It is now finished- just tweaking the technical stuff - audio levels colour, etc.
I am a few weeks away from the finished thing: joy and anticipation.
Few discoveries/lessons I’ve made during post.
Do not show hands in close up – unless made up – including waxing:
Even on the most fair and hairless, hi def shots show a veritable forest of follicles and hairy knuckles – not a good look for your leading lady. I did have to blur the shot so to preserve Danielle’s dignity – hairy knuckles appeal to a very select few.
Beware of radio mikes:
If actors wear lap/radio mikes – make sure the mikes are turned off when said actors visit the toilets – as we were shooting a scene without an actor (won’t name names) we can clearly hear on the soundtrack someone’s bowel movements – again not a good for decorum – no, it won’t make it to the bloopers reel.
It can’t/can be fixed in post:
In general if the shots/performance/writing is crap – it can’t be fixed. On the odd occasion it can. So make sure you have all you need during the shoot.
Get your footage:
You can never have too much footage. Sure, it is a labor of pain and love to organize and manage clips and files – but the work is worth it. The additional footage does help when cutting the overall picture. Being limited to fewer shots or scenes is very frustrating. You can always cut away additional material – but it is very difficult/expensive to manufacture shots in post.
Make mistakes:
There are no mistakes only unexpected results (I know this contradicts some of the lessons below - but trust me on this one they are all trues and still hold at the same time). With enough creativity (thinking and courage to leap beyond the obvious); you can elevate things to something above their functional value. This happens especially when a mistake happens and you have an effect you hadn’t intended – e.g. a jump cut. If you look at these with an open mind they can sometimes reveal story subtleties or facts that a more formal and predictable approach may not.
Trust your dreams:
Your vision unfettered by desires or fears (both brought on by the childish ego) is the truthful artistic expression – seek it in all you do.
The New York Times none other asks whether
Is Social Networking Killing You?
Hello fellow travellers.
Been working the midnight oil, burning the candle at both ends --- and killing cliques...
Anyway - somebody rip this things away from me!!!!!
Reday to launch a full Semtex asuslt on your senses - I will be cooking up 30 sec trailers over the next 2-3 weeks.
Any wanna be editors that think they can out do me in the psychotic stakes le me know - I'll sneak out some rare footage (quickmovie files) ready to be edited to your hearts darkests desires...
Back to the cave...the muse wants more blood...
Some things have no daylight
Edited the ‘memento mori’ monologue last night – one of my favorite pieces.
45 seconds monologue – 45 seconds that took several hours to shoot - it was a dolly on a track shot - we did 11 takes; yes 11 takes (which is a lot since we had at least 5 cameras rolling and typically we did 3-4 takes); 11 takes because of technical problems with sounds - take – dolly move – take - camera move retake – dogs barking, airplanes flying, pigeons cooing retake after retake after retake.
Danielle was going blue in the face. Literally, she looks like she is running out of oxygen, out of blood, out of sanity. She’s half angry, half defeated by the whole thing; at the end of each take, her eyes scan the room for support, she forces a smile as she knows she has to go again – the clapper board clap now an unbearable intrusion – as if this is a bad dream she’s stuck in – strapped to a chair having to repeat the same lines over and over again hoping that a dog or a bird won’t destroy the poignancy she’s trying to imbue into the words. [note to self - I can see why there is a movie to be made from the happenings on a film set - the tension is unbearable for us]
On that day I thought – what a trouper – what great effort.
So last night I edit the scene – I’m excited – I know how to get around all the technical hurdles and discover the wonderfulness of the performance.
And it just wasn't there – there’s nothing – no thrill in the camera move (no fault of CHW – camera moves have to fit with the mood of the scenes otherwise…) but worse of all, the performance was - it was...soft.
It seemed to be tacked on – like it didn’t belong to the scene or the story…how could this be…? The writing? The performance? The direction? All the above? No matter…I thought, I’ve had to fix worse than this…
Worked on it all night: jump cuts, cross-fades, dissolves, compositing - five hours to edit a 45 seconds segment.
Ten past midnight - screened it: It just lay there - soft - squishy - lost all its bite – I gave up and went to bed. Restless night – then a flash of insight.
This morning at 6 am – went to the edit suite and cut it all out. The whole monologue gone before breakfast.
11 takes, all on the cutting room floor.
The scene now works.
Memento Mori.
90 minutes of screen-time.
Above all else - this is a statement for Mr. John Hipwell…who (rightly) had doubted the time of the film following the first read-through (clocked at 45 minutes).
I - on the other hand – ‘knew’ that the 75-page script – in my hands would gain length in light of my directorial pace:
I love pauses between looks and I know how I’d like to pace actors’ performances; slow-burns, explosive outbursts that careen unhinged and unbridled.
90 minutes of screen-time. And this is for a super-tight cut.
Still I’m glad for John’s insistence - it was good to have the extra footage in hand – it gives considerable more material to the editor in post.
Anyway – I’m on schedule to submit to festivals in 2-3 weeks.
I’ll make an announcement closer to the date.
Also launching our web-presence then – including footage on you tube, trailers, web commerce, merchandise, soundtrack (composed by Luca X) etc.
Very excited…
Real title revealed in 8 weeks.
Web page launch at the same time - yet to devise the details.
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