Dollars & Signs

2005-09-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

Deadlines... dunno about those things. I need them of course. Desperately.

Today is the 29th of September. Of course I am over a month late for my original EARLY deadline for Slamdance. Currently I am waiting to hear back from a local dealer who has a copy of necessary software on the way (dammit I just realized I left my phone at home) in order to do a master sound mix for the movie.

The film will be screened as part of indie memphis (I hope) and then who knows? Maybe a fundraiser screening? Perhaps there will not be a need for anymore entries after that, or perhaps I will have more to say in January and February... who knows. That's the funny thing about films, you just never know whats going to happen. Unless, your BIG TIME and then you know you only have to have a huge first weekend and then kick back and rely on the DVD sales.

I saw The History of Violence last night. I don't think it was a bad movie, I just hated it. It had only a few things in it which I would classify as worthy of my attention. I also realized something's in there... I will expound on them later. And by later I mean 2006.

2005-08-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

The screening is complete. It was really what I needed. That said, as the movie ended, before the lights turned on, I was really feeling the old expression... "deer in headlights". It's been a long time since I put something out there that was so personal, and it felt quite scary to show it to so many people before I am 100% happy with it. But, I needed to be scared... I needed to show it to people at 70% in order to get it to 100%. That's me. That's how I work.

So, what's next? I will make changes this week, and then into post hopefully by next week. Still, August 29th is my deadline.

:)

B.

2005-07-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

I have chosen to try and put out to tape first. The first two times there were little glitches in the first five minutes, so now I am restarting the computer and opening Final Cut Pro without any other programs running, and we'll see if that helps. I cannot really live under these conditions on a regular basis.

:)

2005-07-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

9 hours later. A little less than 3 hours of a sleep. I have a few additions to make, and then to burn a DVD, or if that takes too long just put it straight out to tape. It's funny what I stress out over. A harddrive collapses and I hardly bat an eye, but I spend two hours trying to decide whether to include one 30 second scene. Ugh.

2005-07-28T22:51:00.000-07:00

It is almost 1 am. In 19 hours I will show a cut of D & S to the first audience of any size.

I had a bit of a setback today when one of the three firewire drives I have been keeping media on for D & S collapsed. It is an old drive, and I was wise enough (surprisingly) to back up my project with the media manage tool about a week ago. So, for the most part I was able to pull all the missing clips over from that timeline into my current timeline. I did however lose one scene which I had just added in the last few days, and a number of hours of rearranging existing scenes. Ahhhhh.... you can't beat the dog that bites the hand that feeds... technology (the dog)... me(the hand)...

2005-07-23T16:16:00.000-07:00

I will be in touch with everyone, but for those who don't know there is a small (closed) screening of A cut of Dollars and Signs this week. It is to prepare for submissions to festivals and give me the opportunity to watch it with an audience.

2005-07-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

The great lesson of life has to be how to live in the moment, because only living in the moment can protect you from ALL mental pain and suffering associated with aging. I mean, by "living in the moment", being present with your actions. I used to get mad at Mary when she was always telling me to be present. I was like,damnit, sometimes I DON'T WANT to be present. So leave me alone. Now, here I am so many years later considering how it can really save me from the most unneccessary sort of suffering. That is the suffering which comes from hypothesing. So instead of letting my mind run wild to thoughts of the film or girls or family, I can simply focus on the measuring cup I am using to see how much water I need to put in the pot to boil the macaroni... and everything becomes more dealable withable. Right?

Another way to look at is, to live as insider. Sometime I get too far outside myself, so I have to do something to get back into myself. So that could be another lesson for me, how to stay inside myself. I think rituals may help me with this, cooking, jump rope, something of that sort.

You see where my head is at. This was the journal I had easiest access to, and I just wanted to document these thoughts as they occurred.

Truly, I won't speak about this stuff again, movies and stuff from here on out, promise...

B.

2005-07-16T12:02:00.000-07:00

An anthem should be a __________ which one can believe in without reservation. So what happens when something you believe in that much dies?

2005-07-07T22:18:00.000-07:00

We've got three days of shooting scheduled to fill in some structural holes and apply some touch ups to what we've already got. We have been struggling with the structure of the film, for many weeks (months?) now, and its look we are getting to a point where its not going to change too much more... somethings added, some subtracted, but the core remains the same.

That means word of a screening is pending, and just so I follow through on my word, I want everyone to know Denny has been given his month warning and that it was a few days ago.

2005-07-06T11:06:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah baby... we're getting close.

Plus, I want to remember some things I said to Nicki in Danver's this morning. Maybe you'll find it interesting, maybe you won't.

I am reinterpreting in my head now, which I really didn't want to do, but its been a few hours. There are different reasons to make films of course. One myth I think a lot of filmmakers are under is that you can change someone's life for the better with a movie. Take for instance the idea of "the mainstream movie going audience", the people who go to all the shit we don't want to see, to all the movies we think are vapid, ignorant wastes of time, think of the millions of people who go to see those movies around the country. Now, think about making a movie. Think about how narrow minded some of these audiences are. Think about how they just want to be entertained. Now think about making a movie. Think about who you are going to show that movie to when you are finished with it... I am thinking about that. I don't think Dollars & Signs is going to change anyone's life who doesn't want their life changed. Dollars & Signs is not going to make someone who doesn't want to think about race, think about race. It may only begin the process of opening the door for this person to think about race. A movie is so much the beginning of a conversation and so not the end of one. That is why I appreciate movies that are not just about entertaining audiences, and not just about convincing audiences of something. All these ideas are partial. Not fully developed. But maybe there are three different types of ficitional films, propaganda, entertainment, and hypothetical. I mean every categorization is just a way of understanding something. It is not, and should not, be a prison for people's brain to live in. I am just trying to differentiate my film from other films by saying I am not trying to dramatically change peoples live with my film (though a part of me wants that to happen with everything I do) I am only trying to open the door for them to change their lives themselves. I want to encourage anyone who sees my film to remember that they can change if their lives if they wish, and that in order for their lives to change they HAVE TO WISH IT first. There. I said it.

So nanh.

2005-07-02T16:41:00.000-07:00

Andrew and I just watched an 77 minute version of the film. We both agree the structure is so much more solid. Last week he suggested it could be less than 90 minutes, and when he said it I realized he was right. I started thinking 83 minutes. But today, I had a huge emotional reaction to his suggestion of making it less than an hour long. I can't see working for this long on this project and making it less than an hour. Why? I don't know exactly. Maybe it is ego. Maybe it is insecurity. Either way I know I hate the idea. Then, the fact that I hate it messes me up. Why should I hate that idea? If it is a better film at 55 minutes than it is as 83 minutes then why shouldn't I just accept that? But then, maybe it's a better film at 30 minutes or 15 minutes. Or whatever. I don't know. I just want to make sure it is an 83 minute film because it needs to be an 83 minute film to "tell the story" that I want to tell. If I can tell that story in 55 minutes I should do it. No matter the psychological or emotional impact it would have on me???? I think it just gets to the whole question of why I am making this movie. Why am I making this movie? Who am I making it for? Me? You? We? If the last one is true, that means I want "we" to be happy with it and get something out of it.

Shit. I am missing something here, does anyone know what it is? I know I shouldn't stress out about it too much. I know it will be the length it needs to be, but it is interesting that I had such a reaction to the idea.

2005-06-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

This is ridiculous. The structure of this film keeps changing. I have worked it over so much in the last week I am beginning to feel like I should screen it with a constanly changing structure. I don't know how this would work technologically. Maybe we would somehow set a scene selection to random on a DVD and just see what happened. But...

I think I know when to stop editing. That is really one of the things that is going to determine the strength of the film I think. I should not overedit. I saw a film recently that I think... oh yeah, it was Crash... if they stopped editing 2 weeks before they actually did, the film would have been better. Not so trite, not so tied up, not so intricate in cliched ways. Yes. That is it. But right now I do not need to stop. I need to keep going. Though I could use Andrew's help. He has had to take a break. He doesn't feel it.

:(

Can somebody make him feel it please. Get his ass back in here.

B.

2005-06-24T22:47:00.000-07:00

Trying to avoid the computer all night, I have hit a spot of quicksand. But...

I am pushing forward.

B.

2005-06-18T15:53:00.000-07:00

Let's see if I can recap and categorize our editing process in a way that may be helpful to myself or others.

1. Shoot a movie.

2. Begin editing on individual scenes, focusing on obtaining a rough cut of each scene. Follow your instinct, your heart, your intuition, your head... whatever you trust the most. I personally cannot tell you exactly why I chose to edit the scenes in the order that I did, except to say that it wasn't my head that was leading me.

3. As you edit individual scenes place them on a master timeline, each scene a single clip. (i.e. drag the sequence with the scene on it down to the master timeline and it will appear there as a single clip in FCP).

4. Once all of the scenes are on the master timeline you can watch what you have all the way through and decide whether you wish to continue being an editor/filmmaker or whether you would like to go be a shoemaker in Italy (I read that Daniel Day-Lewis did that not so long ago). In my case I have decided to be continue being a filmmaker after watching the 2 1/2 hour version of Dollars & Signs.

5. Based on reactions and notes from the rough cut, cut out all of the scenes which you have doubts about, and keep only the strongest individual scenes.

6. Arrange the remaining scenes in a structure that works loosely. (Dollars & Signs has greatly benefitted from Andrew's willingness to work long hours during steps #5 & #6. He was able to cut stuff out that I would have been too attached to, and the result was a version of the film that was 90 minutes long. He accomplished this by working one scene at a time and piecing them together in TEST SEQUENCES. By the time he got to the 90 min. version he had four of these test sequences.)

7. So now what we should have is two master timelines. One with each scene as a single clip and another which is all of the individual clips. I think it is helpful to have both of these because, say, I decide I want the first scene to be the second to last scene it is so much easier to make that change on the master sequence made up of whole scenes than it would be on the master sequence made up of all of the individual clips. The problem here is that you may have to make changes to two sequences instead of one, depending on how major the changes are.

8. Now watch the 90 minute version, and "based on reactions and notes from the 90 minute's, etc." (i.e. see #5), although the only difference is here you may be adding some stuff back in. Stuff that was cut because it was assumed to be non-essential may need to go back in, depending on your reaction to that 90 minute cut.

8. So, that's where I am right now. It was so much more messy than this of course, and this enrty itself I find to be fairly messy. I am currently burning a DVD of the 90 minute cut with a few things added back in from Andrew's version. I am going to watch it on a different TV to get a fresh perspective on it. And then return to it with a vengeance.

Hope all of you are well.

B.

2005-06-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

Well, Adam emailed me three very small quicktime movies of his footage, and it's on. We got it. That's the good news.

The "other" news is that after a night of editing I am concerned about the arrangement of some of the essential elements of the story. I mean, I know I just have to go with my feeling. Admit the fear then set it aside, but I am afraid I am going to dig myself a structural hole that I will not be able to climb out of.

"Onward through the fog."

B.

2005-06-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

I'll tell you what. Yesterday afternoon I was freaking out. I had been searching through all these stock footage archives looking for footage of a polar bear eating a walrus for the first scene with Mike and Dave. Well, I was starting to get that feeling of one who is engaged in labor they know to be fruitless. I was feeling frustrated, banging things around, and just had to walk out of the apartment.

I walked to Nicki's. She's gone to a script supervisor workshop in NY, and she left me somethings on her back porch. Right before I left, though I had emailed, this one guy, Adam Ravetch. He has a video production company in Victoria, B.C.. His website listed some footage of polar bears so I told him what I was looking for. I admitted in the email that it was a shot in the dark. I mean, hell, I'd been to National Geo, the BBC, and all the other huge corporate stock footage houses and hadn't found what I was looking for.

Well, when I got back, I had received an email from him and he described his footage and we agreed, it was a shot in the dark that hit right on....

More later, the person who is going to help me with my sound just got here...

B.

2005-06-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

I kind of wish I'd made Dollars & Signs a cartoon. Oh, well. Maybe there will be a afterschool spin-off. It will come on right after reruns of Voltron.

B.

Are you conventional?

2005-06-12T15:40:00.000-07:00

Please feel free to expound on any response to that question... what does conventional mean? is it a bad thing? a good thing? Tell me please, I must know. I really encourage anyone who is reading this journal to answer that question. Believe it or not it will help both Andrew and I in the continued editing of this film.

Things are lovely. Andrew through a cut together over the last week that ended up being 93 minutes. I watched it and made notes and a few small changes and it is not at just a little over 90 minutes. For those of you who didn't know, that was my original goal. Of course that doesn't mean we are a few days away or anything. Somethings need to come out, other things added.

Do you think there is anything else to discuss?

B.

2005-06-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

I told Denny he would get a one month warning on any premiere screening, so everyone else can rest assured. You will also have a month warning. And that means I am not thinking about anything before the second week of July, unless it is a small rough cut screening.

The issue with music clearance was part of my focus last night. Ron Franklin cut a song for D & S with Valerie Joyner singing, that I was going to use in place of "I Wish I Knew How It Feels To Be Free", because of cost and a general uncertainty about how to proceed with the process of clearing music. Well, I found some great online resources last night via the following website....

http://www.clearance.com/get_yourself.htm

What else is there?

B.

2005-06-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

Dramatic realization today.

Andrew and I shot a dialogue I wrote last night, just for fun/practice. I cut it last night and he looked at it today. Afterwards he said "I don't know why anybody would want to see that." I thought it was funny and I agreed with him.

I continued to think about why scenes such as that were important, and what I realized is that I am interested in scenes which are not strong on their own, but become strong in a context. This is really where my mind has been at lately. Thinking about the positive side of groups. This scene we shot last night is not a "compelling" scene on its own, but if you put the right scene in front of it, and the right scene behind it, then all of a sudden it could take on a new profound meeting. So for me, it was good to finally be able to articulate a feeling I have had for a while about the type of work I am leaning towards. It is not as important to me, to make every scene "tight", and to get rid of all the weak scenes, as it is to find the best combination of scenes which are both challenging and engaging. There I said it. I hope I remember it always. If you see me around, making a film perhaps, help me won't you? Just drop me a lil' reminder...

B.

P.S. This is for Nicki... I think that where I fell off the wagon with Nobody Knows is in the engaging scene category. Sometimes I just wasn't engaged in the scene. I was often challenged by the scene. Therefore the balance we all know that I am seeking was not there.

;)

2005-06-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

Hey, I'm pretty happy about all this. How 'bout you?

2005-06-07T19:05:00.000-07:00

After looking at this new test sequence, these are some of my thoughts.

It is difficult to figure out the best way to work with someone else. It is also an ongoing process, although I do believe you can get better at it over time.

I think it was in this very blog that I called out Memento as the sort of movie I don't want to make. In that I mean there is a certain amount of gimmickiness to it, and it is a film that is primarily crafted in the editing room. I only want to use creative editing here, when it is necessary or serves an immediate purpose. I think I needed to see Andrew's test sequences to reaffirm that in relationship to D & S.

A part of me likes the departure from the sequential set-up we had a first. Another part of me thinks we are losing something I don't want to lose, and that is the notion of scenes. That is groups of events linked together. If you pick 30 scenes then try to tell the story in those scenes, that is interesting to me.

Now, instead of wasting more time talking to you folks, I am going to go back to the other computer and start cutting.

B.

2005-06-07T18:18:00.000-07:00

I am getting ready to look at the work Andrew did today. He spent most of the day on it. We are all lucky for his interest, because it will be such a better film because of his work. No doubt about it.

There is a good feeling going around here.

More to let you know soon. Maybe even a screening date is coming up. If anyone wants to do film festival research for me, I am now accpeting applications, and offering, um... um... Danver's burgers. If you're vegetarian you can have the salad bar. It's all-you-can-eat you know.

:)

B.

2005-06-04T18:35:00.000-07:00

Andrew and I watched all 2 h, 40 m of a rough cut today. I'm liking what I'm seeing. I think Andrew is too. We're both going to start working on it simultaneously here at the apartment.

I spoke to Holly on the phone yesterday. She is going to come by on Wednesday to look/listen to some of it, and help with audio post.

I am going to Harlan's show at the Hi-Tone tonight. I hope he's got a CD for me, with a rough cut of a song that I will be using in the movie on it.

Good stuff.

B.

2005-06-01T12:46:00.000-07:00

Met with Andrew. We're both back Home-Memphis. We looked at a bunch of scenes and both of are happy with what we saw. We just hope it can come together in a really good way.

Tomorrow he will take a firewire drive and laptop to the Co-op and start cutting.

I will be working here at Ron's.

Like I said, two weeks editing is the goal. Beginning today.

(But keep it quiet okay, I didn't tell Andrew about that two week thing. I didn't want to stress him out with more of my unreasonable and obviously unrealistic deadlines.)

B.

2005-05-31T13:54:00.000-07:00

Returning from almost home (Chicago) to home (Memphis) tomorrow morning.

The plan is for Andrew and I to meet up.

He is returning from home (Kentucky) to home (Memphis) also.

Two weeks of editing is the goal.

B.

2005-05-24T19:02:00.000-07:00

Another night wrapping up. I don't know that it is wrapping up, but it is getting later. It is nice to finally feel like editing Dollars & Signs is my first priority. I wake up in the morning, I fix myself some breakfast, and I fart around, and then I start cutting. I take a break for lunch and dinner, and an opportunity to stretch my legs in there, but besides that I am pretty much thinking about Dollars & Signs. There are loose ends. There are always loose ends. There are other knots that I am just beginning to consider tying... but tonight there is a breeze coming in through the window, and Memphis spring has not surrendered to summer yet, and I cannot imagine complaining about anything.

Hmmm, I'll go read Denny's blog, I'm probably getting too comfortable...

2005-05-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

Whoahoah!!! Things are good in regard of the film. All of the firewire drives are freshly hooked up to Ron's G5, a little monitor, which, ahem, really is not mine, has been set up next to the computer (but I mean, Morgan told me not to worry about it, and I haven't, and it doesn't seem like he has either, so, um, if you're reading this Morgan, and you're worried about your little TV monitor you let me borrow many, many months ago, I've got it. I'm looking at it right now, and it's got your picture on it. So don't worry), and I've been cutting away today.

Sound is scary.

2005-05-22T15:53:00.000-07:00

Today I am settling in Ron's apartment, trying to discover the password to the G5, and just trying to get comfortable. Right now I am very nervous. These days are all new.

Congrats to Eileen and the entire OOV crew for putting together a very entertaining show this weekend. At least I was entertained, and moved, yes I was even moved... pun or no pun it is true.

2005-05-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

Back in Memphis. I begin editing on the G5 next week. There are the final 11 scenes to work out. Everything else is layed out on a timeline. There is an idea I have for watching this monster cut, and then editing some more of it, and then screening a mini-monster cut to a small group, and then editing some more of it, and then... well, you get the picture.

Today I am not going to mess with the three firewire drives. I find the process to be very bulky now that I have the film spread out over three firewire drives, and I am somewhat reluctant to move them around a lot and boot them up and shut them down repeatedly. So I am going to wait until I can just hook them up to the G5 and go from there...

B.

Emotionally Ready

2005-05-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

One draft away from being finished with the Music Videos with the students, so I am prepared to move on. Today I began to.

I looked at D y S for the first time in over a month. It looks as if everything waited patiently for my or Andrew's return. I cut two rough scenes, and plan on finishing a third one tonight. There is something about this process that drives me crazy. I think it has something to do with how much I deviated from my intentions during production. Remembering back to those days where I was trying to convince all of you I actually knew what I wanted, despite the fact that I didn't have anything I thought I needed... ahh, those were the days weren't they? Missing vehicles, props, locations, etc., ya'll never even suspected a thing did you?

Now I am in Little Rock, AR, Sacred Grounds coffeeshop, on the patio.... I have cleared out a little side room at my Uncle's house, with large windows and lots of his books. It is working for me. I spent about 4 hours today in there. I would ocassionally wander out into the living room and turn on the TV (he's got good cable, sundance, encore, etc.) or sit out on his little minimalist deck and swing on his portable porch swing and read Rumi, then, when I was mentally and emotionally ready, head back into the little room with the big windows...

2005-05-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

I'll take just a moment to say rest in peace to the Republic. As it prepares to close it reminds me how important space is for a community. Where else can independent filmmakers, local and traveling musicians, artists, and potential soulmates accidentally bump into each other while pursuing their creative endeavors? I just appreciate it that's all.

I am going to Little Rock for one week to transition back into Dollars & Signs mode. After much life changing and a project with a hard deadline I am taking the upcoming month to focus on D y S. That is made all the more possible by a friend leaving a G5 in town, and me taking care of his apartment while he's gone. Don't worry, its all on the up and up.

So, look forward to what I will refer to as substantial progress over the next month... if not a completed film.

Peace to you...

Still Uncertain... Still Meandering...

2005-04-18T12:46:00.000-07:00

Continuing the thought from the other day, there are various ways for us to make us worthy to ourselves... as a filmmaker I could measure my success by the number of people I get to see my work, and by how many people tell me they like it... but what I am thinking is that I would rather have an audience of 10 people and an hour later or a week later hear them involved genuine conversation, than have a full theater and hear them telling me how much they liked it. Don't tell me you liked it, let me hear in your words that you liked it without saying anything so directly... that really is a dream for me. I think earlier somewhere in this blog joint I said I would love a standing ovation, but now I think what I am saying is that I don't need that. I want to not rely on the immediate responses of humans, because I often find immediate response to be contrived based on our expectations of the situations, and group dynamics, i.e. everyone else is applauding, time for me to stand up and applaud...

I am absolutely committed to the idea that I am the ultimate judge of the "success" or "worth" of my life... and I do not wish to base those feelings on the number of tickets I sell, or any other figures, or third party reviews, I just want to base them on the feedback I get from the people I meet. That's it...

for now.

As I write these things I begin to fear that I am preemptively making excuses for failure. That I really want that definition of success that everybody agrees with, in other words, that I want everyone to agree that I am successful. Then of course, I am in the clear, because if EVERYBODY agrees I am successful, then how can I question myself and my own worth?

Well, maybe I am... but I also think that historically speaking some of the artists who have influenced me the most were never numerically successful in their own time. The market never rewarded them in their own time, only the the tastes and desires of audiences over the passage of time. I mean really market success seems like a distraction to me. So without that, I seem to be able to only rely on my own definitions of success. That is why I think I am spending time on this now, because I am trying to shape my own definition before I get too far into it, and I've got a hundred people telling me that I should follow them to success. Because I want to succeed. But if I am committed to this approach, maybe I will fail to make a film that carries a million people in its first weekend. So then the real question is do I want to make one of those? I mean everyone thinks they can do a better job than who ever's doing it now. Me too. "I can really make a great Hollywood film that will pack the aisles and not cater to the lowest common denominator for audience approval. " Thats what I tell myself in a secret place maybe... ok, so I'll do it. I agree. I'll sign the contract. Give it a shot and see if it eats my life. That's the only way to know. Right?

2005-04-15T09:44:00.000-07:00

Oh, and as a sidenote... as I cut together these scenes for a separate documentary project.

There has to be someway to show these individuals stuttering over their words, and still show their humanity. As a matter of fact that is the only way to go. I hate to think about a world where only the best parts of ourselves are represented on film and video. Because, in that world, films will always only be a half-truth, and if I am going to settle for a life dedicated to a half-truths, I might as well do porn.

Ahem... excuse my crassness. It would be tasteful of course... more like art...

An Uncertain Theory

2005-04-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

After a conversation with one Craig Brewer I have gotten a hold of a little baby birdie of an idea. This could be ugly... it's like I'm trying to keep it from drifting away. Basically, there's lots of great shit out there. Lots of great movies, documentaries, finished, unfinished, etc... there's lots of great songs, paintings, books, poems, etc. There are also lots of great people doing these things right now, making films, writing poems, and I understand now... media is just a way to get to know yourself. The real point of media is not to change the world. It is a tool to better understand yourself, and if you can acheive a high level of understanding with yourself then you will, in my hypothetical world, make great media. Ernest Hemingway and my great-great grandfather may be no different. Celebrity is a bitch anyway. I am just throwing out thoughts now. This is not pre-packaged. It is just a transition in my head. The films I make, I want to teach me something about myself. If they do not, I should not be making them. They should also reflect my personality, my hopes and dreams. Oh, perhaps this is beginning to sound a little self-absorbed, and perhaps I should take the attitude that media is here to bring humans together, but I'm not sure I believe that. I believe it is here to be used by the greatest number of people to their own greatest benefit and that society and audiences will pick the ones they need. We can get rid of the notion of a single history. There is no single history. There are multiple histories for communities and individuals. The history of the Memphis filmmaking community I will tell will always include Blue Citrus Hearts as much as the Hustle & Flows, the Right Questions as much as the 40 Shades of Blue, the Media Co-ops as much as the Film Commissions. There are so many audiences out there, who cares who's is the biggest? Would you rather have a big audience, or a small audience that loves you and treasures you and your work? Like I said, celebrity is a bitch. Keep your doses small.

Oh, and can anyone tell me how to post pictures to this site? I know that's why this blog hasn't hit it big yet. There are no pictures. Man, I'm gonna put some hot pictures up and EVERYBODY AND THEIR MAMA is going to be checking out this blog. Mmmmhhmmmm.... can't wait....

(oh and what about the middle of may for a screening date? what do you think?)

2005-04-07T14:54:00.000-07:00

Oh, what trip you may ask? I forgot to give details.

http://facing.org/facing/fhao2.nsf/regional/memphis?opendocument

Click on the more selection below the photograph of all those kids standing in front of the bus.

2005-04-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

Update. Over 90 minutes of rough cut lay on the master timeline. Another 40-50 to go? It is difficult to resist the temptation to begin moving scenes around and working with the structure of the whole film, but there are still 10 to 11 scenes without anything resembling a rough cut. I am in a good place with it. I know I am going to have to put it on hold for a couple of weeks, because coming up I have to refocus my attention on another project which has a hard deadline of the 18th and puts money in my pocket instead of taking it out.

So, April 18th, a mini-doc at the Ridgeway High School Auditorium, free and open to the public. Pop in if you wish. 7-9pm. It was an amazing trip. I swear I think I learned more in those 6 days than I've learned in the last 5 years. The secret is, it may be one of THOSE events, you know, the kind that change your life, in, like a big way. You know the kind they put in your 500 page biography. The kind that make it into the movie, when your 500 pages are cut down to 90 script pages, resulting in a couple of moments on a screen, big or small. It may be. We'll wait and see huh?

2005-03-28T21:58:00.000-08:00

Also, a note on Friday's entry concerning "creative editing".

I think part of the reason I want to make a movie without relying on "creative editing" or heavy cutting is because part of the reason I am attracted to fictional filmmaking at all is because I want to work in an arena where I can explore human emotions, either my own, or an actors, or whomever. I think heavy editing can make a film more emotional if used well, but I want to remain true to the process of making the film. I want the editing to complement the performances of the actors, and not to be something which overwhelms or disguises those performances.

I am wondering if there could be a distinction between an intellectual approach to editing and an emotional approach to editing...

2005-03-28T21:48:00.000-08:00

Increasing my editing potential by experimenting with new ways of editing, I am reminded that part of being an editor is feeling like an editor. It is taking the craft seriously. This was referenced in an earlier entry, this "feeling" of being part of something more than my little laptop would suggest. I hooked up a Shuttle Pro, the one Denny and I split over two years ago probably, the one which was sitting at the Co-op unused for almost that entire time, and I took to standing up while cutting up clips, and I found I interacted with the clips differently. I don't know if I can explain it, I don't know if it supposed to make any sense, only that I discovered things again. It has been a long time since I felt like I was learning anything new in FCP. It just kind of got to a point where the buttons I didn't use, were buttons I was never going to use. It was as if I had convinced myself I had reached my skill capacity as an editor. I think that comes from not being around many other editors who have skill sets that challenge mine. I mean, don't mistake me, there are plenty of other editors in the city who are as talented, or moreso, than myself, but I rarely see their work. So I am left to flounder.

For some reason, that changed, and I am learning again. I don't know why, but I sure am happy about it.

Scene #20

A few lines of dialogue I wish I had included, or had gotten a better take of.

Mike: Can you imagine me driving this?

Dave: Get X to the Z out here and Pimp This Shit.

Mike: Thirdly its my dads.
Dave: Your dad is dead dude.
Mike: What's your point?

2005-03-25T08:04:00.000-08:00

Talking about editing with Andrew, creative editing is appropriate for this film. The thing is... it can't be some clever gimmick. It needs to develop naturally out of an approach to the subject matter. I don't know why I have this resistance to the phrase "creative editing." I keep thinking about Memento and I hold it up in my head as something to avoid. I liked the movie, but for some reason it is not the kind of movie I want to make. Here is a key. I want to make a different sort of movie. I actually want to make a movie that doesn't rely on heavy cutting to work. I want the cutting to illuminate the characters in some way, not the story. This is where Andrew and I agree I think. Ultimately. We want the stress to be on the characters, and not the story. But the question is, in this film, how well do the characters hold up, as compared to the story?

Here are a couple of other notes from the past few days...

Scene #12

What is the purpose of this scene? It could be the lead in to the Convenience Store scene. Besides that, it is an opportunity to show Mike and Noah bickering and tell the audience that Dave is reluctant to track over Noah's beat. Also to show Noah and the two other white boys bumping too some shit. I think some ADR would be necessary though, to kind of say "Turn it down, I can't hear you" or some shit. It should be silly and ironic.

Maybe we start at night so we can make a quick transition to the next day and we get an immediate sense of the passing of time. Credits come in with the transition to the next day.

Wonder if we try and limit the scope to a week. Is that reasonable? Let's try it... Saturday night to Saturday night.

Danita: Is there any fucking real news in this town?

2005-03-24T14:09:00.000-08:00

Oh by the way....

http://www.putdownthegun.com/DASgallery/

Thanks Robin.

2005-03-24T13:26:00.000-08:00

When we share everything with everyone, what is left for us?

There is not nearly enough of the feminine in Dollars & Signs at this point. I amputed Danita's sexuality, though Lisa of course brings her inherent beauty to the role. We were unable to shoot most of the scenes with Trina's and none with Mike's mother. Tara and Emily are the only pure expressions of feminine will that I have. But they are not mature expressions within the context of the film. How do you feel about that you two? I have no doubt that I am going to engage in some additional shooting to remedy this situation. It is a scary thought for me now. Pulling the camera out again, but I have to begin considering it, as the film comes closer to legitimate rough cut status.

2005-03-06T16:21:00.000-08:00

I was watching a program today, my uncle recorded it for me, about editing and editors. People like James Cameron, Quentin Tarantino, the editor who worked on Pulp Fiction, the editor of Cold Mountain, etc., talking about the process of editing. It was helpful to watch I think, because it puts the process I am involved in, along with Andrew, in a historical context, all the way back to the early American and Russian films which first used the editing techniques I take for granted. I am so far away from their discovery that I forget they have names. They just exist to me. They are. I have no organized approach to editing. No real theory. Although I think perhaps there is a theory somewhere within me, I just have not drawn it out yet. I mean these men sit in one room and cut a 2-hour film that millions of people will see, and they take as long as 6 months sometimes. I have worked on Dollars & Signs in a Starbucks in Dallas, the Republic coffeeshop, the Media Co-op, a little farm area outside of Oxford, MS, my grandmothers dining table, my bedroom... all on my little laptop. In some ways I am not connected to these editor's process at all, but in some ways I am doing the exact same thing they are doing... faced with the same choices. What stays in? What goes?

Today I started to cut down Tape 10 (Dave and Mayor, Dave in record store) but I noticed one of the clips has no audio, so I have to recapture it. Luckily Ron asked me to take his camera home after we shot him at the Deli last night, so I have that option.

2005-03-04T10:39:00.000-08:00

A librarian at the Memphis Public Library just walked up to me and told me I was doing something illegal. She was serious. I am watching a copyrighted movie in a public space. I have been watching Serpico all week. I set my laptop up and pick the DVD off the shelf and watch 20 or 30 minutes of it, so that by the end of the week maybe I've finished it. It's kind of like a poet keeping a book of poetry near, I guess. But for some reason, though I can sit and read books in the library all day, it is illegal to watch a movie. Of course, she also told me she couldn't do anything about it, just that... its illegal. So if I continue this is like my own little sit-in against copyright law.

Anyway, back to Dollars & Signs. I have been focusing on the peripherals of Dollars & Signs the last couple of days. Yesterday I printed up a final budget and and prepared to mail it off with the other documentation to SAG. I also broke up most of Tape 11, which includes the scene at Dave's MeeMaw's house, Carlton talking to his family and Dave playing Carlton's record. When I am done breaking these master clips into smaller clips I will go to the Media Co-op, and use the FCP Media Manage tool to copy them over to the firewire drive Andrew is working off of.

2005-03-02T13:03:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I spent four days on a little farm about 30 minutes from Oxford, MS capturing ALL of the remaining footage onto a brand new 200GB firewire drive. The money to buy the drive came from a job I was doing for a friend, transferring his old family 8mm films to DVD for him.

So, it was a fairly smooth process. A number of times FCP crashed on me while capturing a clip, or the computer froze and I had to reboot the whole thing, but for the most part it was a steady flow of data. It literally took all weekend and then some. Approximately 200GB of media, which if you use the 6 minutes per gig rule equals out to 1200 minutes... or 20 hours.

Also some of the clips were, without any sense that I can see, captured in at 29.97 instead of 23.98 which meant I had to delete them and recapture them.

All that behind me, the firewire drive is now sitting at the Media Co-op, and even as I type Andrew is working on cutting a new scene, the "Why are we doing it?" scene where Dave's path starts to diverge from Mike's.

Anyone got a spare firewire drive?

2005-02-22T15:19:00.000-08:00

A few days later and still the question remains. Where will I put the rest of the footage?

I simply do not have the money to purchase a new firewire drive right now. So the project is stalled, in a sense, because of finances. I have finally paid Darius for his time. I have still to pay the remaining amount to Tim and Morgan (Fox not Stewart, sorry girl!) and then I will be clear to focus on the smaller accounts payables still outstanding. I have completed 1 of 4 documents necessary to get my deposit back from SAG. That is a full detailed budget. Hopefully the other three will be smooth, and out of that money I can pay off Morgan and Tim.

As for the firewire drive, I am hoping for a small payment for a job I hope to finish in the next two days. That way I could purchase the drive this week, and be underway again.

At the Media Co-op today, Andrew, Morgan and Suzie saw the scenes I cut in Dallas. I was nervous, because I only expected to be showing them to Andrew, but Morgan and Suzie's presence was appreciated in the end. Especially because they know what is helpful to say and what is not it seems. In other words no commenting on the sound quality or the length of the scenes.

This weekend is a Spike Lee festival at the Ridgeway Four. I strongly recommend EVERYONE going to see Do The Right Thing as it has a strong conceptual relationship to Dollars & Signs and is the the film which originally flipped the "I might wanna be a filmmaker" switch in my head. Shit, if I had any discretionary income I would take all of you there. Oh, and my 30th birthday is Thursday. Love me.

http://memphisfilmforum.com/2005/Dir_Series/Lee/Spike_Lee.html

Scene 49. The Second Meeting.

2005-02-17T20:03:00.000-08:00

I am having much difficulty with this scene, (49) Second Meeting. We have so many takes of it, I feel handicapped when trying to choose the "best" one. There is no "best" one. There is only the one that works. Writing that out helps me to remember it.

I have it down to just under 9 minutes. It started out at around 12 minutes. The scene itself we shot in its entirety each time, in 6 different takes. So what I have done is try to combine two of the takes to give a stronger sense of the tables being flipped between Mike and Carlton. This is one of those scenes which was really driven by the actors. Morgan and Darius both had some sense of the direction, but in the most recent draft of the script I had deleted all of my dialogue, and put the scene in a text box implying that it was to be improvised. This was partially because in the workshop this scene was one of the strongest we played out. I think that also put some pressure on the actors because the workshop was so good that there may have been a fear that we couldn't acheive the emotional connection we did in the workshop. If I had been more organized then I would have probably had them review the workshop scene. Since they didn't, a part of me fears that their discoveries in the workshop were wasted. That I lay on my own shoulders.

This Saturday I get the Panasonic camera back for three days in order to capture all of the remaining footage. The only question I have right now is, "Where will I put it?"

Impulse

2005-02-14T08:39:00.000-08:00

I just saw a wonderful movie called Charlotte Sometimes. I bought it on an impulse for $8 because I knew it had Cody Chesnutt's music in it. I finished the movie, and felt that it has some really powerful moments. Worth watching again. Now I'm watching Roger Ebert interview the Director, the Producer and two of the main actors on a big stage in front of a big audience. It was shot on DV in 14 days and won an Independent Spirt Award/John Cassavettes Award.

This is sort of my ideal for Dollars & Signs. I mean, heck, I'll even take Roger Ebert.

I woke up too late this morning to go edit. It kind of depressed me, so I went out to the pool at the apartment complex Ben and Carissa live in and jumped in. I've been wanting to do that since I got here, but today was the first day it was somewhat warm. Somewhat... I could only stay in there for 5 minutes. It was icey.

I get on the train tomorrow. I will arrive in Little Rock at 12:30 am. Anyone wanna pick me up?

Scene 44. The Laundromat

2005-02-11T17:37:00.000-08:00

Looking at the laundromat scene a few things occur to me. Basically how I approach a scene is that I set a somewhat random running time for it in my head. Like for this scene I said 3 minutes. Not because I think it will run 3 minutes in the final film, but because I have a sense that I want it to be slow pacing. So I take the first length that comes into my head and I push it a little further. So I thought 2 minutes, realized I don't want to limit myself to 2 minutes at this point, so I gave myself 3. Heck, now that I'm writing about it I may even give myself 4. We'll see how the scenes come together.

I want the music here to be sparse and light and melancholy. Good thing we have adjectives to describe things write. Otherwise how could I ask for anything specific since I don't know how to play it. Something like "The sky came down to the rooftops" by Dianogah is too orchestral.

I want this scene (44) to be an opportunity for the audience to sort of take in where there at.

Editors Note: The rough cut of the scene clocked in at 3:13

The Way It (Could) Be

2005-02-09T17:46:00.000-08:00

Here I am in Starbucks cutting the Indian Restaurant scene. It is impossible to focus in Ben's house because of Penn. He is just a presence in your mind at all times unless asleep. When he is awake you cannot escape him or thoughts of him. So here I am, and I am building off the two minute version Andrew has already cut, and now I am trying to get a few more bits of info in there and still not make it longer. Ultimately I want it to be around 2 minutes. I was orginally shooting for 90 seconds but I think after seeing everything we've got, I'll be ok with a 2 minute version for the rough cut.

Yesterday morning I came here also and cut a 3 minute version of the scene where Danita meets the boys. It is either directly preceding the scene I am cutting now, or just a few scenes in front of it.

Hopefully I will be doing this every morning until I return to Memphis on the 15th.

I am really happy with how the scene yesterday came together. I wish I could carry this momentum back into Memphis with me, but truly, I find it almost impossible to concentrate on editing D & S while I am there. The only thing I can attribute it to is that there are all these things in my mind demanding priority over it. I don't know. Maybe I just need to find a regular escape.

Damn.

2005-01-24T13:34:00.000-08:00

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000770031

The Nutty Professor

2005-01-18T22:53:00.000-08:00

Does anyone know who Az Yet is?

City of God influence in the Life Aquatic

2005-01-15T13:21:00.000-08:00

I have noticed the times associated with each of my posts are about two hours off. Do not trust them. Especially if I invite you to join me in the children's section of the public library.

I am preparing to leave for Dallas. In less than two hours I will be on my way to Little Rock where I will catch a train to Dallas.

I will miss each of you. Or the idea of each of you. Or perhaps I was already missing those of you I haven't seen in a little while, and this will be no different except that i will not be able to comfort myself with the fact that I may bump into you the Emergency Room at Methodist Hospital, or Shnucks, or Studio on the Square for a couple of weeks.

Music has started to integrate itself into the rough cut. Local emcee/producer Ennis Newman or Fathom 9 has provided a number of tracks to incorporate into the score, I have spoken with Harlan T Bobo about recording one of his unreleased songs that I heard at the Hi-Tone last month, and we are looking into some clearance issues with songs by Nina Simone (don't laugh! it's possible), Aceyalone, local forgotten soul hero Lou Bond and Morcheeba.

Mike is more traditional music, Dave is underground hip hop, and Carlton is late 60's, early 70's soul. All of it the rawer the better.

I will be taking the raw tapes with me to Dallas, and Andrew has a number of scenes on the two firewire drives at the Co-op and will be working towards a rough cut. Right now, I have to say... the shit looks great. The most difficult task will be integrating some sort of consistency in either the style or the structure or the film. Of course the audio is going to be a blip also but . . . that is for another post.

Twister

2005-01-12T09:34:00.000-08:00

Right now I'm actually in the childrens section of the public library cutting down the Danita and Brett looking for a tornado scene so Andrew can get a hold of it later today. I think its a very funny scene.

I'll be here for another hour if anyone wants to visit me. :)

The Life Aquatic

2005-01-12T08:14:00.000-08:00

Over the last week specifically Andrew has put a lot of work in towards reaching the goal of a rough cut. I am feeling more excited about the process, more connected to the ever evolving narrative of the storyline. I was definitely finding it difficult to concentrate through December. I kind of hate that I am leaving town this weekend, but I just want to try and make it work for the film in someway.

I really kind of hate the way I have set this process up. It feels so tenous. Moving all these harddrives around. One place to capture, another place to edit. From Christophers to my laptop to the Co-op. It's cool. It's just too many links in the chain. It seems like the more links the more likely one will break. So I guess its not that I hate it. It just adds a little extra anxiety to the whole thing for me. Next time I want a dedicated workstation with all the footage captured into it before we even begin. Then I want to acheive fiscal responsibility and a selfless commitment to my fellow humans. I think it can all happen at the same time.

Magnolia

2005-01-11T06:56:00.000-08:00

Everybody thank Mat when you see him for saving the Media Co-op computer. Morgan went out and got a new hard drive for it and Mat put it in. Mat's so good at that stuff. You know, putting stuff like that in other stuff.

Anyway.

A little bit on Magnolia, from an email to Andrew.

I watched the first 15 minutes of Magnolia (again) last night. I really "culled" a lot from how they did that with the unknown narrator and the stories which are only related to the "concept" of the movie. I saw Danita's opening package as a similar thing, just in a less intricate, more newsy way. Within that open there was sort of an irreverent tone set with the freeze frames and the fire transition, and I really like that. I would like the opening of D & S to be irreverent in a way that works for the story. Then the music kicks in underneath Danita trying to do the standup.

prudent/prurient

2005-01-09T13:02:00.000-08:00

March is no longer a reasonable goal. It is THE goal for a rough cut. The end of March to be specific.

Whether this goal is realistic or not will reveal itself over the course of the next month.

Alexander Payne

2005-01-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

Andrew just called. According to Tim the Media Co-op computer is fixed. What's that you say? You didn't know it was broke? Well it started to sound like it had a cold about 4 days ago, then it would click-beep-click, and move very sluggishly. Obviously it was just some passing bacteria if these reports are true.

I am still looking for a dedicated workstation. A G5 would be great. The Co-op's computer is obviously great, but not totally reliable. Or is that "totally great" and "obviously not reliable"?

I will be leaving for Dallas, TX in less than a week. There is much to do. Footage to capture, scenes to cut, conversations to have...

2005-01-03T18:59:00.000-08:00

Andrew and I no longer have to share a single laptop. The Media Co-op workstation has been upgraded to FCP4 and has a Hello kid. firewire drive connected to it with a total of like, eleven scenes. That is about one-sixth of the total film.

I will be leaving town for three weeks during January to do editing work in Dallas.

March looks like a reasonable goal for a rough cut.

2005-01-02T13:52:00.000-08:00

It's a new year. I have spent more time in the last month watching other people's movies, than working on ours. Dollars & Signs has sat, quietly and patiently, while I have struggled to organize my time and thoughts. It is a vicious confession, but true nonetheless.

This is no resolution, but today I take the steps, small, to set this train back in motion.

brandon

todolist (revised)

2005-01-02T13:05:00.000-08:00

1. Ceiling at Monica's.
2. Glass pane in Corey's room.
3. SAG paperwork (incomplete paperwork, cover letter, receipt of payment, final budget and documantation)
4. Payment due.
************partial payments made**************
5. All releases.
******* meeting with Gretchen this week ********

#5 is new. #1-#4 are still unresolved.

2004-12-19T10:55:00.000-08:00

1. The ceiling at Monica's. One of our lights literally burned some paint off. She has probably fixed it by now.
2. The glass pane in Corey's room which we used for Mike's room was busted.
3. Finish all SAG paperwork and return it to SAG so I can receive my deposit back. This is one of those checklist items that
actually involves a bunch of smaller items to take care of, that I am too lazy to list. Ok, I'll try though.
a. Return 2 Incomplete Documents from initial paperwork with cover letter.
b. Principal performers paid.
c. Type up the final budget.
d. Fill out final documentation (Budget, Cast List, etc.) and return.
4. Pay all money owed to production team members for production costs (copies, books, etc.)
5. Get ALL releases together. That includes cast and location! If you are a cast member, and you know you still have your release form please let me know, and I will get it from you. Actually I will get it from you regardless. Don't you worry bout that.

The Other Post

2004-12-17T20:41:00.000-08:00

This is a post journal. So I am going to use it to cover a few topics besides the actual editing of the film. which are still post items. I will cut and paste as I cross some of them off the list, and remember new ones.

1. The ceiling at Monica's. One of our lights literally burned some paint off. She has probably fixed it by now.
2. The glass pane in Corey's room which we used for Mike's room was busted.
3. Finish all SAG paperwork and return it to SAG so I can receive my deposit back. This is one of those checklist items that
actually involves a bunch of smaller items to take care of, that I am too lazy to list. Ok, I'll try though.
a. Return 2 Incomplete Documents from initial paperwork with cover letter.
b. Principal performers paid.
c. Type up the final budget.
d. Fill out final documentation (Budget, Cast List, etc.) and return.
4. Pay all money owed to production team members for production costs (copies, books, etc.)

If anyone reading this has an item they would like to remind me about, feel free to do so. Be gentle with me though.

The Rough Cut

2004-12-15T19:02:00.000-08:00

highly

It is unlikely that we will have a rough cut done by the end of December.

you know... natural disasters and such.

More

to come.

Rendering Themes

2004-12-08T17:51:00.000-08:00

Andrew has had the laptop all day. He is near a stopping point with the scenes he has been cutting. There was a problem with the capture preset. Somehow when I was capturing in, it got set to 29.97 and the footage is 23.98 (that's Advanced 24P on the Panasonic Camera) and so he was having to render the clips when he put them on the timeline, because the timelines I created were also 23.98. To fix it, we simply create a new timeline that is 29.97 let him cut that footage on there. Then delete the raw media for those clips and use Batch Capture to bring it back in at 23.98. No problem. Right? We'll see.

RELATED TOPIC. Talking to Ron last night about The Man Who Loved Couch Dancing (his doc on Jeff Evans that I am editing) was very interesting. I found myself saying that the best filmmakers are capable of fulfilling the promise (a phrase he uses) of the themes they raise. In "The Man" the themes which are raised are age, sex, rock n' roll, memory, celebrity... and ideally the final film will reflect our understanding and connection to those themes. With Dollars & Signs it is identity, Memphis, social change, attraction (if we ever shoot the necessary scenes) and, to a lesser degree race and class. I think if we are aware of these themes as we go into the post process we are more likely to deal with them in an effective way. I am losing my inspiration for writing more about this idea. I want to say that my intention with Dollars & Signs is to deal with the themes I just mentioned, but to let them linger just above the character's heads, as they do in our real lives. Just out of reach, out of our control, but constantly influencing our actions.

progress nonetheless

2004-12-06T21:28:00.000-08:00

More capturing than editing today, but progress nonetheless. It is really the capturing which is so tedious. My mind desires to organize efficiently, but ultimately I'm not so sure it works.

I will definitely need to purchase another firewire drive. I currently am working off of two (one LaCie and one Phantom).

By the end of the night the first 10 scenes will be in the computer. Three of them almost rough cuts.

Oh, and if you ask me how its (the post) going when I see you... henceforth the scripted answer is "You can decide for yourself in a month". Oftentimes my answers to that question feel irrelevant, so I am trying to make you understand everything is as it should be with it (post) unless otherwise noted by me. Or you can ask a more specific question.

The Final Script

2004-12-05T23:54:00.000-08:00

I hope none of you are terribly confused out there. I know there are scenes we did not shoot, and you may have been in some of them. But at this point I want to take stock of what we have. Perhaps the story is already in the scenes we have shot. Perhaps their is a piece of the story I will not understand until I see its basic infrastructure. If we had stayed 100% true to the script of course I wouldn't be looking at it this way, but there was much deviation and improvisation. So in a sense the final script is being written now. In the editing room.

2004-12-05T10:04:00.000-08:00

Ok. Update. I've logged and captured 4 additional scenes and am, at this very moment, capturing a fifth - 3 for Andrew, 2 for me. I am trying to capture them all in clips, but a few of the shorter scenes (Danita's opening package, polar bear machine) I am capturing in an entire block breaking it up on the timeline and then using the media manager to eliminate the parts we are not using.

It's funny. I am sort of nervous to even cut some of the scenes for some reason. I can't quite say why. I feel like I might not be able to cut funny scenes. Thats why eventually feedback will be so important. We'll see.

Also I've written all the scenes we shot on index cards and we have a total of 66 scenes at this point. That is a minute and a half per scene, as an average. Of course some will end up being 15 sec and others will be 5 minutes. Yikes. It is going to take a lot to cut this you-know-what down to 90 minutes.

Cool. I'm going to check on the capturing.

Scene Info
Logged:7
Captured:6 1/4
Rough Cut:0

2004-12-04T11:33:00.000-08:00

No progress. I've been holding the whole thing up. In a transitional move I've been taking care of my Mother for a few days, and haven't been able to log and/or capture anything. I'm sure Andrew is chomping at the bit, losing sleep, etc. Hopefully today I'll get a few more scenes in, and we'll all be able to rest easier.

Post-Production begins

2004-12-02T23:19:00.000-08:00

I am trying to think of a way to write this that can be uniquely mine, but I don't know, I think this one is about content. So the form of Dollars & Signs (the content too) is entering the final shaping stage. It will not be a short stage, though with the help of another pair of editing hands (Andrew's) I hope we will be looking at a rough cut of the film no later than the end of December. Hope. Hope. Let's all of us do it. Ok? Hope that the goals we set for ourselves, we are moving closer too. I hope it for you. If you hope it for me. Ok. I'm done.

Too scenes are in very rough cut stages and I am capturing selections from other scenes to the firewire drives. At this point we are a little handicapped by our editing suite so if anyone knows where I can find a room with a futon and a G5 which I can have extensive access to please let me know. Or if you just want to buy a G5 and let me and Andrew move in with you for a month... that might work to. Don't worry Andrew has to go home to Kentucky for Christmas so it won't be too crowded during the holidays.

Hope everyone is doing well. Talk soon.