:: Mikel's Mind ::

:: Thursday, September 12, 2002 ::

Editing.

*sigh*

It's not all that bad, really, kind of fun, but I've learned so much from editing that I wish I could have transpanted into the actual shooting. Coverage of hands and closeups, though we were often limited in that because of time. When shooting a 2 1/2 hour film, your time is at a premium. Not cutting before someone's walked off screen, if that's what they're doing.

Lingering a bit longer at the beggining and ending of shots.

One shot, which should have been pretty simple is going to be a bitch to make it look at all decent, though I've got some ideas on how to do it. Alex walks into Garrett's House, calls out a few times, and walks into the living room. No one's there except for one shot where we can see Garrett watching him against a wall. Getting it so that the cut isn't jarring is difficult, though if I cut to that scene earlier it might look better, but there's possibilities of losing the impact of the shot. Reversing what I had planned might work... I'll have to play with it more. For the rough cut, though, I don't think I'm going to mess with it anymore. I'm wishing the angle was massively different for the two times he walks by instead of just a little different.

Jarad likes to perch over my shoulder and watch while I'm editing, which bugs the shit out of me. I don't mind people seeing the finished (even the finished rough) clip, but going through the clips or wihle editing them.... it feels like I should be apologizing for them. It's like my first drafts of somthing, if it's particularly rough.... those things are kind of embarrasing in pieces and on their own and are things feel silly, like I'm trying at something I should't be. As much of this is me seeing all the things that never quite made it but it's also that it's a drama and doesn't make a lot of sense without the rest of it. I'd be better if it were one of my actors there, since they've been through the whole thing, but to have someone over my shoulder makes me very self-concious instead of letting me concentrate on what I need to do.

It's going to be odd, at the end, since it'll have to compare to the movie in my head. Because of equipment problems, lack of much of a crew, time, and the equipment itself, the camera's not particularly dynamic. We've got several scenes done in 1, which I hope will work. My theatre background shows itself in the movie.

Part of learning.
:: Mikel 11:50 AM [+] ::
...

So, anyways, I know exist within Dover, NJ. The trip here was looooooooooooooooooooong, though at times it went quickly. I hit rain in a few spots, most noticeably when it came down hard during construction in Ohio at night. Ohio can be knuckle-whitening as it is, with roads that twist and turn almost before you've had a chance to see where you're at. And the entire time through Pennsyvania there wasn't a damn thing to see anywhere around the road, which, since it was post midnight and I'd been on the road 11-12 hours, didn't make the drive much easier. Arrived at Dover about 4am, NJ time, which made it 3 CST and means I'd been on the road about 14 hours.

Dover seems nice enough. Now, in most of the world, Mankind has taken it on themselves to radically alter the landscape to his own ends. Here, they seemed to have decided to go with the contours of the land so everything is either on a really steep hill (I live at the top of a San Francisco-esque hill) or on a curve. It gives driving the feeling of being on a giant roller coaster. Today I went around a road to avoid a wreck and went through some backstreets that should have taken me far on the otherside of the wreck. When I got back to the main street, I was actually further back....it was enough to produce an almost-physical feeling of vertigo.

And the drivers here can be maniacs.

Yes, this is coming from me.

We've got ducks and a pond behind the apartment complex and some friends of Jarad live two doors down. I have a 2nd interview at TGIFridays today....probably have the job. Editing has been going well, though some scenes edit themselves quickly and some edit themselves rather slowly.

You can go here to see pics of the apartment and the surrounding area:

http://geocities.com/improvmafia/jersey
http://geocities.com/improvmafia/jersey2
http://geocities.com/improvmafia/jersey3

New Jersey is apparently the most densley populated state in the Union. Looking across the street from us, at the gigantic graveyard there, I'm guessing that everyone who's ever died in New Jersey is buried there. It's gigantic. Makes me want to shoot a zombie film.
:: Mikel 12:09 PM [+] ::
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