Category: souvenir (november 2001)

Editing: When I went to bed last night, I thought the village montage was nearly done. But watching it this morning, I wasn’t satisfied at all, so I recut the whole thing. Now, at least the raw material for a strong montage of village residents is in place. Most of the afternoon was spent stumbling over the crater. There were strong dialogue scenes with the caretaker and emotional scenes at the crater itself, but no real logical way to sequence them. AND, since the guy didn’t set out looking for a crater, there’s basically no context for the audience; what’s this got to do with anything? why is this guy there, seeing as how no one’s ever mentioned it before? and so on.

Well, a really simple, straightforward solution presented itself, and I’ve been flying through the scene for the last hour; everything seems to fall right into place. The audience should get information about the crater (and in a powerful way) and the guy’s reaction to it is actually set up and enhanced by the way it’s cut. Or at least it will/should be, once it really gets cut. That leaves only Thiepval for tomorrow morning. Nearly on schedule.

Not to turn this into a Soderbergh shrine or anything, but I’m sorry, I was at Sundance in 1989 (and managing the foreign film program at my university); I’ve been influenced. On Avid’s site, Soderbergh talks about editing his films, including Ocean’s Eleven and Traffic. A “radical” change editor Stephen Morrione made to one scene in Traffic illustrates the potential power of editing. [scroll down to “Half a Step Ahead”]. I felt that tonight. (Although so far, the closest I’ve gotten to Traffic is scoring one of the promo t-shirts that’s wrapped like a brick of cocaine.)

Tonight, I’ve been editing to TCM’s showing of All Quiet on the Western Front, the 1930 war/anti-war classic, directed by Lewis Milestone. Milestone was a lion of filmmaking, starting way back in the silent era (remember, sound movies only really came out three years before AQOTWF) and continuing into the sixties. His second to last film? The original Rat Pack version of Ocean’s Eleven. Hey, I don’t make this stuff up; it just happens.

Editing: Met with Jonah today to review the rough cut. As it stands, there are really only the two last scenes remaining to do, and I’m going to finish them tonight and Saturday (repeat after me: “loooozah”). Sure enough, Jonah showed me some quick/instant tricks that made things sing: slowing down a cut by even 10% to smooth it out, subtle enlargement of the image to crop out vignetting, and rapidly executed cuts and changes in the rhythm of scenes that made them work better than before. Once I get the rough cut to him Sunday, he’ll have quite a bit of liberty to fashion the whole thing.

One thing that I was unsure about was how to really make jump cuts well, a technique I wanted to use, especially in the town sequence, where the man finds out about the town’s role in the war as he asks several people for directions. Then tonight, as I was capturing a few remaining clips, I turned on The Sundance Channel, and Steven Soderbergh‘s film, The Limey was on. Terence Stamp had a scene where he’s telling it like it is to some DEA agent or something sitting at a desk. The monologue/diatribe was such a massive series of jump cuts, executed so well, that it was a shot in the arm. The cuts set a rhythm in the speech, subtly causing the viewer to stay on edge, waiting to see what the next cut is going to be. Even though every one is of Stamp, in the near center of the frame, the cuts keep the viewer’s attention pinned to the speech, whereas a long, single cut–or intercutting with an unmoving/nonspeaking agent–could cause viewers’ minds to wander. Interesting. Here’s a Google cache of an EditorsNet.com interview with Sarah Flack, the editor on The Limey. About halfway down, she talks about this exact scene. Very interesting.

Editing: Finished the gas station scene and the third conversation in the car. that means I’ve got it blocked out to scene 35, which is more than halfway through. Three major scenes remain: the village of Albert; the crater at La Boisselle; and the memorial in Thiepval.

It’s going a lot faster, though, when I can actually edit. Unfortunately, I lost time today because the townhouse across the street had two (2) jackhammers going in tandem, almost non-stop for four hours. I’d been prepared for the Sex and the City shoot that’s been going on next door since 7AM (the ol’ slip a dvd to Sarah Jessica Parker routine, you know), but not the jackhammers. Hmmm, wonder if it’s like those leafblowing extortionists I’ve heard about who stalk production locations in LA…[does no link mean it’s an urban legend?]

Music: Not an urban legend, but a legend nonetheless. Bjork’s concert in Stuttgart on 11 September took place only a couple of hours after the attacks in NYC (do the time zone math). She went ahead with it, and from all accounts, it was an extremely emotional, moving experience. Turns out she performed a song by Meredith Monk, “Gotham Lullaby,” which I’d found on another concert album. Ladies and gentlemen, we may have found our Bjork selection for the soundtrack…

Editing: Finished the third sequence this afternoon, the 2nd conversation between the couple. It went much faster than the other one. Rewatched the first one, which I know now is at least 1 min. too long. That’s good, because while I was/am determined to beat the 1 minute/page rule of thumb (after writing a 22-page script for a 15-minute movie, whaddya gonna do?), right now it’s almost exactly 1 min/pg. Damn you, years of experience in the filmmaking industry…

And I worry that having Baraka on in the background while editing will only make everything twice as long. (It’s one looong, meditative scene or hypontic pan/zoom after another, with wall-to-wall mystical music.) Ah, Sundance giveth and The Sundance Channel taketh away.

Editing: Finished a second sequence, the first conversation 1:41 in the car and in NYC. The dialogue scene has roughly four times as many cuts, with four layered video/audio tracks as the airport scene, even though it’s less than half as long. Then I wasted several hours trying to connect my mac and pc via infrared so I could upload the quicktime drafts. If I had an hour for every hour I wasted on tech stuff, I’d, well, I’d break even, time-wise.

Editing: Built my first sequence in Final Cut Pro today, 3:45 at the airport (the opening scenes of the movie). I must say, it’s too long, and there are some cheats in it, but I kind of like it. If I could get my infrared working on the Powerbook, I’d post the draft version. But as I’m finding out (the hard way), what I don’t know about Mac connectivity can fill several books (and costs me precious time).

Exposure and lighting from cut to cut is a huge factor, or at least it’s very distracting to me right now. I’m hoping we’ll be able to finesse some of it away with color balancing and other post effects. In the mean time, I’m just trying to assure at least some kind of complementarity, if not actual continuity, in the light of abutting cuts.

Music: Once again, SoMa FM proves a great editing companion. This morning they streamed LTJ Bukem’s Inward Journey, a drum-and-bass CD set that has a couple of really chill, contemplative tracks on it. What I didn’t know about ambient, jungle, and drum-and-bass could fill… etc., etc.

What else happened today: My friends’ newly renamed memorial to the World Trade Center went live tonight. We watched from the Hudson River as the switch was thrown. From our first angle, the two beams overlapped almost perfectly. From other points, though, including Canal and Greenwich Streets, 6th Avenue & West 4th, and other stops on my way home, the beam were perfectly delineated. John et al had paid special attention to the proportional spacing and the crisp edge between the towers, and the lights communicate that amazingly well. In fact, I just found Gustavo’s comments on Slate: “…in effect, we’re not rebuilding the towers themselves, but the void between them.”

And while there was a sense of sadness building up before the lighting, I surprise myself by how comforting it is to see something again in the skyline. That something there–again, still–could be an unexpected solace for people who worried that only the buildings themselves are being remembered.

“Please join me in a moment of silence. The second plane has just struck the second tower.” -NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Is remembering reliving?

Is it inspiration or masochism to watch a movie like Robert Altman’s brilliantly acted (and interwoven) Short Cuts while editing your first short? Whichever, it’s a little late now, since the credits are running.

Problems getting the firewire hub to work meant I’ve had to log and capture all the footage in 10Gb batches, filling up the G4’s hard drive and then swapping the camera for the external drive. And since I only learned of Final Cut’s “Move Media” command today, I’ve been dragging all the media files to corresponding folders on the big drive. THIS means having to relink each media file through FCP, since the file location and path has changed. Extra needless work, lots of it. But I’m gaining a familiarity with the footage and the software that’ll speed along decisions over the next few days as we assemble the first sequences.

Rough schedule for the week:

Build sequences for the first half of the movie, including the airport, phone conversations, early driving scenes, and the gas station stop.

Purge a lot of media that doesn’t have a chance of making it into these sequences. Fill this disk space with more options for the middle and end sequences (the encounters in town, visit to the crater and the memorial).

By Thursday Assemble rough sequences and alternatives for these scenes, creating the first complete cut of the movie.

Go over these sequences with Jonah, doing real edits

Weekend: Status check and review full cut with Connie Walsh, another video artist and editor, with whom I met Saturday.

Also on tap: Meet with graphic designer for poster/photo, DVD, tape and press kit design.

In the mean time, Elliot Gould is trying to fool his cat by putting cheap cat food into the expensive can in The Long Goodbye. Sorry, but four hours of Altman a night is my limit.

Log log log log. It’s not making for much weblog weblog weblog weblog, though. After 1) a powerbook, 2) an external drive, 3) a new charger/AC cable for the camera, 4) a new Firewire connector for same, 5) a Firewire hub, 6) Final Cut Pro software, and 7) the FCP for Idiots manual, I’ve been logging in and capturing media (i.e., video and audio) at an increasingly rapid pace.

As of this evening, half the tapes have been done, taking up slightly less than half the space on my new hard drive. I’m much more selective of what gets captured from the third tape on, I notice; even though I log nearly every shot, I’m only taking the ones I really want to try using (emphasis on the really). That means there’s a huge pile of driving shots from the first tape I did that won’t get used. Live and learn. While the Mac captures video, I search for music on my PC. Thomas Tallis’ 40-part motet, Spem in Alium, is a candidate now; I wrote about it around the genesis of the project, and it was on exibit in NYC in November, when the script takes place.

Meeting with an editor/artist friend tomorrow to discuss next steps. Will keep the posting posted. Meeting with a branding friend Monday to discuss press kits, posters, video/DVD’s, website, etc.

FINALLY. It’s taken almost all week to get the system set up properly, but I started capturing and digitizing the tapes into Final Cut Pro. One thing after another: firewire 4- vs 6-pin, extensions for firewire hubs, replacement AC cable for the camera, the right hard drive (settled on the QPS M3, a truly portable 80Gb 7200rpm one).

In the mean time, there were taxes, joint brokerage account problems to deal with, and (happily) my wife’s birthday (now that she’s 16, I can openly call her my wife. And I won’t have to drive her everywhere anymore.). Jonah had an installation in a show that opened tonight, so I ran over to see it. Looks amazing. Reminds me (as does the footage I’m logging in) how attuned he is to light. Gotta get the next batch. seeya.

Has it been that long? Jet lag’s lasted longer than normal. Fall asleep during The Daily Show, up before NPR Morning Edition.

Jonah came back Sunday; picked him up at JFK (a very non-NYC thing to do, I know. Getting a car >> encroaching suburban mindset). He shot some more airport stuff on his own. He kept the camera through the weekend, partly because I had to carry back some precariously wrapped art I’d bought nearly two years ago from Chantal Crousel. Of course Chantal and Niklas were in NYC for the Armory Show. Alice gets back today; we’re meeting to go through all the shot logs, expenses, etc.

Been logging our rushes, generating time code lists which we’ll use to digitize the footage in a day or so. For audio, we mapped audio tracks to each take while on location. After we edit using the camera audio, we’ll go back and lay down synchronized MiniDisc audio just for those scenes that make the cut. Right now it takes me about 90 minutes to log a 60-minute tape. It could go a little faster if I could get time codes to show up on my monitor. Any Sony VX-1000 experts out there who can Bjorkfest, where I filled in my CD collection and listened to all her albums straight through. Here’s what I’ve found so far (in addition to the Morricone and Orozco songs mentioned below:

A couple of tracks on Debut

Visur Vatnsenda-Rosu, an Icelandic track not on any US album [will add links later]

Downtown, Bjork’s cover of Petula Clark’s classic (haven’t found it yet, but I want to hear it and see)

Ambient/trance tracks from Planet Soma’s Drone Zone stream on Shoutcast, like TUU’s Shiva Descending

Circular 1’s Drifting, and

DJ Food’s Kaleidescope

Purely for editing purposes, you understand (and to avoid driving Jonah crazy by camping out on his Mac), I thought I’d better cross the front lines myself and get a Mac. And a 100Gb external drive to walk the whole project around. Promptly seduced, I know own a G4 Titanium. I may never watch a DVD on my Thinkpad again. Oh, and I hate the new lamp-style iMac. Sorry.

Did I mention that Dodge, the main actor in the movie, was not, in fact, the main actor? I was at the airport in NYC, preparing to leave, and to meet Dodge the next morning at CDG, when he called from a military airbase. He’s been stuck in Afghanistan, held there by his various employers (CBS News, Discovery Channel, etc.) and the US military for (it turns out) the launch of Operation Anaconda in the mountains near the Pakistani border.

So, I ended up playing the American man in the movie, directing myself in the screenplay I wrote, based on an experience I had two years ago. Me, me, me, me, me. I think Greg has earned the right to talk about himself in the third person now. Besides, it’ll be good practice for the press junket.

I’m home and damn tired. And I carried this sculpture back on the plane; it’s been at the gallery in Paris for almost two years. It’s six feet tall. Good night.

France Location Day 2: We wove our way back to the gas station, the first place the main character stops for directions. Got lost on the way several times. No rain at all; a glorious sky, with deep, textured clouds like a huge softbox diffuser. You can’t buy clouds like that in LA (well, you can import them in post- now, I guess).

The Total station was more perfect than I remembered. It’s occasionally eerie; the degree to which aspects of this trip approximate my own experience, which is still so different in many ways from the script. The gas station owner readily agreed to the shoot and hit almost all his lines perfectly. What he changed, we can easily live with.

Headed into Paris, to the office of Sycomore Films, our local production partners and frequent lifesavers. Jonah rigged up a narrow plywood sheet with screws threaded in at various points; it’s now our camera mount and steadicam in one. Works perfectly in the car, espectially in combination zith the memory foam.

A quick lunch (well, quick for France, anyway), and we were on our way to pick up the Miniflow light kit, which throws just enough natural daylight to even out the exposure within the car. AND it plugs into the car’s cigarette lighter. All this time hit us, though, as we raced to get dialogue scenes done on the autoroute before the sun went down at 6:30. (Of course, Jonah kept shooting in the cloudy Magic Hour, which looked fantastic but doesn’t fit into the story at all; it’s supposed to be a single morning/afternoon, no dusk.)

Location Day 2 (actually; Day 1 in France): Things are off to a good start. NYC crew arrived a bit early, as did I, so we began shooting in Charles deGaulle immediately. The French crew (prod. exec. and sound engineer) arrived an hour or so later, by which time we’d covered everything that didn’t require dialogue/sound. Fred, the sound guy, got set up on a luggage cart (standard equipment on a shoot as faar as I’m concerned), and we were off. Got it done with no problem, really. CDG shoots so well, too; beautiful concrete, lots of reflections, very interesting.

Hit the road with the intention to shoot –in sequence zith the script, basically–the phone calls between the couple. Unfortunately, the Audi didn’t have the glass roof it was advertised with, so it was too dark to shoot inside, even in daylight. AND the camera was a bit unstable for dialogue, anyway. The memory foam pillow I’d brought to use as a car/hood mount proved invaluable for cushioning the camera, though, so we got great driving shots.

Oh, did I mention the rain? It started out blindingly sunny on Sunday morning, then turned to downpour for the rest of the day. We’ll have to work it into the story somehow; it’s supposed to rain all week. We’re staying in Albert at the Best Western; it’s a classic hotel box with stone facing and turrets all over–a prefab castle. We were the only guests on Sunday night(“Just like The Shining,” I told the nervous clerk.)

The landscape is tremendous; flat, featureless fields, slight rolling hills, narrow roads with large embankments blocking the view. There’s a banal easy sublimity/awe which is tempting but difficult to capture. And it can kill a film. Town after town, all with buildings from the Twenties and Forties. Once you know the styles, you can’t help noticing them everywhere. Everything dates to one of two distinct waves of (re)construction.

Early dinner and a night reworking the schedule to fix the light and vibration problems and to make it through the rain.