Over the past six weeks, with increasing pressure to lock picture and start postproduction, and all the emotional and creative ups and downs that come with it, I literally worked around the clock. From 3:00 AM to 5:00 AM, I usually screened the whole film in one sitting, only focusing on the pace and rhythm. Then I started to make notes about individual sequences, tried out some new ideas, and then printed the day's to-do list. From 9:00 AM, the others came in, and while I was working with Grant on the title sequence, Josh was going over my list and made the obvious adjustments, corrections, and changes, and then we tackled the re-edits and tweaks together. In the evening, when I was alone again, I put-out the whole film, which takes about six hours, unless Final Cut decides to freeze or crash, or even worse, display the "General Error" dialog (which I started to call "General &#@! You"), and stops working altogether. I tried to get a few hours of sleep, but had my alarm clock wake me up every two hours to check on the output, and in case, re-boot the system and start over. But tonight we are locking picture. And tomorrow we'll be cutting the umbilical cord, that is, the main Firewire cable that connects the Mac and the external drives with all the footage, and deliver the film to Switch Studios. The crux with this kind of work is you're never finished. There's always so much more you could try out and improve. Especially since you learn so much and get better every day. I envy furniture makers who build a chair, and when it's done they can sit in it. It's so different with a film. Yes, you could burn it on DVD and see it on your television, but it has a life of its own. From my perspective, it's an abstract piece of work, and its "persona," its quality oscillates and flickers between the frames. But maybe I should just get a good night's sleep and stop worrying.
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