 It seems like all I've been doing for ages is saying, "the film is nearly finished" and it is. What's been taking so long? Real life, day jobs, bills, mortgages and general cash (or lack of) problems. Not exactly problems - just reality.
The good news is our editor, David, finishes his TV job this week and the last couple of effects shots are almost ready for him to place into the film. It'll then be a case of creating a high-resolution version (of course the fx have already been done in full quality mode) of the film in preparation for the grade. Then it's about half a day of ADR and voice over recording before the sound edit and mix. The music is done - and it's amazing - there are SOOO many talent unsigned and unknown bands up here; it's been an adventure and a pleasure discovering them. I really hope people enjoy the music as much as I do. It's really gratifying to find local musicians who can replace the likes of The Prodigy, Bob Dylan and The Stone Roses! We are exploring the option of releasing a soundtrack album to accompany the film and it would be great if people could support the local musicians who have helped us out with the film. I have used the Spotify logo for this blog to signify discovering new music as it's a bit of a running joke in FNA that I don't really seek out new music - that's why I've surprised myself with the enthusiasm that I had for searching for new sounds and then seeing them fit seamlessly where a well known tune had previously appeared to be the perfect fit. Overall we are a couple of months (maybe even 3) behind schedule, but we should still be done this side of Christmas - as long as we have no other set backs or financial meltdowns.
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 We've had a further week and a half or so's editing since I last posted and all in all we're very happy with how the film is coming together. We are picture locked bar a few After Effects shots and the animation - so that's amazing! The rest of the week has been spent working on a trailer for the film and after a couple of false starts I'm happy to say that the trailer is just about done too. Pob came by today to record his voice over, which David and James will position on the edit tomorrow. I'm just trying to get some branding done for the film to incorporate into the trailer then we'll release it for your delectation - or not.
The next major phase of post production will be the sound edit and mix. James and I went to Jerry's (pictured above) studio in the shadow of the Stadium Of Light last week. He showed us his set up and talked us through the way he prefers to work. So I have been creating the exports he needs from us to make this work - David commented that I was doing a 2nd assistant editor/ assistant editor's job by undertaking the exports and up-rezzes that I'd done the other week! Such is a producer's job on a nano-budget film! We left Jerry's feeling very confident that the sound post will be in good hands - Jerry didn't seem overly concerned about the sound edit and he had some great ideas for the music too!!! The third part of my week involved hooking up with Amazing Ashleigh the Animator and getting my grubby little hands on the animation. Now if you've been keeping up with Ashleigh's blogs you'll know that she has had a technology nightmare on this project with snafus left, right and centre, if you haven't been - then why the hell no? Because of the aforementioned snafus we still have to composite the shots - but that shouldn't take too long, and we need to edit the animation to get it to flow exactly how we want within scenes 50 and 51. Altogether a rather busy but ultimately very satisfying week or so. Onwards and upwards (and a little bit of sideways.) Screenings soon!  Thanks Tina for the wonga Right before we get into it, let me start upfront by saying I appreciate that everyone needs to make a living. I'm not some silver spooned rich kid living in Kensington dahling - I have a mortgage and kids that need feeding just like everyone else. Sometimes though people take the piss - this happens on both sides of the relationship.
Unscrupulous filmmakers lining their pockets while expecting everyone to work for nothing (and yes I know people worked for nothing on this - but we didn't take any money either, paid where we could and have designed an equity share for all cast and crew); then there's the other side - which in this case involves - you've guessed it, music. While editing David, James and I have suggested various bits of music as temp score - this is temporary music that we use to pace the edit and to convey mood while we wait for picture lock and then do the music for real. Now as people who've made dozens of films between us, we are not so naive to think that we are actually going to be able to afford the Bob Dylan song we are using at the minute or the Stone Roses - but there was one song that I really hoped we'd manage to swing. It's by a fairly obscure contemporary artist on a small independent label and though I knew we'd be asked to pay for it - I really hoped it would be within our means. So yesterday, I contacted the label - explained the film, mentioned the budget figure and basically tried to appeal to their better nature - which clearly didn't work... they came back with a price THREE TIMES TOTAL BUDGET OF THE FILM! Now whatever budget you are on from £500 to £500,000,000 - at what point does paying three times the entire cost of the film for one song make financial sense??? I may be stupid but really??? 3 times the budget, on one song? Errr no thanks. Either they really don't want us to use the song (maybe they HATE this film) or they are just a bunch of charlatans... it's mad, it really is. But as ever there's a silver lining - the no last night sparked a great idea in my head and James agreed that it's a much better direction to take the soundtrack- and so we live to fight another day. |
AuthorWill try our best to keep this busy during the shoot and post-production. Archives
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