Editing: Our lives and DE.

Two days ago I started a post on how excited I am to move. I wanted to describe all the great things I've recently learned about our funky end of town - the events, restaurants, and artsy vibe. It sounds perfect! I also wanted to share our surprise when we were invited to dinner the other night, and learned that our friends actually live right. around. the. corner. from our new home. How cool is that? We already know our neighbours! The post I intended to write was going to buzz with happiness and inspiration.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way my words of inspiration quickly shriveled into more of a personal to-do list of things I need to either sell on Castanet, or donate to Share or Freecycle. As necessary as it was for me to start writing those things out, for an audience of readers, I'm sure it would be about as interesting as reading someone's grocery list... that is, unless you're in the market for a great second-hand washer n' dryer, a couple desks, two dressers, two television sets, a patio set and swing, or a really nice love seat, slightly scarred from a lil' Luna lovin' on it's back corner. (Darn cat.)

Our new apartment is half the size of our last one, which also means half the number of kitchen cupboards. So we have a lot of down-sizing to do there. Do you know anyone in the market for a panini maker, used only twice? A snow cone machine, used once? Better yet, two casserole dishes still in their original packaging?

BTW, I apologize if you're reading this and thinking, "Hey! I bought you that panini maker!" I promise we'll find it a good home, unless you'd like to have it back. No hard feelings, of course! There's just a lot of stuff we need to unload.

Goodness. Listen to me try n' hock my shit. Ha ha. I feel like a tacky used car sales man. Only instead of cars, I'm trying to unload my very comfortable, incredibly easy-to-clean, stone-coloured microfiche love seat. Slightly scratched. But only at the back. You'll barely notice it.

Ahem, but enough of that.... I think I've said plenty about the move for now.

Tonight I wanted to blog about something else instead. Namely, DE. Y'know, because clearly I don't talk about it enough already.

Anyhow, I just thought that I'd give a little update on Jim's progress in the editing suite. He'll be there until 10ish tonight working with our editor to tweak a few more moments, and try to get existing musical scores from other films to work in sync with our scenes. We will be getting a proper composer once our film has a locked cut by Feb. 23rd. However, even though the locked cut isn't due for another month, tomorrow evening DE will be screening for our investors and a small cold audience. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time.

I saw the cut Jim n' our editor had completed just before Christmas, and it was lookin' pretty good. Since then, they've managed to reach their goal of cutting the film down from two hours and twenty minutes to a more ideal hour forty-five. They've made some hard cuts, but in the end, it's totally serving the story better. It really moves!

Last week there was a mini-screening just for our producers because they wanted to be able to provide some notes before tomorrow's screening. It seems that everyone thinks that the film's emotional core is our strongest asset. The toughest cookie in the room even said that she felt her eyes well up no less than 5 times. (Wow! I can think of maybe 3 tear-jerker moments... but no less than 5? She must be a bigger softy than we thought. ;)

Les producers also agreed that they feel the very last scene is especially powerful. That was so awesome to hear! (IMHO, the scene does look pretty gorgeous. We were so fortunate on that dreary grey day to have the sun peek out between the clouds and shine down on our actors at the perfect moment. What an amazing gift that was! :) As everyone knows, endings can make or break a movie. And as famed creative writing instructor Robert McKee puts it, "You can have flaws, you can have problems, but wow them in the end and you've got a hit." I sure hope so!!

Still, even though we received such a positive response from les producers, a cold audience will be the ultimate test. They'll provide their feedback, which will lead to more tweaking. Could they follow the story?, How's the pacing?, etc. Then at some point in early Feb. there will be a big test screening for 200 random people. Eek! I'm very excited for that, and yet it's totally nerve-wrecking all at the same time. It would suck to spend 5 years invested in project that everyone thinks is rotten. Ha. Boy, that would stink! However, I'm pretty sure that won't be the case. Our movie may not be for everyone, and yet, we like to think that it still offers something for everyone. So we'll see...

I really think that Jim and our editor are doing a bang-up job. Any shaky dialog or performances have been left on the cutting room floor, polishing the vision to something better than I ever could've imagined. Jim said that the the two of them have a really good grove. He says it's uncanny because just before Jim starts to say something, Marc will already be tweaking the exact beat he was thinking about. Apparently this happens all the time. It's like they're sharing a brain.

I love hearing that, because it's just so awesome to know there's that sort of chemistry going on. We have been so blessed with such an incredible cast and crew. I don't think this will be your average low budget Canadian film. I think it has the potential to be special. And I'm not just saying that because I'm biased. There were many days we spent writing when I wondered if DE was good anymore - I had just read it over and over again so many times, that I was exhausted with the story. But now to watch it with fresh eyes - and even better, to watch it with a musical score behind it, which always helps to heighten the emotion - it really is something. It's not our little story anymore. It's now this big collaborative, creative thing. And if the last rough cut is any indication as to how this next one is gonna be, I have no doubt that I'm going to fall in love with what I see tomorrow night. I just hope that everyone else does too!