Construction of the First Version of the Film

 After selecting the best takes from each scene, we began assembling the rough cut of The Boss's Shadow. This is the first full version of the film where all the clips are placed in order to match the storyboard.

The rough cut is not meant to be perfect. It's purpose is to build the structure of the story and see how well the scenes connect. Whenever we first put all the clips together no real cutting yet, we had around 3-4 minutes of raw footage that we needed to get down to 2 minutes with a opening credit scene.

We placed the clips in chronological order based on our planned narrative:

1. Diner scene (introducing characters and hierarchy)

2. Characters leaving and transitioning to car

3. Car Scene (Betrayal conversation)

4. Bridge Scene (Body disposal and final scene)

Seeing everything together for the first time helped us understand how the story flows as a whole instead of separate scenes

One of the most important parts of creating the rough cut was the pacing. Some shots felt too long and slowed the scene down, while others needed to be extended to build tension. The diner scene works better with slightly longer shots to show control and power. The car scene benefits from tighter cuts to build tension. The bridge scene uses slower pacing to create suspense.

We also focused on how scenes connect to each other.

Transitions from:

Diner -> Outside -> Car

Car -> Bridge

needed to feel smooth and logical. If transitions are too abrupt, the story becomes confusing. If they are too slow, the film looses energy

Balancing this is something we will continue to improve.

Watching the rough cut made it clear that our improvements from the midterm are working.

- The story is easier to follow

- The dialogue builds tension and action

- The scenes connect more naturally