I originally shot Game Night, the story of two couples in the middle of a game of Taboo that turns sexy and violent, in September of last year. I lucked into a terrific crew and some really great actors and shot it in my apartment on a weekend.
We had fun and we made some great shots. Preproduction and production went beautifully. It's post that's been a massive hassle.
My script supervisor/AD was volunteered as my editor. I screwed up there. Someone else spoke up for her as my editor and she never disagreed, so I stopped thinking about it. I didn't budget for an editor because she was going to do it for free.
Then my DP and my AD started to get real jobs, not free student shorts that would never make any money. And I certainly can't blame them for moving on because they have to make a living and they did a lot to help me through this process.
So three months after we shot all the footage my would-be editor told me she didn't have time to put the footage together.
I went looking for a new editor, but I hadn't budgeted for one so I knew it would be tough to get a good one to volunteer. I was lucky enough to get a recommendation for a guy who actually works in a professional studio. The downside is he's busy as hell and doesn't have a lot of free time. So I still have no completed footage almost 8 months after we shot it.
I missed some deadlines. My actors are very politely harassing me about footage for their reels, my composer has probably forgotten I exist, and I don't have any scenes to put up on my website.
But it's getting done.
I learned from this process that next time I need to set aside enough money to pay a professional editor and insist they edit quickly. In the meantime I might pick up some software and learn to do it myself so I don't have to rely on others in the future.
And tomorrow I'll talk about exactly what that next project is.
The offer is still open if you want to get the edit done sooner rather than later. I don't have any other projects on my system right now and could edit your short if you like.
ReplyDeleteThat is the eternal struggle out here. I myself have stalled plans to shoot my own short because I know I just don't have (or can afford) an editor who I could trust. And audio post is an even worse nightmare.
ReplyDeleteIf you're looking to get the wheels rolling, have you thought about searching around for recent film school grads? There's a lot of people just itching to do something, and they need to fill their own reels, potentially. Craigslist, something like that? You'd have to search through mountains of crap, but it might work out.
Sounds like a fun concept. Best of luck.
We're in the middle of editing a video project my friends and I shot a couple of weekends ago - ugh, I hate post so much. My camera op/co producer is really familiar with Final Cut, though, so it's coming along nicely.
ReplyDeleteDid you shoot on video or film?
We shot on digital and according to people more knowledgeable than me it was an HD camera. So hopefully my editor can do a version in HD.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks, Robert. My Editor says he finally has time so now he's part way into the edit so I think I'll be okay. I'll remember this for next time, though.