Thank the Lord, I finally got the third draft done. That is, the first draft of the third draft. Color corrected the whole movie, now I've gotta put it on tape and watch it on a real screen to see what still needs to be fixed. But the color correcting is just about where it will be for the final cut. The movie looks great, save for a few scenes and some individual shots which aren't so hot. It seems like I'm developing a pattern of learning something new about the camera, something great that would have saved the look of the picture, on the LAST day of shooting. On Spade on the River I learned about the backlight/spotlight feature (had I know about it earlier it would have saved the movie), and on the last day of shooting EA I learned about the 'gain' feature. Something so simple and fundamental, yet it could have improved the look of many of the scenes. Alas. I would say the movie looks 85% good and 15% passable. There aren't any "oh gosh that sucks" moments. Goal for my next movie is to achieve a specific look for each individual shot, instead of just achieving a good look.

This ushers us into the sound phase. I am least experienced in the realm of sound, so this will be a real adventure. I've gotta do the foley work, with the help of Tom Boykin. After the foley work, there is the sound mixing, looping (pretty much I'm the only one who'll be able to loop, as I'm out of touch with most of the other actors), and of course the scoring.

For those of you who have been around from the beginning, yall remember how the goal was to make this the best of it's kind? Still going for it. Heading into the sound effects/foley work I have a goal that everything that moves/makes contact in the film has a sound. The goal is also to have many layers of sound going on in specific scenes. The gold cut of the film should play like a movie you would watch in the multiplex, and half of that is sound. I've been very inspired by watching movies like Spider-Man 2 and observing how technical and complicated and brilliant the sound work is. If everything stays on course, the gold cut of the film should indeed play like a movie you payed for. We have it all: nice locations, over 45 speaking parts, things happening on screen, and a slick cinematic look. I'm so thankful to you guys.

RELEASE DATE UPDATE

Remember the original release date March 31st, 2006? I was only ONE number off. March 31st, 2007 sounds much better. Actually, I'll be ecstatic if the movie is gold by then. I'm aiming for an optimistic April of 2007. If it takes longer, so be it. I won't be at all surprised if the movie isn't finished a year from now, just because of how long scoring a feature film takes. But hopefully we get it done April 2007, this allows the movie to make the deadlines for the big winter fests, like Sundance and Slamdance. I'ma try and play it at those two (though Sundance is virtually invitation only), NY Film Festival, AFI and some others.

TRAILER UPDATE

I've decided not to make the theatrical trailer until the movie is gold, for obvious reasons. But that doesn't mean there won't be several teasers made, there probably will be.