UPDATE: (most recent at top)
UPDATE: August 2004: "THE PITCH"/"THE ACHILLES HEEL"
Dear Friends, Cast and Crew,
I'm pleased to report that after several months of unavoidable delays, which I apologize for, in July, audio-engineer and Sound Designer Steve Ward and I finally entered the recording studio to commence work on the voice-overs for "The Pitch".
In editing sessions lasting six to twelve hours each, we carefully assembled the dialog track from scratch, often word-by-word, over some 170 lines. Striving for perfection is a labor-intensive process. We'd often work for 30 minutes massaging a single word so that it would fit seamlessly into the mix - - and some edits were as tiny as 1/16th of a second!
20 performers x 170 lines = 3,400 total possibilities.
As I said, labor intensive.
Throughout, the sole criteria for us was never "How fast can we complete this?" but rather "Is this the absolute best we can do?", and then, "Is there any way we can possibly make it even better?"
An EQ session to compensate for slight variations in actor's voice-overs and over-all sound levels remains, as does ones for slight tweaking of timbre variations to digitally micro-modulate the pacing (how fast or slow the lines were spoken) without affecting the overall voice-quality.
When the final dialog portion alone is complete, we will have put in well over 100 hours on a short that runs 4 minutes 10 seconds.
* * * *
Currently, the script has been storyboarded and we've begun prop inventory and location scouting. When these are secured the actual shooting can commence.
Bear in mind that once the footage is shot, it will still require editing. Then it returns again to the recording studio for Foley Sound Efx work and Scoring. All the audio tracks will then be imported into Final Cut Pro one last time to "marry" Images, Dialog, Sound Efx and Music together into a completed final form.
So what does the short currently sound like?
While our opinions are clearly biased, the initial response from others has been unanimously positive. Listeners laugh out loud with comments such as "It's really funny" ... "Very clever" ... "The voices and sound quality are excellent" and "This is great!"
All these huzzahs without the benefit of any set- up, accompanying visuals or sound Efx clues whatsoever.
Extrapolating from the above, it's our sincere belief that when audiences watch the completed short in it's entirety, with EQ'ed voice-overs, with sound Efx, with Music and with the corresponding Visuals, that we'll have a truly original, highly programmable, audience pleasing, festival quality winner on our hands.
In the weeks to come we'll post updates as the short progresses through the remaining stages. While we can't currently send copies of the unfinished work to anyone, all actors will be notified in far in advance of the completed short's premiere and everyone will of course receive DVD copies with their headshots and names in the credits.
* * * *
In a bit of totally admittedly, unrelated, self-congratulatory show biz news, I wanted to mention that I was just notified that my feature screenplay courtroom drama, "THE ACHILLES' HEEL" has again been selected as Quarter- finalist in the 2004 Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship Contest, being 1 out of only 325 chosen from some 6,073 screenplays nationally.
* * * *
If I can use the analogy of a race to describe this process, I liken Show Business Careers as marathons rather than sprints, and that's how I view the making of this short. Though the form is that of a short, the process is that of a marathon and it's best to keep one's eye on the long rather than short term success.
Please feel free to email me with any questions you might have or just to let me know what you've been up to and I'll try my best to respond in as timely a fashion as possible.
It's my intent and desire that "The Pitch" be only the first step of a long-range plan for a wide range of dramatic and comedic material I plan to direct and/or produce.
While I am finally in a position to be able to relocate to L.A. to market the short, I've decided to post-pone that decision, at least for the time being and will do all the post-production work from here in New York.
MAKING OF: Post-production work will now include a a 'Mockumentary' making-of the "The Pitch" short. More on that in the days and weeks to come.
So once again, I thank you for your patience, friendship, co-operation and good work. It's been a long and often trying but always instructive and worthwhile undertaking and I want you to realize that your contribution remains greatly appreciated.
Yours,
Jonathan
# # #
November 2003 - For those technically inclined, the remaining non-studio voice-overs were backed up to the ProTools format and given to our engineer for safe keeping in October 2003.
The remaining non-studio voices were also finally transferred to cassettes for analog logging.
If you can think of the twenty five plus voices as analogous and the audio equivalent of a movie scene "take", then you'll see that the overall "shooting" ratio is approx. 25:1., i.e., twenty five "takes" for every shot actually used and there are over 170 "shots" (lines) in the story not including alternate lines.
So progress from here on in will be measured incrementally, a line at a time.
- Jonathan
*****
I'd like to thank:
Anne Reid for her valuable assistance.
Peter Levin and Barbara Parks for their co-operation and for running such a classy audio post-production house.
Eric Feldman our recording engineer, for his expertise and patience throughout the course of the long day.
All the actors for their time, talent, patience and co-operation.
- Jonathan
*****
On Wednesday September 3rd, 2003 fifteen actors arrived at Splash Studios in Manhattan throughout the day, where their voice-over work was recorded for the short. Splash has recorded work for features such as "Clockers" and "Snow Days."
The next step in the weeks to come. will be the playback and meticulous logging of those fifteen voice-overs recorded as ProTools files, as well as ten outside voices recorded in DAT format. Those voices must also be converted into ProTools files in real time for a total of 25 voices.
All this for the 4 minute short!
Once the logging is completed the voice-overs editing can begin.
