In a nutshell:

1. Got the pick-up shot re-shot that I needed. It’s the opneing shot of a child (or is it…?) drawing a picture while the lead character speaks in V/O. Nic, the editor, felt it didn’t quite work as shot, and given it’s the very first image we see, we thought we’d have anoter crack at it. Big ups to Daryl Habraken and Peter Simpson who shot it and provided the RED camera respectively. Thanks, too, to Auckland University (whose camera it was, and whose studio and lights we used).

2. Got the drive back to the editor to do the final off-line pass with the new shot.

3. Eddie’s now got a music-free version of the cut so he can start putting some music on it – including some composed by our female lead, Lisa Chappell. Can’t wait to hear how it sounds!

4. Have locked-in our on-line edit facility: Images & Sound where we’ll be doing our grade, credits, etc. I’m really hoping to get in there before Xmas, but failing that, it’ll be first thing in the New Year.

Oh, and who knew credits took so long to finalise!

The blog has been shamefully quiet for weeks (nay, months), so here’s an update:

1. The off-line edit is looking better and better with each pass. Nicola (Nic) Smith is doing a superb job – fitting it in between actual professional, paying gigs – including a telemovie directed by Simon Bennett, produced by renowned NZ film & TV production company, South Pacific Pictures, who made Whale Rider, amongst many others.

2. I’m in talks with various postproduction houses to do the on-line edit. Details TBC.

3. I continue talking with Kahra Scott-James from Entirely Sound about the sound mix, and also using her recording studio.

4. Musician, Eddie Gaiger, has come on board as composer/arranger.

5. Last week we recorded additional dialogue from our two leads (Craig Hall and Lisa Chappell) and our 1st AD (Tony Forster) who recorded the lines of the judge.

Hope to update more thoroughly when I’m over this damn cold! (Grrr… sniff, sniff…)

AUCKLAND

BRISBANE

MELBOURNE

in 2 months’ time. (October 2009)

They’re run by veteran screenwriter, PAUL MARGOLIS, and they’ll give you the tools to break into Hollywood as a writer from 10,000kms away.

I’ve had the pleasure of attending Paul’s courses and I learnt heaps. They’re as inspiring as they are enlightening. Unlike many self-professed script-writing gurus, Paul’s talking from the first-hand experience he gained in the trenches as a produced Hollywood film & TV writer.

Here’s a link to his site.

Check it out and contact Paul or me if you have any questions. I hope to see you there!

OnFilm Article June 2009

I think “pithy” or possibly “opinionated” would be accurate descriptors.

I may never work in this town again…

Excuse blog absence: 2 weeks in sunny Queensland is my excuse. A lot warmer and sunnier than Auckland right now – for those in the northern hemisphere: It’s mid-winter!

But very pleased to get a sneak peek at a rough cut of about 90% of the film just before I boarded the plane. It’s looking good! Hard to view it objectively when it’s so “raw”, and we may have identified one shot that needs to be re-shot. Fortunately it wouldn’t require any of the cast, so could be done fairly easily.

Nice work Nic!

Can’t wait to see the next cut – the final 10% plus responses to my initial feedback. That’ll happen Sunday night.

And a lovely accolade from script assessor extraordinaire, Michael Ray Brown who said this of the script:

“It’s great!  So refreshing to find an effective short that isn’t just an illustration of some joke. It’s really structured in three acts, like a feature in microcosm.  Lots of texture, poignancy, and manipulation of time in a way that makes wonderful use of the medium.  Well done!”

Thanks Mike!

Next update next week.

Lisa Chappell will showcase her impressive singing talents on the soundtrack of 'Be Careful...'

Lisa Chappell has kindly agreed to allow us to consider material from her debut solo album When Then Is Now for the soundtrack of ‘Be Careful…’
A copy of her CD is with the editor, Nic Smith, and we’ll try a few different tracks to see how they play under the images. I’m very excited about this idea as Lisa has an amazing voice and the idea of using one of her beautiful love songs as a sort of “siren song” (she plays a femme fatale, Fi) when she seduces our leading man is compelling.

But wait, there’s more!!

Now we’ve resolved the oustanding issues around the usage of Paul Kelly‘s song, Be Careful What You Pray For (see earlier post) I can announce that Lisa has agreed to perform lead vocals on this track, too!

This song was a major inspiration for the script. Getting our lead actress to sing it over the end credits would be truly awesome!

Watch for updates…

Paul Kelly’s original version is available on his Greatest Hits – Songs From the South Vol I & II, available at good stores everywhere (and even a few mediocre ones), including Amazon.com I can’t recommend this great double album highly enough.

Here’s a link where you can hear a sample of Be Careful What You Pray For - enjoy!

After MUCH delay, hassles, corrupted files, hours of synching, transferring between external hard drives and various Macs – it now appears that we do, at least, have the pictures and the audio onto Nic’s computer. Phew! Only took us two weeks… (OK, maybe not quite.) Sadly she (with possible further help from our long-suffering assistant editor, Daniel Struthers) must now re-synch the footage. This will be the 3rd (count them) time we’ve been through this process. But at least we’re moving ahead again. Can’t wait to see the first rough cut…

Welcome aboard Nic Smith! Nic (or Nicola) has edited a huge amount of produced TV drama, including the popular NZ series ‘Outrageous Fortune‘ and ‘Go Girls’. She’s got a window of opportunity before she dives into 8 weeks on a telefeature.

Toy Box are producing an ALE which is NOT a beer (in this case) but something that’ll allow us to cut our Red footage on Nic’s Avid without losing the metadata. I have absolutely no idea what that means, but it sounds impressive, right?

There’s some technical stuff to do first and then she can “dive in.” Can’t wait!