Round Two

I kinda forgot to post for most of May. Sorry bout that. I moved, and put on a big event for my day job, and you know, life bullshit. So I stopped blogging. But if you worry I stopped working on Diamond Bar, fear not; I'm making steady progress on The Edit: Round Two.

The Edit: Round Two is a hybrid pass at the edit. The first step was watching through the rough cut with master cinematographer Ken / good, DB-unaffiliated friend Maddy. Ken took notes, and afterwards we had a good chat about what needed fixing/cutting/polishing. Now, I'm back at my Final Cut bay (also known as the futon in my living room as I hunt for a new desk, the old one couldn't fit through my old bedroom doom), taking a look at each scene, and fixing it; sometimes just sightly tweaking the edit points, sometimes wholly reconstructing it, sometimes even leaving title cards where I intend to put pickup footage to be filmed soon. It's a challenge, not least because of Ken's enigmatic notes (what the hell does "flow interference -1" mean?), but also because second passes suck. Writing is more fun than rewriting, and editing is more fun than re-editing. As a writer, I often get away with first drafts, because I'm lazy and talented, but I'm determined to get this edit perfect, and that means real re-edits.

At the same time, I'm creating the sound mix. This means first and foremost layering the Flip-recorded sound with the lav-recorded dialogue I painstakingly labeled and categorized back in February, but didn't include in the rough edit. Finding each line, and adding it to the mix at a precise position and volume to sound clear and avoid double-tracking is a bit of a chore, but it's made much easier because of the earlier labeling I did. I think using multiple sound sources on every line will give me a rich vocal sound that's, dare I say it, quite impressive for such a low budget. It's hard to tell at this early date; I'm eventually going to have to import it into another program to compress, equalize, and perfect the mix, but at this inbetween stage I like it a lot.

Also involved in this step; creating and adding SFX (thank you freesound.org!), and replacing most of the temp music with budget-friendly, contractually approved music (more in another post). Plus recording every line obscured by any sort of noise or mic error, to be redubbed in a June looping session. After the loop, it's time for the final sound mix, a short round of pickup footage with Chelsea and Nick, the final edit with incorporated new shots, and topping it off with a round or two of color correction and adjustment. It's a process, but it's fun.

Listening to: Michael Mayer, Slowfood (the German techno producer, not the fictional serial killer.)
KOMPAKT Label on Myspace

Short One

First edit is done. Preparing for next stage. More details to come in less than a week
All I'll say now is I'm really sad my blog music sharing service of choice, Lala, is disappearing. Apple better have a replacement in the works, because if they're just stabbing a great site in the back Netscape-Navigator style, I'll be pissed.
I'll have a new song service next post, hopefully.

Listening to: Caribou, Odessa (great production on this one)
Caribou on Myspace