Wednesday, July 5, 2006

Editing Begins

18 hours of raw footage. Do you think we shot enough? Cue exploding head (love me some Scanners). That takes some time to sort through (a lot of time). I've been cataloging everything. Editing it all will definitely take a while (months? years? what day is it? what year? he can't be bargained with, he can't be reasoned with, and he absolutely will not stop until you are dead... I hope our movie is that good), but that's one of my favorite parts of the process. It's so interesting to play around with the order and length of shots, seeing how it affects the scene as a whole. One little cut can change everything, and it's been exciting seeing just how much we shot. I was able to work a little on it while we were filming, but now, I can really focus on it. Even in hell, your suffering will be legendary.

Sunday, July 2, 2006

Final Week

The light is best in the morning. Overexposure plagues digital (even HD), but it's easier that time of day. You can’t shoot in certain areas past noon since you run out of light and a giant green lizard tries to breathe radioactive fire on you. Stupid lizards. Once you’ve been in a place for a while (ok, maybe a month isn't that long), you start to get a feel for it. It’s always interesting trying to find new ways to use a location (ie not let anybody know you're broke as hell). You want to use your resources as best as possible without being limited by them. Whatever restrictions you have, you’ve got to use them to your advantage. I tried to craft a compelling story around two main characters, figuring I could at least find two good actors. The FX side was never going to be easy, but I felt confident there was a way to do it. In other words, dear movie, please don't suck.