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editing film score notes 21 sundance the good soldier

The Good Soldier – Notes 21 – Music Score, More Editing, and Sundance

At this point I’m really too tired to write anything. But you can tell by the title of this post that a lot is going on. I’ve been working on the film nearly all day every day this week. We recorded the score on Thursday night. It adds an entirely new dimension to the film. It’s amazing.

I am holding a private test screening for a few people. This should help me get an idea of the type of reactions the film generates. After that I may make more changes before the next festival submission.

The deadline for Sundance is Monday and it looks now that I WILL have it there on time.

More later…

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film score notes 20 rough cut

The Good Soldier – Notes 20 – Rough Cut Complete

Spent hours yesterday staring at the computer screen, editing like mad. The result is a finished rough cut of the film. It checks in at 26:56. A rough cut is basically what it sounds like; it’s an assembled version of the film from start to finish. The dialogue is present but lacks polish, there are no titles, no credits, most of the sound f/x and the music/score are missing, and very little audio mixing. So why is this meaningful at all? Because all the major shots are there and the story is told from beginning to end. It gives me (and others) and good working copy of the film from which to complete the remaining elements.

This morning I met with Anne-Vale, the woman composing and overseeing the creation of the score for the film. I presented her with the rough cut and she will use this to complete the musical elements.

The actual score will be recorded on Thursday, 9/17 and I will be there. Can’t wait to experience that part of the process.

So the work that remains includes creating and adding sound f/x, adding the score, mixing the audio, doing some further editing and rearranging to cut some time out of the film (I’d like to get it below the 25 minute mark), and adding titles and credits. I also have a bit of additional ADR work which means a brief session in the studio again. Finally, I need to burn it to DVD and prepare the submission forms.

More good news – caught a break in terms of the Sundance deadline. Apparently, I was looking at the deadline schedule for 2009 instead of the 2010 festival. It is actually on Monday, 9/21. This opens up a small doorway for me to have the film there by the deadline.

So the plan is to hammer away at editing this week – get everything in place and polished. Get the score on Thursday evening. Add it on Friday. Maybe do some more fixing up on Friday and even Saturday. Have a test viewing on Saturday. Any additional corrections on Sunday along with burning the disc. Submit it same-day-air to LA on the final deadline date on Monday.