assemblages

finally i've seen the footage. rough assemblages starting to come together. this part can be painful. the shot that went so perfectly on set is in fact a shimmering display of directorial ineptitude; the cool, spur-of-the-moment on-set solution to a problem was in fact a lame, turgid and uneven choice that was latched onto for the sake of ease not the sake of narrative. And so forth. There's an ocean of dissonance between what you thought you shot and what you actually have and here, at the rough phase where shots and sequences are pasted in order but not finessed yet, it can be a tad dispiriting. But that's a given and you look past it. b/c there are also things that work better than you thought, there are serendipities, there are causes for joy...

here's a pic of progress from evonne

continued saga

boxed and shipped the hard drive w/ footage off to los angeles yesterday. i have yet to see the footage but i'm able to hear it. that's something i suppose. missing a codec. it's always something. absent finding the right codec i'm asking dp to export all the footage into a low-res movie file so i can at least view it. these are not ideal conditions for editing a movie but it's worth it to me b/c evonne is so good. now i just have to keep my fingers crossed that the truck carrying the drive isn't hijacked or destroyed or waylaid. more to come

footage vision quest

things taking comic turns of epic proportion of late. after weighing multiple factors, decided best course of action editing-wise was to get footage to evonne in LA rather than have her come up. this necessitated me getting an external hard drive. on 'good food' the file sizes were small enough that i sent audio/video files via yousendit over several days (not recommended unless you have a surplus of time and patience) but that won't work for these files. So, since we had amazon gift $ (and further since m allowed me to use the money exclusively) i decided to order a 500 gb refurbished hard drive. it was to arrive the following friday. it didn't come until monday. had it come friday i could have gotten the footage from dp but he left town for a wk on monday, so i had to wait for him to get back. i waited until he got back to format the external hard drive (an error on my part). when i plugged it in i learned that they sent a 330 gb hard drive not a 500 gb. my plan at this point became: take hard drive to dp, get footage, bring footage home and put on computer, strip hard drive, send hard drive back and have them exchange it for one i ordered.

i went a couple rounds w/ customer service. they claimed they sent 500gb. i disputed. they said i had to call manufacturer to verify. i said, can you please just exchange this for what i ordered. they relented. if i would mail back the hard-drive (at my cost), they would exchange it. fine. i stripped it, boxed it, mailed it back (note, actually m mailed it back on my behalf)

meantime, i tried to look at footage now on my computer. i only have FCE not FCP and apparently i can't read this file format w/ FCE, meaning i can purchase software for several hundred dollars or i can upgrade to FCP for twice that. meaning, i can't yet see footage. evonne is cutting on avid so i yousendit'ed her a couple clips to verify that she could see. she could not, so there is some error. my plan when i get the 500 gb drive is to put the footage on it and ship it to her and keep my fingers crossed. hopefully having the whole folder/s intact will alleviate the issue. this however doesn't address the necessity of the director being able to see the dailies.

then, earlier today, an email:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for placing an order with Electronica Direct. We are very sorry, but due to an inventory error, the LaCie Refurbished 500GB Triple Interface Rugged Hard Drive - 301371-R (Refurbished by Lacie with a 90Day Lacie Warranty) that you have ordered has been oversold and is currently out of stock. Your order has been cancelled and a full refund posted to your account.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you and regret that we were unable to supply you with the item of your choice. If you would like to get a different item instead, please let us know, and we will do our best to accommodate your request.

We value your business, and we hope to be of service to you in the future.

Sincerely,

Abe
Customer Relations

back to square one.

a few days later

I have the very good fortune to be going on vacation for a wk plus starting tomorrow meaning i won't be anywhere near the computer or script or anything related at all to the shoot. this is essential. i need a wall put up between the shoot (the things i missed, the shots i screwed up, the things i settled for) and post (the things i have). not sure yet of the particulars but i'm planning to fly evonne up to cut this over a few days.

saturday, the day i wrapped, after shooting, i was head in the clouds, feet off the ground, feeling so high and humming w/ the accomplishment of finishing. the very next day i felt a sort of mid-range depression settle in. something akin to post-partum. i was reminded that i did the exact same thing on the last one.

shoot, day 2

Again, scattered, unordered:

yesterday's shoot was easier on one level - a lot of quick takes, insert shots - more complicated on another - 3 company moves.
again w/ the bare-bonesiest of crew (dp, me, margaret) and mostly 2 cast, the husband and wife. we started at parking garage of local hospital. the facility contact was willing to be an extra so i put him in white lab coat and had him cross behind the husband and wife as they exited hospital. the day before i re-envisioned the elevator shots, the closing shots of the movie, and realized i could nail it in just 3 shots, provided certain things (camera focus, elevator idle time) could be managed. they were workable and it all went swimmingly. last shot is a close-up on a baby, zooming past into a medium close-up of husband and wife in elevator looking out as doors close. took a few takes to get it but we got it. this shoot, compared w/ last week, i relied almost zero on the video playback (except in one instance to verify that a set of keys looked correct in the frame) and went w/ my instinct after/during watching takes. several times, this shoot and last wknd, things happened close to what i envisioned in my head. almost strangely so. it was too easy some times. i don't know if this is attributable to luck, to good planning, to proper dp and cast or the combination of all, but whatever alchemy we had was humming. i'm going to take a couple wks off, go on vacation, and not look at the footage until i return. otherwise i'll just tinker and mess w/ it. need to put up a wall between then and now.
feels great to have this wrapped.

shoot, day 1

these are random, uncollected thoughts so bear w/ me:

day 1 of shoot is done. day 2 is next saturday. this was big though b/c a) 1st day of shoot b) shooting at location that took me months to finally nail down the particulars of. i had been worried about crew size, ie next to nil, since a problem on 'good food' was not enough crew, but it all worked out. given the tiny exam room (where we shot probably over half the day) and further given the facility contact who was hyper-concerned w/ the machinations and movement of every crew and cast member lest they accidently touch, move, brush against, or otherwise come in contact with any file, sign, item and alter it - it worked out to have such a small group. It was the DP and his assistant (for lack of better, she was also at various times, boom operator, script supervisor, footage logger) and that's it. Plus margaret who fetched coffee and lunch and tried to calm/reassure facility contact throughout day. Plus me, plus 5 cast members. We wrapped 2 cast members in short order and then moved into exam room.

for this one, versus 'good food', i found that i have more long shots, wides and/or masters that i'm going to hold in the edit. ie, less master then covered w/ singles on each person. it just kind of happened this way but it feels appropriate to the characters/scenario of this. had a on-set idea to pull away from man/wife as they're walking down hall - post doc exam - and since walking w/ camera was too shaky we put dp and camera in an office chair and i pulled back after action, running, as dp was zooming out. looks great.

couple self-criticisms: i'm learning that my focus ebbs as the day goes on. after the meal on this film and last, my mind gets more diluted w/ what we've shot already and it's harder to remember what i need versus, what we've rehearsed, versus, what we get. in keeping w/ that, i find myself settling for things that work versus things that soar. also, i felt like maybe i'm too vocal in giving notes to cast in front of everyone. maybe that should be reined in a bit.

all in all, a great day. cast all worked, location worked, shots look great. can't wait to shoot next saturday and
begin putting it together

eve of shoot

I have the lab coat, friend has the scrubs (i'll retrieve tonight), we've mapped out routes to coffee and lunch, i have everything on the prop list or at least will have it by tomorrow am. been in touch w/ cast for items they're going to bring. oh, procured insurance today! a giant step. further, the insurance covers me (ie the company) for the next 12 months so any further location needs in the productions in the coming year are covered.

intermixed w/ all this planning this week was the strange synchronicity (if that indeed is the correct word for this instance) to receive the final cut from editor of movie i directed - good food - last june. of all weeks. it's allowed me to look at the two films back to back, isolating certain ambitious leaps from that to this, certain directorial approaches from that to this, and so on. very fortuitous. And, i suppose, emboldening. onward.

energy level permitting i'll attempt to put up some notes and thoughts tommorow night