Picture Locked...now onto sound

As you may have seen from our various Facebook and Twitter updates, we have been both focusing on locking picture and seeking out a sound designer to move "Clowning Around" onto the next stage so we can complete in May.

So far, the edit process has been conducted remotely in that editor Ian Davies has been working on the cuts and then exporting, sending to me and then implementing my notes via email. Due to both Ian and mine work commitments, this was the best way to keep it ticking along without having to arrange and then rearrange edit sessions. But it does make it difficult to discuss a scene or to fine cut, so we met a few Saturdays ago to do just that. As Ian is now on a very time-consuming programme and the main jobs of pacing and selecting the best shots are done (and also because I work as an editor also), I made any final changes myself after that.

There are many people who would say "if you edit yourself, why get an editor in?" but my answer has always been that it adds a sense of objectivity, brings in anothers skillset and adds another contact to your black book. Plus having the skills to put your ideas across to an editor in a concise way (without jabbing your finger at the screen and shouting "NO! Move that bit over there!") is something you need to develop if you plan to work consistently in this industry. Now that has been achieved, I felt fine that I could give it the final pass and lock it before sending to sound.

I also needed to find a sound designer. I used to hold my hands up and admit sound wasn't really my thing but over the past year or so, it is something I have paid more and more attention to so wanted to get someone who was very enthusiastic, got the tone of the film and got the scope of the level of detail we wanted. After putting ads out on various sites, I started to realise how much our project stood out as I received over 250 applications for a role I would usually get less than 25. After whittling them down to 5, I met with each designer to go through ideas and what deadlines we would need to work to.

As with many aspects of the production, I have taken a lot of time to consider each application and meet with people rather than go with my initial gut instinct, so I know that even if I do make mistakes, they have been made properly considering all the information I had at the time, not rushed for a quick fix.

After meeting with the various sound people, I went with Attic Sound who had an impressive body of work and were very keen to get involved. You can check out their website at www.atticsound.net and I have now sent them the relevant files they need. Attic sound consists of Anna Bertmark and Joss Albert and have worked on... You can also follow them on Twitter @atticsound

As I am working on Avid, and they are on Mac, this can be tricky. Luckily working with audio is a lot better than with picture (as Avid deals with OMF/MXF media and Quicktime .mov files whereas both work with. WAV, and .AAF). I exported an .AAF file from Avid which has all the audio media consolidated and embedded in it, with 75 frame handles (3 seconds extra in each audio clip so you can fade in and out if you want to) as well as a Quicktime movie with BITC (burnt in timecode) so they could make sure everything was in sync and when discussing anything could be really specific. I also sent them all the sound rushes and log sheets so that they have all the information about the recorded sound that there is.

I also sent a copy of the Quicktime to the composer Alexis Bennett so he can work with the locked picture and he has now sent me some examples that I can look through (as well as show those of you who went for the 'viewing' perk in our IndieGoGo campaign).

Now that those two processes are moving, I now need to find someone to grade the film so it can be as colourful and cinematic as we originally aimed for.

The last piece of the puzzle is finding someone to be the voice of Clowns UK, who leave a message on the answerphone that kickstarts Bonzo's journey. I have always wanted this to be someone who is known to an audience for their role as a 'comedy legend' so am currently speaking with a number of agents to get the right person on board and will keep you posted on any progress!

That's all for now, but still aiming for that May completion date :-)

Views from the composer

I met with composer Alexis Bennett this evening in "The Wellington" pub in Waterloo. My now standard half an hour late, we discussed numerable ideas about the latest cut and where we would go from here, based on my ideas and what Alexis had sent me a week ago...

"Clowns and music... a long and complicated history. Damien's film brings forward a variety of different possibilities for a composer. A good starting point for me is Bonzo, who has an interesting struggle on his hands between trying to make a living out of being funny while suffering from alcoholism. So musically, what I hope to achieve is that same tension. For me, musical ideas can start with the sound of particular instruments, and Bonzo suggests various things to me, and because of his character these instruments don't necessarily go together very often: tuba, hurdy gurdy, piano, cello. I did also think of a fairground organ sound. At the moment I am throwing ideas around with these instruments in mind. At this point I also have to think about if and when we might have a recording session, and where this may take place."

So, we sat down and watched the film on my Iphone (whilst supping a couple of beers) and will now work out a deadline so we can hopefully get something to Cannes for the March deadline :-)

Pickup Shots.

On sunny Sunday mornings I usually prefer to sit in bed, preferably in a patch of sunlight and read the film news over tea and toast. Today however I was up and about early to meet Damien and Azul so we could shoot some pick up shots for Clowning Around.

It took forever to get the coin to roll in the right way and land where the camera needed it to be, but when it did we all smiled together, knowing how it would make the film work better. Other shots had their bugbears too, in a busy supermarket who wanted their checkout back our Jack-in-the-box wouldn't work properly, and to find a spare bit of pub floor to film on when there's a Tottenham/Arsenal match on and you're in Islington is just ridiculous. We got there though. And those shots will give us what we need to stimulate the rest and make it work easily.

Here's a couple of videos from before and after the shots from Damien and Myself just explaining what we were doing..

Prepping the Edit

Since the shoot in October, I have been researching and setting up the best deals for us for post production. Some people mentioned during the prep that this was something I should have sorted beforehand, however with the nature of low-no budget film-making, I tend to take each step as it comes as otherwise you can end up with someone who agrees to it and then either backs out or goes through with it but without the same enthusiasm as their priorities may have changed.

I really wanted to work with one post production facility for the whole of post as it would make it easier to manage, enable us to showcase any problems we came across and to build up a relationship for future projects. Unfortunately, even though we went back and forth with numerable post production facilities, we couldn't reach an agreement that fitted us and them, although we did come very close! At the same time, I posted adverts out to find an editor who could do the offline process. From the 50 or so applications I got back, I met up with 7 of them so I could ascertain their availability, preferences and how enthusiastic they were about the film.

Both these processes (finding a post house and editor) took me through November, December and early January. Although in that time we could have made headway with the edit rather than meeting people, I really wanted to not only make sure I had got the absolute best for the film, but also find out what I was looking for in an editor and a facility. Like every other part of the film, this was valuable experience as with each interview I went into it a bit more prepared.

From an editor perspective, what I most impressed with were those who challenged me, and concentrated on asking me questions on the narrative, the tone and where the film would end up being screened, in addition to having experience cutting short-form material and believing the project would be as important for them as it would be for us. In the end I went for editor Ian Davies, who has worked at White House since 2005 (http://www.whitehousepost.com/editors/representation/ian-davies/reel/). It was not an easy decision, as I had narrowed it down to three editors from those I had met, but Ian's easy going nature, emphasis on the heart of the story and commitment to it timewise, swung it for me. He has now completed a rough cut and will be doing a second pass on Monday, so we can complete the offline by the 10th February. As I edit on Avid myself, should we need to make additional tweaks past that point, I can do those myself, however I felt it key to get an objective eye to put together and pace the story.

We are still on the lookout for people to help with the sound and online, so we can complete by May, but I am happy that once the picture is cut together, we will be able to get people on board for this by showing them the work so far.

A "Clowning Around" Family

Preparing some of the perks for backers I'm reminded of how many people worked for so long to bring this film to fruition. It's been a truly collaborative effort over a long period of time to get this far and so many people have helped along the way, excited to be part of the ongoing team we've accrued around "Clowning Around."

One of the themes of the film is that it's easy to do something for a day, but it's much harder to keep up good work when you're alone. Having our backers, supporters, and all the people who have worked on the project, given up their time and talent to it and just been there throughout has made the process to date a very warm experience. People have put huge pieces of their own hearts into the work we all wanted to do and we all adopted Damien's initial project as our own and joined his vision for what the film could be. I couldn't be more proud of our "Clowning Around" family or more grateful to be part of it. Looking at a rough cut of the first few minutes of film I'm acutely aware of how effortless it seems despite the effort that went into bringing it all about. Happy days and busy days with wonderful people.

Post production always seems like a quiet time where there's much less to speak about on a project and a lot of the team have moved on to do other work and aren't so much around, especially for me without the production team meeting every week I have missed the bustle of regular face to face meetings, but the wheels have kept turning and so much is ticking along that it's exciting to think of the things we still have planned. Right now it's about looking after our family of supporters and sending some of the digital goodies like the online comic book out! That has been a real labour of love by Damien and Phoenix Ryte and I truly hope everyone will love them as much as the guys have enjoyed creating them. There are two comic books in one double edition, sharing extra stories about our clowns for our backers to enjoy!

More funs soon!

Slava's Snow Show

One of my Christmas presents this year was being taken to see the wonderful theatrical clowning spectacle that is Slava's Snow Show.

The clowning is simplistic, beautiful and quite profound and it reminded me how clowns are such a fantastic vehicle for connecting us with deep human emotions.

Our clowns in "Clowning Around" are not of the same ilk as Slava Polunin and Co, they're more traditional and robust, less simple and staid, but they do have the same depth I feel and I think have proved themselves (if the rushes are anything to go by) as a really good way to deliver the story of addiction that we're telling in the film and in their own right as characters that we can love and love to laugh at and cry with.

As well as being a rather fun Christmas prezzie the Snow Show took me into the new year with a feeling that very good things await our "Clowning Around" clowns as the film comes together and begins to head out into the world.

Red nosed and raring to go! *:O)

Post

Damien and I met this week to go over what we are aiming for at the moment with post-production and perk fulfilment. There's been lots of things going on like transcoding of rushes and talking to editors and post houses, some screenplay feedback and other bits and bobs, a lot of which hasn't been that exciting but we're almost ready to crack on with the nitty gritty of post and it was good to catch up in person and have an overview of what we still need to achieve. Damien had some exciting ideas too, which I'll keep a lid on for the moment but it sounds like post is going to be as fun as the rest of the process.