Apparently editing on Adobe Premiere is cool again
Hey everybody,
it’s been a while since I’ve lasted posted an update. Doesn’t means lots isn’t happening though. Michael Pierro and myself have been spending the last week going through the edit and eating at every restaurant on Roncesvalles. After watching the initial assembly 2 weeks ago, we’ve been meticulously going through all the footage, picking out the little gems that were missed and focusing more on the tone of the film. Lots of new discoveries, ideas, and even a few laughs, springing up daily. Watching the assembly was a trip in itself. I was crazy nervous. After spending 4 years on this project it was time to see if I actually had a film or not. The good news is that we strongly believe that there is an awesome film in there. I don’t have to worry about reshoots or pick ups, which is great because I’m broke anyways.
We watched the first rough cut of the film on Friday. Not as nervous as watching the assembly. It’s always good to watch the film as a whole. Sometimes I forget how important that is. It’s easy to get wrapped up in individual scenes, focusing on performance and storytelling, but if you don’t step back and take it all in as a whole, then you’re most likely setting yourself up for disappointment. If there is any bad news, it’s that we still need completion funds to finish the film. Although we’re fairly confident that we’ll find money, I don’t want to jinx it. The reality is that there are a million other indie films in the same situation.
The film should be pretty close to picture locked by early December, at least that’s the plan. At that point, with a quick audio pass, we’ll be ready to start showing people what we got in hopes of raising the extra funds. The greatest Christmas gift would be Santa giving us cash to finish the film properly. While this is happening, we will continue to push forward in other areas (create VFX for the film, look into securing music rights, and possibly find some early distribution). Making rainbows cost money. Unfortunately the rainbow Gods weren’t nice enough to give us a real rainbow. Who needs those Gods anyways.
I’ve been lucky enough to be able to work on this film pretty much full time since the Spring, but now I’m starting to feel the financial pinch. Aside, from being in debt from the film, I still have a life outside of film to pay for (ie. take my girlfriend to a nice dinner at Swiss Chalet). Before I started working on this project full force I was doing a lot of corporate video work. Luckily, some corporate work has fallen into my lap since we’ve wrapped production but I’m finding it extremely hard to actually get myself in the right mindset to do it. Anybody who works in the corporate side of filmmaking will know what I’m talking about. Working on this project has truly been a life altering experience. I already miss production and hanging out on set all day. Although it seemed like we were shooting this film forever and I had many internal emotional meltdowns, I would love to be back on set. With the editing, I’m already feeling the same way. We’ve only finished our first rough cut but we’re flying through the material and I know it’s going to be over before I want it too be.
Once Mike and myself are happy with where things are at, we’re going to be enlisting feedback from various people. We not only want to hit up people who’s opinions we trust, but also some individuals who know nothing about the film. Getting feedback and understanding how to separate what’s useful and not useful is a whole other topic, one I’m sure I’m be blogging about as it happens. Unlike previous projects, I’m actually eager to get feedback. Maybe it’s because I feel more confident in this film then others, or maybe it’s just because I’m blinded by excitement and nothing else matters. I remember when I watched he first rough cut of Rainbow Connection I didn’t know how to respond to what I just watched. I knew I didn’t hate it, but other then that I had no idea what to say to my editor. Very strange feeling.
Anyways, stop reading this and get back to work. I’ll have more updates soon.