Editing The Edit

The rough cut of CRY is done. Well... almost. Still have to do titles and add music and tweek the sound and a few dozen other things, but you can watch it start-to-finish so damn it, that's worth something.

Anyway, I sat down with John Lenihan (The actor that plays GALLAGHER in the film) to take a first look. Why John? Well, I have this theory. Find people that are better than you at the task at hand and you'll end up in a better place. EVERY actor I've ever worked with is better than me at acting, so that doesn't apply so much as the other facets of film. I fancy myself a pretty good editor, but John is the next level. He brought NYU film school right into my little home studio. It was like sitting in class for 10 hours, but fun (and with beer).

Yeah, 10 hours. 10 hours of assessing, tweeking and note taking. It was facinating how the little things about a scene that bugged me - no matter how small - he honed in on right away. I knew something was wrong, but knowing why, isolating it, and fixing it is a whole different thing. We tore into just about everything that troubled me and improved on a few things that I didn't even see to be troubled by. It was enlightening.

So after we wrapped for the day and decided that Round Two was in order, I felt totally different about the state that CRY is in. It's better film now and it's going to get better. And I'm a better editor for it all.

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Remember, remember the 25th of November

I admit that deep inside I was fearing the worst. We had two flashback inserts left to shoot for CRY (one an exterior) and winter was staring us in the face. Enemy #1 was definately the weather. Rebecca Nyahay, who I had the pleasure of working with on my two previous films, was to be our Banshee, and I was dreading putting her through a day similar to what she endured on my first. On that shoot day for The Risen back in 2000, we spent a bitter day on a mini-mountain top with the wind blowing, and Rebecca spent the better part of it huddled in a blanket chilled to the bone. On top of the weather, we would be working with a young lad that I had not yet met who was to play our Young Gallagher - a complete x-factor for the shoot, as we had no idea what to expect. Then there was the time factor. The sun had been going down around 4pm, so we had a short day to contend with as a cherry on this cinematic sundae. So without further delay, I give you...

Saturday, November 25th, 2006

Rise at 6:30am. Prep, pack and load up by 7:30. A quick stop at Dunkin Donuts (munchkins are a must) and we're on our way to Fort Lee. Rebecca catches the 8:10 out of the GWB terminal and she's in our car in Ft.Lee by 8:25. The temperature is in the low 40s and rising and skies are clear. I'll take it.

We're at loo and Liz's place in Bloomfield before 9am where Rebecca will spend the next hour and a half in makeup. Loo, Ken and I bungee a ladder to Loo's truck, add my grear to the back, and we're off to Brookdale Park, which is to serve as our location for the day. On the way, I get a cell call from the mother of or young star of the day (Liam Foxe). Mrs. Foxe is already at the location with Liam, and I assure her we are mere moments away.

We pull up the the end of the dead end street that also serves as an enterance to the park. We introduce ourselves to the Foxes. Liam is dressed in a flannel and jeans that his mom picked out to set him in the 1950s as we requested, and he looks great. Liam looks his 10 years old and has the look of a clean cut innocent boy. It doesn't take long to see that he's increadibly polite and well behaved. I give a silent thanks. Producer Darren Sanchez arrives soon after, and Liam is happy to see his football coach. It puts him at ease... which puts me at ease!

Loo, Ken and I get to work and we begin to knock out the Liam-only shots, as Rebecca has not arrived from makeup yet. The ground is covered with orange and yellow leaves as Liam makes his way down a covered path with books bound in a leather belt strap to fit the times, and it looks just great. I can tell we're all at ease knowing that he's going to be a joy to work with all day.

Rebecca arrives right when we're ready for her, and we continue to knock out shots. There are 28 shots on the list today, so we're going to need this pace to make it. It's warmed up to the low 50s.  We start with longs as we are going to bring her closer to our Young Gallagher as the scene progresses to raise the tension. The closer she gets the better it looks. When we did Rebecca's screen test about 10 months ago, she had blonde hair. Now it's a red that matches the colors of the leaves, and it just jumps to life on screen. Bonus.

Liam takes his much anticipated tumble while trying to escape the approching banshee. He's been dying to do this all day, because (1) the heavy books are killing him and this is where he gets to drop them, and (2) little boys love to run and take falls on leaf covered paths.

We approch the end of the scene as the light is failing, and we begin that familiar  push to get it all in. I have faith - we're done this before. We wrap with enough time for Liz to grab some great stills of our Banshee and boy by the bridge where the climax takes place. Very cool stuff. Very cool day.

On the way home I can't help but think - somebody likes us. This was meant to be.

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Post Production

On September 16th, CRY wrapped principal photography. A couple of short inserts are all that remains to be shot. No more scheduling, preping, gearing up, transporting, blocking, lighting, shooting, and packing up. All of that is all but done. 

So how is it? Is CRY a good film? The truth is, I don't know. The cast and crew were outstanding. The experience was utterly enjoyable. The footage looks strong. Everyone seems to really appreciate the story. I have high expectations for CRY - I think we've made something special. But I just won't really know until the scenes are cut together. Until the music is in place. Until the sound fx are dropped in. Until I can press play and watch it from opening credits through the final fade. We've all seen a mesmerizing trailer for a weak film. Just as often, we've heard about a film and said "eh" to be pleasantly entertained when we got around to seeing it. In essence, the pieces are not representative of the piece.

And right now, CRY is in pieces. But hey, so were the pyramids before they scraped the sky.

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Magic Hour?

Saturday, June 10th

A scene that calls for "KARA writing at her park bench at sunset". For a DP, it's red alert. Magic Hour. The window of opportunity to get a sunset. The only problem is, in reality it's more like Magic 20 Minutes. And its' on you like a beast.

The crew is scrambling like mad to get the dolly track in place, get the monitor feed, get the framing, and a dozen other things. Colleen (KARA) is scrambling with a costume change from the prior scene that we finished not 10 minutes prior. Loo is yelling "we gotta go!". Now Colleen is hopping our way trying to get her shoes on while avoiding puddles. The sun is right where we want it. She settles in. We settle in. And we roll.

And it's just awsome. At least that's how it looked on the monitor.

Magic 20. Worth the rush.

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Lighting against God

Sunday, May 7th

A girl walks into a building (no this isn't the beginning of a joke). It's daylight outside, and you're inside a hallway shooting her enterance - one of only three shots you need that day. Let's say for arguments sake you don't want her to look like Jesus and be a silhouette with a halo glow around her head. You also don't want a completely black screen when the door closes.

Stop up so you can see her. Pow - the outside gets so neon washed out when the door is open that it looks like she walked in from a bar sign.

Stop down so that you can make out what's outside. You got Jesus again and deep-space black when the door closes.

I know - we'll light the hallway to match the daylight so that the outside won't wash out with the door open and she won't disappear when the door closes. Brilliant. The result is...

What I learned on this shoot:

The sun is really bright. Really bright. I mean really, really bright. You don't realize it until you try and match it. Three pretty powerful lights right up in her grill just to get the look of a dim hallway. If you were standing there, you would have thought we were trying to tan the poor woman.

So the next time I'm watching a film and someone walks into a building out of the daylight and it doesn't look like he/she stepped out of  a supernova, I'm going to golf clap. "Well done", I'll think. Because it's hard to light against God.

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Keep on Filming In The Free World

Saturday, April 29th

Shot exteriors with Colleen Conroy and Brian Schaer at Kings Park in Congers. We had about 3 hours to get the scene - a conversation on a park bench. The weather cooperated this time (it was a beautiful day), but with a beautiful day in a park comes... people. Basketball, tee ball, baseball and a host of other activities. We found a somewhat secluded area, and it looked like we had the ideal setup going. Minimum traffic, far enough from the high activity areas and a decent distance from the road. We started to roll and then... what's that sound? Is that Neil Young? It is. A live band. And they've got a PA.

Ah yes - the unbeliveable amount of control you have shooting exteriors on an indie.

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Exteriors - Carpe Diem

Spring. Time to move CRY outdoors and tackle the hefty load of exteriors. It's been mild for several weeks now in the North East. On some days its been downright gorgeous out. So much so that I felt confident scheduling our first exterior shoot for this past Saturday. Then I started to remember what shooting exteriors is all about.

Check the extended forcast. Pray for clear and warm. What do you get? Showers. All weekend. Well its early. Maybe the forcast will change in a few days.

Showers. Still. 60 hance. But that means 40 hance it won't rain, right? Or does that mean it will rain 60f the day? Back to praying.

Saturday comes and its raining. Hard? Of course not. If it was raining hard, you'd forget exteriors for the day and move on. You could put the idea to rest. It has to drizzle. On and off. All day. And then the worst thing happens. You look outside and see that grey deary sky and you think about the scene and it hits you - it looks perfect.

The actors look hesitant. The crew looks apprehensive. How do you look? Like someone that really wants to get that sky in that scene. So you see if everyone is willing and then you load up and go, hoping that you're not Custer leading over the hill.

So it went down like this. We arrived at Congers like. There was a mist, but we could deal with that. The location (Congers Lake Park) looked great. Grey skys over the water, the place is abandoned (as it should be), and there is no unwanted noise. We roll on take one and the rain starts. We moved to cover. It eased into a mist and we rolled again. This went on for the duration - roll, duck under a tree, warm up (did I mention is was damn cold) and the roll again.

I'd never done so many one take shots in my life, but with even darker skys rolling in, we had little choice. We wrapped the shot scene in record time and ran to the cars to pack up and roll out. We were cold, wet, tired, and hungry, but we were done.

Much thanks for cast and crew for following me over that hill. It's a testament to how great the whole team has been on CRY - more than I could have hoped and asked for. You guys are the best.

Cold wet and hungry, I couldn't help but smile that I got my sky.

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The Right Kinda Tired

April 9th

We shoot all day using my 9 to 5 job's office (Wizard Entertainment) in Congers, NY. We roll in at about 10am and roll out at about 11pm. A tremendous amount of work is done - 4 scenes covering portions of 3 different story days, knocking out the location entirely and getting one of the character's (MIA) wrapped in a single day, all with only four crew members. As we drag ourselves out the door, Loo makes a good point: I'll take this kind of tired every day of the week.

What I learned on the shoot:

Do scenes rushing up or down stairs first, not last. NOT the way to end a long day!

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Cheatin' & Squeeky Clean

We're cheaters. We admit it. We cheat.

Don't have a good over the shoulder shot on a couch? Pull it 2 feet out from the wall. Don't have enough room to film in the shower? Take the door off and move it 4 feet into the room. Cheat. No one will ever know.

Speaking of showers...

Sunday, March 26th - the dreded shower scene day. What will likely be no more than 60 seconds of screen time takes about 8 hours to shoot. Picture this sequence of actions:

Turn off the portable heater

Drop the towel

Turn on the water (while under it)

Get the water to temperature

Roll camera

Get the action

Cut camera

Turn off water

Grab a towel

Turn back on the heater

Repeat that all day and that was what Colleen went through to get CRY's shower scene done. She'll be clean for a month. By the way,  you can send all awards, get well cards and donations to her attention by dropping a line here on the blog.

Saturday, March 25th - The day before shower day is designated to shoot the very first scene of the film. While other scenes are clearly more difficult, this one has me more on edge. It's the first impression - the message you send your viewer as to what they are in for. If you stink in frame one, it's an uphill battle for the next hour and a half. Like all other scenes, I'll know when it's cut (and I'll worry until then).

Sunday, April 2nd - we shoot one of the final remaining scenes at the Fallon apartment (my place). Since filming started in late December, this has been the only location we have shot in. I think I speak for cast and crew when I say it will be a relief to break free of the box this coming Sunday and film at a fresh location.

There is something to be said for comfort and control, however. Let's not look that gift horse too squarely in the mouth!

5:53 AM - 1 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment

Editing: what do you really have?

So when you're shooting an indy, what do you do on the off days? During the holes in the always fragile shooting schedule? Besides gearing up for the next shoot and scrambling to piece together future shoots, you edit. You make a rough cuts. At least that's what I do - and what do I know? Anyway, why edit? Well for one, when you're shooting only on weekends, making a film takes a heck of a long time, and folks (and you) need some assurance after awhile that the blood, sweat, and tears are producing something worthwhile. And that is exactly why looking at dailies and putting together scenes is a scary thing. It's scary because even after making your shot lists, sketching your storyboards, and working in a world of digital playback where you're watching what you're shooting on a nice color monitor, you still have no idea what you've got until you start to piece it together.

Does it match? Is the lighting consistant? Did the tape skip? Did I capture the performance? Is it what I envisioned it would be? Not to be answered until you capture the footage and piece it together. And there's no greater high or low for the filmmaker than watching that clip when it's assembled. It's "oh god... it just doesn't work" or "THAT's what I'm talkin' about".

So I've been editing. And I haven't jumped off my roof. And that's a good sign.

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