Almost

I've been staying up late. Real late. Little by little I've put together the entire film. No music. Sound is still rough. A few cuts have jagged edges. I have big bags under my eyes. But it's basically done.

I see movies different than I did before. I mean, I use to pay attention to the edits, but they seem to be more prominent. Like raised type on a business card.

Last night my wife and I watched the rough cut. I'm not thrilled. I'm happy, not satisfied. I think the satisfaction won't come until I do this for a living. But I'm happy. Happy to be doing what I was meant to do.

I think I got some great performances from my actors, but I didn't get their best performance. Some actors were just too inexperienced or just didn't come prepared. Still, the scenes aren't horrible and their performances aren't either. I'd work with all of them again.

By the same token, I wasn't nearly as prepared for this as I had thought I'd been. I saw so many things that I could have done better or shots that I could have worked better than what I had planned. If I had storyboarded this like I had planned, it would have looked sharper and would have seemed more deliberate.

The sound isn't clean yet. I know that will help the feel of the film by leaps and bounds. And I haven't put the music down yet either, so I know that will help too. I'm already planning my next project, at least the production aspects. I have a few ideas of what I will shoot next. Right now, I just need to get this film in the can and out to the world.

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