Ok. So where to start? I guess the first thing to say is that the rough cuts are done. No sound, to fx, color correction, titles, foley…NOTHING. Just raw, naked, ugly, beautiful rough cuts. Like a Chinese pug. You can’t help but love it.
Here’s the bad. I finished the first edit of Grocery Man’s house near the end of May. In itself, not a bad thing – but it does pose the question, “What has been going on since then?”.And here comes the pug truth; I’m not happy with it.
That’s a very difficult thing to say. Like telling your child they suck. It’s even harder to say out loud…or in this case on the internet. Typing it makes it even more real somehow. What makes it harder is that it’s no one’s fault but my own. There’s no precise moment where it all went wrong, just small, yet significant, compromises along the way.
The first compromise being storyboards. I thought I had “my vision” clearly in my head. And if you polygraphed me before shooting I would have passed with flying colors. But I didn’t. There were shots that I didn’t even think about getting that are now so clear to me it makes my stomach churn that I didn’t get them. Namely – close ups. Would I have found them in the storyboarding process? Who’s to say? But the stuff I did storyboard turned out exactly the way I wanted it to, just like the film I Dp’edbefore WGA. You’d think I would have learned something the first time.Third time’s the charm.
Everything else can really be chalked up to preparation. Being unprepared leads to wasting time, which leads to compromising, which means having to walk away from a shot before you’ve got it. Film’s ultimate sin.
I could go on but I won’t. Got to save some self loathing for the next blog. That segues nicely into what comes next! Some much needed perspective from trusted collaborators – namely our first AD Keith White. I’ll be meeting with him next Monday for a screening, which we’ll film and discuss and share with you. After that I’ve got some shot comparisons I’d like to talk about. Which will lead us to presenting the rough cuts, musical roughs, ADR recordings, color correction and onto the final film!
So join me next week while I try mold this film into something that doesn’t suck.
POST-PRODUCTION 
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