cutting stage. Murphy and Jody Griffith became more cautious, replaying each edited segment, discussing it, and making appropriate adjustments based on Murphy's opinions.

Fine-cutting is a creative process that requires the editor to have a montage mindset, mastering the language of montage, and creating the best visual narrative through editing. After the rough cut, what's left for the editor is essentially raw material. A skilled editor can create visually pleasing effects from this foundation.

Like the previous post-production, Murphy was a director overseeing the entire project and couldn't be an expert in everything. Most of the time, he would state his requirements, and Jody Griffith would bring them to life with her hands.

In addition to this, Murphy needed to go to another studio to work with the sound engineer, Hart Colby, on the sound effects.

Although almost all scenes were recorded on set, there were always a few shots that didn't meet Murphy's standards. If the live audio couldn't be used, the unusable parts needed to be re-recorded.

This wasn't a difficult task. James Franco's life path had already changed significantly, according to the information provided by Seth Rogen. After the shoot, James Franco would take any opportunity to have a "father-daughter date" with Lily Collins and hadn't taken on any new projects, so he could come to record at any time.

Seth Rogen and the others were even less of an issue; they were actors who had just finished this role and didn't know where their next role would be.

"Finally done!"

In the recording studio, James Franco put down the script, walked to one side, and sat down to rest. Murphy listened to the recording while watching the monitor and nodded to the sound engineer, Hart Colby, indicating it was acceptable. He then walked over to James Franco.

"To be honest, I really admire you!"

When Murphy sat down on a chair next to him, James Franco gave him a thumbs up, "To have tamed a girl as difficult as Kerry Mulligan so easily."

Murphy shrugged; he had heard this before and didn't bother to explain. Some things weren't intentional, and he had no experience in dating or pursuing girls.

"What about Seth?" he changed the topic, "Why haven't I seen him around these past few days?"

After post-production began, Seth Rogen would still come to the crew to help whenever he had free time, mostly to learn. It seemed his goal wasn't just to be an actor.

"Taking an accent class," James Franco seemed unhappy that Murphy had changed the topic, deliberately squinting his eyes, "Are you two already...?"

He made a fist with one hand and extended his index finger with the other, making a few thrusting motions through the fist.

Murphy gave him the middle finger, not intending to answer, and instead asked, "What about you? How far have you gotten?"

"Me?" James Franco looked puzzled, as if he didn't understand what Murphy meant.

"Don't play dumb," Murphy pointed to his eyes, "I'm not blind."

James Franco showed no embarrassment at being caught, thought for a moment, and said, "Gill Collen is going to the UK soon, and Lily's summer break is coming up. I plan to rent a boat and take her on a cruise."

Murphy involuntarily gave him a thumbs up, "I should be the one admiring you."

James Franco spread his hands, made a silly face, and stood up, "I'll go first. Call me if you need anything."

After recording the actors' voices, the dialogue needed to be edited, aligning the live audio and the re-recorded dialogue, and adding sound effects. Hart Colby would use various methods to recreate the action sounds in the scenes.

Then, the sound effects and action sounds would be edited and aligned.

Finally, the ambient sounds would be processed. Ambient sounds are crucial for recreating the scene, creating a sense of space and environment.

An important part of ambient sound processing is the handling of air sounds, which smooth out the noise levels between different shots, helping the audience ignore the cuts between scenes.

In simple terms, in a very quiet space, there isn't complete silence; the vibration of the air itself produces sound.

After completing these steps, music would be added. Due to budget constraints, Murphy didn't use original music, continuing the approach from "Hard Candy."

This team was quite capable. Despite some challenges, Murphy completed all the post-production work a week ahead of schedule, proving the importance of a good team for a film.

With the film completed, finding a suitable distributor became Murphy's most important task.

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