The Advocate Trailer Released

With the movie nearly complete, today we released our very first trailer for The Advocate. Check it out via the link below and let me know what you think!

The Summer of Tweaks

I spent the last months nipping and tucking on this thing as well as working on color correction and sound. We had some great discussions and feedback as a result of two test screenings of our various versions of the film, then an awesome note session with director Gil Junger who recommended some further tweaks. But as a result, I think I can say that The Advocate is finally locked now.

After all this, our first trailer is scheduled to be released this week, so watch this space!

Deadlines and Moving Parts

Our new poster, designed by Dylan Hay-Chapman.

I’m sleep deprived and a bit delirious so I figured, how about a blog post? With deadlines approaching, I’ve been cramming to finish a preview cut of the movie for festival submissions. It’s exciting and exhausting times, with a lot of juggling of moving parts, but it’s all coming together.

Under the audiophonic wizardry of sound mixer Scott Jennings, we’ve enjoyed some all-nighters to get the first version of our sound mix into a listenable form. At the same time, Smart Post Video in Burbank is designing our opening title sequence, and judging by the initial renders, at least the first minute and a half of the movie is gonna rock. And as I write this, I’m listening to our new version of the opening music theme, composed by Frederik Wiedmann--it’s turning out really amazing!

Over the next few days, we’re scheduled to make our first festival submissions. That is, of course, if we manage to get over some last minute glitches with the output. There’s always something, always another bug to fix. But luckily we have the right team to fix them.

The First Picture Lock

Editor David E. K. Abramson at the controls.

Having spent over a month sequestered in an edit bay, I'm happy to announce that the first picture lock is now complete on my feature. Though it's not the final version of the film, it is at least close enough that we can start mixing sound and working with music for it.

So far, editing has been the most fun part of this endeavor. After over a year of development and the pressures of the prep and the shoot, this is where the pieces of the story are finally put together—though in most cases this process resembles more of what I would call a Lego approach as opposed to an Ikea one. I mean a director might think he's handing the editor an Ikea furniture kit—the prefab pieces of the scenes, going with the assembly instructions laid out in the screenplay—however, what you really have is a Lego set. Provided that the pieces are all there, you could assemble the same thing that's in the instructions, but you can also get creative with it and take those elements to build something even better along the lines of the original concept. This Lego approach is where the fun comes in. There are cases where this can also be the director's nightmare, when such last minute re-imaginations of the story are absolutely necessary in the cutting room just to ensure the damn thing makes sense, but thankfully I was spared of that—well, so far at least.

With this movie, we were lucky enough not to have to get too creative with the editing; the pieces and the blueprint came together quite well if you ask me. But we were also fortunate to have enough material to have some fun Lego time as well, and build on what we originally planned—thanks in no small part to the talents of our wonderful editor, David E. K. Abramson. The result? It’s not a book case and it’s not a plastic Death Star, what it is, is finally, a movie.

I'm looking forward to sharing the results with everyone soon.

Production Wraps on The Advocate

Well, it took a couple rounds of shooting, one in December and a second outing in February, but principal photography is now complete on my first feature. I owe many thanks to an incredible cast and crew, and our producer, Matthew C. Temple, without whom none of this could have happened.

The question that people ask me is: "What's the next step?" and to that my answer currently is: "Sleep." I need lots of it. Then it's back to the edit bay with our editor, David E. K. Abramson for the fun part, shaping all our footage into a story.

If you're interested in following the progress of the movie, you can sign up for email alerts here or on the official site www.theadvocatemovie.com, or follow me on Twitter @theharangi. The Advocate will soon make its appearance on Facebook as well.