Good Progress, Bad Business, and Nice Hair

These past two weeks have been both trying and rewarding. We have, minus some minor tweaks, finished the very first scene of Othersight, music included. We are already adding sound effects to scenes in the eighty plus area. And we’ve been collecting sound effects for a list which required 120 different varieties of sound effects.

However, we’ve also had to deal with special effects not working like we’d hoped, good sound effects being hard to find and a much needed green screen with a ten day max assembly then shipping promise, not showing up 28 days after ordering.  

All in all, it’s been an interesting ride.

Directors note:

There is a point of levity, however. The sound edit today revolves around the scene where we discovered that Cole Pigman has perfect hair. In theory we were trying to make him look like he’d just evaded a SWAT team. But whatever we did, we couldn’t make his hair lose its perfectly sculpted form. At long last we managed some semblance of disorder and shot quick, but half way through his hair worked itself back to its accustomed form and we had to repeat the process all over again. Ah, the joys of a day on the set.  

Giving Thanks

 With Thanksgiving fast approaching, it is appropriate that we all stop and do just that. Myself more than most. I am thankful that God gave me a creative ability that is always growing. I thank Him that I have friends that jumped headlong into this project, many performing above and beyond the call of duty. I am thankful for my family, who bore the brunt of the crewing duties and put up with my long hours on set, and now in front of the computer. There are many, many, more specific thanks, but they fall within the “big three.” Lastly, I am thankful for this chance to grow. I am a very different man from who I was, say, two years ago. Less fear, less uncertainty, more confidence in who I’m called to be, and in the One who did the calling. All in all, a net gain.

Happy Thanksgiving.

(Written by Director Jon Brewer)

Faith with Wheels

 As this new and rather… interesting… part of the edit continues upon its molasses-in-January way, my thoughts turn to the next step. Specifically my next step. Money doesn’t last forever, and I must soon return to the world of “real” workers. I say that with irony only because many people in very demanding jobs offer a “better you than me” when they hear what my “job” entails. But in looking to the future I must also remember why I leapt out into the unknown and quit my job to make a movie when the prevailing sentiment views that as something just shy of clinical insanity. The answer is both simpler, yet more complex than it might seem. I was given a highly creative mind that also plays host to a robust imagination. God has blessed me with the ability to look at challenging issues and distil them down to their core essence. Then He gave me a passion for Truth, one that makes a life in sales hard. J Through a teacher at the local college I was reminded that our gifts are to be used for more than our own gratification. Scripture says that what we have been given must be used or it will be taken away. I do not intend for that to happen.

 So I make movies because it is the best voice with which to reach a deaf world. I use what I’ve been given because it is the right thing to do. I do not always use it well, but it improves with practice. All of this raises another question. Which is the greater insanity; to risk all knowing that to do less would be to dishonor the gift that God has given you, or to conserve your talents for fear of failure and loss? Yes, in our utter abandon we can make some stupid choices, and this choice I made was preceded by a few years of prayer, but the point still stands; who was the master happiest with when he returned in the parable of the Talents? The one who kept what he’d been given safe, or the ones who’d risked it all and brought increase? Do what you’ve been called to do with boldness, because even death cannot stop the true Christian. What do we really have to lose? Only what we never really owned anyway.

(Written by Director Jon Brewer)

AAAAAGHHHHH!!!!

Or How a Man Gets Out of His Depth

 Sound design. To the average director it is a field as alien as any on Mars. Which, depending on the director, might range from, “Mars? Where’s that?” to “Yah, take a left at the pyramids.” Anyway, let’s just say that it’s not my strong suit. Especially when I have a fine print page of sound effects I either need to capture or create.  So much for the “visual medium.” While the average studio has its own department for this, the indie director and his faithful crew of what, two, three, must soldier on without the help of specialists. Armed with nothing but a mic and a digital recorder, they must create the sounds that persuade their audience that this flight of fantasy is real.  As with so many things, organization is the key. The list of required effects categorized by type is a powerful force multiplier against the seemingly endless horde. Taking it step by step, bit by bit, anything is possible.

(Writer: Director Jon Brewer)

On Flash

 This week has been eventful, alas only some of it was directly related to the movie. After some hiccups in the acquisition of a professional green screen the order has finally been made and is in the process of being constructed. Several more Bein Sidh phase-out shots have been completed, but the pride and joy of the shot collection this week has to be the adding of a hand wound in post. Too many details will spoil a plot point, so simply saying that I was pleased must suffice. Of all the 2d effects this was probably the most difficult by far for something so apparently simple. So what does this have to do with flash? Well, after I <censored by the Department of Homeland Security> and sparks <censored by the Department of Homeland Security> it just made sense. :)

 

 Like any good filmmaker, if I don’t have another project or two on the back burner I’m moving too slow. If you would like a teaser regarding its direction head on over to the Othersight Facebook page and check out the poll there. Thanks and have a great week!

(Written by Director Jon Brewer)