Weekly Mondo Beacho update -- Happy New Year edition

L-R, Sarah Winsor, Mel Café on location for Mondo Beacho
photo by Anna Forse

Editing has progressed to the bike shop/riding scenes.

The bike shop location (Dutch Bike, Ballard) was awesome but a bit tight, and I shot a lot of weird angles that day.

That scene also has three performances to balance: Sarah Winsor and Will Poole doing one thing in the shop while Steven Stern's VO from the radio is talking about something else entirely.  

It's actually super fun, but also the first really complicated scene in the film, and it was a bit daunting at first. (By comparison the scene before it was just Sarah walking. Which, if you know the scene, is nuanced in its own way...)

To help move things forward, I've also decided that I'm done learning AfterEffects for the time being. AE is a useful tool, but dang -- everything I touch with it seems to need rendering (time consuming) and then needs to be re-rendered whenever I want to move the clip or change its length, i.e.: edit it. I'll revisit AE later, when I've got time to pretty things up.
 
The need for music is becoming very apparent now, so I went to a rock show a few days ago to check out the bands. The show was over at heartland, where we filmed in August.

There were four bands. Twice, during the break between bands, a random kid wandered over and introduced himself to me, for no apparent reason other than possibly he were curious about the big old fool standing in back. One of the kids turned out to be a former student of my friend Retz. The other guy I couldn't figure out at all.

But nice kids! Apparently the feather-haired denim-jacketed thugs who used to come attached to shows like a hair to the top of a wart have moved on to other projects.

Anyway, the headliner that night was Thee Samedi, a band whose vibe seemed exactly right for the radio or maybe as record store music in Mondo Beacho. The guys put on a great show, and I introduced myself to Alex the bass player afterwards. We exchanged a few emails the next day, and they are now on board for the film and psyched!

Yes! It ain't easy finding the right music.

In other news

Steven Sterne is the playwriting/performing marathon 14/48 this weekend. Be there or be square.

Monday night update, better than football. And shorter.

I'm skipping the update this week because I decided to stop for a moment and figure out some of the image control features in AfterEffects. These are utility features, not special effects, and my thinking is that I'll take the time to learn them the right way, rather than just muscle my way in until I've knit myself into a straight jacket, like I usually do.

It is a bit weird, though, digging into AfterEffects...

Because where is the line, I ask you! 

Where is the line between invisibly digitally stabilizing a slightly jerky panning shot, and turing the whole damn movie into a whooshing, zooming, "squalid shoot-'em-up for the moron trade*"?

Good question!

Generally, my feeling is that if you have to ask, I can't explain it to you ... check please!

Ha ha ha. Kidding!

Anyway, it's been a long holiday season but I'm definitely up to speed with the basics of Premiere Pro now, and even though I've been away from the machine a bit, the editing feels like it's cranking along nicely.

So more on that next week.

In other news: Amanda Keogh is directing the COMPLEAT WKS OF WLM SHKSPR (ABRIDGED) tomorrow night at Seattle Public so that's what we'll be doing over New Year's Eve. Laff riots are promised!



*that quote, from film critic Joseph Morgenstern, actually describes a great movie, "Bonnie and Clyde", but it's such a hilariously withering line that it almost justifies his total wrongheadedness about the film (he published a retraction the next week!) and that it has nothing to do whatsoever with Mondo Beacho. Photo on the left is Serge Gainsbourg, who has a cool song about Bonnie and Clyde.

Mondo Beacho update Holiday Edition

L-R: Sarah Winsor, Maya Briller.
photo by David Thomas

Last week I went over to NWFF to port over the movie from Final Cut Pro to Premiere Pro. It was fun working at the Film Forum, but I gotta say -- it's great to have the movie available to me whenever I want. And now things are moving along a lot more quickly.

Special thanks to Steve O'Neil for his help in facilitating the switch!

Not much else to report right now...

Hey look, there's Sarah Winsor and Maya Briller up on the roof of Surf Ballard!

PS. If you're looking for a last minute holiday gift, support the arts.

Mondo Beacho update Monday, December 16



L-R: Emily, Riley, and engineer Doug
in the big room at Jack Straw Studios.
La, la, la    Photo by Kenna Kettrick

Last Tuesday we went in to Jack Straw Studios to record final vocals for all the band songs in the movie. That place is great and their rates can't be beat.

We had Ahren Buhmann and Kenna Kettrick on lead vocals, with backups by Riley Neldam and Emily Purington (pictured left with friendly and knowledgeable Jack Straw mixer Doug Haire). Everything came out sounding great, it was fun to see everyone again, and we got out of there neatly in our small-but-efficient time window.

On Thursday, I edited some more, and got all the way through Scene 1, which includes the opening credits and then resolves outside the surf shop that day. The tone and tempo changes a lot in a few minutes, but it's cutting together as expected and the performances are looking great.

On Friday, I got a nice email from Lyall Bush of NWFF okaying an extension to my NWFF grant which was about to max out (thanks Lyall!).  and then later that same evening, I finagled a way to add Wednesday nights to my editing time in addition to whatever daytime hours I can weasel in (thank you projectionist Spencer Sundell)!

But then today, Sunday, ... I have a new editing computer in my home.

So -- that changes things greatly.

And, once the godawful setup process is done, Mondo Beacho editing should begin to move along at a very snappy pace! (and, I very well might be dumping Final Cut Pro in favor of Premiere Pro. We shall see how that all goes...)

In other news
I am delighted to announce that "The Last City in the East", the short film I made with underground poet Paul Dickinson, is now available on DVD at holiday-friendly prices!! This handmade confection also includes a previously unreleased recording of Dickinson reading live at the legendary Turf Club of St. Paul.  According to the packaging: Full of grit , humor and a mystical urban romanticism, Paul D. Dickinson soars in this surprise triumph of a film. Get it at Amazon.com.
"Beautifully shot in Super 8 and Holga... ...sharp-witted, imagery-rich wording."
--Sheila Regan, CityPages

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.