Director's Weekly Post Production Blog WEEK 46 Saturday September 20th...

God! What a full on week!

Last weekend I went to a wedding. It was of a friend of mine who works in film production. I was quite late getting to it as it was hard getting away from the production of the documentary and actually out the door! At the party I met Michael Winterbottom and talked for longer with him than I have for years. He told me about the film of his which has just folded and how tough it is now. The truth is I could really tell him how tough it is, as making one film every 9 months as he has done, in reality he has absolutely no idea!

At the party I also met a woman who said Boston Kickout and Kes were her favourite British films of all time and who said both films had been a big inspiration for her getting into films!!!

On Monday along with production work I had to do, I managed to arrange a deal for the de-spotting outside of Midnight transfer so as to lighten the load there and hopefully move things along. Also on that day it was confirmed there would be no mixing this week. Next week I am shooting and Axle is away until the 24th, so there will be none next week at all.

The grading on Monday was postponed to Wednesday. I couldn’t make it then so Roger liased with Rebecca at Midnight transfer directly. Unfortunately it was cancelled Wednesday then pencilled for Friday and then it was cancelled again and pencilled for Monday. Roger didn’t get the confirmation at the end of yesterday, though so I doubt if that will happen either. Roger will have to chase it again next week.

Rebecca did tell me the scanner would soon be up and running again fro the scanning of the missing shots and the missing 2 frames of the Tai Chi shot that Daniel chased again this week without success.

The money due in this week was also delayed again. This was not great timing as many creditors were on my back as we had promised them this month.

Between running around, I got the Wolfmen contract signed and carried on negotiating Ellie Lawson’s contracts (I have to do another draft tonight). Vanessa and the O’s recorded a new version of Comment Te Dire Adieu also this week, but I didn’t have time to attend. I should receive a copy of it by e-mail next week.

Non-film news is that Julie is currently in Birmingham shooting something and that my Father’s radio therapy didn’t happen on the 11th. Instead he will start next week, right in the middle of the documentary shoot.

On the documentary on Tuesday we shot second unit in Gateshead while on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we did Location scouting and today technical recces. The real problem with this shoot is there is not enough advance planning and preparation. Effectively 5 days preparation for 3 weeks shooting. Many days will be with steadicam, two units, very long tracks in the city of London outside, cranes, camera boats on the Thames and helicopters flying over London.

It is a lot of work that I am just barely keeping on top of! I can’t wait to go to bed tonight.
But now for the rewrite on that damn contract!

Still 13 weeks away from completing.

An even busier week than last. We are shooting 7 days consecutive as we had to change things around thanks to the bureaucracy of city hall. At least by the end of tomorrow we will have completed the majority of the difficult stuff and over half the London stuff.

Our first day of shooting was the anniversary of the first day on DEP. I found this out through a text from Jonnie. Normally I have all those anniversaries in my phone calendar but strangely that one was not in. It made me think, of course, that things go on so, so long. Both BKO and TFL were over a year in post production though. In five weeks time that will be the case with DEP.

Apart from working with Marina, Jose and Neil again, this shoot has allowed me to work with Dave Wells, a grip I used 6 years ago when he was just starting. Now having done much, much more - including two Harry Potter’s - he is the consummate item; resourceful, efficient, inspirational and like Roger Bonnici, he is also a great laugh!

I wish I could have used more crew from DEP but unfortunately many positions were locked in when I came aboard. My role in this production is three-fold; I am the 1st AD, the Production Manager and the Second Unit Director.

A crew member who knew my work asked why I was 1st’ing. Apart from the much needed revenue the answer is simple. Any director who thinks he knows it all is wrong. You are always learning. Always. A good way to learn is to work with another director and DoP. You learn from the things they do well and things they do bad almost in equal measure. I have certainly learnt a couple of tricks from this DoP for instance. As I have said before, there is no use doing something unless you do it to the best of your ability and being a 1st AD for a couple of weeks is a good way to help me do this. Also it’s quite satisfying when you see something not working, suggest a solution and have the director use your suggestion.

The only thing I am surprised about on this shoot is the number of times the director and DoP change their minds. The DoP explains this by saying his job is “hunting the light”.

Despite the long days I have moved some things forward on DEP. We have had no mixing or grading but Ellie Lawson’s contracts are at last agreed and been sent to her to be signed. Vanessa and the O’s delivered the new song on Tuesday but due to computer problems I haven’t been able to listen to it yet. Steve Lindsey also now is finalising the last few contracts.

Roger is despondent about the lack of information from Rebecca at Midnight transfer. Today, though she assured me the re-scanning would take place next week and the grading the week after. Next Tuesday Axle will continue pre-mixing and I will pop in to check its progress when I can.

On an extremely positive note the VAT refund arrived today. We will be able to pay off many outstanding bills. That is a great relief.

My father started his radio therapy this week. He has another three weeks to do. Apart from complaining of the cold in the room that they do it in, he seems to have had no adverse reactions so it.

I am glad last week is over and now we are shooting with a smaller unit around the country. Now I am in Manchester, where I shot most of my first film “The Frontline”. When the location fixer picked us up yesterday from Stockport station we drove straight over the bridge that James King is dropped of on near the beginning of TFL. Today also we drove past Whittington Art Gallery that features in the film and the park I slept in before we started the actual shoot!

Manchester has changed so much over the past ten years. It is now full of modern apartment blocks and overhanging glass buildings. It is completely regenerated. After a curry in Rusholme last night I took the director and DoP to a pub that used to be full of gangsters and drug dealers. Now it is carpeted, cleaned up and full of the well-to-do.

In an even more prescient moment this week I found myself in a wood near pinewood shooting exactly 52 weeks to the day after starting the shoot on DEP in France. Although calming, it made me feel quite sad especially thinking about all the time that has elapsed or been lost in the post production process.

The film progressed this week greatly. Axle and Mark Sheffield were able to get through all the pre-mixing that was outstanding. I now need to go in and hear the pre-mixes before we set a date for the final mix. I hope to do that next Friday. It saddens me that when the time finally came up I couldn’t attend as I have been waiting for it for ages. The grading was not continued this week and Roger is getting increasingly annoyed by all the waiting. I wasn’t able to get hold of Rebecca yesterday either to check that the outstanding scanning has taken place either. I will have to chase that up next week.

The payments we were able to make this week have had mixed responses. Cristina was pleased to get her final outstanding bill. Others gave no response except Williams Rodriguez who called me again incensed that we had only paid part. I told him it was the first part not the final part and to calm down. I really don’t have the energy for any extra aggravation at the moment. He called me at 11.45pm after a 14 hour day shooting in Ipswich. If we’d paid him none would he have been more happy?

Things moved forward with music contracts also. I hope to have all signed by the end of next week. I finally was able to listen to Vannessa and O’s new recording. The vocal is excellent although the arrangement could be a little better. I will try and improve it one way or another.

Now we are 66% of the way with the sound and 70% with the picture. Probably one week of sound mixing and 3 days of grading will get us through the final hurdle. Then there will be the de-spotting, titles and film out. I predict we are now 12 weeks away from finishing the film.