November 15, 2005
So here's what's going on with all of our films (minus one).
Just the other night, Brad finished the score and sound mix for Some Analog Lines. I sort of sprung the project on him without warning, and he very admirably took up the task and completed it within a matter of weeks. And he did a really amazing job - it's an incredibly simple, minimalist score, but from past experience, I've learned that those are apparently the toughest to pull off. It complements the picture beautifully. Some Analog Lines and 48 Ribs (both the five and ten minute cut) should be arriving in Beverly Hills...well, any minute actually, according to this FedEx receipt. Here's hoping they shine brightly.
Yen and James and I were in Austin over the weekend. James was auditioning actors there for his upcoming film, GDMF, which is a very risky project but which, if it turns out - if it doesn't fall short - could be really great. I'm producing it - a task which, for the time being, involves offering moral suport and offering suggestions such as the one in this e-mail:
DVD: I think you should change the title of GDMF to Myrrah and Antiochus.
JMJ: You and your damn English lit.
The auditions only lasted four hours, and the rest of the time was spent hanging out with friends, watching The Conformist (we missed the engagement in Dallas, but the print was spending a week in Austin, so it all worked out), watching the extra features on Last Days (that dolly shot - my god!) and playing this awesome board game called Hungry Frogs, which was basically just Hungry Hungry Hippos, with frogs instead of hippos. We spent a long time playing that.
We also had breakfast with Kat and Bryan. Bryan and Jake (who we'd never had the chance to meet prior) showed us the current cut of their latest opus, and listened to our feedback afterwards (which hopefully wasn't too redundant). I was hoping we could convince Kat to show us the rough cut of her film, but no luck...
In the middle of all this, Jim called us and told us that he secured foreign representation for Deadroom at AFM. We knew he'd been working on a deal there, but apparently it's now pretty much set in stone, which means that the film may be released after all - although not necessarily in the US. So now we have about three weeks to prepare all sorts of deliverables - M&E mix, commentaries, extra features, and all the other stuff we should have done a long time ago, before we directors prematurely decided that the film had no future. I could go into my mixed feelings about the film being released, but really - what's the point? Jim did a great job, taking up the reigns as a businessman and doing in one day what none of us artsy types could manage over the past eight months. That's why he's our producer, after all. He's coming into town on Thursday to help us put all the deliverables together, and also to solidify plans for shooting Yen's next feature, Ciao, in the spring (which has gone from being a miniDV film to something potentially much larger - as editor on the picture, I'm actually having to do research on various workflows, and I decided last night that I'm gonna push Jim to budget for a DI).
The day before the trip to Austin, James and I secured the camera package (Arri SRII) rental for The Outlaw Son and access to the location for the climax of the film. The shoot dates are December 16th through the 21st. Things are going to continue to move somewhat slowly on this project for the next week and a half, but come December 1st, craziness will ensue, as I try to balance rehearsals, ironing out production details, editing Deadroom stuff, going to Harry Knowles' 24-hour Butt-Numb-A-Thon with James and Amy, and probably a half dozen things I'm forgetting about at the moment. Oh, and final exams, of course. And because I don't like limiting myself in any way, I just signed up for classes for next semester, doubling the hours I'm taking this term.
Coming soon: crashing and burning, in the most glorious fashion possible! I can't wait.
Posted by David Lowery at November 15, 2005 02:21 PM
Comments
Congratulations, David. I'm pleased about Deadroom.
Posted by: Matt at November 15, 2005 03:14 PM
and i thought that i was busy...sheesh..
Posted by: brad at November 15, 2005 04:30 PM
Yeah, so the first thought that came to mind after seeing GDMF, was "God Damn Mother Fucker."
Posted by: Adam Donaghey at November 15, 2005 07:29 PM
that's so great, david....wow, very exciting range of projects....i can't wait to lend a hand/pull some cable on OUTLAW SON....i sent off my audition tape to yen for CIAO two days ago...so he should be getting it soon....congrats on amazing productivity....i'm very impressed. :)
Posted by: frank at November 15, 2005 08:27 PM
Wow! Make me grr with envy with your productivity. :) (That's a good thing)
BTW, I think DIs are completely the way to go. If you want some advice, shoot me an e-mail. Hell, I'm just curious to know the what you're thinking - my current feeling when I get money to do my short feature (sigh) is to shoot Super16mm, do an offline based on a telecine, get a negcut, scan that, then do a DI... Ideally, with something like Final Touch. Compositing packages like Shake while powerful enough to do DI work are just SO cumbersone to do anything remotely related to more than one shot.
DIs are good cause they = more flexible options in terms of deliverables, 'clean up' VFX work, and really let you push Super16mm to look frikkin' amazing.
Anyway, looking forward to the day I can watch Deadroom.
Posted by: stu willis at November 16, 2005 06:00 AM
Ugh, I'd hate to do DI in Shake! That's like editing in After Effects! Yeah, I'll send you an e-mail; and that recent post on the topic at HD For Indies was also quite helpful.
Posted by: Ghostboy at November 16, 2005 01:10 PM
but editing in After Effects can be done.... and so can a DI in Shake. Hell, I'm fwork with guys who did an entire DI in Shake at 4K about 3 years ago for a Hollywood feature.... unbearable pain is what they describe it as... but it happened.
Its the toss up between going to a proper facility that costs money and thus limits your time, to spending all the time you want with inappropriate (but effective) tools.... Sometimes the latter is better than the former.
Posted by: stu willis at November 17, 2005 06:08 AM