12 Films. 12 Weeks. There are worse ways to spend a summer.

Never, Never, Never Give Up

I’ve already written about the capture problems that have been plaguing post-production on “the Improv Movie.”  What I haven’t mentioned is that we have significant (and unrelated) audio problems, too.  We recorded two tracks of audio — one through a shotgun mic on a boom pole, and one through the camera’s built-in mic, for back-up.  It appears that the boom audio is basically unusable — too “peaky” for comfortable human consumption.  (When audio “peaks,” it distorts in a harsh, crackling way that sets one’s teeth on edge.)  It may finally be time to replace our trusty ol’ Shure mixer.  Or maybe our microphone.  Or our brains.

But that’s not all!  Now the hard drive with all of the weekend’s footage on it (yes I know we should have backed it up shut up) refuses to turn on.  The good news: it appears to be the power cable, not the hard drive itself, that’s screwy.  The bad news: I have no idea where to get a new power cable for an old LaCie Bigger Disk — especially in the next, say, twelve hours.  If anyone does know, please tell me, and I will shower you with roses all the days of your life.  The model number is ACLG-51.

Anyone have a spare one of these lying around?

I realize that the last few blog entries have all conveyed various shades of crisis and despair.  For those of you who’ve just started reading this blog — and maybe also for those of you who’ve been following it faithfully — it must seem like this project is coming apart at the seams.  And honestly, it feels a little like that to me, too.  But I want to take this moment to clarify that we are not giving up, and the project is not — despite all appearances — falling apart.  Crisis is more or less a normal state of being for a filmmaker, and we’re the filmmakers that even other filmmakers are shaking their heads at.  In other words: if anyone is stupid enough not to give up on this wild endeavor, it’s us.

As for Friday’s film: we may have to reshoot it Thursday afternoon.  But it will be posted Friday morning.  That’s the 12in12 guarantee.

Oh, we will, Winston. We will.

Posted by Keith