Finishing the final edit...

I've had several meetings and discussions with a few other artists in regards to the music, the sound effects, the final sound edit, the titles, the movie poster, and the final cut of the picture.  In the next few weeks I'll schedule further meetings and finally put the various pieces into place.

Things are coming along, and I still have some work to do on the final cut.

Here is the process in progress:

PICTURE:
-making adjustments to the scenes one at a time, tightening up the edits
-decisions about the title segments and scene transitions

SOUND:
-timing music recordings to the scenes
-sound editing, overlapping audio, eliminating audible cuts
-decisions about sounds to foley
-ambient audio for each location

Still to come:

PICTURE:
-special effects shots
-credits
-final "look" for the movie

SOUND:
-sound effects mix
-music mix
-final audio mix

I have set the date of April 1, 2011 as the due date for the completed movie.  This is not the release date though, as I will still need to produce the DVD and prepare for the premier screening.

As of today, the official release date is set at May 13, 2011.

Final Post Production Schedule...

“Asshole Robot and the Benefits of an Artificial Mind” 

Final Post Production Schedule:

March 4, 2011 - Final Picture Edit complete

March 11, 2011 - Titles/Credit sequence complete

March 18, 2011 - Sound Effects, ADR sound complete

March 18, 2011 - Music Score edit complete

March 25, 2011 - Final Sound edit complete

March 25, 2011 - Finalize arrangements for release date/ screening

April 1, 2011 - Color Correction, Final Movie Render complete

April 1, 2011 - Print to tape

April 15, 2011 - Official Movie Poster complete

April 15, 2011 - Official Movie Trailer complete

April 22, 2011 - Promotional Materials complete

April 23, 2011 - Senior Show (showing poster, trailer, DVD order forms)

May 6, 2011 - Final DVD complete (including menus, special features and DVD cover)

May 13, 2011 - Release date and Screening

To be continued after end of semester:

Press kit and festival entry package

Festival entry forms

Send out for chosen festival entries

Project proposal...

Here is a proposal for the post production project for this semester. Preliminary schedule coming soon...

1.  Finish editing my movie.
   a. rough cut-- to final cut
   b. edit sound track
   c. titles, credit sequence
   d. final sound edit
   e. color/ effects (polish)

2.  Prepare for showing.
   a. render movie
   b. create DVD
   c. output to-  {digital, DVD, tape}

3.  Host a showing.
   a. promote showing of the movie  
   b. play the movie (Coppola Theatre)
   c. host a Q&A afterwords...

I'd like to work with the cinema department to arrange a showing in the Coppola Theater if possible.

There are currently 2 trailers on YouTube:
www.youtube.com/ecaselton

Building the Story...

The editing process offers a new way to tell the story.

Once the production is complete and the post production is set in motion, a new process for telling the story begins...

Carefully looking at all the footage, considering all the takes for each shot, the task of putting the story together was laid before me. I started out by assembling the shots according to the screenplay. This would build a foundation for the final edit.

The rough cut that I assembled during the production did not include careful consideration of every take.  I had several takes for each shot, which warranted further review. I completely scrapped my original "rough cut", deleted it, then started from scratch. I then embarked on to the process of reviewing each take as I put the scenes together again, one scene at a time. The movie began to take a crude shape...

Based on feedback from my original "rough cut" and my own reactions to seeing the story played out, I was inspired to take a different approach to the timeline from the original script.  I started out by presenting the story in a non-linear fashion, mixing up the scenes and shortening them, distinguishing them with "title" screens.  I ended up with a somewhat disjointed story in the beginning, which I considered as a puzzle taking shape through the course of the movie. Eventually, during the editing process, I began to unravel this puzzle, rearranging the disjointed scenes back to a more linear presentation.

Eventually, I focussed on refining the edit, going through each scene to make timing decisions about how each shot would lead to the next shot.  I had to ask myself which character I would show at which moment during the dialogue, when to cut, when to use transitions, and how to set the pacing for each scene.  While the pacing for each scene was originally dictated by the script, then by the performances, the editing process provided the opportunity to refine the timing of each moment in the story.

With most of the scenes polished enough to represent a general mood for the movie, I began to reconcile my original vision with the movie that was taking shape.  The overall presentation was slowly coming into focus.

While many wrinkles in the overall flow still exist, they are gradually beginning to smooth out as I refine, massage, and polish each of the edits.

This process is still ongoing at this time, on its way to completion.....

Post Production - "Asshole Robot and the Benefits of an Artificial Mind"

This post production process involves close to 9 hours of raw footage....

Capturing the video into the computer was the first step.  That was easy.  I began capturing while I was still shooting, at the end of each shooting day.

Next came the process of viewing and logging the clips.  I would need to log and organize each clip, assigning clips to scenes, and building an editing project in Final Cut Pro.  I separated all the scenes into "bins", labeling each "shot" and every "take".  I ended up with 25 bins, one for each scene from the movie screenplay.  There were 696 separate shots total.  I captured the movie in HD video, which amounts to over 330 gigabytes of data.

I began this extensive process while I was still in production.

During the production, I began to assemble some of the scenes into 'rough cuts'.  I picked 'takes' arbitrarily, putting scenes together according to the script, in order to show the story.  This was a useful tool while shooting, because during some later shoots, I could show the actors and the crew what we had done while we were still working on the scenes.

Once the final day of production had ended, I began the post production process.....

FINAL ENTRY - Artist Statement

Artist Statement 2010

I started making videos as a youth, before we had computers. In those days, we had to plan and think carefully about the projects we were making- we didn’t have the privilege of fixing, enhancing, and editing our work with a computer.  Working with friends who shared my interests, I made dozens of short movies and videos, building my skills with the camera, storytelling, acting, writing and directing. I spent much of my free time entertaining myself with video production.

Soon after, I got involved in theater, acting in plays and studying the acting craft at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. Most of my free time in my High School years was dedicated to acting.

The emerging technologies I grew up with sparked my interests in Computer Graphics. I was very interested in the potential that these new technologies offered, and as they became accessible, I was able to open my mind to the possibilities that were becoming available to me. I spent a few years teaching myself on computer graphics software, using the Commodore Amiga platform. Long before CG became main stream, I was producing graphics and animation with my Amiga computer. I used a system running at 50 megahertz, with 10 megabytes of RAM and a 60 megabyte hard drive. Much of the computer graphic work I made had to fit on 1 megabyte floppy discs. I quickly maxed out the capabilities of the technology at hand, learning to optimize my ideas to fit the tight constraints of the available equipment.

Meanwhile, my involvement with friends in independent video production became my primary focus. I wrote scripts, developed ideas, and co-produced many short movies. Sometimes directing, always acting, and working hard to get the movies made, the allure of filmmaking recaptured my interests and never let go. The only thing I wanted to do was make movies.

In the late 1990s I studied film and screenwriting, earning an Associates Degree in filmmaking by 2002. The expensive and time consuming process of making films led me back to video, which was cheap and easily accessible. I never stopped making movies, but I did change my focus from time to time over the years.

I became a very small time “movie star” within my circle of friends, developing characters and acting in many independent video productions which I helped to produce. Sometimes a writer, sometimes a director, and always an integral part of the production process, I continued to make movies with my close friends. 

In 1999, I began work as a portrait photographer. I loved being behind the camera. I took classes in fine art photography and began to focus on the art of photography. As a portrait photographer, I enjoyed working with average people to produce images that would forever represent their essence in portraits, capturing their personality and a moment in time that continues to live on in pictures. I have photographed, literally, thousands of people, in portraits, situations, and memorable moments. 

In addition to portraits, I found an interest in unique imagery and visual interpretation of mood and place. I produced many black and white silver gelatin prints which capture timeless representations of people, places, and things, according to my vision of the moments I found and experienced. 

My photography skills also related to my movie making roots, as I produced photos to represent characters and the independent movies I was working on. I learned to use Photoshop for refining my images, as well as graphic design for promotion of the movies.

While my focus shifted over the years, I still frequently appeared in front of the camera as an actor, equipped with my experience behind the camera to further develop my acting skills. My understanding of good images continues to translate into my acting performances, as I have learned to “feel” what the camera “sees”. I also studied “method” acting in Los Angeles for a time, furthering my training and continuing to refine my acting skills. I believe that the refinement of acting skills, whether for theater or on camera, is an ongoing process that continues to develop with much hard work and dedication, growing according to the effort invested by the actor. I am continuing to learn, practice, and understand the acting process, bringing me closer to my connection with the art of performance, which ultimately brings to life the characters that actors work so hard to create. As a director, I feel a connection with the actors based on my experience as an actor.

Eventually I decided to enrich my already diverse experience with studies of Conceptual Information Art at San Francisco State University. I started to focus on Conceptual Art in 2007, enrolling in the CIA program at SFSU. Through my experience in the CIA program, I found myself drawn back to my roots as a storyteller. I worked with media art, interactive art, and once again, video. Now I’m back where I started, telling stories and making videos for entertainment.

For my senior project at SFSU, I am currently in production of a short independent movie that I wrote, entitled, “Asshole Robot and the Benefits of an Artificial Mind”. I am producing, directing, and starring in this movie. I will also be the editor, and I intend to produce the sound track as well. This is a work in progress, and it will be my most ambitious endeavor, encompassing all the skills and experience I have developed so far. This movie will be a short feature from a 30 page script which I have been refining throughout the production process. It should translate into a movie about 25-30 minutes in length. As of this time, I am done with the principal photography of the movie and beginning to organize the scripted scenes into chunks that I will edit using Final Cut Pro. 

The work I have put in so far has been extensive, from writing, to planning, research for the story and dialogue, to pre-production, gathering crew, coordinating locations, props and sets, production break-downs, crew assignments, casting, scheduling, storyboards, shot lists, rewriting, rehearsals, shooting, and re-shooting. I am just now beginning to review the footage and conceptualize the final edit. There is much work yet to be done, but I can see the movie coming together according to my original vision. The production I have started has extended beyond my personal involvement to include work by many other artists which I have overseen and coordinated including concept art, props construction, set design, cinematography, performances, and several other various production rolls.

Once this movie is done, I intend to take on more video projects and further refine my process for making movies. Each project will build on my experience from previous projects, and focus on refining certain elements of the process. Meanwhile I have been building foundations for future feature length productions. Eventually I will create feature films for world wide distribution.

Shoot Date- Ren's Studio - Day 10

May 6, 2010

Pickups and reshoots.

I met with Ethan to get more shots from my pickups and reshoots "Shot List"....

no other cast or crew was required. We got a large amount of work done, very efficiently. Ethan was behind the camera, operating hand-held.

here are some stills from the footage we got...