At Last - A New Update!
Well hello again!
Sorry I have been quiet for so long - but believe me, it was not due to having nothing to say - it was more of a case of so much to do that I had no time to update!
We have been working hard on "The Last 24" - I left you last time by writing we were going to finally have a screening for Jack (Station Manager) - well that happened - and he loved the show - lot of praise to go around to everyone involved...
So you ask, what then has been going on? Well, the version of the show we unveiled was a pretty clean cut of the show at a little over 40 minutes - we had originally been asked for a 30 minute show (in TV terms that would be between 26:46 - 28:46 in length) - our hope was after seeing how great the show was, we would get the ok to continue to flesh it all out and get a full 60 minute show... Well, that was where the problem was - Jack was really sold on the program being 30 minutes - and he would rather have a solid 30 minute show that had people wanting more, then an hour where people might get tired of it...
That meant editing down our show - and at this point it was a question of what do you cut - how fast do you move the story - I am a firm believer in letting a story breath - giving the audience a chance to see and appreciate what is happening and digest it and then move forward - not at a slow pace, but at one that lets you enjoy and appreciate what you see and then move tot he next point. Well having to loose what was going to be close to 14 minutes out of a piece we felt should have been expanded gave us a challenge.
Matt went about cutting - and we had a few snags - yes the piece was getting shorter, but it wasn't breathing - we were "rushing" and I didn't want that in a piece that was so beautiful... Matt and I pow wowed, re-watched and re-organized and went back to work... some dancer quotes were removed, a few scenes tightened up and more was trimmed. It is very hard to reduce something you strongly believe in, but I had to keep reminding myself - the audience ("you") would never miss what you don't know - so we just had to make sure what we kept worked the best... A few more starts and stops, a few more viewings, more input, a few fraied nerves, an argument or two - and in a week, we were ready to show Jack our most recent cut... Again - He heaped the praise and very much enjoyed what he was shown. It was a go from his point of view, I on the other hand had a few more changes I wanted to see - and we went about cleaning and polishing the show... with in a couple of days we were at what we call "Picture Lock."
"Picture Lock" is when the show is edited to the point that you are happy with the way the story unfolds, the way it all comes together, and all the edits are as should be... at this point nothing in the lay out of the show will change - running time is pretty much st and the soundtrack (all the audio of the show) is in the right place - nothing will change... And as much as that sounds like the end of the project - it just isn't.
Next up comes the audio sweetening and audio design - now that everything is where it should be - a copy of all the audio tracks (our audio mix) is sent to our audio specialist Doug to clean up, enhance, remix, rebuild and in some cases re-design. It is a tricky job and one that I have used very little in the past - so at this point I am learning too. Doug is excellent (and has the title Emmy Award Winner to prove it).
Now more troubles await us - the transfer of audio removed all the details that Matt and I had come to agree upon during the video edit - what I mean by that is that to build the show and know how it flows, Matt mixed the audio - layering the ambient sound, the music, the talking, the interview segments - so that the whole show played back as we wanted it - but all the work of fading sound in and out was lost in the transfer - something to do with the two different computer systems we use... so it wasn't totally unexpected, and in some ways give Doug more creative control. All he received were the sound bits we were using, but none of the sound design Matt had made. Now Doug must pretty much design from scratch - but he does have a computer video of the show to follow for his lead... and he has many other sound elements he captured during the 24 hour shoot to add in... So this could be a good thing...
But once again we are fighting the calendar - we started this show 8 weeks ago - with the idea we would air it by the end of May - but once that deadline went away we were working with no goal in sight - not to fault anyone - what Matt accomplished in the time he was given is amazing!!! There was no time wasted - every moment has been used to cut and polish this show to give you the best product we can...
Jack has now told us he would like the finished product in his hands by end of business on July 31st.
Don't think that means it is ready to air at that point - I'll tell you about the journey the show has to make from that point on during a later post...
AIR DATE: this is the most asked question I get at this point - yes we will air it - LOL - currently it looks like we will be airing during the last two weeks of September (this is due to the fact that HoustonPBS will be in pledge drive during the first two weeks of the month)...
Keep checking in here for more updates and tidbits that should help you to better understand what we do and what all it takes to bring you a show of this level to you at home!
Till next time...
Sorry I have been quiet for so long - but believe me, it was not due to having nothing to say - it was more of a case of so much to do that I had no time to update!
We have been working hard on "The Last 24" - I left you last time by writing we were going to finally have a screening for Jack (Station Manager) - well that happened - and he loved the show - lot of praise to go around to everyone involved...
So you ask, what then has been going on? Well, the version of the show we unveiled was a pretty clean cut of the show at a little over 40 minutes - we had originally been asked for a 30 minute show (in TV terms that would be between 26:46 - 28:46 in length) - our hope was after seeing how great the show was, we would get the ok to continue to flesh it all out and get a full 60 minute show... Well, that was where the problem was - Jack was really sold on the program being 30 minutes - and he would rather have a solid 30 minute show that had people wanting more, then an hour where people might get tired of it...
That meant editing down our show - and at this point it was a question of what do you cut - how fast do you move the story - I am a firm believer in letting a story breath - giving the audience a chance to see and appreciate what is happening and digest it and then move forward - not at a slow pace, but at one that lets you enjoy and appreciate what you see and then move tot he next point. Well having to loose what was going to be close to 14 minutes out of a piece we felt should have been expanded gave us a challenge.
Matt went about cutting - and we had a few snags - yes the piece was getting shorter, but it wasn't breathing - we were "rushing" and I didn't want that in a piece that was so beautiful... Matt and I pow wowed, re-watched and re-organized and went back to work... some dancer quotes were removed, a few scenes tightened up and more was trimmed. It is very hard to reduce something you strongly believe in, but I had to keep reminding myself - the audience ("you") would never miss what you don't know - so we just had to make sure what we kept worked the best... A few more starts and stops, a few more viewings, more input, a few fraied nerves, an argument or two - and in a week, we were ready to show Jack our most recent cut... Again - He heaped the praise and very much enjoyed what he was shown. It was a go from his point of view, I on the other hand had a few more changes I wanted to see - and we went about cleaning and polishing the show... with in a couple of days we were at what we call "Picture Lock."
"Picture Lock" is when the show is edited to the point that you are happy with the way the story unfolds, the way it all comes together, and all the edits are as should be... at this point nothing in the lay out of the show will change - running time is pretty much st and the soundtrack (all the audio of the show) is in the right place - nothing will change... And as much as that sounds like the end of the project - it just isn't.
Next up comes the audio sweetening and audio design - now that everything is where it should be - a copy of all the audio tracks (our audio mix) is sent to our audio specialist Doug to clean up, enhance, remix, rebuild and in some cases re-design. It is a tricky job and one that I have used very little in the past - so at this point I am learning too. Doug is excellent (and has the title Emmy Award Winner to prove it).
Now more troubles await us - the transfer of audio removed all the details that Matt and I had come to agree upon during the video edit - what I mean by that is that to build the show and know how it flows, Matt mixed the audio - layering the ambient sound, the music, the talking, the interview segments - so that the whole show played back as we wanted it - but all the work of fading sound in and out was lost in the transfer - something to do with the two different computer systems we use... so it wasn't totally unexpected, and in some ways give Doug more creative control. All he received were the sound bits we were using, but none of the sound design Matt had made. Now Doug must pretty much design from scratch - but he does have a computer video of the show to follow for his lead... and he has many other sound elements he captured during the 24 hour shoot to add in... So this could be a good thing...
But once again we are fighting the calendar - we started this show 8 weeks ago - with the idea we would air it by the end of May - but once that deadline went away we were working with no goal in sight - not to fault anyone - what Matt accomplished in the time he was given is amazing!!! There was no time wasted - every moment has been used to cut and polish this show to give you the best product we can...
Jack has now told us he would like the finished product in his hands by end of business on July 31st.
Don't think that means it is ready to air at that point - I'll tell you about the journey the show has to make from that point on during a later post...
AIR DATE: this is the most asked question I get at this point - yes we will air it - LOL - currently it looks like we will be airing during the last two weeks of September (this is due to the fact that HoustonPBS will be in pledge drive during the first two weeks of the month)...
Keep checking in here for more updates and tidbits that should help you to better understand what we do and what all it takes to bring you a show of this level to you at home!
Till next time...
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