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.

Festival Submissions

Yesterday was stressful, but productive. I was working fast to get two films ready to submit to the Florida Film Festival. The first was a 15 minute short: SAM RIVERS: JAZZ MASTER OF THE MOMENT. I'm just producing this one. Stephanie Rice directed and edited it. Ben Jaffe did a polish edit. I kept an eye on the DVD production and then got it over to FFF. I think they're interested and will seriously consider it. They can draw a lot of Sam Rivers fans to the festival if they screen it.

At the same time yesterday, I was polishing a 95% rough cut of DEAR MR. GORE. I submitted early to FFF with a hole for the Mayor Buddy Dyer ride. I also submitted an explanation of what else will change, such as beeping out expletives, audio and color polish, etc. I have no idea what the selection committee will think of this film. They may think it is self-indulgent hogwash. I went to bed last night sweating about it but at least I can say that I had something to say, shot a film about it, and actually completed the film. I guess that's worth something.

Now, it's onto the challenge of editing YOUNG COMPOSERS CHALLENGE, which is definitely a challenge to cut. Synching three different audio tracks is a nightmare, but thank God Tim is patient. More later.