The movie is getting closer to being finished, although I haven’t had much time in the last few months.  Now that I’ve finished the 5.1 audio mix and other editing, I’m doing a final check on shots and levels before I lock the scenes for good – meaning I’m hoping to never touch the movie again.  For example, today I found a shot where a glass was put on a table, but you don’t hear the sound of the glass actually making contact with the surface.  I added in the sound effect from another shot.  Good times.

I’ve also swapped out some of the music – I’m working on bringing up the “feel” of the pace, particularly early in the movie.  Swapping out a slower song and replacing it with something faster and more upbeat seems to change the perception of how long the scene “feels” rather than how long it actually takes.  You can see a visual example of this anytime you watch baseball on television; if you count along with how often they switch to a different camera angle, it’s often as short as three seconds!  I’m also a big fan of this visual editing technique, especially when the entire cast is sitting at the kitchen table and barely moving.

So here’s the deal: I’m using this post as a “To Do” list, so if you’re following along, here’s what I’ve got left.

Scenes that need work

Scene 0: need to pick up three shots

scene 18: pick up “fire” shots

The following scenes are LOCKED

1 thru 10

The following scenes are LOCKED

11 thru end

Scene 11 is made up of a bunch or so small scenes (numbered 11, 11.1, 11.2 and so on) and it’s one of the big bears of the movie.  Any time I get thru scene 11 on one of these checks, it’s a big deal, and hopefully, this will be the last time I look at anything.  I’ve still got more than half the movie left, but I’m trying to force myself to find time for this work every week, if not every day.

It’s been a long road, but the 5.1 audio mix is almost complete.  Agonizing over mixing each and every voice, sound and musical cue from a general mix standpoint and then into the 5.1 format is a big job and I’m so excited it’s nearly completed.  Some bits of the movie are harder to mix than others and seeing the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel is a huge relief.

That’s the thing about independent film: you have no release date, so you could work on it forever, so the possibilities are infinite, but there are only so many hours a day for me to work on the movie (sometimes none) – so time is a finite resource….  I guess it would be a finite resource even if I had nothing to do each and every day but work on the movie, which is not the case.

So anyway, the audio mix is almost done. As I mentioned a few posts ago, I’m working on a new cut of the movie.  That specifically means I added a new scene and I recut the original first scene of the movie, which took about thirty seconds out of that opening, a segment we were referring to as Katie Weigl, Hand Model.  And that part is still in the movie, but the pace is much faster and, in some cases, in a slightly different order.  I also made other changes as I came across them – for example, there were these two shots in the movie I hated and I finally realized I could change them.  It was a simple fix, but it took me a while to realize this – once I did, the actual work was easy.  I’ve found that to be the case in almost all instances – thinking up the change is hard, making the actual edit is an almost instant fix.  This is particularly the case in scenes with a lot of moving parts – a fight, for example, is a lot harder to cut than people sitting and talking at a kitchen table.

I don’t want to say exactly when I’ll be done, but I’m finally on the home stretch.  Here’s what I have left:

1. I’d say I have about ten to fifteen more minutes of the movie to mix into a 5.1 audio format.
2. Then, I’ll review each scene individually and give it a final “locked” seal of approval.
3. Finally, I’ll watch the entire movie, hopefully with some people that have never seen it and get some feedback.  There’s something about having folks in the room that gives me fresh eyes and helps me find mistakes.

After all of that is done, we’re going to enter a few more film festivals and investigate the streaming market.  Subscribe to the movie on Facebook or join the email updates to stay informed!

It’s easy to get distracted or frustrated, but now, I’m so close to finishing the 5.1 audio mix of Will Reading that I’m chomping at the bit to get it done.  There’s still a few mountains left to climb, but I’m certainly well beyond the halfway point.

Meanwhile, I’ve also added a few shots here and there and recut a critical opening scene, not to mention the new scene we filmed and added to open the movie!  Sometimes, it’s hard to tell what you’re missing, and identifying the problem is only the first step because then you have to find the solution!  I think we’ve done that with this new first scene, or “Scene 0” as I the sequence is labelled in the edit.  Meanwhile, I cut about 30 seconds from the movie that no one will ever miss.  I never realized how unbearably slow the pace was until I watched it on a big screen with an audience, so never underestimate a true test screening!

I should also welcome our new cast member, Jeanine Conrad!  She stepped in and did a phenomenal job and we’re lucky to have her in the flick.  Another note:  I’m very excited to add some music from Dylan Curry, who you might better know as Old Cousin Bigfoot – check out his show on YouTube!  His tune really upped the energy at the opening of the movie and it makes a HUGE difference.

Well, that’s all for now.  Stay tuned for updates!