It is finished.
In 48 hours we conceived, created, and polished a 7 minute film.
In retrospect there are things I would do differently and ask for up front. I know my job better now, and will research it further to become extreme post production supervisor number one! I'm going to sum up my other blogs on this in one blog to keep things organized.
6:30PM on Friday I begin to set up the network at our edit camp. I get everything hooked up and wait for crew. The first folks start arriving (sound first) and we get moving. The editor arrives, sets up and then leaves. He returns sometime around midnight to 1:00 (making me nervous). He left again around 6:00 in the am, which made me nervous. That being said, I want this exact crew next year. They did such a good job that one would swear this was a group of friends who made movies together all the time, then went and hung out at each others houses.
Saturday morning it seemed everything was either on schedule or ahead of schedule making our critical path happy. Critical path represents the timeline that determines if you are on time or behind time based on a series of work packages. I found out Tuesday night that I was going to be post production supervisor. I didn't know what that means; I still want to know more. So we were ahead, somewhere between 1:00 am Saturday and Sunday night things went from ahead to on schedule or slightly behind schedule. Some of this was due to makeup; some was due to waiting for proper time, or for planes. I was still confident 4:00 was our wrap number. That number became 7:10 our final time.
I mentioned before we had sound issues. Most of these issues were on the post production side trying to get the sounds Ike wanted for music, and foley. Our post sound guy LOVED our boom guy. The sound we got from set cut out a lot of foley need. We had to do some color balancing and other techy stuff to get everything looking right, but it was just a thing to the guys.
We sent our first tape at 6:30 with our producer as a safety. If we were unable to get our final fixes in he would turn in the safety tape. Our final tape made it in with 10 minutes to spare. Afterwords we all went to our own after party and the single voice that came from everyone was, this crew rocks. The actos were troopers and did a great job.
This is probably the most fun I have had without my family in years. Due to marriage and a child I don't get to work with Ike as much as I want to. I would love to work on every project Ike does. This project reminded me of why I went to college. I wanted to act and work on movies but somehow wound up in Theater instead. I always tell people there are two things you should never compromise on, Houses and sports cars. I'm thinking of adding in dreams. Never compromise your dreams.
I have to admit, I was worried. Not worried while doing the project but worried about the crew. I had never met most of these guys, the boards were quiet, it seemed like communication was not happening. I had resigned myself to having to kick ass, live on the phone, and QC. I was wrong. This group is more like a group of highly skilled friends who started a business and love doing it.
We are not complete yet, but we are so close that I have no worries. We are adding icing after review and I have not seen a single thing added that I felt was out of place. I have learned so much on this shoot. Next year will be better, more organized, more in communication. I know what these guys need, I know how to schedule them better, insert bionic sound here (da da da da da da)
While there is no substitute for talent, there is also no substitute for a team Given talent and teamwork I would choose teamwork. The dynamic never became dour. We had no squabbles, no people on pyramids. We would take breaks and talk about where we were and what was needed and any added benefit that would not cost us time, or if it would was could we mitigate the risk.
The editor is editinng, the director is editing, the after effects guy is after effecting and advising the director. The sound guys are pouring over the final sound.
I was doing Foley. I was taking some serious body blows. If you get to go see our film "The Gift" you will hear me getting beaten. I grunt good or so I've been told.
The only thing negative I have to say about participating in the 48 hour film project is that I have spent the entire weekend away from Mayumi and Oakel. If we win, if we don't take a single category, I have not seen them. I know that I have much more time to spend with them, but you can never regain time regardless of how hard you try. I wish I could find a way to involve Mayumi and Oakel, although I know it will be years before Oakel can participate in a way that doesn’t take a person to control his contributions.
We had downtime. I made sure we were up to speed on editing and told the editor to take a nap. I planned for him to have a 1 hour nap worst case 2 hour expected and 3 hour best case. His wake up time was based on the next tape delivery which was projected 2 1/2 hours from sleep point. He got 4 hours. Our editor is fresh like a daisy and good for another 24 hours which we won't need. The after effects guy is on task and ahead on the next edit. Sound guys are fixing some bad sound issues and have wrapped the director's changes to music. I think we will wrap this tape edit in 3 hours tops (for the editor) and get it to the after effects guy in pieces while he edits concurrently. The 3D guy is working from his house on the end credits. We should have complete credits and thank yous within the hour. I think we will close earlier than planned I would love for those who will be attending he after party tonight to have a nap ahead of time so they can enjoy themselves.
I am feeling amazing considering the little sleep I've had. If I had only had this much sleep during a work week I would be a zombie, but I'm feeling pretty sharp and I'm getting things done. Another thing for next year is a complete phone list. Speaking of phones I think the earpiece on my phone is dead so I have to use speaker phone.
At some point, I want to sit with the shooting crew and show them the raw footage. When football or basketball teams finish a game the coaches watch the game to see what did and did not work, and to look for improvement for next time. We can see which shots were most versitile, what we missed, and what we nailed.
16 1/2 hours into the shoot.
Script check
after effects check
editing check
sound check
There have been some unforseen obsticles which I will make sure are addressed next time. These include making sure all camera batteries are chaged prior to the night of the draw. The editor needs to not have a project to deliver the night of the draw.
Have many many more power stips than you think you need.
I'll be scouting a base camp during this year to make sure we have a central location with phone, ample tables, several rooms that are networked, and a fridge. I'm going to research cell plans that let you use your cellular as a modem. On site communication via trillian would be nice.
That being said, this is going well. I think we will come in well under time.
I hate being sick.
I hate taking medicine.
These two statements are, unfortunately, married at the hip. When I was little I used to have to take medicine for some stomach thing I had, I can’t remember what, but I convinced myself that the pills they were giving me were placebos. I was in the second or third grade and knew what a placebo was. I just impressed myself, whatever happened. Well, I’ve been sick. I had either my first or second sinus infection in my life shortly before one of my best friends weddings, of which I was a part. I had just gotten to the nice random drainage stage two nights before the wedding and was still on random purge right before the wedding. I forced myself not to drain during the wedding by will power alone. It wasn’t 10 minutes after the service that I was grabbing tissue to plug my nose. Well, nice imagery there. I went to see my doctor and discussed methods other than anti-biotics as I really really hate using those unless you need them badly. I managed to control and overcome the infection with some herbal supplements. I did not, however, completely get rid of the cough.
At my age, and knowing what I do about my “ever so delicate” body one would assume I know how things affect me. You hit me on the toe with a hammer and it is going to hurt and swell, and you better be watching your back. Well, I didn’t watch my back and Thursday my cough started to hurt. Friday I took a half a day off. The weekend was painful. I took many herbs. I drank many a tea. I stopped eating. I lost 6 pounds. That last statements is more meaningful knowing that one of the things I could eat was ice-cream. Solid food has not been my friend, and I’ve been supplementing with V8 and milk (skim, calcium enriched for my pleasure). I felt so bad over the weekend that I could not play Guild Wars. C’mon. Sitting in front of a screen clicking a button every now and then? “Yes” I say.
One of the more annoying symptoms is I am fatigued for two reasons. Firstly, I’m sick. Secondly, I can only seem to sleep during the day in naps. This is day three of not being able to sleep at night. I had 3 hours last night, 3 the night before. I had NO naps today. Yesterday I had a 3 hour nap when I had planned to get some things done. I think I actually scared myself awake last night but I’m not sure. Last night I visited a very special Rob place™.
I had gotten Mayumi and Oakel in bed. I was feeling hot and cold and coughing hard enough to nearly make myself vomit. I hear Oakel start talking. He does this sometimes if he wakes up. He will start a little conversation, and if you catch him quick enough you can put him back to sleep, otherwise prepare for 30 minutes of work putting him down again. Time, about 1am. So I quickly jump from bed and make my way to his room. He’s completely asleep. OK I could have sworn.. Then I hear the babbling again. The words aren’t really words but there is a conversation going on, and someone else just joined. I listen for a minute unable to make out a single word. I listen to see from where in the house the sounds are coming from. I suddenly understand that the AC vent is talking to the dish washer. Everything on my back stands up and my body finally decides to loose that Hot feeling and jus stick with cold. I run down to the kitchen, drink some water, thank the dish washer and go into the basement where it is quiet, and hot. I can’t sleep there either. I bounce between the bed and the basement until about 4:30, once actually putting Oakel back to sleep, and finally around 5:00 I sleep. 8:15 Mayumi tells me bye, and Oakel is still downstairs when she leaves.
So the earliest I could get a Dr appt was today. I have bronchitis… again. It was playing with pneumonia but they just didn’t seem to be getting along this time. I have anti-biotics.
I hate that I folded to the drugs, but after the first pill of three in the treatment, and the first Allegra-D I feel much better. So much better in fact, that I am going to work in the morning to deal with some crazy fallout that occurred while I was out sick. Then I’m probably going to go home and take a nap, then go back for a meeting.
I hate being sick.
Another 4th has come and gone.
We packed up the car and drove 3 1/2 hours to my parent's house. We ate too much good food, visited with the extended family, rode the new boat, played cards, played with the nephews and nieces, watched some tv, worked on the parent's computers, but did nothing to actually celebrate the 4th. I was thinking about this alot on the way home. I think what I'm going to do next year is get everyone to write a postcard to a service member overseas. I was feeling guilty about my patritoism and my support for the country (not the president). I even took the time to talk to Mayumi about it on the way home and explain that it makes me feel guilty that we didn't do anything important today.
What did you do on the fourth? Did you do as I did and just sit back and have a good time? Did you call someone in service that you know and tell them you appreciate their sacrifice? Did you make a mental proclimation to be a better patriot? Did you have any reflection on the day and why we celebrate it?
I guess as I am getting older I'm getting more sentimental or I am actually beginning to understand the sacrifices and struggles of those who came before us. Hopefully I can pass on some of the respect I have developed for these people on to my son.