28 February 2012
Groundpole day! Went to bed after midnight returning from the studio to the hotel as the snow fell silently in the streets.Up at 11 to get to studio for midday, the streets returned to wet,dirty grey, the pristine white blanket pulled away in the night.
I’d been looking forward to a walk in a winter wonderland, instead it was a falling drizzle, muddy paths and broken paving stones.
Smuggled a ham roll and a bottle of water in my pockets and stood outside the rolled down studio door waiting on “Magic”, the engineer to arrive .He was at the hotel waiting on me getting up.Breakdown in communications last night through bad wine and worse translation.Major rethink on the start of the movie and afternoon stripping an interview to bare essentials,composing a soundcheck, chasing mp3’s and tracking down filler footage to cover wavering shots and missing footage from Warsaw.“collage” and “montage” words of the day.
We’re finding it but feel like a Chicken dentist sometimes or a forensic movie scientist searching for a needle and a conceptual thread in a gigantic haystack of film footage.
It’s coming together but my fear is I’ll have to come back yet again as the process is agonising and the shape we are finding now is removed from the one we identified months ago.
I think it’s a lot better but balancing the comic elements with the serious undercurrents in interviews and the music while still being aware of both the length of the project and the fact that this is intended for third parties and not just ourselves is demanding and we have to keep perspective.
It’s going to be another long night and it’s not a healthy place to be.
Roast chickens (no teeth) and Australian/Polish wine(mine) in a heavy smog of Marlboro(not mine)and central heating takes it’s toll.
Frustrating sitting through rendering and chasing zoom shots on digital frames to cover holes and need 3rd party footage that hasn’t yet arrived.
I get worried sometimes how it will look as I’ve kept quite a few less than complimentary scenes and left myself open to a few raised eyebrows on occassions.
It’s honest and that’s important to me.
Definitely defines the moments.