Wednesday, January 5, 2011

All-nighter Number 3

As penance for not posting in so long, I'm in the middle of an all night editing session. My trusty T-Cat is co-piloting in the chair next to me. I think Vegas is more tired than I am, it has just frozen three times in a row, so while I give the hard drives and the editing software a break I thought I'd update the blog. If they think this thing is over, though, they've got another think coming...

So I haven't been utterly truant; I was working on something during November and December, something in support of the film, but not precisely the film itself. I will be launching "it" this month, so you'll see it quite soon.

The main body of the film is now at 2 hrs. 20 minutes. It's going to get bigger before it gets smaller, but the narrative is semi-solid. Much work to be done now integrating cutaways and supporting elements. And the harder part, deciding which snippets are boring for a viewer when I find them all interesting.

OK, Vegas, Venom, and Deadpool... in the immortal words of Sting, "break's over!"

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Into the night

Just a quick update, yes, the all-nighter happened, I logged a total of 7 hours of editing time yesterday, and was at it until 2:30 this morning (technically 1:30 because of the time change, not quite sure yet how I feel about that).

I made some BIG changes last night, I actually axed a rather significant segment that I'd taken for granted would be in the film. Last night though, I realized it was disrupting the flow of the story, so I moved it over to the bonus section as a featurette. I believe the body of the film is at about 2 hours 30 minutes right now, with about two hours of bonus clips lounging around in very shabby form.

What I don't comprehend is why I feel so totally awesome this morning after a night with about 5 hours of sleep. Maybe I should do it again tonight!

o.O

Saturday, November 6, 2010

I can haz time?

Work's been incredibly busy the last month or so, but this morning I had the urge to edit, so I fired up Deadpool and Venom, and started in.

About 15 minutes later, the kids are up. "Mama, I need you! Mama come here!" Why do they need me? Well, as it turns out, a toy commercial of utmost urgency. Interrupted.

Go back to work, 30 seconds in, interrupted. "I need you to draw Iron Man." Then its time for breakfast. Five minutes of work go by. Then more interruptions. I doggedly refuse to turn off Vegas altogether (Vegas, my editing software, that is, not New Vegas, my beautiful lovely game that I've had no time to play) but this is getting nowhere fast. You need to really settle in and concentrate to do serious editing. And now I must draw the Hulk...

Moments like these are frustrating. You can't blame them, they're kids. They miss me during the work week and I miss them. They don't care that the last month and half has seen the majority of Saturdays taken up with birthday parties for their daycare friends, or that every weeknight is completely filled by cooking dinner, giving them baths, and homework, and putting them to bed. By the time all that's done, I'm usually too tired to think about anything but a pillow. And you can't fault them for it. But it is maddeningly frustrating, right now I want to say "Leave me alone for FIVE MINUTES! I'm trying to make a MOVIE here!" but can't. I'm walking the tightrope over personal time and guilt about wanting personal time.

OK. Now that I've got the whining out of my system, a thought occurs. My husband is spending the night at a friends' house tonight. When 8:30 rolls around, when the kids are in bed... OMFG, it's ME TIME!

And me time tonight is going to be... an allllllllll nighter.

But I'm still not turning off Deadpool and Venom. You never know, maybe I'll get an hour in somewhere between now and the next toddler birthday party this afternoon.

Friday, September 24, 2010

September update

The lack of posts here is a strong indicator that I've been spending every spare minute working on the documentary, for both August and September. So far this month, I've logged about 25 hours of editing, and have also recently filmed two big interviews. Let me tell you about those.


Myriad Games

I drove up to Myriad Games in Manchester, NH, shortly after GenCon to interview the store owner, Dan Yarrington. This is the second games store that Dan has opened in the area (the first located in Salem, NH), so he's doing something right. Dan's wife, Sara, is an educator, one that uses board games in the classroom. I got to interview both of them in Myriad's spacious Game Parlour.

Dan's a big believer in professionalism and providing a service by helping guide customers to the right game for them. If you're in the southern New Hampshire area, I highly suggest you check out his store. It is beautiful and inviting, the staff are friendly, and the game room is really nice.



Boardgamenews.com

Eariler this week, I also drove up to Concord, NH to interview Eric Martin, editor of boardgamenews.com. Eric is largely responsible for my having discovered this hobby in the first place; it was his game group that my husband first attended. Eric's also been interviewed for Kevin Tostado's Monopoly documentary, "Under the Boardwalk," So he's gaining a reputation as quite the board gaming authority these days. :)


One of the topics of our conversation that really struck me was when Eric spoke about games as an art form. Just as movies, music, and books are not always written with the goal of pure entertainment, sometimes games are about something more than just "fun."



Today I had the afternoon off, so I did a bit of editing work, but then got side-tracked capturing portraits of all my existing interview subjects. This task had to be done, anyway. Here are some samples:

Friedemann Friese, the designer of Power Grid. He's awesome, and yes, he kinda looks like Dexter Morgan with green hair.


Nick Kellet, designer of GiftTRAP and also awesome. Those games in the background are phat loot obtained from Essen earlier that day.


And just what is Dungeon Twister designer Christophe Boelinger saying in this shot? You'll just have to wait for the documentary to find out!



What's next? More editing (tomorrow, to infinity, and beyond). And once the full narrative is in place, have someone else edit it, smooth out the rough spots, color-correct, audio-correct, all that good stuff. Lots of work yet to do, but 95% of the filming is done, friends!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

August in review

Just a quick update for those interested. After a 3-day "vacation" doing editing, and then the infamous all-nighter, I started working on the movie almost every night, for an hour or two each session. Word of advice: slow and steady wins the race! It's better, at least for me, to do a little bit more frequently than marathon sessions. I'm happy I did both though, for sure.

All told, I logged at least 35 hours of editing work during August. I have a rough cut of the first 10 minutes of the film. And probably another 10-15 shaping up nicely right after that part. Large segments are coming together, and a coherent progression of discussion is emerging. That's exciting.

But August is gone, now. Oh, hai September! Let's get to work. Now I'm thinking about what I can do for something trailery or promotional in October (Essen season) since it's unlikely I'll be ready to release by then.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Alllll night long

Hour 1, going through the Mark Kaufmann (Days of Wonder) interview.
  • Heated debate at dinner about editorials vs. documentaries has made me very awake (but with sore throat). All to the good.
  • Fruit punch NOS provided by Justin is enabling lots of editing! Does that make Justin an enabler?
  • Even though I can't really pay attention to it, listening to "She Does" by Collective Soul and loving it.

Hour 2, Mark Kaufmann continued

  • Mark talking about word of mouth and distribution channels, and that designer games don't really belong in Wal-Mart in the first place, because in order to hit the right price points, the quality would have to go way down. And kids, we don't want that, right?!
  • Whistling to Collective Soul "Fuzzy." You know, at first I didn't like this album. It's growing on me. Like this fruit punch NOS...
  • Saving the timeline. I've been bitten by not doing so before...
  • Oh, right, right! Stand up break... BRB
  • Time to switch it up... "Nine in the Afternoon"
  • Can I just tell you what a joy it is editing on a widescreen monitor vs. the laptop??

12:30 AM

  • Sleep, I laugh in your general direction!

1:00 AM

  • Now at bat, the Christophe Boelinger interview from Essen. I love this guy! The hottest French game designer/rapper/extreme sports enthusiast in the entire film, guaranteed! He's sort of got the Viggo look going.
  • Just put a jacket on. This is not August weather at ALL. How refreshing.
  • I think I smell a skunk outside.

1:38 AM

  • hmm, is this train slowing down? Inconceivable!
  • Starting up the interview with the Lamont brothers (Shear Panic, Snow Tails, Savannah Tails)

2:30 AM

  • What? What? Whut? WHUUUT????
  • T-Cat wants to know urgently, "Mistress, what are you doing up?" I tell her, "Not now, the Lamonts are talking about Ostrich-racing!"
  • Film timeline is currently at 4 hours, 37 minutes including bonus material
  • Eyestrain

3:00 AM

  • Finished the Lamont interview, got all the segment marker snips back where they belong
  • I think that's it. I hope this counts as all night...

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Proper execution of an all-nighter

I'm thinking about doing something I've never done before.

Friday night, the kids are going to be with the grandparents. I'm in the mood to edit, but I can't take any more time off work just now.

I'm thinking of doing an all-night editing session. Yes, true believers; an all-nighter. And I want it to be a flawlessly executed all-nighter in the classic style. I somehow got through college without ever learning this art. The closest I have been to it was a Sunken Temple raiding session in WoW that went till 2 AM. /shudder

So what do I need to do here? How late is Starbucks open, I wonder? Is it dangerous to mix cappuccino with Amp? Should snacks be involved, or no?

The planning has begun!