Making Films (and Ting)

What a lovely month it has been in my little world.

Not any of my films (above)

Firstly, my first film is now completed and up on imdb.com (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2184325/). It is also currently under consideration at several festivals so watch this space for further, hopefully good, news. As for the film itself, I could not be happier with the outcome, considering what I then knew about film-making (as in, absolutely nothing) and the budget we were working with (absolutely sod-all). With these things in mind, I consider the project a complete success.

Equally groin-stiffening is the progress of my latest film. After sitting through our first real editing session today, I am feeling incomprehensibly excited about it. Words can't seem to quite describe how it feels to see your film come together in a way that you hoped it would. In fact, so far everything has come out better than I imagined. Marvelous.

It's a weird thing actually, the process of making a film. Despite all of your meticulous planning, it is often a stab in the dark, a hope and a prayer that things turn out the way you wanted. I believe I have yet to hear it better described than by the legendary Sidney Lumet:

"Someone once asked me what making a movie was like. I said it was like making a mosaic. Each setup is like a tiny tile (a setup, the basic component of a film's production, consists of one camera position and its associated lighting). You color it, shape it, polish it as best you can. You'll do six or seven hundred of these, maybe a thousand. (There can easily be that many setups in a movie.) Then you literally paste them together and hope it's what you set out to do."

Couldn't agree more there Sidders. Fingers crossed that this one is, and there will plenty more to come.

Peace and love,

Juan.