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.

Holding my Script to the Fire

No, not to burn it, though that is a tempting proposition at times.

I’m just in rewrite frenzy again. I’ve been developing this story for 18 months. It’s been shaped over various drafts and rounds of feedback, but it has not yet passed through the ultimate test: the pre-production process. And now, as we’re beginning to put the pieces of the actual movie together, the script I was so happy with a month ago is presenting me with some new challenges as it starts its journey from a semi abstract telling of a story, to an exact blueprint of a film production. Of course this is a good problem to have so I’m not complaining, just typing away—until the next round of notes comes in, and the one after that.

As the old saying goes: “The script is never finished. Only the film.”