jblum: Well, it's been one of those put-your-he

jblum (

jblum) wrote,
@ 2008-05-02 11:49:00

Current music:

Ray Charles, "I'm Busted"

Well, it's been one of those put-your-head-down-and-your-bum-up kinds of weeks, as Kate's mum would say. On the plus side, yesterday I did a bit of writing for the first time in ages... Angel Express has ground to a halt, but I'm beginning to have thoughts about that spec script again.

But my spare time has been taken up once again with Time Rift. Y'know, back when I first decided to do this DVD version, the one thing I was absolutely clear on was that I was not going to re-edit this thing from scratch from the raw footage. That would just be an insane amount of time -- much more sensible just to go back to the rough-cuts and save a couple of VHS generations. But the FX shots I'd do from scratch... and then there were the new pickup shots I was doing... and the final scene had such bad sound and needed a complete reconstruction anyway... and then there were just a few problem scenes where even the restored sound wasn't good enough, and I'd really get much better results from sound that hadn't already been fiddled with... and just a few shots where the generation loss meant the picture was too flickery... and now that I've fixed this scene and that scene, it'd look really odd if I don't clean up those few shots in between... and... and... and...

Well, the upshot is that now it looks like about a quarter of the story will have been recut from scratch. Yes, I'm a fool.

So I've basically spent the past week in a frantic blur of ripping and cutting, so I can get the last batches of assembled raw sound files to Aaron the Cleanup Guy before Kate puts her foot down and takes the VCR away from my computer. (Not just on general principles -- she needs it to watch a documentary for the story she's writing.)

But is it worth it? Well, see for yourself.

On the left, the unrestored master tape; on the right, the raw footage:

My God, the skin tones, the sweater, the no-longer-flared color. Between the picture and the sound, this really is going to lift the story from Iffy to Watchable. And that's going to make all the difference.

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	outsdr 2008-05-02 02:19 am UTC (link)
	The way I look at it, if you're going to do it at all, you should do the best job you can under the circumstances. That way, you can never look back and say, "Damn, I should do this all over again to get it right this time." (Reply to this)(Thread)

	jblum 2008-05-02 02:36 am UTC (link)
	The problem is that Time Rift expands to fill the time available. No matter how much I go back and fix, there will always be more things I could do! As they say, no poem is ever finished, just given up on in despair... (Reply to this)(Parent)

	robshearman 2008-05-02 02:25 am UTC (link)
	I'm looking forward to it! You're going to do a commentary as well, right? (Reply to this)(Thread)

jblum
2008-05-02 02:32 am UTC (link)

Already recorded one with the cast on a previous visit back home!

I was also thinking about doing a separate commentary just about the writing -- talking about what does and doesn't work, what I'd do differently, basically a masterclass in trying to treat it like a professional script. For that I'd love to get comments and insights from TV-writer friends -- interested in helping out?

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	robshearman 2008-05-02 02:34 am UTC (link)
	Sure - if you think I'd be of any use! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	jblum 2008-05-02 02:42 am UTC (link)
	I'm still in awe of how tight Dalek was. I'm sure you'll be able to spot some tricks I missed. :-) Or, if you just want to gush about clever bits of the script, I won't complain about that either! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	jvowles 2008-05-02 03:27 pm UTC (link)
	Hey, Rob! It was nice seeing you at Gallifrey -- I remember how tickled you were to have a Dalek toy that was your Dalek. Wish I hadn't been sick or I'd have been glad to chat more. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	pedanther 2008-05-02 09:14 am UTC (link)
	Ah, but are you going have to re-record it now? I mean, it'll seem odd if the commentary starts passing remarks about things you've fixed... (Reply to this)(Parent)

colonel_barker
2008-05-02 04:23 am UTC (link)

I didn't know Rob had a LJ. I feel like I a missing out.

To be honest, I think it could be worth the work, when I first talked to you about the project I suggested that I could edit the whole project from your tapes. But hey, that doesn't bother me.

I would love to suggest edit it again from the beginning, but.... that would mean an INSANE amount of work for me too. Redoing all the audio again near enough from the beginning.

So, under the circumstances, just do what needs to be done.

Colonel Barker.

(Reply to this)

jvowles
2008-05-02 03:31 pm UTC (link)

Apologies that I haven't had time to deal with helping record stuff for you. Aside from the swathe of geek films coming out in the coming month, I should have a little time in a week or two.

There is a part of me that wishes to be down in the trenches helping out....

But at the moment, I'm tied up with going over the storyboards for the Otakon opening animation, which is (as usual for all things Otakon) eating up my available spare time.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	jblum 2008-05-02 04:28 pm UTC (link)
	Believe me, I know what a HUGE commitment a convention is. Have no fear. I just want to get this thing done so I can give you your Little Black Box back! (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Anonymous)
2008-05-03 05:46 am UTC (link)

Kate, be a dear and take the VCR from Jon before he wears himslf down to something that looks like a Ruten. . . .

In order to do a comment audio track, how about getting some of the other people that were involved in it? First, it would take some of the load off of you. Second, it would give more than one POV for things. Third, it would keep people from dozing off as you drone on (Something I have found from personal experence when there's only one person doing the audio)

And Jon, going insane is not an excuse. Neither is falling over dead. So please, for everyone's sake, WILL YOU PLEASE RELAX! You were hyper when I knew you, but it sounds like you're on a permant suger high!

Craig

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