music videos

last friday, before me and paul were heading up to new york for the christmas holiday, i took a few hours, and worked on capturing a couple of music videos that i really liked, and i converted them and dumped them onto my ipod. first off, i have to say that trying to put videos onto an ipod is a complete pain in the ass - i had to convert the original mp4 files several times into a format that the ipod would finally recognize. anyhoo, after a few hours, i was able to put a couple of videos that i really enjoyed an dumped them onto the ipod (a couple of videos by everything but the girl, doves, and crowded house). on the train ride back to dc, i was able to watch the videos over and over.

i think it's absolutely amazing to be able to carry around cool music videos on an ipod and to watch them whenever you want. granted that the resolution may not be perfect, it's still pretty damn good for something so small. i remember, years ago, i would always have to wait to see a video for something that i only heard about. now, i can watch them over and over again.

i also found that watching the videos was very inspiring. it gave me a lot of ideas, and i think that i would enjoy directing music videos if i had the opportunity to do them more frequently. they're kind of visual collages of images, in such a short format. anyhoo, i totally dig watching videos, and i hope to watch them more often.

so the trip to new york was awesome: got to catch up with tom and andrew, and have a few drinks at the savoy, which is the restaurant where tom works. i'm glad to hear that they're both doing real well.

i'm a little disappointed that i haven't been able to do that much filmwork this past weekend, but hopefully, i'll be able to put in a couple of hours this week. i have a bunch of music stuff that i have to send to bob massey, and i want to get that stuff out to him as soon as i can.

let's see how much i can get done before the new year begins...

milestone

over the past weekend, i hit a major milestone in the post-production of the film. i was able to sub-rent the digital betacam deck from a local dealer, and i spend most of the weekend digitizing the footage into the avid: roughly six and a half hours worth of footage that used between 500-600 gigs worth of space. fortunately, i had plenty of hard disk space: 1.5 terrabytes on the avid system, and a terrabyte worth on a backup external hard drive. i captured all the footage into the avid as uncompressed 1 to 1 .omf files and .aiff files, which are the native file formats for the avid. needless to say, the footage looked incredible, and i'm excited that everything worked out this past weekend relatively without any problems.

i guess that i can finally say that i'm in the final stages of the film's post-production. over the next couple of months, i'm going to on-line the film footage using the off-line edit that was created using adobe premiere. i'm also fine-tuning any effects using after effects, and finalizing the music for the film as well. and i can tighten up any scenes that need a little tweeking.

up until now, i was essentially working with a lo-res dvd version of the film, which is like watching a fourth generation vhs copy. now i'm working with uncompressed super16 digibeta footage, and i think everything looks incredible. it's given the film a brand new life, and i think the final product will look incredible on the big screen. the footage still needs a bit of color correction, but fortunately, everything was transferred well enough that this won't be that big of a deal.

so the plan for the next couple of months is to finish the fine cut of the film on digibeta, fly out to l.a. and meet up with bob massey to finish up all the music, and plan for a local private screening for cast and crew and any press/production contacts.

in the meantime, me and paul are head-up to new york for the x-mas weekend.

guess, i better finish this film soon, yeah?

digi beta weekend

this coming friday, i'm picking up a digital betacam deck and spending the majority of the weekend capturing all the footage of the film into the avid for the final on-line. i'm confident that it should all be fine. of course, i'm working with about six and half hours of footage to digitize, so i've got my work cut-out for me.

the past few weeks have been rather hectic, and i haven't been able to work on the film as much as i like. tho, i was able to work a little bit on re-doing the opening titles using After Effects. as much as i like using the program, as with all effects, it can get a little overly complicated. the program gives you a ton of options in manipulating pretty much everything. but if you're not careful, you can get a little lost in being able to do simple effects. so, i'm trying to keep it simple. so far so good...

me and paul are heading up to new york for the x-mas holiday, then up to philly for new years, then in late january, i'm headed out to l.a. to meet up with bob massey. lotsa traveling...

so, hopefully, in the time in-between, i'll find the time to work on the final editing of the film.

let's keep our fingers crossed.

more music

tis the season as they say, and turkey day was very cool and relaxing. though, the weekend was still quite busy as ever. bob massey sent me a couple more tracks of music for the all important apt/park bench sequence and the black limbo w/filipino man sequence. so, i synched up the scenes with the lo-res versions and ftp them back to him so he had a idea of what everything sounds like all together. this is just meant to be a thematic reference, and not meant to be perfect in timing and levels and such. so far, i really dig what bob has brought to the project, and i'm extremely excited to see the final product when it's all said and done. there's just one more track to produce, then it's refining all to tracks that have been produced thus far.

since i was able to finish tom's actor reel last week, and also since i had the short promo interview of him from the last time we were in new york, i offered to author the dvd reel. still waiting to hear back from him, but it really shouldn't be that much more to do with it. i think as an actor demo reel, it looks really short and sweet, and very polished. so hopefully he'll get more gigs as a result.

so, i found a place locally that i can rent a digital betacam deck and i'm currently filing out all the paper work to get that going. it's mainly getting a certificate of insurance faxed over to the main office, and for them to approve everything. if all of it works out, i will prolly start to digitize the film at hi-res in a couple of weeks. six and half hours of footage is a lot to digitize. over the weekend, i tested out the the avid deck configuration that i planned to use with the digibeta deck with a dvd player with component outs, and everything worked out solid. so hopefully, the digibeta deck should be no prob.

so me and paul are heading back up to new york for x-mas, which will be really cool. i'm also planning to head out to l.a. in january for a couple of days to meet up with bob. i'll prolly shoot some stuff out there as well.

chipping away

over the past couple of weekends, i've mainly been focusing on getting up to speed on the avid system and also concentrating on working on the music for the film. i'm also putting together tom's demo reel on the side. soon, i'll sub rent a digibeta deck and digitize all of the footage to work on the final on-line of the film. so, i'm basically chipping away at different aspects of the film,slowly but surely...

me and bob massey have been ftp-ing files back and forth to work on all the different music themes for the film. so far, i think everything that bob has composed has been absolutely beautiful, and it's so cool to see all these different scenes finally come together. i think it's really cool that even though bob is in l.a. and i'm here in d.c., that we can still work together on this. i'm looking forward to my trip out there as well.

tom sent me a bunch of other short films that he had been in, and he asked me if i could edit his demo reel for him. tom doesn't have a whole lot to work with, but i think that there are some really strong sections that can be edited together to make a pretty decent reel. i've also had to think about what scenes from PRAXIS i am comfortable with including on tom's reel. anyhoo, i'll prolly put something together by this weekend.

on a more technical note, i'm planning to sub-rent a digibeta deck, and i've been reading up on how to properly configure everything so that it's all kosher. avid is not as straight forward on this stuff, but i have roughly six and a half hours of footage that needs to be digitized, and i'm giving myself ample time to be sure that i can do this properly, just in case something comes up. proper planning....yadda yadda yadda...

i think it'll all work out... :P

avid up and music

last friday, i received my new avid xpress pro software and mojo box in the mail, and pretty much spend the rest of the weekend, getting it all up and running. it pretty much took all weekend to set it up, and test different configurations to make sure it was all kosher. it's a little bit overwhelming, but the avid is an incredibly powerful tool. it's the industry standard, and the new software maximizes newer computers that have multiple processors. it's all really wild, and i'm excited about the amount of capabilities the avid has to offer.

i spend most of the time on manipulating the color correction features, and have been using tom's interview from the last time we were in new york as a way of getting familiar with the new software. avid gives me much more control over the color correction of scenes, much more that any of the other programs that i have been using. but avid is definitely not for anyone who is not familiar with non-linear editing. you have to be fairly tech-saavy to even scratch the surface. either way, i'm excited to work with the program, and i have a lot to learn to get completely up to speed on finishing the project.

bob massey also sent me a bunch of different mp3s of music ideas for the film, and i have to say that it's all incredibly beautiful. i purposely let bob interpret the scenes and come up with music on his own, just to see what he could come up with. i wanted to see what bob would be able to add to, and bring to the images on screen. like i said, the music is incredibly beautiful, and the film now has much more of an identity. me and bob, went over a couple of places where the music didn't quite fit. so, over the next few months, we'll refine the different pieces and match them to corresponding scenes.

so between getting the avid and hearing the new music, the weekend was very productive film-wise.

onto the on-line

over the past week, me and paul configured a brand new system to finish editing the film. it's taken about a week to order the new computer, order new hard drives, install the cpu, and install all the current software. we also needed it to be assimilated into our home network. the last step to get the system up and running is to get the new avid software and install it and test that everything is kosher.

after thinking about how to post the film, i decided that the cheapest way was to purchase my own avid system and edit the on-line on my own. because the film is so complex, the amount of time that it would take to take the project to an outside editor, have them on-line it, and post it and pay them for their time and their editing, etc. i decided that purchasing my own system was the way to go. and owning my own system is cool because i can use it not only for this project, but for future projects as well.

once the avid system is all up and running, i'm planning to sub-rent a digital betacam deck and digitize all the footage of the film. once it's all edited and everything is complete, i'll dump it all back out to tape. sounds complicated, but i think it should all work out great.

i'm excited to be on-lining the project. working with the digibeta footage is going to be way cool, since up until now, the rough-cut was lo-res. so it's kind of like getting used to seeing a second generation vhs tape of a movie, then watching a High Definition DVD of the same movie.

i think that once i get started on the on-line, it'll re-affirm the reason why i shot film.

re-edit

over the past weekend, i got a chance to really work on tightening up the film. i shortened up a lot of scenes, added some sound effects, and even added an effects shot to the boxing sequence. this particular scene was a little difficult to synch: we shot a couple of shots at 48 frames versus the normal 24 frames, but we didn't have any specific synch sound for that scene. i initially wanted to keep the scene rather long, and not use any of the slow motion shots, thinking that the scene would be more effective and more natural with the long takes. but i decided to shorten the scene, tighten up the long shots, and add the slo-mo shots. we did record some nat sound and room tone, so i just slowed down this audio, and added it to the slo-mo shots. it was a little complicated, but in the end, the scene works a lot better, and i think it really adds to the subtle complexity of the scene. i'm very pleased with the way the scene has turned out.

the film it definitely taking on a new life. by shortening a lot of the the scenes, taking out a lot of the long takes, and adding sound effects, the film definitely feels a lot tighter. the film doesn't feel so sparse and distant. sure, there are a lot of subtle nuances to long scenes with no dialogue. but i think that the scenes convey their messages a lot more clearly now, and i'm looking forward to seeing how bob massey's music adds a whole new dimension to the film.

though, bob is doing the majority of the film score, there are a couple of different places where i'll be composing a couple of songs myself. i haven't written music for quite a while, but i used to be in a couple of bands, and i've been playing guitar since i was twelve. writing music is definitely a different animal than making movies, but i plan to keep it simple, and see what comes out. should be fun to see what i can come up with.

so, i have a couple of effects shots to sort out, and also a bunch of animation sequences to work on as well. soon, i'll be purchasing an avid system and digitizing the footage for the final cut/festival cut. if all goes well, i'd like to have this done by the end of january 07.

we'll see...

yakitori nyc

so it's been a couple of days, and me and paul just came back from the weekend in new york. it was such a wonderful trip, particularly being able to catch up with tom and andrew and shoot their interviews, and also hang out and grab a couple of beers as well. the interviews went really well, and i definitely think that there's enough there to edit a couple of minutes of the interview down for promotional stuff later on. they turned out really well.

after shooting andrew's interview on friday, we met up with tom, and me and paul took them to our favorite japanese yakitori restaurant in st. mark's place. we got there early, and we were the first in line, but soon after we got there, a line of people started to form around the corner. paul and andrew started talking to a couple of people that said that they were visiting from san fran, and had heard about the place, but was it was their first time there. whenever me and paul are in nyc, we always try to go there, just because it's so different, and it has such an authentic feel to it, and the food is awesome except for the more unusual things on the menu (octopus dumplings...) i don't know if andrew and tom liked the food, but either way, we had a great time and it was very cool to take them someplace different. andrew said that he'd always walk right by them place, but in a way, never even knew that the place was even there. after dinner, we walked a few blocks, and had a few beers just around the corner. it was great to catch up with tom and andrew, and also to see that both of them are doing really well for themselves.

now that we're back in dc, it's time to buckle down and finish the film. i finished synching the couple of foley scenes that i did last week, and i'm also re-editing a lot of the scenes in the first half of the film. i like the new changes so far, and i think the film has a much more concise and tighter feel to it. Bob Massey is starting to compose music, and next month, i plan to purchase an Avid system to on-line the film. the goal is to have a fine cut of the film by late january. there's a lot of things to work on, but i think that this is totally doable.

the trip to new york was awesome, tho, i'm glad to be back in dc.

time to get focused and finish the film.

foley scene 45

this past friday, i recorded some foley work for scenes 45 and 60. there were a couple of scenes in the film where we weren't able to record synch sound when we were filmming them, so these scenes required foley work, which is basically recording nat sounds and imitating the actions in the scene, after the fact, so that it looks real. fortuantely, there wasn't any dialogue in these particular scenes, so the foley work was relatively simple. most people don't really notice these things, but when they're missing, it's really obvious. i also think that it's really cool that technology has become so advanced that i was able to record this stuff with what i have. i'm amazed that there are a ton of different digital sound software that even if you have a half decent sound recording, you can clean it up with just a few mouse clicks. before, this would take a ton of mixing, and was a pretty long and arduous task. anyhoo, being able to foley a couple of scenes kinda took me back to making sounds some of film classes way back when. it was kind fun to play along to the actual scenes.

i also spoke to bob massey over the weekend, and i'm happy to say that it looks like that we've come to a mutual agreement to begin work on composing the music for the film. i'm really happy about this, and i think that he'll be able to add a lot to the project. i'm looking forward to working on this aspect of the film, since it can add so much dimension to the project.

so, this coming week, me and paul are getting ready for our trip up to new york to interview tom and andrew. i think this will be fun, and i'm looking forward to the trip. it'll also be great to catch up with them, have a few beers, and do some shooting in new york. like i said, i love new york in the fall. we also plan to meet up with our friend will, and even do something a little touristy - we're going to take the circle line ferry and visit the statue of liberty. i haven't been there in a really long time, and i also hear that you can get some really cool shots of the manhattan skyline from the ferry. should be a really fun trip.

but for now, let's get through the work week, yeah?

constructive criticism

Over the weekend, i received an email from my friend Bob Massey. he said that he was able to view a copy of the rough cut that i sent him, and he gave me some very important constructive criticism. me and bob have been friends for quite a long time, and as long as i can remember, he has always been able to give me the most productive feedback on any of a number of different projects that i've worked on over the years. bob is the first person to see the film in its current stage, and i sent it to him so he can assess the amount of music score that will be needed for the film. but i do value bob's opinion very highly, and i think he's quite good at pointing out problem areas and giving the right kind of feedback. he definitely pointed out the couple of issues that i had with the rough cut, and i'm currently re-editing some of the scenes and tighting up the project as a whole. it kinda feels like i'm breathing new life into the project. and i'm still very confident in the project as a whole.

so, me and bob are currently negotiating a suitable contract to begin the work on the music for the film. i think that it's important to make all things clear and have a contract in place before doing anything, and i think it's important that both parties are comfortable on both ends to colaborate on a project. make sure that everyone understands what is needed and what are the expectations, and get this in writing. it'll save a lot of headaches later.

in a couple of weeks, me and paul are heading up to nyc to meet up with andrew and tom and shoot a couple of promotional interviews. it'll also be cool to just catch up with good friends, and hang out in new york. fortunately, i've decided to not to attend the IFP this year, but concentrate on just shooting these interviews. they're good to have, and i think it'll be a lot easier to get them out of the way now while andrew and tom are still around, versus later on.

my hope is to have a fine cut of the film on digi beta by mid to late january, and hopefully have a cast/crew screening then. of course, this deadline is not set in stone.

nyc

late last week, i found out that PRAXIS was not selected for this year's IFP Rough Cuts Lab. i was a little disappointed about the news. but there are a lot of factors that could have determined the outcome, most of which i don't know about. for example, one of the major criteria on submission was specific questions on what i was hoping to get out of the lab. the two major things that i wanted to learn the most about were a festival and marketing strategy and also information on digital intermediate post-production. because the lab is run by different people each year, it's possible that the mentors that were selected may be unfamiliar with either of these two things, particularly the DI post-production. in either case, i'll probably never get a chance to find out exactly why PRAXIS was 'passed' on. but to be an independent filmmaker, you have to have a pretty thick skin when it comes to these things. in a lot of ways, it's given bit of breathing room for the project, similar to the decision to postpone the submission to sundance til next year. as a result, i decided that i wasn't going to attend the IFP Market this year as well, mainly because without the lab, i don't think i would get that much out of attending. the market also does not have a category for independent narrative features, which is a little ironic, since the IFP stands for the Independent Feature Project.

instead, myself and paul are planning to head up to nyc the following weekend to shoot some promotional interviews for the film. these are going to be rather candid, and can be used for behind-the-scenes / making-of stuff as well as short sound bites for promotion and publicity. there's a good chance that we'll shoot more of these things later, but for now, these things are good to have. and it will also give tom and andrew an opportunity to talk about the project on camera.

i also plan to have a private cast and crew screening both here in DC and in NY, hopefully by january. this is meant to celebrate the completion of the film, screen it on the big screen, and also invite certain members of the press to help publicise the film. the important thing here is that it is not a public screening, and we're not charging for tickets. if we did, we would automatically disqualify the project for potential festivals. it is a small invitation only screening, and it's important to make that explicit.

for now, i'm concentrating on the sound and music for the film, and the post-production. yeah, i'm a little disappointed by the news about the IFP. but at the same time, i do realize that PRAXIS is an art-film, and that not everyone will get it. i do hope, at the least, people are able to see the beauty in the film, and i do think that's definitely there. there are a lot of really beautiful images in the film, and getting to see that on the big screen is really what it's all about.

chances are..

late last week, i decided to give the IFP a call to see if they had made any final decisions about this year's Rough Cuts Lab. i assumed that since the deadline for notification had passed, PRAXIS did not get in, since i had not heard anything either way. it turned out that they were still reviewing submissions, and we're planning to make final decisions this coming week. at the time of submitting the film, i turned in as much of the rough cut that i had, which was about and hour's worth of footage. i let the IFP know that a more complete rough cut was available, 1hr and 40 mins, and i asked if i submitted this version, would it help? they in turned asked, "how soon can you get it to us?" so me and paul had a bit of a mad scramble to fed ex overnight two new copies of the rough cut. hopefully, this will increase the chances of the project getting in. and if so, me and paul plan to spend a few days in new york not only with the Rough Cut Lab, but also with the IFP Market. we also plan to shoot promotional interviews with Tom and Andrew if we have time, and we also want to hang out with our friend Will.

it is really nice to know that PRAXIS still has a chance. watching the rough cut really closely this past weekend, i hope that the IFP can see the potential in the film, even though there is no music or sound effects or the such. the film is not perfect, but i think you can see the potential. we'll see...

traveling to new york in the fall is really the best time - and i think that's when i enjoy the city the most.

in the meantime, i've been thinking alot about the kind of music that's needed for the film, and i plan to do some foley work for a couple of scenes this weekend.

in due time...

So, after much thought, i decide not to enter into the sundance film festival this year. the film needs a lot of work before it's ready to be sent out for consideration to any festival. but it does free me up to be able to concentrate on the film itself, tightening it up, composing music, and such. the film will be ready when i think it's the best version possible. 'til then, i really should not even be thinking about any festivals.

This past weekend i experimented with including chapter numbers in the film, and i decided to keep them. they do help clarify the different sections of the film, particularly scenes that end and start different chapters, so that they don't just blend in together. i've sent a version minus these chapter numbers to Bob Massey out in LA to assess the music for the film, and i've also given Rob Brewster a copy that has the chapter numbers. i highly respect both of their creative opinions on the film, and i'm curious if they even notice whether these chapter numbers are essential to the narrative. for now, i'll wait and see...

rough cut and abstraction

this past week, i finished up the first version of the rough cut of the film and it's currently about 1 hr 40 minutes. i'm really happy with the way it turned out, but it also needs a lot of work: there is no audio sweetening, no color correction, no sound effects, no music, etc. it also needs a fair bit of tighting up on a bunch of the scenes. i'd like to edit it down to 90 min to 85 mins, which i think is entirely possible. i'm relieved, but also realize that there is a ton of more work to do.

basically, this is the first time that i've able to view the entire film all at once, and i've tried to keep the structure constistent to the original script, except for one major change: the original script had separate 'chapter numbers' inserted into various places of the film to help qualify the structure of the narrative. currently, the film does not have these title breaks, and i'm wondering if not having these titles affects the overall film. i'm sending out this first version minus the chapter breaks to my friend bob massey out in l.a. so he can assess the music. but i plan to experiment this weekend with including these title breaks to see how it affects the overall film. either they will be too distracting, or they will be essential. we'll see...

PRAXIS is an art-film. it is experimental and it also has a non-traditional narrative structure. the film is also very abstract - the narrative doesn't immediately jump out at you, things are more symbolic and less literall, and there are a ton of 'unspoken connections' in the film. that's the beauty of film in that you can communicate a feeling or sense through the visuals and not the dialogue. these feelings do not always have to be that literal. they can be quite abstract, and that's what makes the film much more dynamic.

my partner saw a portion of the rough cut and asked me,"how did you come up with this idea for the film? it's so different that the way that i think." i'm intrigued by this question. the idea for the film comes from very simple concepts, but the presentation is abstract, is experimental, is an 'art-film'. that's what makes the film much more dynamic: an ability to express a non-traditional narrative through visuals. but i don't think that it goes too far that it loses the audience.

the narrative is there, you just may have to look a little bit harder to get it.

to sundance or not to sundance?

So here's my dilemma: the early deadline for the sundance film festival is august 15th. the regular deadline is september 15th, and the late deadline is october 15th. there's no way that i could submit PRAXIS by the august 15th deadline, and submitting any film by the late deadline is a sure bet that it won't get in. the question is: should i submit my work-in-progess to the september 15th deadline?

this is a tough decision. the rough-cut is still not finished. it needs a lot of work done to it before if can be presentable. if i decide to postpone the festival submission, then i would have to wait another year before submitting it. i would also have to work all of my contacts to increase the chances of getting into sundance. this would mean that i would have to submit the film to each and every person that i know who might know someone at sundance, and hopefully get their recommendation. as simple as this seems, this is a very difficult and long process.

the deadline for this year's toronto film festival has passed, and the festival is in the middle of september. getting into toronto would increase the chances of getting into sundance. but realistically, is PRAXIS at a stage that this could be done?

i'm waiting to hear the status of PRAXIS for this year's IFP Rough Cut Lab. i should prolly use this feedback as a gauge of whether the film has enough potential, and/or if it's ready to be submitted to festivals.

or maybe i'm just being impatient...any thoughts?

scene 100

last friday, i had the chance to work on the rough cut of the film for a good portion of the day. it was a good day, i got through about 15 scenes and i'm onto scene 100. there are roughly 143 scenes in the film, which may seem like a lot for a 90 minute movie, but in actuality, it's fairly normal for a somewhat experimental film. scenes 94 through 99 were particular difficult scenes to edit because of the heavily dramatic content. but i'm really happy with the results, and i hope to finish this lo-res rough cut in the next couple of weeks. the film will still need a lot of work with the music, audio, CG, and it could also use some feedback for the overall asthetic. it's good to remain focused on the project, and i feel very close to finishing this rough-cut.

a couple of days ago, i caught a documentary on Turner Classics about the major 'independent' filmmakers of hollywood, which included interviews with current directors talking about their influences and also the directors of the past. it was good see this. they covered all the major directors of a typical film 101 class: orson welles, john ford, john cassavettes, stanely kubrick etc., along with interviews with spike lee, darren aronofsky, john sayles and martin scorcesse. basically, there was a recurring theme with the major 'independent' directors who ended up making big pictures for the major studios: most ended up making incredible first features, but got caught up in the whole hollywood system to the point that they couldn't make the kinds of movies that they wanted to make as they got later on in their careers. some directors were able to cope with this dilemma, while others were not. it basically came down to whether or not that particular director had to compromise their vision for the finacinal backing to produce the films that they wanted to do.

ultimately, i think that anyone who is able to make movies is lucky. staying 'independent' is always difficult. but at the same time, no one forces a director into making a movie, even with millions of dollars of backing. if you want to retain total creative control, then raise the money yourself, and/or make a movie with the resources that you have. people make independent films because the films have to be made, and that they want to express a different vision that they don't see represent in current cinema. the film is the most important driving force, and i think that you should be wary that ego doesn't get in the way.

so here it is. the official blog for the film PRAXIS. This is the very first posting. yesseriee. and this will be a good way to check in on the project, and new developments along the way.

currently, the film is post-production. this means that we've shot everything that we've planned to shoot, and we are in the editing process. a rough cut of the film is currently being put together, lo-res, and we will soon be sending this out to have the music composed to relevant scenes in the film. even though this is the last phase of the film, a lot of things can change between now and what the final cut of the film will look like on the big screen. so far, the footage has come out beautifully, and i couldn't be happier.

another major step in the project is that this past weekend, it was submitted to the IFP Rough Cut's Lab in New York in September. this is a lab devoted to Work-In-Progress features, first features, and projects that are in the early stages of post-production. even though the project is not complete, we submitted a couple of Hi-Res scenes and 1hr of the rough-cut. we hope that the lab can see the potential in the film, even though it is, by no means, complete in its intended final cut. this is also the first time that the project has been submitted publicly.

we are also updating the website: www.damagefilms.com for now, you can check out a couple of production stills from the shoot.

more later.