Saturday, September 13, 1997 - Goodness

Spent a full 15 hours today logging tapes and working on the dub. It's therapeutic, really! All nine tapes are logged and I pretty much have all of the bad takes weeded out. I only need to transcribe the list to computer.

It's obvious now that I can only get so precise with the edit. It's foolish to try and get too detailed. I can alternate takes on certain things to get a good feel for what the final edit will look like, but for some things it would just be foolish (e.g. Carol calls Claire). For these takes it would be best to stick with one take on the rough edit, and leave notes and time code numbers of the other takes that the master take will be married to. That way the editors will know what takes to download into the computer and where they will be used.

Likewise it would be silly to try to insert the B-roll footage in place of the master takes. If I did this I'd lose the dialogue and the rough edit would look very strange. Better to leave the master take in place and note where the B-roll edits will go. This can all be done in a side note. I only need to figure out the least confusing format. The same format can work for sound overdubs. I think the best cues would be dialogue cues for both B-roll and wildtrack.

Got to the end of the California footage (Carol Freaks). It's at 53 minutes. The dream sequence will probably add a minute or so.

I'm unsure how to demonstrate the move to New Mexico. Standard practice is to simply show characteristic landscape, or some sort of written sign. But that's always bugged me. I like the jet sound motif, kind of an echo to Mary's dream. Then we can just show Michael sitting there at the hotel somber, waiting for Carol, a latent reaction to the confrontation he had with her before leaving California. I think the dialogue can portray where the characters are, both physically and metaphorically in a subtle yet very effective way.

Tomorrow I'll see if I can complete the Santa Fe Hotel scene.

-George

Laudatur ab his, culpatur ab illis.

-Horace