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Company History Part 4 However, before things got too bad, CherryPie Productions had its first bit of luck in a long time. Over the course of the last few months, Stephen had built up a, by now, fairly reputable film society in St. Pat's with the help of an old friend of his from back in the day, Terry Lynch. Terry, just after returning from the Christams break, got it into his head that it would be really cool if the society actually funded and backed the making of a small film. Despite being too busy to take an active role, Stephen supported the venture all the way and although nothing would ever actually come from Terry's idea (a meeting set up to see how many people in the college were interested produced only four attendees), it was in anticiption that it may actually get off the ground that led Stephen to the man who effectively saved CherryPie from total destruction - Paul Murphy. Located in the rarely traversed echelons of St. Pat's third floor sat the AV department, run by Paul. Stephen had always known that there were video editing machines available for use here, but he was also under the impression that they were so antiquated as to render them redundant for his needs - but not perhaps for Terry's. Stephen visted Paul to enquire about the use of the equipment and, only too happy that somebody was showing an interest in this field of work, Paul gave Stephen a tour of the machines, a tour which revealed to Stephen that the machines, far from being useless, were in fact about as powerful as linear video editing could get. At this time, Stephen, not wanting to swamp Debbie with work, approched Paul about using the machines to edit the Cartel video (leaving Admonition for Ballyfermot where they would be using non linear digital editing). Paul was only too happy to oblige. A second editing session had been scheduled in Ballyfermot for February 4 but neither Stephen nor Andy had been able to make it. There was a breakdown in communications somewhere along the line, and the editing people were not informed that the CherryPie people wouldn't be coming. Thinking that CherryPie Productions no longer needed their services, Ballyfermot subsequently cancelled all the Wednesday and Friday editing sessions. At the time, however, Stephen was still under the impression that Admonition would be taken care of and so, on February 9, he began to edit the Cartel video. Depite the band deciding at the last minute (that morning) that they wanted the video to be cut to a different song than the one they had performed for the shoot, Stephen finished editing the piece on February 25. He gave a copy to the band, but they broke up shortly afterwards and the video was never released or posted on their website as had been the plan. By this stage, both Stephen and Andy had come to the conclusion that Admonition was not going to be edited in Ballyfermot, and, after a lengthy discussion about the possible ramifications, they both concluded that their only practical alternative was to use the same facilities as had been used on the Cartel video (consulting Debbie on this proved difficult as she stopped returning Stephen's phonecalls and pretty much dropped out of circulation). The editing of Admonition began on March 1. Requiring far more effects and skill than the Cartel piece, and with two people doing the cutting (hence the discussion of every single cut), the process proved to be long and arduous, with several eight hour days thrown in. Nevertheless, after some major hard work, the final edit of Admonition was completed on March 16, exactly a year after photography had begun on the epic project. CherryPie Productions' first venture was finally complete. After it was all over, Stephen got his head down to study for his finals for several weeks before the night of the big premier on May 3 - over a year after the film was originally meant to be shown. Although the numbers at the event weren't great, the film went down extremely well and received strong critical acclaim from some distinguished guests from both the English and History Departments in the college. Martin was unable to attend the premier, and Debbie wasn't invited (thus ended her relationship with CherryPie Productions), but Ailish was present, and it was the night when Neil and Stephen reconciled their differences and began talking again. A triumphant night was enjoyed that evening by the team, with Stephen in particular feeling a great sense of satisfaction that his perserverence and dedication had finally payed off. Aided in no small measure by Andy, these two individuals continued to have faith in the project when all others seemed to abandon it. At times, giving up and forgetting the whole thing would have been a far easier option than to keep going in the face of such seemingly insurmountable obstacles, but they never did and, in the end, they overcame everything that was thrown at them. Indeed, as time had gone on, it was those very obstacles that drove the project. It ceased to be about anything except getting the film finished, proving that they could do it, that they would do it, proving to everybody how irremovable and fixed they were in their own course. Their determination at that time, and the assistance, guidence and practial tutoring that Paul lended them held the company together in its darkest hour and formed the basis for the return to form that CherryPie would soon experience. Go to page 5 of the history Back to home Back to page 3 |
