Firstly, a big hello to you, whoever and wherever you are. Thanks for reading! It has been a long while since I have posted here, and that is what I will address here. First and foremost, I would like
to make official that The Tourist has been shot and I am currently deep in the edit. Looking back at the run up to this as it is now safe to do so, I think things went as well as could have possibly been expected to go. The cast were brilliant and compliant and versatile on their days, there was good rapport, and I feel that I got most of the shots I had planned for. So far so good. I had one or two little issues when the dust settled and it came the time to survey the footage and devise a plan moving forward.....sound, again was an issue for me, this time the range of the mics wasn't quite as good as I had thought, and with one scene sound just didn't record at all, which is puzzling and in turn frustrating. However, in situations like that, space can be allocated in post-production to try and rectify the situation.
We finished the shoot on Monday the 9th of October, and to be blunt, I was fully frazzled. I had been in front of the camera the weekend before for a wonderful short film called Phobic, written and directed by Janna Ramos-Violante who plays Bernadette in The Tourist. We had rehearsed a few times previously and the shoot itself was a full and emotional day, very rewarding. To then have to put that to bed on the Saturday, recalibrate on the Sunday and then full steam ahead for my weekend the following weekend, it was a lot to juggle. My wife was due to travel to New York for work late October, so I made a decision to ignore The Tourist until we all come back from there (I'd never been to The Big Apple before, so I was like a child waiting for the sweet shop to open).
We wanted to come back from New York nice and refreshed, but the wife and the child got sick, and this added at least another 7-10 days of disruption to the project, and then of course I became ill a few days later. I was able to work through this, but it was a low energy/quality environment, and it was a slow trudge at the best of times. It has only really been this last fortnight that I've been able to grab the bull by the horns and get some sort of shape to the film.
One final disappointment was with the soundtrack/music. A friend of mine that I know from my days living in London, a lovely guy called Matt, is an excellent musician/composer/producer. He very kindly gave permission for me to use a couple of his tracks on Pencil, my first short film. They absolutely added to the film as an experiance and having recognised that music is going to be an important part of The Tourist, I was very keen to have Matt back on board in some capacity. We had agreed which tracks I wanted to use and had started negotiating terms and cost etc. However, budget had gone on securing and accommodating the actors from the UK, and whilst we knew how important to the overall piece, we couldn't make a deal work......more specifically, I couldn't find the money. Matt and I will, I hope, work again sometime in this capacity, but not on this. In case you are interested, he goes by Millips, and is on Soundcloud and Spotify. Check him out below!
So........ Some ADR needs to be completed, I need to source some music from somewhere, and I need to grade the thing. Phew. I had earmarked 'before Christmas' as an unofficial release date for those of you who have pledged towards the project. You will still see it first, but my family and I are leaving the country from December the 8th until after New Year, so that particular premiere will de deferred for the time being. That's not to say I won't be working on The Tourist in some capacity during that time, I am just acknowledging that that particular deadline will not be fulfilled.
I almost ended the post on that note, which would be a pretty shit way of doing it. So instead, I'll end the post with this..... I am excited to get The Tourist finished for several reasons, mainly to have it done and out of the way, to have it 'under the belt'. I promised myself I'd have three shorts done by the end of the year, and although I won't rush it, by and large that has been a big motivator for me and I'm am very pleased to have held myself accountable to that. I am looking forward to you all having a look at it, any comments and thoughts are very welcome as long as they are objective. This is very much a work in progress, and constructive critisism is always a good way to learn.
Speak soon.
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