A rollercoaster blog, from Director Dave

Ok. So its been a week or 2, but I’ve been immersed in “Ghostgirl” & a broken wrist & elbow – courtesy of snow NOT having the consistency of cotton wool and clouds.

Director Dave, directionless!

However, the edit is well underway and I have had a chance to look back at some ups and downs.

Up..
Canon released new firmware-hurrah.

Down..:Canon Eos firmware update released just at the end of principal photography. Thanks Canon, great timing.

Up..
Installed new firmware-24p here we come

Down..
Canon withdraws firmware with fault

Up..
Camera image looks lovely

Down..
Some banding on the image in low light noticeable when picture enlarged

Up..
got some great performances & some lovely shots

Down..
Couple of missed opportunities & shots we have to drop

Up..
becoming immersed in a very exciting project

Down..
losing connection with real world, friends, relatives, home, reality,blog, etc etc

So now we have a few choices.

Budget RainMaker!

The story takes on a slightly more edgy, or benign hue, depending on a couple of small editing choices. We got through one full edit and decided to shoot a whole new scene. means we might be able to use Christy’s favourite shot after all…hurrah!

We also know exactly how much difference the soundtrack and soundscape will make to the viewers emotional response to the story. We have already dropped in  a couple of pieces of music & its amazing what it does. Clearance is another thing, though! We’re going to work on some music here and have a couple of original pieces on the way, but at the moment Producer Phil is talking to Stevie Wonder’s people about clearances on a Stevie track. That would be nice. Obviously if the budget exceeds the GDP of a small African nation, then we may have to think again (actually, I think our music budget is an approximate equivalent to a meal out at a mid-price restaurant.)

Looking at the real plusses though – I love working on this sort of project and with such talented people-especially our actors. Without their performance (and a story to tell) all of this techie crap would be worthless.

Speaking of techie crap, here’s the first part of a short video we did for a film maker friend of ours, Danny Lacey, who’s also about to shoot with the 5D and wanted to know what it was like… 2nd part (covering stuff like accessories, sound recording, memory cards etc) to follow. Hope you find it helpful – and enjoy the few sneaky peaks of ‘Ghostgirl’ that appear…!

(NB: this vid was filmed for instructional purposes, & done so in a 30 minute gap between jobs, so please don’t be judging the aesthetic quality of the interview footage, that aint what it’s for!)

See you on the other side…

Dave Armstrong

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