more on collaborating

If you followed my other blogs on preproduction prep for directing a film and how I like to collaborate with all my creative colleagues, I thought I'd mention a couple more folks who are normally brought into the work at post production - I like to bring them in even before pre-production:

The composer and the editor.

The composer comes in even before the editor, because music plays such an integral and important part of my films. In the case of WALLS, which was a silent film, composer/musician Evan Schiller's music was a crucial character.

I see the composer's work as part of the script development.

After I've found the perfect composer - one who loves the script and is willing and eager to strech far beyone where he or she has been before, creating a whole new sound - I like to come up with instruments that represent each main character, scene and sequence as well as a "template" sound.

That is, an inspiration for the music that will go with the film.

For THE WHOLE TRUTH, I chose act II of DIE FLEDERMAUS operetta by Johann Strauss. If you've seen the film, you know you haven't heard Strauss' music; it's only used as an inspiration. The harmonies, the feeling of theme familiarity, the touch of European and classical music and some selection of instruments representing various characters.

In DIE FLEDERMAUS ("The Bat"), men and women work hard to deceive one another - which is what THE WHOLE TRUTH is about, only the characters also deceive themselves in the process (even Sean Patrick Flanery's character - who is the most grounded and stable, he's the moral compass in the movie).

By pulling the composer in so early, at the "script level," the musical artist has time to create a score completely original and specific for this particular film.

When pre-production begins with crew and cast (about 6 weeks before cameras turn), I'm listening to samples for characters and scenes that give me more ideas about when I can just turn the scene over to the music - no need for dialogue when expressions, sounds and music can say it so much better.

We go over each scene's score: should the melody be taken out and just leave the harmonies and rhythms? Should the instrument for that character be replaced? More bass? More tenor? Should there just be silence? Should the music comment" on what is transpiring on screen? Music should be a character in the film - but how to integrate that character? Should there be a Mickey Mouse here - or there ("Mickey Mouse" is the term for a little musical sound effect that is usually "on the nose" of a character's action - it takes place as the character moves, as in a cartoon).

These and many more questions are mine to answer - in collaboration with the composer. He comes in with strong ideas and samples for me to hear on which we can negotiate, as do I. I only asked him to completely rewrite one small scene of music because I felt it didn't match.

In one of my short films, the composer came back with what he thought was a completed score and, seriously, I only saved three notes from the entire composition. He was furious, but when he reviewed with me what would actually work and why - and performed the historical music homework I requested initially? He created a sound he had no idea he could make - it was truly brilliant.

I love pushing great talent to accomplish what they never realized they could. I have terrific relationships with composers because I respect them and recognize their talent as well as their skills.

And I'm a music *nut.*

As Phoebe Snow sings, "There ain't no music .. I can't use.." (from her album, LOOKS LIKE SHOW, "Drink Up the Melody, Bite the Dust Blues).

Normally, composers are brought in at the last minute, after the film is completely edited, and told to put the music together in as short a time as possible. When a composer who is allowed to compose does this, too often they fall back on what they already have done and what they already know, so there's not really much they can claim is new for the film.

Most studio movies don't even use composers to compose any more. They pull music samples from several other similar films and create a hodgepodge of what they think will make you feel comfortable and make you think that what you're hearing feels familiar. Well, in too many ways, it actually is.

I like to feature fresh, new, original work for you to hear.

I'll never forget a MFT movie (made for TV) I saw that was really good - except the music felt like it was a vat of sticky syrup poured over the whole thing - eeeeew. The director said she did not work with the composer, it was just turned over to him and handed back to her, completed. She was pretty upset, but according to the way that particular studio works, that's the way it's done.

Our TWT composer Ragnar Rosinkranz had never worked with the types of music you'll hear in the film. But you'd never know it from his score.

Literally the first question asked after screenings has been, "Who did the music!? Wow!" One person, intimately acquainted with a certain type of music we use in one part of the the film, wondered where on earth we found someone who could create and perform that type of music so well! Go Ragnar!

Likewise, bringing the editor in at the script level helps because he or she can make shot recommendations that will put a scene into the next level of excellence. Like, "an ECU (extreme close up) of her lips would really sell this scene." These suggestions are also made after reading the script and my shot sheet - where the editor can see I did not call for any ECU's in that particular scene.

Suggestions for other types of coverage can also be made. Coverage is all the angles from which a scene is shot. You normally don't think about coverage - but the next time you see a film scene at home, count the various angles from which that scene was shot. Every time what you see changes, that's another angle.

This preparation makes the final work move much more quickly and with a higher quality than could possibly happen otherwise. When I asked Ragnar to do that scene with other music - I think I gave him a note of, "It needs to be lighter."

Unbelievably, he had it ready the next day and it was *perfect!* Our sound mixer was astonished at the speed and quality of the replacement. But that's what happens when we collaborate over a period of time - and the composer is in total synch with the project and the director.

Remember, the music has to blend in with at least 16 other tracks of sounds, dialogue and other sound effects, each standing out as they need to in the process.

Having said all this, I have to add that the injection of wall-to-wall pop and AC songs in films and dramatic TV programs has become too intrusive to me. That trend started in a big way with the WB TV phenom Dawson's Creek, more films before that and has since become the cornerstone of several television dramas, with varying results.

One of the reasons is that it's another way for studios to make money - shows such as NCIS also sell CD's of music they've featured on the program.

Don't get me wrong, I like it - I love the attention it brings to great musicians as the music world is hurting financially. I just think it's overdone when it's used, now.

THE WHOLE TRUTH World Premiere.... SOLD OUT!

The Tuesday, June 2, 9:30 pm screening of THE WHOLE TRUTH is completely sold out.

Every seat taken. Every ticket available - purchased.

If you hold one of these tickets?

I'm thrilled you'll be joining me, Elisabeth Röhm, Sean Patrick Flanery, Rick Overton, Jim Holmes and Pisay Pao to welcome the film into the world - along with my business partner Gary Allen Tucci, producers Larry Estes and Jennifer Roth, editor Stephen Myers, composer Ragnar Rosinkranz and some of the cast and crew who made it happen.

We're checking on Wednesday's seating (4:30 pm, screen #11 at Pacific Place in downtown Seattle), which is also expected to sell out.

I'll post those numbers here as soon as I .. um, OK, my assistant Aaron Heinzen .. can get them!

Locking the film

This means the editing process is basically - primarily - finished.

Now it's time to pursue two separate and equally important processes: color correcting and sound mixing.

Color correcting means a technician (in our case at Modern Digital post production in Seattle) "equalizes" and enhances each frame of the film's color in a digital program. In some cases, as in one scene we shot - half of a room was shot on one day, the other half the next. Predictably, each half looks different because the lighting cannot be specifically calibrated to make the picture look exactly like the day before for another location.

I'll sit near the technician, asking for exactly the look I need for the film for every frame of the film. Today there are amazing ways to affect the appearance of a movie. But - if the basics aren't already on the film or video when it's originally made, there's only so much that can help the image in post production.

Fortunately, between DP Paul Mailman, Gaffer Ted Barnes (he's the lighting genius) and Grip Greg Smith, our film is knee deep in production values, depth, color and dramatic detail, highlighting not only our actors but the production design work of Rachel Thomson.

With this rich tapestry, we can pull all sorts of magnificence out of every picture.

The other process, sound mixing, is a finite, weeks-long creation of every sound heard as you watch a movie. Music is mixed with sound effects and dialogue and natural sound and Foley creations. Foley is creating a sound that sounds like another sound.

Like in one scene, a brush is painting a creamy concoction. To get the rich juicy sound of what this *looks* like it will sound, editor Stephen Meyers and I got a paper towel dripping wet, folded it into a small square, and I dragged my finger across it. When the brush is supposed to tap the concoction, I tapped my finger on the soaking wet surface.

Or there might be a sound created by the same thing as the actual sound, only in a confined space. Like a character walking across a gravel road. We put gravel in a box and wearing shoes identical or similar to the character's, someone steps exactly at the speed of the actor onscreen as it's recorded.

It's way fun. Stephen and I created a lot of sounds and sound effects; he's the master.

In the mix there are many channels of sound that need to be sorted and scaled so each can be heard appropriately by you. Is Ragnar Rosinkranz' fabulous music up enough when it is to be heard along with natural sound (sound that can be heard naturally where we filmed the scene).

It's an extremely detailed and distinctly subjective procedure led by the director. But sound technician Dave Howe at Bad Animals studio provides the best of the best from which to choose.

It's all very exciting to me. Sitting day after day over a period of weeks for incredibly long hours as each minuscule piece of the acoustical program is put into place, just as the color correcting procedure calls for the director to attend to each tiny element as it is finessed.

I love it when people think what I do is "glamorous." It's just many many many hours of hard work, putting a huge puzzle with a couple hundred thousand pieces together, creating what is commonly known as one's vision.

Directing is such a massively collaborative effort, but there is a basic vision that drives all of us in the same direction. With a little bit of luck, the outcome is a film that you find worth watching - again and again.

I'm thrilled to report that many people who have seen the test screenings of the film say that is exactly what they want to do - see THE WHOLE TRUTH again! All I can say is after our final edit, the color correction and sound mix, it will look and sound many times better than it was when they saw it.

At last!

My computer has been in the shop getting its AC adapter connection repaired so I have been without access to my blog!

Traveling, writing, visiting relatives, writing, doing more post production work on THE WHOLE TRUTH and writing have pretty much taken my time.

I get to see one of our brilliant actors from TWT perform a lead role this Friday in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST - the musical is playing nearby. I love the music and this actress, so it should be a great time.

Lots of folks are emailing me about getting work with us, but here's the scoop: it doesn't help to contact me or send me stuff. All crew are hired through the production office - you can email your credentials to -- an email address that can't be posted here because Blogger.com can't deal with similiar emails sent from a blog. The email with our address is similar to someone else's, so it automatically goes to that someone else. Strange. And inconvenient.

But! We have a website that we will be putting up soon http://thelonelygoatherd.com/ that will have all the information that cannot be posted on blogger.com.

Meanwhile, all actors are auditioned through Complete Casting in Seattle; Rick Pagano and Russell Boast handle all the lead actors auditions in LA.

The crew and actors with whom we will work are excellent. They don't take shortcuts, they're consummate professionals who understand it's the minute details that make all the difference.

The start date for shooting TLG has been pushed, but I'm taking this as an opportunity to do more extremely detailed pre-production work *and* to work out. I need to be in fantastic shape because this is a big film, which will require lots of outdoor hiking, moving, working with animals and all sorts of unexpected physical activities.

I'm actually having a pair of shoes made especially for me so my knees and ankles don't scream at me so much during the shoot, which is expected to last seven weeks. THE WHOLE TRUTH took six weeks.

Post production work continues on TWT, and it only gets better. I'm so so proud of the film, the crew and the actors. The final work - color correction, permanent sound lock, attaching the Heart Break Productionz banner as well as the special opening created for the film - will actually make it look up to 80% better than it does now, using the "low res" editing tapes.

Ragnar Rosinkranz' music is so special, fresh and effective - some scenes that could only be considered "very good" now POP. It's being added now.

After one more secret screening in a regular theater we've rented, we decide what else needs to be "fixed." After those fixes, which take very little time? We work on finishing the locked sounds - sound effects, music, evening the dialogue sound track, etc. That normally takes about three weeks. I won't have to sit in on every session, but for the first several days to get them going and then pop back in toward the end to approve what else is done until it's completed.

Final touches to the picture quality by our friends at Modern Digital post production? And we have ourselves a finished feature film.

I can hardly wait!

Meanwhile, I've outlined the third project we're shooting, SPARE CHANGE, which will be totally different from TLG, which is totally different from TWT.

The music arrives!

Ragnar Rosinkranz's music arrived over the weekend, which means we start working it into the film tomorrow morning!

We'll take a look at the entire rough cut of The Whole Truth, share notes on what we (editor Stephen Myers and myself) need to do to improve it through editing, including inserts of sound effects, tightening, changing what we can. Then we start adding the musical riffs Ragnar sent us.

That will be day #4 of editing.

Day #5 (Tuesday) will be more of the same .. refine, refine, refine. Focusing closely on every visual detail and movement with each pass, listening to every sound - electronically drawn out to catch every minuscule audible modulation.

This is where the film actually gets made ... and of course we can only work with what was actually shot. "Fixes" in post production are, while having much more potential than they did even a few years ago, are still fairly limited unless the film is shot properly.

We have one action scene that will have special effects, but we had to shoot it a specific way and at a certain speed, prepping it for the special effects folks at Modern Digital to modify after we've finished the editing process.

It's all pretty exciting. But our film is not really changing in editing - it's the same story we shot in the same way it was shot. Some films change drastically in editing because there were problems on the shoot. One such film was the award-winning Annie Hall. Most films that undergo such extensive changes in editing are not as fortunate.

Beginning of shoot day #5

Yesterday's shoot went *very* well. Elisabeth and Sean are at the top of their game, Kristina Lilley kicked butt and Pisay Pao came through like a champ. Little pup TinTin was FABulous.

The crew cannot be praised highly enough. Today Megan Griffiths gets a special shout-out. She's the 1st AD (Assistant Director), who keeps the whole team glued together. She's calm, cool, collected; extremely knowledgeable and professional.

We had a later call yesterday and a call today (start time) at noon, so I'm getting a couple things done today before going in and starting a long day that will go late into the night.

Stephen Myers, our editor in LA, started to receive our dailies (the film already shot and developed - we're shooting 35mm), and says they look fantastic! He should finish editing the first two days of shooting today, and we'll keep progressing daily for the editing from now on.

That means we'll have a rough cut of our film shortly after we finish shooting. I'm taking a week off after the shoot to put my brain back together, then I'll be sitting with Stephen every day as we finish the editing process.

I've already been working with Ragnar Rosinkranz, our composer - he'll be looking at the rough cut as it is built and coming back with more themes and scoring music that we'll finesse along the way and at the end.

Following that is sound perfection and "sweetening." That's where I add all the birds and other ambient sounds that we've been careful to avoid during the filming so I can put them in just the right place.

I'm not posting pictures until the film is finished so you'll want to see it and get a kick out of the "behind the scenes" snapshots that were taken.

Two seniors from the University of Arizona arrived yesterday to begin the process of doing a documentary on the making of THE WHOLE TRUTH. A total of six students will be "covering" us without getting in the way. One of our producers, Larry Estes, teaches a film producing class there - in his "spare time."

They get credit for working on THE WHOLE TRUTH.

Me, too.

writer-director and some sort of producer ... ;-)

Back to work!

Cameras roll in 9 days ..

THE WHOLE TRUTH update:

Location scounting, tech scouting (making sure all the locations we chose will work with all the technical aspects of making a film) is nearly at its end. Craig Stewart, our "Scout Master" and his team have landed us some terrific places in which to film that will be dressed by Production Designer Rachel Thomson, filled with props by our Prop Genius Christopher McFadden.

Director of Photography Paul Mailman and his crew, including gaffer (lighting) Ted Barnes - one of the best - are setting up equipment to create the most effect scene captures on film. Paul and I are a strong team .. and he has an eye for putting you (the audience) in the scene rather than just "taking pictures" of something happening, which is what I look for in a photographer, and few are capable of doing it well.

The lead actors begin to arrive tomorrow, a week early, and we're mighty excited to see them - with preproduction and preparation at its peak now. Our lead actors rehearse at no cost to us - they're paid for their work before the camera but make rehearsal at no cost part of their contract if requested. I find that fine actors prefer to rehearse and request it; actors like Paul Newman, in fact, insist on it and offer filmmakers two weeks of rehearsal "off the clock."

I am coaching some of the local actors to get their performances perfected for the shoot - we'll also have some rehearsal time before shooting each scene. I've been sending notes to all the lead actors that I believe will help them develop their characters.

Editor Stephen R. Myers, in LA, is prepared to receive our dailies to start editing them as we shoot; composer Ragnar Rosinkranz, also in LA, will be seeing them as Stephen builds the rough cut of the feature, assessing how the music we've worked on over the weeks will suit the characters and scenes.

We're all headquartered in a large former school house - giving every department plenty of room to work.

I have my keyboards in my huge office - which is shared by my assistant Matt Schmidt - so I can work on musical ideas. I even wrote a little ditty that will be sung by Elisabeth in the film.

This week end my "job" is to rest - and in fact although Paul and I will be prepping every night for the next day's shoot and on the weekends for the following week's work - all of us must rest on our weekends or we'll wear out, since we'll all be working hard for long hours during the week.

Our Leading Lady, Elisabeth Röhm, is working all 30 days of the demanding 30-day shoot. Now *that* is a lead role! We'll be rehearsing stunts this coming Friday - she's very athletic and strong so she might be doing some of her own -- if we're sure she won't risk injury! Fortunately, there are only a few.

She'll be rehearsing with Jim Holmes and Sean Patrick Flanery later in the week, which will be great fun.

Back to hanging out, tending a few TWT details, watching a couple films, baseball and football games for me! Enjoy the weekend!