Friday arrived like it just spent a couple of days on the road and pulled in on fumes and listening to Molly Hatchet on an 8-track. Because you know, Friday drives a ‘69 Impala, olive green exterior, ratty interior with stale cheese fries stuffed in the back seat. No dancing hula girl though, because Friday knows what’s cool and what ain’t.
And if you’re wondering what kind of paint I’ve been huffing based on what you’ve just read, then wonder no more. I’m in the finishing stretch of what has been a wonderful and horrendous process of film editing, sound designing, sountrack recording, and other lesser aspects of filmmaking. I love doing it. It’s truly one of the few things in life that I’ll outright admit to loving. The thing about things you love is, they aren’t often easy to love. Look at your parents or your siblings, and you’ll know what I mean. Not that I mean to compare the filmmaking process to family.
As with other short films I’ve helmed, this has pretty much been a one-man post-production show. After filming is complete, about 98% of the work in post is done by moi, which is a blessing and a curse. For one, I am not a great sound designer by any stretch, but it just so happens that sound design is one of the key aspects of the job. It’s also the most time consuming, and at times, the most tedious. Imagine sitting in your room with a computer microphone and a few items to create sound. You watch the video a couple of times to figure out timing, and then on the next pass, you hit record and try and simulate what’s happening in the video using the items at your disposal. Need clothes to rustle? Perform along with the action on screen, or rub clothing together in a convincing fashion. Need a shoe scrape or a head bump, or a pencil drop? Find the proper surface (in this case, a vinyl record cover) and do the deed. And then do it over, because your timing is off by three tenths of a second.
And I only have an 18 minute film! Imagine doing this for a two hours plus film. Bring on the pink elephant parade.
For another, I’m an easy person to please. This means I tend to skimp on things which may be okay now, but given a bit more tending to, might turn out great. I’ve tried to avoid that syndrome on this film, and I’ve seen some great stuff evolve and take form. But ’tis been a curiously strong experience, one I’d parallel with bungie jumping whilst a weasel attacks your face.
In case you missed it, the site for Zero Sum is up on the sidebar. It’s all serious and self-absorbed, but what do you expect–I’m a artiste, je ne suis pas?
It’s ironic. We go into the Easter weekend waiting breathlessly to hear the news that Terri Schiavo has starved to death, courtesy of the state of Florida. We’ve gone from “this is my body, eat in remembrance of me” to “this is what she would have wanted, I think” in only 2,005 years. Maybe it’s not ironic, just dismaying. I suppose it’s all working toward some end, though difficult to see at times. This Easter, the vision is a bit cloudier than I remember in the past.
No worries. Christ rose. That’s what matters. So Happy Easter for that. Have a fantastic weekend.