I'm at school again, re-exporting the movie. Trying to get rid of this weird motion blur seems to be a bit like trying to get a particularly tough stain out of a white shirt.  You try something, wait for a while, try another thing, wait for a while. Eventually, either you will be insane, or the shirt will be white, or both. 

It's so good to have the movie done.  However, now I have to face the rest of my life that's stacked up in the meantime.  Little things, like transferring schools and figuring out financial aide. 

I also find it ironic that the day after the Premiere, even though I was totally exhausted, I spent some time working on the new script.  In spite of everything,  I think this next one might be quite a solid little movie.  We'll see how I feel once I start writing actual dialogue.  Right now I'm fleshing out scene descriptions and character motivation.

Hooray and Hallelujah!  I think I just fixed the motion blur problem! 

Wow.

I can't believe I haven't posted since May.  Then again, yes I can, as that was about the time when I started getting really serious about editing, not to mention the advent of finals.

Anyway, the premiere's tomorrow, and I'm scrambling to get everything ready in time. Plus I'm house sitting.  Go figure.  Not that I'm complaining.  I have the most beautiful shoes in the world to wear tomorrow.  I like them so much, I may have to take a picture of them so I can post it here. The movie looks great, as do the extras.  And tomorrow night's going to be fun, no matter how crazy it's going to be to get there.

I'm currently stuck at school re-exporting the movie.  The original file was just a shade too big to fit on a homemade dvd and have a high quality resolution.  As a consequence, any time anyone moves remotely fast, there's a slight motion blur.  It's not too hideous on a small screen, but it'd be aweful on the big screen.  So I shortened the credits so that the movie is now almost exactly 59 minutes in length, and I'm re-exporting.  Which takes forever.

I'm slightly puzzled by the Premiere.  I never thought I'd be one of the major contributors to a party that's big enough and complicated enough to be compared to a wedding.  repeatedly.  It's got all the major elements.  The dresses, the flowers, the decorations, the cake(s), the food, the invitations, the large amounts of people...even the toasts with champagne. We're using a theatre, and then having a reception in a seperate building.  I planned out the decorations and it's going to look awesome.  I have no idea how many people are showing up.  Very likely somewhere over 200.  Maybe as many as 400.  We have no idea how many people got invited, and therefore have only the foggiest idea of how many people to expect.

I feel like I ought to feel weird, like somewhere along the way I slipped into an alternate reality and that this is not my life.  However, I stopped being surprised by my own life years ago.  I know that God can take me anywhere he wants, and usually that's to some pretty amazing places.  This whole movie experience has been truly amazing.  I'm so grateful for every bit of it, most especially for all the wonderful people who have been a part of it and supported me through it.  Tomorrow night I get to say thank-you in a special way to a lot of them.

But tonight, I just want to say thank-you here.  I know that everyone who reads this has contributed in some way, even if it's just caring about me.  Thanks.

Jo

I came to Sinclair to do more editing on the movie, and the campus security won't let me into the room because apparently my instructor still hasn't told them that I need to get into the room to do my homework.  So here I am instead.

It's a beautiful spring day after an awesome spring weekend.   Last night, some siblings and friends and I went to a showing of Lunafest, a collection of short independant films about women.  It was great.  All of the films were good, and a couple were really great.  However, even the best of the films couldn't distract from the awesome company I was in.  Such good people and such a good time.  The highlights were dancing to B's palm-pilot on the Purple People (Eater) Bridge,  watching David try to crawl into his shirt during a short about menopause, giving Micheal crap, fainting from love of "Timmy" and generally laughing until I had to lean on something to remain erect.  The whole weekend has been like that.

It's marvelous to have the filming part of the movie over with.  It means that I have more time for just hanging out.  During the movie, I'm partially there, but mostly I'm being a director.  I would be laughing so hard I was crying, but half of my brain would be thinking "Okay, when can we move onto the next take, and what notes can I give them to improve their performances?"  Now I can just laugh.

My favorite part of the weekend though was calling Aud.  It's an absolute gift from God when you can call someone you haven't seen in a year or talked to in about a month, and really, really be able to say things and to listen, and know that you just connected.  I cannot wait for this week to be over and be in Philadelphia with Aud and Al.  I also can't wait to see Finn again.  I know the weekend is going to be hectic and full of their families.  So it won't be one long bonding session.  But it'll be really good to just be there.  I miss all of my Moore ladies so much.  It's a little odd sometimes realizing I won't be graduating from there, but I know that God is putting me exactly where he wants me, and I like that.

PS.  The date for the Premiere is July 22nd.  We're trying to find a location that can house 100+ people both for watching the movie and for hanging out and dancing afterward.  If you know of any locations that might work, please please please let me or B know.

It's the second day of Easter, and it's simply a beautiful spring day.  I love it when it's a pure pleasure to walk to class, despite how heavy my backpack is.

I'm visiting Antioch tomorrow (the school I want to transfer to).  They don't have a particularly prestigious film program, but I think they're one of the few schools that can give me the type of education I really want.  I'm excited, but nervous.  I think I'll like it there, but for some reason it feels like meeting your Significant Other's parents for the first time.  I keep thinking "What if they don't like me?"

I've been editing away on the film, while preparing for the last two weekends of shoots.  This coming weekend will be intense, and then the weekend after that is just mop-up.  The first scene is coming together in FinalCut.  I'm also slowly developing the Swing Dance scene.  It's amazing to see it really become what I wanted this movie to be.  As each scene moves from screen play to rough action points, to practiced motions to shot list to real footage, the concept in my mind becomes very clear of how it ought to look.  I know how it should edit together before a single second of it has been taped.  Then, once I get it into FinalCut, it can shift a bit, but it also sort of comes apart at the seams. This part is very frustrating, as it's all there, and yet it feels nothing like it ought to.  Like it suddenly went grey and uninteresting on me. And then I get to reassemble it, and miraculously, there it is.  What I wanted all along.

Everybody's acting is amazing.  Last Saturday's shoot was such fun.  We shot the fight scenes, one of which was located in the garden next to my church.  Father opened the door for us to the church so we could use the restroom, and I hope we didn't dismay him by all the fake punching, flipping, kicking and general mayhem we were displaying on his lawn.  I'm just amazed by how much enthusiasm and joy people bring to their characters.  Watching the first complete take of the brawl was so exciting I couldn't remember what I had just seen enough to critique it.  I was completely caught up in the moment.  What's especially amazing is not just that we were able to fake a reasonably convincing fight, but also that everyone was acting like their characters ought to.  It was beautiful.

People keep saying "I can't wait to see it!"  Neither can I.

Wow. So much has happened since I last updated.  The short list is: I found out that my previous college doesn't have the major I want to switch to, so I have to switch colleges, started filming on a new movie, lost another 7 lbs, failed a class (Spanish and I don't mix), discovered I like Starbucks coffee, learned a few new dance moves, danced in at least four new locations, discovered my ribs, participated in an election, learned how to run a studio camera, and found a new college I want to go to.

The new college is a small private college about a half hour away from my home-town.  It's curriculum is extremely challenging and extremely flexible.  You basically write your own major.  Plus you have to have at least three major internships to graduate.  It's even more expensive than my last college, of course.

My life is extremely caught up in this movie we're making.  It's so much fun, but sometimes it's just exhausting.  There's at least one major hiccup a week, anything ranging from a principle not being able to show up for a shoot, to having a shoot location suddenly be unavailable.  The miraculous part of it is that any of these things should be able to stop this movie in it's tracks, yet it keeps rolling along and even, dare I say it, picking up speed.