personal life vs. the film

The last two weeks have taken me away from getting my work done. I haven't really been worrying about it due to the fact of being ahead of schedule with the piece for the most part. Now as the final weeks approach, I realize that I'm really behind now. Today I've put the good audio into the piece and decided to re-cut it once more. Although it seems like there isn't much left to do, I have several other projects to complete in the next two weeks or all of this work will be fruitless. I've set a schedule for myself in order to get an idea of where I stand and the amount of work it will take to complete everything.

It’s looking like a really rough two weeks ahead of me and my personal life wont take a back seat. There is turmoil in my life right now and it's quite depressing. Everyone gets scared of change and uncertainty and I'm no different. With any luck, things will pan out great, the piece will be completed and well received and my path will take a turn for the better.

The important thing to do for now is to create a boundary line between work and life. No easy task, but I've done it before, I can do it again.

Bleached bypass is for suckers...sort of

Last Thursday I met with my AD so I could pick up all the rest of the equipment and props. Poor girl has been literally living on set for the last month or so. It makes sense being that I used her apartment for the piece. In any case, when I met with her, we talked a bit about the piece and what can be done in post. She suggested I do a bleach bypass (it was done in "Saving Private Ryan"), saying that she thought it would be really good for my piece. I kept it in mind and did some research on how I can do it in post rather than as a method of film development (which is what I understood it to be). Turns out that there are tons of ways to emulate it in after effects. So I tried about half a dozen different ways before settling on one. While doing that I also decided that I wanted a smaller depth of field in some of the shots and started playing around with defocusing. While doing that I stumbled across an effect that makes the piece almost look painted. Which is an incredible find considering the piece is about a painter that is disenchanted with his work. After two days work of just playing around with effects I finally have a great starting point for my first draft of my sweetened cut (my 5th or so cut of the film). Now I'm just 6 short rendering hours from a new version to show around.

I'm kind of working out of order, considering that I still haven't put in the good audio from the shoot. Who really cares though? I'm just amped that it's coming closer to a final product. Currently I've put roughly 230 hours of work into the piece, and I'll end up breaking the 300 mark long before it's finished. Hopefully this piece will get me some work.

light at the end of the tunnel

The piece is currently ready to be polished. We have just 5 short weeks to get the piece cleaned and polished for submission. I've been battling with myself over the decision to submit the piece to film festivals. As it stands, the feedback has been pushing me towards sending it. However, it is still in poor shape by my standards.

In all honesty, I'm having trouble focusing. I know what needs to be done and the great amount of time and work it will take to get there, but I'm just about burned. It’s very difficult to write, direct, produce, edit, sweeten and compose an original audio bed for just one person to do. I'll take it in stride and chalk it up to a learning experience. A very difficult and painful, learning experience.

As a side note I have two very solid ideas for features. I'm struggling with putting them on the back burner. Especially the most recent one, being as I seem to stay awake at night and become inspired almost daily by things I'd like to add to it. Alas, I must jot them down and forget about them for the time being. "Oily Marks" is not just yet ready to be labeled as "completed".

comments in all directions

I've completed the new rough cut with all the additional footage I've shot and spent friday showing it around to people. Over all the piece is going over really well. however, i have been getting quite a few suggestions from faculty on it. typically, I take suggestions with open arms, especially when I get repeat suggestions. yet, in this case I have yet to recieve repeat suggestions, rather everyone is suggesting I make changes at different parts throughout the piece. many of which I completely disagree with, so i find myself wondering how I could make this piece any better without re-shooting the whole thing. the short answer is, I polish the shit out of what I have and hope for the best.

in other news, I've been getting progressively sick over the last few days and it is cause for concern. This piece is first and foremost my graduation piece. as it currently stands, this piece is a damn good one (as everyone I've shown the piece too has expressed), yet it may not be accepted due to attendance failing. each quarter (11 weeks) we're allowed to miss four classes (15.75 hours). I'm halfway through the quarter and I've already missed 8 hours in two classes. I can not miss anymore class for the durration of the quarter or my chances of attendance failing will greatly increase. I will continue to move forward as though nothing is wrong and hopefully my illness with subside in the next day or two.