Multilevel Relationship Coming to a Theatre Near You!

If you live in Northeastern Ohio, Multilevel Relationship is playing soon. We just received word that we're an official selection of the Ohio Independent Film Festival (whose dates are currently moving) *and* the Akron Film Festival.

You can find out more about the Akron Film Festival here, and you can come watch Multilevel Relationship on April 4th at 9:15 p.m. at the Akron Art Museum in downtown Akron.

January Update

Now that I'm doing the fine tuning of the rough cut -- into a final cut, I'm increasingly bumping up against my limitations as an editor. Hopefully those limitations will all be overcome by the time you, dear reader, encounter the film. (In fact, the fact that you will watch the film later, makes me hesitate at disclosing my inadequacies; but I still believe in the film enough to believe that my admissions won't weaken your viewing experience.)

It just becomes increasingly obvious to me how intuitive some editing skills become over time....and so in these moments I'm aware of how I can grow both as an editor and as a director. Which ultimately is probably good.

This fine tuning includes syncing sound and visuals more tightly, getting into & out of scenes more quickly, being ruthless about cutting lines, being more creative (and sometimes more conventional) with transitions...

Daniel and I decided this month that we need to actually put both of our energies into one movie at a time and still try to finish MLR within the February / March time frame, leaving SITM for our best energies afterward.

He's just finished a reboot of his business & has started to inch down the matrimonial aisle (a long and unbelievable story that also grows out of our filming time together in July...).

December Update

Finally! I cracked the code! (turns out that it's as simple as reading the user's manual.)

November Update

With a rough (rough, rough) edit my left pocket, my (paid) job heating up, and a window of opportunity looming, Daniel and I together focused on getting some ADR done in Chicago.

My yearly academic convention was scheduled for late November, and both Levi and Anna live and work in Chicago. So the two of us glutted ourselves on self-taught crash courses in ADR & looping. Books, websites, calls in to experts. Daniel finally settled on using Logic and a software add-on that would simplify the process.

I took the bus from Canton to Chicago -- Daniel drove over from Michigan and we transformed our hotel room into a sound-damped-down space with a huge recording set piece in the middle of the room. I taped sound panels at head level at intervals around the entire room, we duct taped sheets and bedspreads in front of doorways, entrances and one entire wall. We pulled the curtains absolutely closed.





We got two of Levi's lines done (finally!) after many malfunctions when Anna showed up. We had finished her lines when the system went down again (!). Anna and Levi and I went around the corner to Buddy Guy's and had some great conversation over some great jambalaya while Daniel stayed on the phone with tech support.

At the end of the day we were disappointed to have to give up on looping Levi, but had at least enjoyed being together again with these creative spirits who we enjoy so much.

October Update

This month was even more of a struggle than September, in terms of keeping those Thursdays free of interruptions: Advising filled a (thurs)day, shooting a short film with Andrew Gates filled a (thurs)day, and littler other accretions filled the equivalent of another day (grading, designing a new course).

So that's the bad news.

But the good news that I'm this close to having a rough (very rough!) cut of MLR (which I've taken to calling it in my myriad of todo lists).

I'm utterly baffled by the process of compositing. I don't know why I hoped that it would be more natural and intuitive. If you think about it, it's one of the most unnatural things in the world -- right up there with apparating, beaming & haunting.

While I like the rhythm of my cutting right now, I don't trust myself or my criticism of myself. I just feel too close to the project. I'm the sort of social processor who wants to put this rough cut up on the web for everyone to look at it -- but I know that wouldn't be such a great idea...

September Update

I spent this month sifting through the footage of Multilevel Relationship and uploading the best clips to the computer. Because we shot Multilevel partly in the house on Cedar Street, the scenes are strewn all across the seven tapes we used. Unlike the compact (locationally and time-wise) Stick In The Mud, which we wrapped in two days and in one location, we only filled three tapes worth of footage.

Andrew Gates who just happens to still work in my academic department, did a ton of the grunt work in cleaning up our logs and organizing the footage.

I was able to keep most of my Thursday's sacred for the footage. I have one other movie/art project that I had said yes to before we even started pre-production that I also have to fit into my Thursday-break-from-professor-like work. The good news is that it only managed to steal half a Thursday this month.

August Update

For both Daniel and I, August has been the time to catch up with all the things that we put on hold in order to make the movie happen.

For me that's meant getting ready for starting school and starting classes. For Daniel, it's included the overwhelming tasks of selling a house, selling most of his belongings, navigating a divorce and moving -- all while trying to father two-year-old twin boys.

We have divided the projects between us. Daniel will be editing STICK IN THE MUD.

I'll be editing MULTILEVEL RELATIONSHIP.

I'm eager for school to start so hopefully film editing will fit more neatly into the space that I've carved out for it (Thursday mornings --- and occasionally ALL DAY Thursday).