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Sunday,
8am
Up.
Jackson and Tim completely out of it. I get a mumble from
Tim to wake him up at 9, and hear Jackson shout "What the
fuck?" when one of the cats launched themselves off of a noisy
chair around 8:30.
Paul is awake on the couch downstairs. Say good morning and
get a hug from him, then off to Dunkin Donuts for yet another
box of coffee, orange juice, donuts, and a bagel.
9am
Tim and Jackson actually got up. They park themselves
at the editing desks, and I make myself a coffee camp on the
couch behind them. The sheer amount of work to come was towering
for the guys to do. And this was the first time they would
be doing anything like it.
There were some light/funny moments, but the day was LONG,
STRESSFUL, PAINFUL, and NERVE-WRACKING. Things got intense
enough for me to walk out for a few minutes at one point and
unsuccessfully fight back tears.
Tim & Jackson were both trying to balance artistic vision
and perfectionism with just what was required for the film
to make sense and fit our rules. Initially while they were
editing I was finishing filling out all of the paperwork that
we had to turn in with our film. (Thanks Sean ()
for getting all the releases organized!) And I was also the
hoverer, giving opinions and pointing out problems, and bitchily
barking out the minimums/shots we had to have, and checking
the rules every five minutes to see if we missed something
that was required.
Did all of the credits in textpad for Tim to use. The Georgia
font was picked randomly after Century Gothic was unavailable
in the editing software. Yay for happy accidents. I can't
picture us using anything else now.
Meanwhile, Paul was mostly downstairs reading/watching TV
waiting on his ride, and he surprised us with heated-up leftovers
from Red, Hot & Blue from the day before, and brought it to
the room on real plates with real silverware. He was just
so sweet to all of us while he was there Sunday. Thanks again
Mr. Paul.
Sometime around 5pm... 4pm?
Tim & Jackson ran out of cigarettes. A frantic call to
our co-writer/landlord and 10 minutes later, the boys had
sustenance.
Did I mention I smoked on Sunday?
15 nicotine-free Quest
Level 3 cigarettes in about 5 hours. Carlos (HypoFixx)
had given me a pack back when I went up to the Alive Again
video just after I quit smoking. I had tried a few puffs off
of one then (and hated it) and gave a few away, and had the
rest of the pack left to save for if I ever needed to smoke
on stage/screen. So not only were they nicotine free, they
were STALE. They have low tar in them as well, so basically,
if you're a smoker and have ever had say Benson & Hedges Ultra-Lights
100s, which are basically stinky air, take that and multiply
its non-existence in your lungs/throat by about 20.
So I was just going through the motions. It was comforting,
and I have had no bad side effect from doing it, other than
bad breath on Sunday. I have not reverted. Don't worry.
6pm-8ish pm
Anyway, I think we had what we thought would be a final
cut done around 6pm, with an hour and a half left to get it
in by deadline in DC. We watched it, and there were horrible
problems with the sound in one part that *had* to be fixed,
otherwise it would be embarrassing. So they fixed that, and
then around 6:30 we tried to burn the DVD. The DVD software
would not recognize the burner. After having a fit or two
and a computer and software restart, the DVD burning process
began.
We passed the "get it to DC by 7:30" threshold at 7:10pm,
when it was still churning. I figured 20 minutes is the shortest
amount of time I've ever taken to get to Nation in DC, and
the drop-off point was 7th and New York Ave NW, and that by
going 85mph, and ignoring a few other traffic laws, I could've
made it in 20. But alas, my chance to be on COPS did not occur.
The DVD finished at almost exactly 7:30, the time it was due.
At first there was anger and bitterness on my part for having
"failed". Then, more quickly than I would have expected, there
was relief, and the stress and pressure dropped off. I got
in my car, and drove it down at a relaxed slow 70mph, and
it arrived a little past 8. Mark of the 48 Hour Project was
so nice when I dropped it off, and he and I and another filmmaker
chatted for a bit. Mark and Liz just seem genuinely excited
for people to have *completed* them at all.
We were by far not the last to get it in. There were ten other
teams that were late, and two that didn't even turn a film
in.
The version that I handed in is not as good as the one that
will be available online/on DVD. The screened one is a little
rough around the edges, and the suped-up one is smoother and
has a few extra touches added to it. After I handed the first
version in, Tim & Jackson spent a few more hours tweaking
it completely for later mass consumption.
And really, in the end, I think I/we did not fail at all.
We actually *did* it. And I'm thrilled.
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