The Long and Winding Road

So it's been almost a month now since my last entry. Sorry 'bout that.

But there really is very very little to report. Post-production for this project involved less people than any other period. At max there are three of us. Me, Ben (for the music), and Hunter (for the trailer), but the other two are still a ways off from contributing because I still don't even have half the movie cut.

But since last time, I have started a job. I'm working at the film center doing graphic design work, so that's nice. It gives me money, and somewhere to go, and expands my design portfolio, but it also gives me space from the project (no pun intended). So I come to it wanting to work on it. Like this past weekend, I cut the hot tub scene which is the first thing I've cut in about three weeks. But I was really craving working on it for the first time since I finished production.

In the past I've always worked vigorously to finish editing a project almost immediately after shooting it. The longest turn around was probably for "Making Of," which I think I had cut within two weeks of wrapping and had music and sound mixing and everything done within a month of wrapping. I had more of a deadline for that project too though. I went into editing this project knowing I had 8 months to work on it so I think I'm just naturally procrastinating a little. But it was also such an overwhelming effort to get the film shot that I think I really needed to take a break and get it out of my system and come back with a fresh point of view. I didn't really get that right after shooting. I kind of forced myself to jump into editing. But I think now I'm starting to get the pacing right and am finding myself wanting to go back to certain scenes and see them cut together. My interest is come back after being completely burned out on it.

I've also been finding myself unable to stop thinking about what's next. Some part of me (I suppose the writer) feels like I've finished GOS. Like it's done and I'm ready to move on, even though it clearly isn't done. So my mind has been wandering into some very exciting territory for my next film(s). Let's just say I'm going much bigger...to the extent that it would only work as a studio project. And I'm even considering it as a trilogy. We're talking epic blockbuster stuff...basically the movie I've always wanted to make. The kind that has all of your ridiculous impulses in it. It's quite a departure from this quiet personal little film I'm finishing right now too.

I'm still really excited to see how GOS ends up though. You know, it's not perfect. And I suppose that's part of where my hesitation to edit it comes from. I know some scenes aren't what they could be, and I don't want to assure myself by seeing them finished. On the other hand I'm excited about a long editing period too because I have time to refine things to the best of my ability. So ideally, I'll be squeezing every last bit of potential out of what we shot. There's just still a lot of work to do. I feel like with this project more than any other because I want to do it right, post-production is just like production in terms of stuff to do, except I'm walking around literally doing everything (except music). It's not just assembling the footage...I'm really going to have to EDIT this film. Put all the right little touches in. It's exciting and scary because while I consider myself an experienced editor, this is really in a lot of ways my first real editing experience...and I have to live up to my own standards which are far higher than anyone else's.

On a personal side note, it's also really weird to be working a full time job for the first time in my life. I'm used to weird schedules and inconsistency and being my own boss and not making money. Always living on the outside of the real world in this weird space that most people don't really ever experience. Now I'm a part of this world that in some way I've been attempting to enter through the most difficult path I could imagine. I've come in a different door that now seems almost too easy. I don't have the same view I've been aiming for, but it is weird to actually be in the same building as everyone else now. I'm in the real world. Which I guess can be good and bad.

For now though, I'm really happy. I've got a job I like and I'm good at, I'm making money and art, and I'm also in the process of finishing my first feature film in my free time. I really couldn't ask for much more at this point in my life.

For everyone that's waiting for significant updates about GOS though. You're just going to have to sit tight. It's still going to be a while. The best you can hope for is a full trailer this summer.