Mondo Beacho Monday update: Dec 9

Well, slow and steady wins the race. But filmmaking isn't sports.

Last week I got another good session in on the opening titles/music montage, and then earlier today I squeezed in a few more hours on the same.

I have to say, everything's looking good -- but dang, the lack of proximity of an editing computer is getting frustrating.

I am looking into a variety of ways that I can improve the editing situation. I hope to have something better figured out in the next few weeks.

On the upside, we had a great rehearsal last week with both Ahren and Kenna and we're ready to go in to record final vocals (plus one new song!) at Jack Straw studio tomorrow with them, Riley and Emily.

I also maxed out the memory card on my recorder last week working on incidental music. So that's some kind of progress, right? Yes!

Mondo Beacho update Monday dec 2

Sweethearts in an early "beach movie":
Buster Keaton and Alice Lake
(or Alice Mann, I don't know) in "Coney Island"

Last Monday, I stared editing the opening credits. Beginning at the beginning.

Today, I continued working on the credits. Really getting some traction this time. I'll probably be working on the credits for a while now. The opening and the end always take the longest. 
 But the great thing is, I am not cataloging or assembling, I am editing, and the fun has started.

Now, the only things that can get in the way is time and the inevitable computer/technical problems. On the other hand:
Q: How many editors does it take to change a light bulb?
A: "If we change that, we'll have to change everything!"

There's no photo this week, but I found this animated gif on the internet. Ain't they sweet?
If you'd like to send me something else, I'll see about putting it up.

In other news:

Steven Sterne is in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" at SPT and I have every reason to believe it'll be the best Best Christmas Pageant Ever ever! Ha ha! But seriously, it sounds like they're doing something very interesting over there with this holiday fave. Anna and I will be there opening night (Dec 6).

Speaking of holiday-type shows (is every Dickens story a holiday story?), Riley Neldam continues his run in Oliver at the mighty 5th Avenue theater.

And finally, today is my birthday.

Mondo Beacho weekly update, Sunday Nov 24

1st AD Mel Café - photo by David Thomas

I'm posting the weekly update early this week, because tomorrow I'm going off the air to put in a nice long day editing at the Northwest Film Forum.

Last week, I got the roots of two instrumental tracks figured out for possible soundtrack use. I say "possible" because you never know if something's going to work until the last minute.

I also spent some time up at the NWFF, organizing scenes from the film into sound-synced Sequences. Their editing computers are great, and it's nice to be up on Capitol Hill editing among film-types, instead of sitting at home by myself.

To wit, I ran into Adam Sekular (formerly of NWFF) in the editing suites, finishing up a film festival package. I got to see a cut of a cool trailer he was working on and talk a bit of shop.
After that, I went out for lunch with Iain Dalton. I've been hearing Iain say "mark it" on the sync tracks for the last few weeks, great to see him again in person. And to continue the illusion that I actually get out and see people, right after lunch with Iain, I went downtown and met up with Ahren Buhmann for some music rehearsal.

But wait, the name drop continues! -- I also got an email from Mel Café (pictured here) the other day, whose film career is taking an exciting new direction --  we've got Riley Neldam confirmed to join us for the final recordings in December -- and I'm meeting with Kenna Kettrick to work on on the second FF song for that as well.

How about that? It's like Studio 54 around here.

Mondo Beacho Update Monday Nov 18

Mondo Beacho editing has re-commenced. I'm now working on the film over at the Northwest Film Forum's post-production suites.

I got a grant to use the suites last spring, applying for it at the same time I applied for the big equipment grant that I used to shoot the film.

At the time, I figured it might be handy to have the NWFF's newer, faster machines at my disposal in case I needed them... (but really, what could possibly go wrong with my 6-year old pre-Intel consumer-level iMac?)

The grant is for 20 hours of free time, but even after that is maxed out, the NWFF only charges five bucks an hour to use their beautiful new high-speed, state of the art computers. Three cheers for the Northwest Film Forum!

The only drawback to this whole setup is that the editing suites are just available on weekdays, and the Film Forum is a 45-minute commute from where I live.

I did manage to set up a good solution for music composition at home, though. 

I'm using a hand-me-down computer very similar to my old, now-dead machine, and so far it seems to be working fine. Over the weekend, I finished a new vocal melody line for the second Farrah and the Fairies song, and sent the demo over to Kenna Kettrick, who will be recording final vocals for it next month.

I also took the Zoom portable recorder down to the beach on Saturday, and recorded some random ambient sounds. You never can have enough of that.

I should have more to say about the Mondo Beacho edit next week.

Mondo Beacho update Monday Nov 11

Editing has temporarily stopped because my computer died. No footage was lost, just the machine. I'm working on temporary and long-term solutions for this problem.

Meanwhile, back in the world of things that work properly --

Ahren and I had a great rehearsal/music session last week, and
we'll be back at it again this Friday.

In other news, my short film The Last City in the East will be released on a physical DVD! The underground product will come packaged with a groovy audio CD of a live performance by Paul Dickinson, the poet who is the subject of the film. It's going to be cool.

Mondo Beacho, Monday update Nov 4

L-R: makeup artists Marina Boychook and Carmen Wilson,
 with actor Maya Briller.   Photo by Karin Rathert

That's lovely Maya Briller on the left, in a photo taken on the first weekend of filming Mondo Beacho, way back in July.

Currently, in November, I'm in the process of making proxy files of all the footage we got, so that I can edit the thing properly.

I'm also getting together with Ahren Buhmann later this week, but that's to work on vocals for the opening song.

In other news, I did some prop design (a nutty-looking headdress) for It's a Swamp Thing, a brilliant children's play that Mondo Beacho co-producer Anna Forse is working on with Jennifer Dice (who wrote the play) and Steven Sterne (who directs it). You can see the show for free this Saturday, Nov 9 at noon -- at the Seattle Public Theater.

Mondo Beacho weekly update: audio edition

I finished naming and logging all the location sound files from Mondo Beacho over the weekend.

This was the first time I'd listened to a lot the production audio, and I was nervous about a couple of scenes.

The ambient sound on location in Georgetown was particularly difficult. Our biggest day there was on a nice, sunny Saturday,  and the area around the shoot (on the public street) was crowded with people. And motorcycles, and trucks. And freight trains.

And a crazy political performance artist with a portable sound system, who thought it'd be nice to be on film.

Oh yeah, and the Cessna jets, coming and going every ten minutes at 100 ft. overhead, from the nearby airport .

Did I mention that cast and crew had been on set since 5 am?

Anyway, with all that going on, audio from only one shot from that day was seriously affected, and that was a long master shot, which we covered heavily with a variety of nice, close shots. 

Beyond that, we have 100% lovely, usable audio. All taken with a portable recorder and shotgun mike on a boom pole. 

Thank you David Thomas!!

 

Also last week

I got together with a bunch of the actors to record clean versions of the three songs from the bonfire scene. The session was fun and went very well.

Singers included Sarah, Ahren, Riley, Kenna, Amanda, Alyssa, and Mel.

It was really great to see everyone again; I missed them.

In other news

2nd AD Kat Brede stopped by the other day to borrow my apple box for a different shoot.

I'm glad that the old box is getting a chance to go out in the field again.

Though it does make an awesome coffee table.