Welcome Back

Been absent from blogging but hectic with many pursuits:

A major one was recutting the film since the First Screening.

Front of mind was a need to bring in several scenes that had ‘mysteriously’ been left out of the cut that we all saw on Aug 8th. Then tweak pacing, SFX. So much for the image.

Secondly, was a proper post on the sound track – so over the last 2 months slaved over post-audio using Soundtrack Pro – which is fast becoming the professional standard for sound design.

Very happy with the finished results – the soundtrack creates a stereophonic world that complements the psychology of the images.

Anyway – enough of my artistic travails in the dark edit suite.

Great news is that Cryptopticon has been selected to compete at the 7th Annual Queens International Film Festival New York City (November 12-15).

Established in 2003, the Queens International is a unique event in a borough rich in entertainment history, including Coppola and Scorsese who were born here. The QiFF 2009 film lineup will includes over 200 films from all over the world.

Chaos - Tears - Monsters and Fears

I’ve been editing the opening sequence over the week-end. So, yes, I’ve started editing the second last day of the shoot (not counting day 6 since that was a ‘repeat’ of the shoot). Nearly there…

Very nervous – this is it – this is how the film opens – I hadn’t watched the scene since we had shot it.

Some amazing stuff – Danielle cries on cue - all in close up – even at low resolution you can see several tears welling in her eyes and cascading down her cheeks – this was one take –I worked the whole sequence around it.

Her panic and tears are dramatically countered by Luke’s and Chris’ cold and Zen-like manner. Hot and cold. Shocking and arresting. Love it.

For a writer/director, it doesn’t get any better than this; this was the way I wrote it – this is the way it was performed and shot – this is how it plays in the edit. I got to enjoy it three times.

So I cut - remember we’ve got ten cameras – cut - shot angles – cut - many takes – cut- reaction shots –cut – shouts – cut – screams –cut –ECU - cut– soundscape – cut etc etc…

And I made a complete mess of things… not just a little mess but huge utter custard of images and sounds – you’d think I had just got the program out of the box and started editing that day. I’ve been doing this now for over three months – on any other scene I can drive that thing like a F1 car. Usually, I’ve been working with vision from a minimum of five cameras to handling up to 8 to 10 video tracks – I’m a high performance machine.

[As an aside – I do not refer to my script as I edit – so the continuity is all in my head and based on the good take.]

This should be a cinch yet the beautiful designer baby had turned out into a monster…

How could this be?

What happen I think is that as I worked around the performance I lost track of the logic of the scene – my mind couldn’t recall what happened when and where and…disaster.

I looked at it – I’ve been working on this scene the longest of all – tweaking every nuance. Fourteen hours over three days of solid work.

My eyes were stinging – my mind was numb. My heart was – well - bleeding lifelessly on the floor...

Late Sunday night - I started back from scratch. Yes – threw it all out.

Still not there yet – but as is the case, I’m rediscovering the scene and I can tell you that there are more great moments…it rocks.

[yet to edit the closing sequence – I will have to watch my step there too.]

Nearly there boys and girl – nearly there – I hope I can surprise you all with the finished product.

Will keep all posted…

Unafraid of the dark

Had a great session yesterday – till 1 am – fantastic stuff...sounds images cuts, cuts, performances...

I was enthralled by everything - and I’m tough audience - usually fall asleep watching action flicks (don't ask)...

I’m either extremely deluded or I got something special – time will tell.

Editing and other loves

Edited way passed my bedtime last night – got caught in the excitement of it all - everything clicked – the camera work, the direction – oh yeah - and the performances(!)

The edit is reaching a point where the film in my mind approaches (and becomes) the film on the screen…which is a special and unique place to be for any film maker.

I was tempted in sharing some footage with you all – but I’m going to be selfish and hang on to it for a little longer…in good time though I will have a cast and crew screening…

Editing @ 22 September 2008

Had wonderful time editing yesterday.

Spent over 6 hour uninterrupted and was able to edit three scenes and one sequence with multiple takes - multiple angles into – I reckon - a seamless whole - not without its challenges I might add.

There were scenes where the tail of one did not match the emotional intensity of the head of the next (great lesson learnt with regards to performances and direction of that performance across scenes shot out of continuity but which will then be cut together)

Thought I had it sorted – yet – there are small things like a body leaning in and then not leaning in – that I found jarring i.e. why would the character do that? And then you start to ask questions: how much time would need to elapse for the emotion to change to the next?
Also what can be done by un-synching audio from the visual? Namely, can the emotion be lessened if we only hear the words and see something else (not the body language)? The short answer is yes - but it depends!)

There were other takes where the emotional intensity – or whole performance really - changed mid scenes – but this was a plus as it enabled me to shift gears in the scene – which is the very essence of film making – the pure choices available to the director. – As I edit I must say that I am still spoilt for choice – yet to curse the director for not having covered this or that angle. Let’s hope it will all be this way.

As you read the above you can gather that I am moving beyond mere assembly and actually editing – oops – I was going to keep that a surprise.

The intention with regards to workflow was indeed to do a mechanical assembly but you know me - if you don’t you will now – ‘mechanical’ is not me - I just can’t resist temptation – after all ‘The path of excess leads to the tower of wisdom’

Or ‘If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.’

That William Blake was a wise man indeed…

However, this is still a (rough) rough cut – there are still many aspects that I haven’t even touched – yet it is far more than sticking things together.

The edit - choices- choices-choices

Going very well - very good material - the shots are great - shame the performances are okay (kidding...) - choices - choices - choices.

The software (FCP v6) is a dream and easy to use. Can do special FX, soundtrack and cut all at once - too many choices - need to develop my own working methods so not to digress - ha but what fun digression...

To date - 5 scenes out of 30 are at assembly stage. At this pace reckon end of October for the full assembly - but I might be able to move faster as I progress and get better accustomed to the short-cuts of the software....

Importing MXF files - or logging Part Three

I have found a faster way to import the MXF files - I do this during the day when I'm working elsewhere or overnight since it takes time - but it requires less effort on my part as the computer takes over - the plan of course is then to go back to each take and analyse it for details like slate info and performance.

Given the large digital data available - it is critical to 'chunk' the process - so that I can focus on each scene/sequence - with its many angles/shots.

Estimate 2-3 weeks before I can actually start cutting.

Logging - parte due - the horror...the ecstasy...

I'm getting better - no really - really good at copy files from one drive to another and then labeling each one with the right slate numbers...it is soooo much fun - fun- fun - oh look! butterflies! Pretty, pretty butterflies...

Okay - why does one lose his mind doing this?

Here's some maths - there are 62 cards for each camera x 4 cameras = 248 cards.
each card carries 4-6 takes/shots = between 1000-1500 shots to view and label...

No - I enjoy it - No, really - don't get up - I've got it sorted - would you like me to get you a drink while I'm up? San Pellegrino chinotto with ice and lemon?



I've got quiet good at it - when I see Deep (clapper) trembling - I know that there is really something special after the CLAP!

When he's too laid back - I just know there must be a plane or a dog - or pigeons or some other problem that will make the take NG (that's no good for those not familiar with the film world lingo) - so i just erase the take.

The problem is that many times he looks a little blank so I've gotta go through the whole take! Can you believe it - actually have to watch the footage!

(I kid I go through every take regardless - you never know when you can to discover the little diamonds in the rough - actors are funny creatures - sometimes you only see the truth before action and after cut).

Transfer files

The transferring of files and the setting up of the project continues well – I still need to go back and log all the footage – namely, name each file with the scene number, shot number and take.

I catch little glimpses of the footage – it looks great. Itching to actually start editing but I reckon two more weeks of organising the files before I can get into it creatively.

Some quotes that are appropriate for this time:

"Experience is what you get while looking for something else." Federico Fellini

"You exist only in what you do." Federico Fellini

"There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the passion of life." Federico Fellini

One of my favourite movie shots from 'La Dolce Vita'.

Marcello and Anita in the Trevi fountain - Ahh - what every red-blooded Italian man wishes for - a beautiful, exotic woman fighting to be kissed...

Technobabble (only for those interested in the minutiae of post-production technology)

I’m going over this for two reasons:

First sympathy - I need a hug.

Secondly - for the sake of clarity - since many of you may be wondering what the f*&^ is Phillip doing instead of cutting his film?

Anyway – here’s how I spend my time - you tell me if it is the normal thing to do for a healthy young man…

Moved everything from the three 750 Gb hero drives (RGB) onto a 2TB Macpower Taurus LAN Gigabit NAS, SATA-II HDD.

This drive is considerably faster that the Phillips drives - since it uses FireWire 800 and not the USB port (Phillips drives). the Phillips drives we used do not have Firewire output and can’t be daisy chained.

The copying took well over 18 hours (overnight).

Why did you do this Phil - I hear you ask - and if you didn't - you should bloody ask...

Well - the USB port engages the CPU - so it slows down the machine – the Firewire doesn’t do this to the same degree - so faster read-write rates and better CPU performance – so say the experts. So given that Firewire 400 is even faster than USB too – you can do the math and assume that FireWire 800 is even faster still.

Disappointed that no one pointed this out at the onset when we were shopping for drives - as the USB drives we used have little post-production use as the system kept crashing…

The money keeps flowing out – I now have 7 drives that store the data but are pretty much useless in post.

More technology fun; the files are in MXF format – no one informed me that these files wrap the video and audio components into a single file that then unwraps in Final Cut Pro (FCP v6) – well they unwrap if you have the right software! Again I was left in the dark about this – so I had to shell out more moneys to purchase plug-in software to read them…

Tonight I need to review the data and check that all the files were indeed copied over before I start the organising of folders/files/shots and takes…We're talking about over 2000 files - this is of course before the actual film assembly!

Now – isn’t this fun – hands up who wants to be a film director!

This reminds me of the following Murphy's Laws:

1. Nothing is as easy as it looks.
2. Everything takes longer than you think.
3. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
4. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. Corollary: If there is a worse time for something to go wrong, it will happen then.
5. If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.
6. If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.
7. Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
8. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
9. Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.
10. Mother nature is a bitch.
11. It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
12. Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first.
13. Every solution breeds new problems.
    
    

The Amor and Labour post

Just in case you though WTF about my last blog posting on amor and labour – here’s some context - I am stuck on labouring on the administrative hell of post-production: logging etc see previous post.

So I thought to remind myself of what is necessary to overcome challenges – is it love or sheer labour?

Anyway the love quote is a tattoo I’ve got planned for one of my arms – not sure whether left or right – will wait until I finish the film – might change my mind – as I usually do – about fickle things like sticking needles loaded with ink and infected blood in my skin…

BTW – I have received many emails replying to the blog – all positive thank Christ for that – but it would be better if you included your comments in the blog itsef.

Logging and other administrative burdens

Spent the week-end trying to sort out the project management aspects of the edit (trying the operative word here - since I am not sure whether I've actually succeed - I'll know tonight) – i.e. where to put the files? How to log? Which drive is best? How to access them? What is the best way to chunk the project so that the whole edit doesn’t grind to a screeching halt? Should I buy another drive to accommodate the data?

For those of you who know me – you’d know how much I hate this – it’s against my nature to get bogged down with the minutiae of process – I can accommodate the big picture and think how each piece will eventually fit in the big puzzle – but to stuff around with drives and connectors (USB firewire) - and should I daisy chain this or parallel that and do I edit in sequences scenes or the whole picture at once? And which folder contains what?

Incompatible with my immune system…I'm getting a rash...

Anyway – enough of my ranting bottom line – haven’t started to edit a single frame yet – f#&* me … mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa - should have planned the post better…