Notmuchofabreak Days 3-4

Yesterday morning was a rush of preparing the Ellis films onto every format known to man. We never got word back from the folks at the Phillips Center on how they wanted us to deliver the films so we brought up DVDs, QT files, even DV tape. I wasn't looking forward to the drive, but seeing the films on that huge screen in the auditorium was definitely worth it. I was very pleased and I'm looking forward to March 20th when they'll play behind the ballet. We've decided to tape the whole event with two HD camcorders (Chris Walker, I'll send you a copy... the films contain some of the footage you shot for me).

Today I felt moody, and resentful of all the people enjoying themselves at the beach during spring break. It took a lot of motivation, but I sat at the computer all day going down a list of things I wanted to accomplish... from burning DVDs to sending them off to festivals... to following up on all the things I've been putting off communicating about. I must have written three dozen emails at least. I rewarded myself by riding my bike to my wonderful hot yoga studio in Longwood. When I'm in Gainesville next week I'm going to try to go to a hot yoga place up there that I've heard good things about.

I'm worried about the films, about finances, about putting on weight, about worrying. I feel self-centered and edgy. I want to spend days alternating between cleaning my house and walking in the woods. I dream about being on a boat in the middle of the ocean. I miss the people I like who live in other places.

Heading to Jax tomorrow for the 15K River Run, a 7-year-long tradition. I hope to get some beach time while I'm up there... staring at the water.

Breaking Spring Day Two

Just slightly more energy today. I took a bike ride up to Walgreens yesterday and bought some meds. One of them (Advil Cold and Sinus) had something in it that required my signature and drivers license. I guess that's in case I'm running a Meth lab. It certainly juiced me up yesterday evening. I enjoyed the new daylight savings time by cleaning up branches and pine cones in our yard, which is a totally neglected disaster. I can't wait to stop spending money on films and get my house put back together.

Anyway, this morning I laid out my new notecards and got to work on wrapping up Act1A: the technology session of the workshop. At the end I found a perfect transition to last year's winner. Steve Goldman plays the midi of Joe Columbo's orchestra piece. This will go well into a bite or two with Joe, who then talks about Stella, so that will get me to the concert. I hope it works.

I had to break in the middle of the day to pick up my laptop, which has been transformed from a tiger to a leopard. I guess it can climb trees now. I also got the final cuts of music from Stella for the Ellis films. After a quick stop at the grocery store I was able to drop in the new music tracks without much trouble, thank goodness. Ben showed me a great procedure for doing this with markers inside the sequence.

Tonight I wrapped up with a little more digitizing. I won't get much done tomorrow because I have to drive to Gainesville for a screen test of the films.

Interesting note of the day: The "Sarasota 350" is holding an "alternative film festival of rejects" across town, during the Sarasota Film Festival. I like this grassroots idea and as a member of the Sarasota 350 I submitted Dear Mr. Gore. If you want to learn more, read this article in the Sarasota Newspaper.

Spring Break Day One

It's official: I have a cold. I am feverishly blowing my nose and staying in my pajamas all day. I don't have much energy, but I see this as a good thing because it's forcing me to sit at my computer and work on my film.

Today I went back through the first five minutes of YCC and discovered two important things:
1). It needs more energy
2). It needs more structure
These are two things that most documentaries need when they are first being born, I think. So, I made notes for Tim where I think it drags. Then, I went and found more sound to give it more structure. I still struggle with inserting new clips without making the whole sequence go haywire...knocking things out of place, unsynching the audio, etc. If anyone reading this has any suggestions, please let me know. For now, what I do is make a copy of the project and fiddle around with the copy. Then I show Tim the copy and he "does it" to the original. I know there must be better ways to operate. It's a good thing brain surgeons don't work this way.

This evening I made several index cards and placed them on the piano in my edit pit:
First card: Central Organizing Principle: Talent and Perseverance lead to Creativity and Success
Second card: Act one must answer two important questions: What is going on here? Why does any of this matter?
Third card: Act 1A: The workshop (list of elements follows)
Fourth card: Act 1B: The rehearsal (list of elements)
Fifth card: Act 1C: The concert (list of elements)
The end of Act 1 will be Stella Sung taking a bow. I've decided I need just a few title screens for transitions. I still like the idea of a "young famous composer history" at the beginning and I have two students trying to find me drawings/photos for that.

It was definitely worth taking a day just to observe, take notes, organize and regroup. This spring break is going to go by very fast.