gang initiation or some such

Well, sorry it's been so long since I've posted an update. Here's what's going on.

I got a bunch of new footage when I was back in Albuquerque the other week, and I'm working on editing all that in. As you can see in the pic above, I finally got the "pizza guy" scene filmed. It's a little dark and grainy, but it's a flashback, so whatever. I also got some new desert stuff, a bunch of anodyne stuff, and some other "around town" shots.

Right now the plan is to put together a final cut of the movie in order to fix the length. Once that's done, the sound guys can get to work on their part of it. I may still change some shots, and I'll definately be adjusting the color, but after I get this cut done, I won't be changing the length of anything. I'll be stuck with it... and that's kinda scary, because there's so much room for improvement...

On the other hand, though, I sorta have to let the film be what it is; no amount of tweaking or messing around will add to the film's budget. I can't really reshoot scenes. And it's taken long enough already. It's time to just get it done and move on to the next project.

Although the sound guys can't really get started on their part until this cut is done, Tony has been composing some music, and he's got some great stuff already. In some ways I think the music is going to be a lot higher quality than the picture... but that's all to the good. As Kurosawa said, "Cinema sound does not simply add to but rather multiplies two or three times to the effect of the image." Plus, with a slew of good songs we can put together a soundtrack album and sell it for cash monies, which would be awesome.

Expect a report soon on the final state of the film! I leave you with these stills from the recent footage: