Mathilda

Thank you for taking the time to watch this and leave such a detailed review. This type of feedback is priceless to me.

I'll respond to some of your notes below.

37.50 - Yes, that goof was me. I added some Italian strings to the scene to reinforce a pattern in those settings (I invented a story that the dad in the background loves Scarlatti). I agree that the transition isn't seamless. I could likely roll the music some to find a better transition point, or possibly just make it much quieter.

7:00 - I've watched this a few times, and they seem in sync to me, but the problem may be that I've aligned to his heels instead of the shoe falling...It's hard to know what to do when the walking is in slow motion. Technically, the sound doesn't even make sense (I did pitch shift it lower to convey his weight, but not to make it sound slowed down).

41:30 (Foley stuff)

I think this is a case of not making the SFX loud enough. I added foley for her pulling the bread out of the bag and slapping it down, but it's *very* quiet (I recorded myself playing with some cellophane). Same for when she's washing the dishes. There's foley for tap running, the bowl filling with water, and also for when it overflows (in addition to the clink you noticed). I even did subtle wiping sounds for when she's wiping the gun. It's all very clear in my headphones, but it seems to not have translated to your 3.1 setup. I think my takeaway is that I just need to make those sounds *much louder*, even if it's technically unnatural. I've been learning more about foley recently, and it really is remarkable just how loud the sounds are (sometimes in a really unnatural way), but we've been sort of trained to hear it that way.

41:54 - You're absolutely right. I'm still learning about music ducking...I should have brought it down here for the dialogue.

55:08 - Subjectively, the timing of this one felt good to me, but it's definitely hard to know when to make that kind of shift. In general, is it best to wait until the final word is spoken before raising the music? I experimented with it that way, but then the cut to the next scene (city) felt flat. Like it felt like the music should be full volume on the cut...Of course I'm adding music to a transition that didn't originally have it, so maybe I should have focused more on the scene timing itself. (On a related note, I'm happy you didn't notice the removal of the dress in this scene! It was tricking getting the timing right)

(sweet dreams foley)

Yeah, this was an interesting challenge. The scene is from the International Cut, and to me it feels very unfinished. The music sounds like a temp track (and not part of Serra's score), and the sound effects were strangely empty. If you have your bluray handy, it starts at 1:21. There are sounds for chains, doors, and bolt cutters, but nothing for any of the doorbells, and also no reaction sounds from the people. In an early workprint I went for parity, but it just didn't sound right, so I went further and added sounds for all of the effects. I do think the original chain/door/blolt cutter sounds are better, though. I struggled to find SFX with enough depth.

"Narratively, I didn't really get what their significance was or what they added in the context of Leon's narrative."

I was aiming for ambiguity, and trying paint a loose picture of a past life in Europe that held no joy for Leon, only pain.

The first clip paints a picture of violence, but also perhaps romance. I kept Leon obscured so that we're left wondering who he is. I was also trying to make it seem like this was the Dad's dream, since he knew they were coming for him the next day. We only learn in retrospect that it was Leon's dream.

(Regarding that first clip, I also loved the juxtaposition of the man having his head pulled backwards and the mom performing the same action as she gargles mouthwash!)

In the second clip we clearly see Leon, but it's not yet clear this is Leon's dream (as we fade to black on Mathilda). This dream conveys maybe the start of a date, but then it takes a turn when we see the woman crying, then his quick shot with the pistol betrays the romance and we cut to Leon (who proceeds to get a pistol of the same make and model!).

In the third clip we see that it wasn't romance at all. He was only there to be a "cleaner", and the fact that the body wasn't actually dead when he starts pouring the acid makes the experience especially dreadful.

What I was trying to convey is that his life was pure misery until he met Mathilda and started seeing things a different way again.

15:00 (Beethoven) - Trust me, I considered it! But this bit if Serra's score is just so gorgeous and singular! I love it far too much to replace it.

" I was surprised to see Mathilda still confess she's in love with Leon."

I agree I could have gone further with the removal, but I like that she recognizes she's developing feelings for him, and I like how candid she is about it. I wish adults were more forthcoming with their feelings. It also allowed me to keep the choking-on-milk gag. He chokes the first time when she says, "cute name", and the second time when she says, "...I think I'm falling in love with you".

"Kate Bush scene didn't seem to fit for me"

This was me getting absolutely obsessed with the lyrics! So much of it aligns:

"One hand clapping" when she slaps in the magazine.
"Where on your palm is my little line" as she's twisting the silencer into the pistol.
All of the "nanananas" align to when the dude is trying to speak but can't (gun in mouth or just nobody listening).
We hear "I'll be sitting in your mirror right" as he's dragged in front of a mirror in the hallway.

I could go on, but I think my lesson here is to not commit to a song just because the lyrics work. The tone needs to work too, but more importantly it can't interfere with the story being told.

"On a subjective level (and unrelated to the main edit), not really a fan of having trailers at the start of fanedits as part of the same file."

This is a fair point, and the trailer is time-sensitive, so to speak. My plan is to share a feature-only version down the road. I learned so much with the rest of "the crew" as I worked on my Jackie Brown edit (not out yet), and I was honoured when they asked me to place the Tarantino Tales teaser at the front of Mathilda.

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Thank you again for so much detail. I can learn a lot from this.