Production Update #62: That's a Wrap!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 10:45PM A little more than 6 years ago we had our first 16mm camera test for a small, unnamed micro-budget feature film with an all-volunteer cast and crew. We had no conventional script, just a noisy 25-year old Arriflex, a core group of dedicated storytellers (many of them students), and a willingness to follow our main character Talia wherever she took us.
At the time, the little town of Lineboro was overrun with cicadas, and their screeching was so loud I was desperate to find some way to include these freakish creatures in the movie. I even considered veering toward the horror genre, and calling the project "Cicada Moon." Indeed, the audio guy Gordon Masters continued to label his DAT tapes this way up through the final shoot. Perhaps for him it was a horror film.
But, as is often the case in independent filmmaking, everyone's availabilty never quite meshed with the cicada idea, and we abandoned it early on. Thankfully.
As I sit on the porch right now, however, I hear something I haven't heard in six long years. There in the maple tree beside the house, just above the basement window Talia crawls through in her wedding dress during her first night in Lineboro, a lone cicada fills the night with its loud, rhythmic song. Has he come a year early? Where are his friends? Perhaps he is toasting our achievement: Today, we not only wrapped principal photography on "Cinder," but we also achieved "picture-lock" -- which means the film is completely edited. Maybe the cicada is saying, "Hey, I just woke up from this nap, and there's much to celebrate!"
Or maybe he's saying, "How come I'm not in the picture?"
Still, when passersby ask me, "R U done Yet?" -- these, of course, are the hardy souls who haven't given up on us, or who are at least still willing to pretend they haven't -- I have to say, "Well... We still have a good deal of work to do." The composer is collaborating with a number of artists to assemble a truly original score... And then we need to mix the film... And then there's lots of lab work remaining before we actually have a projectable answer print with an optical sound track.
But we've wrapped principal photography. And we've reached picture-lock. Two HUGE milestones.
We've lost a few people along the way. Some moved to other states. Others got married and started families, with little time for something as capriciuos as a movie where no one gets paid. All understandable. No hard feelings... Ray Phillips, a beloved colleague who plays the lead male character in the film, passed away during a vacation to North Carolina. Heartbreaking. But the strength of his on-camera performance makes me even prouder to have known him. Great job, Ray!
As always, I want to thank everyone who's contributed to this project, in large ways and small. From Steve Smith's slick opening credit sequence, to Ed Holthause's wonderful postcard. Such talented people offering up their creativity to make this film greater than the sum of its parts...
So, keep an ear to the rail. We'll continue to slug our way through the audio post and lab work with the same dirt-poor determination we showed while shooting this thing. Wish us luck.
And here's hoping we're on track to have our world premiere before the end of 2010.
No cicadas allowed. Unless, of course, they're willing to work for free.