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Switch Off

Grant and I just came back from Switch Studios, where we picked up the HDCAM, and Digital Beta Master tapes, and all pertinent sound files on a back-up drive. I have the film in my hands!

Switch's actual boss is this beautiful Husky, who runs the show. His name is Kilo, but he allowed me to call him 1000 Grams, given, well, the journals.

When we arrived back here, we found a package from Someguy at the doorstep, with the 1000 Journals compilation book and a sweet autograph. Yes, he signs as Someguy. Grant grabbed the book at his lunch break and took it outside.

Beta test results

To make a long story short: we took the Flash site offline. Everyone liked the cute little paintbrush and pencil cursors, the animations, transitions, the 1000 loader, but who is willing to twiddle thumbs until that stuff loads? Besides, you twiddle and twiddle, and then the navigation is awkward, and if you're into picking up some info, you have a really hard time scrolling through the texts. It's back to the drafting board where Flash is concerned. We haven't given up. But for the time being, good old HTML rules. Thanks for your notes, everybody.

Switch On

And one more sound mix session with Brett Hinton, our sound editor and designer, at Switch Studios in Venice, CA. To prepare for this, I carefully listened my way from the first to the last frame of the film, basically with my eyes closed. For all the spots where I didn't quite hear the location, where I couldn't imagine a place, I made a note. Sometimes the solution was as simple as raising the ambient sound levels a bit. But in a few spots, we had to go in deeper, and remove a hum that overpowered the sonic landscape, or add a layer. We also incorporated two additional music cues, which Stuart Balcomb had composed in March. Over the course of next week, the new sound tracks will be copied onto the Digital Beta and HDCAM masters, and laid off in several additional sound formats, for surround sound and international versions. The next step is to project the film once again for a final check. Then the Masters will be cloned and one set will be converted to PAL standard. And then… Happy birthday, 1000 Journals.

Beta testing

The final sound mix will start on Friday and continue all the way through the weekend. Stuart composed two additional music cues, and I very much look forward to put it all together, and be done with postproduction.
Meanwhile, we're getting ready to launch the beta version of the new website, hopefully tomorrow. There will be plenty of additional items soon...