Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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later form. Within a few weeks of finishing the second shoot, he made a complete
assembly of the material for the film, but this was a “loose fine-cut”, rather than a rough
cut, because most of the scenes set inside the cottage were “very tightly scripted and did
not involve a lot of cutting”. 368 This was the version shown to the Interim Film
Commission, to whom White and Ward were applying for post-production funding, and
it was fifty-three minutes long. With the help of additional funding from the Interim
Film Commission, the Arts Council and the Department of Education, a final cut, with
track-laying completed, was finished by the beginning of June and ran to forty-nine
minutes. 369
King edited the film in his own time, on many occasions getting up at three or four
o’clock in the morning, going in to work to edit the film, and making sure he vacated
the building by eight a.m., when his employer arrived at work. He recalls that he
“basically put the film together by myself” and that there were long periods of time
when he did not see either White or Ward, although there were a few scenes - in
particular the scene where Malfred was cleaning the bath - where Ward particularly
wanted to be involved in the editing process. 370 King never at any time saw the full
script, but he had read Janet Frame and he had seen one of the few stage productions of
A State of Siege, in Dunedin, with Rosalie Carey acting in the lead role. He did not
even see the completed film. “I would get something and would put something
together, and they would say, ‘oh yeah, that’s fine’. And Tim would take it away then it
could be months later that they’d come back with more footage”. 371 There were
therefore many scenes that he cut without having the scene that preceded it, or the scene
that would follow it. Nevertheless, because of the film’s “quite minimalist” and filmedin-the-camera
style, there were few editing options. The film was basically shot mute
and there were very few takes, so King was able to employ a technique of “undercutting
as opposed to overcutting”. He recalls the film as being “a real joy to cut” in
comparison to cutting commercials, because of the internal visual logic. He would cut
“soon after the point of action at the start, and just before the action stopped. I would
piece it together, thinking that that would be it, and we would trim it down later”. In the
end, they did not have to trim much at all. Since there was no sound for many of the
368 White, "Production of a Film Drama," 15.
369 White, "Production of a Film Drama," 15.
370 Lynette Read, interview with Chris King, 2 February 1999.
371 Interview with Chris King, 2 February 1999.