Film Progress (Why ain't that movie done yet?!)
I've noticed we've gone a while without sharing any updates. I've always imagined making a movie would be this fast-paced whirlwind of inspiration and highly-caffeinated bursts of "a-ha!" moments. While there certainly is some of that, a lot of it boils down to logistics and time management exercises. Sometimes it can feel more like an office job than the "Lights! Camera! Action!" excitement of a movie studio. Of course, we're neither operating an office nor a movie studio - We're two dudes working with what we've got to make movie magic. Over the course of the past two years, we've been traveling, shooting, having meetings, reviewing footage, shooting some more, and editing all around our individual work and life schedules.
So while things seem to be moving slow, and it can be frustrating, it helps to look back on what we've accomplished instead of the work that lies ahead. The entire process of filming throughout 2015 was that whirlwind I mentioned above. Everything about it was invigorating and inspiring. But once we wrapped filming, updates here had become slow-to-nonexistent. So here's some of the work we've put in since then that's gone mostly undocumented on here or social media:
Joe and I both renovated rooms in our respective homes to serve as our own office/studios. Before this movie, we were both working out of our bedrooms. We each needed to upgrade to a dedicated work space for organizational and motivational purposes, and to make the process a little more efficient. This included a computer upgrade for Joe specifically to use for editing (replacing a nearly decade-old bricked out laptop).
We sifted through dozens of hours of raw footage. We compiled logs of every scene we shot and transcribed every interview. That took WAY longer than I would have liked, but now we have a database of all of our footage and a searchable 130+ page document of every interview question and answer. We've been working on acquiring artwork and video footage from outside sources. We've learned a thing or two about licensing music, and personally, I'm really excited about some of the tunes we've landed.
While that was going on, we also put together not one, but TWO trailers! Both of which were debuted at The Yorkcon 2016 in Pennsylvania this past September. One of the trailers was cut together specifically for the event, while the other was the one intended for public release. They have not been made available yet, because we're still working to get them professionally mixed and color corrected by an outside company. That process has been slooooow. We also put together a trio of teaser clips designed for Instagram to build up hype for the trailer. We ended up releasing those on Facebook and Youtube, and soon enough they may find their way to Instagram. The funny thing is we specifically designed them to play under the 15 second mark which was Instagram's limit at the time - and right as we were wrapping them up, IG expanded video uploads to a full minute. I think it's even more now, with live videos.
Near the end of the summer, we decided we had a bigger story to tell that would require more work, time, and filming on our part. We picked the camera back up in November and headed to Phoenix for the 2016 ISCA convention, where we rounded out our roster of artists with a handful of new interviews, as well as picking some more convention footage. We also shot some more in Orlando in January and in Chicago in February.
We had originally set this convention as our deadline, but with the new story objectives in place, along with the new filming obligations, we made the choice to extend that deadline indefinitely. The movie will not be released based on an arbitrary deadline. We'll put the time in that the story deserves and release it when the time is right. I think that's the best way for this particular project. Though Joe and I are both itching to have this out to the public as soon as possible, we're becoming more aware of the realities of no-budget indie film making.
In addition to all of that, we're still chipping away at it, piece by piece - and if it wasn't already clear, we can't wait to show you what we've been working on.
I'll try to update more frequently. It gives you all a look into our process and it helps keep me focused.
- Tom
