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.

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.

Week Two

A few pics from the second week of principal photography on The Advocate.

 

The First Week

Sachin Mehta as defense attorney Ray Shekar.

Five days in, the production of my feature is proving to be a roller coaster ride. We have an amazing crew who saved my ass on a very tough day. I'm also fortunate enough to work with a great cast led by Sachin Mehta and Kristina Klebe.

Kristina Klebe (Halloween, Chillerama) as Allyson Daugherty in The Advocate.

 Next week, the ride continues.

The Best Test Short I've Seen

Camera "test shorts" have been an interesting youtube trend over the past two years. With new digital recording products being released seemingly every two months, filmmakers have been eager to take these toys for a test drive, and in the process this new sub-genre of indy cinema was born.  I've seen my fair share of them lately as we're looking into various visual tools for The Project, and last week I came across this particular test piece on Vimeo, done by John Brawley, comparing various film and digital formats under available light.

Out of the scores of similar shorts, the brilliance of this particular one is that he doesn't tell you which format is which until the very end, hence allowing your eyes to pick up the subtle, and sometimes not so subtle differences on their own. For this little conceit, I nominate this for 'Best Test Short' of 2011.

Brawley tested—not in this order—35mm,  RED MX, Arri Alexa, 16mm, Sony F3, Cannon HDSLR with some interesting results. His Vimeo page and blog has more details as well, well worth the read.

Available Light Shoot - The Results from John Brawley on Vimeo.