It's Done, The Rough Cut is Done!

OMG, I can't believe it.  I just today finished the rough cut of my documentary "Voices of the Homeless," scrolling credits and all.  First I was afraid to start and now it is already done.  How did that happen?  And as I suspected, it ended itself.  What an art form this is.  Even as editors, we are just instruments to be used, aren't we?

I'll admit I still have one interview to re-shoot and paste over the over-exposed interview that is currently there.  I have to fix this and adjust that.  I have a few more after-work-and-all-afternoon-Saturday sessions to fix and adjust, fluff and tickle until this puppy is absolutely done.

But for all intents and purposes -- IT'S DONE!  And it feels exactly right.

Wow.

Great Critique

A real filmmaker joined me in the editing room last night.  George Algers sat with me for a half hour and watched what I have so far.  His comments were so valuable.  His suggestions were so appreciated.  But most of all, his reaction was most impressive.  I think I have something here.  It is too bad that technically this will never be a super slick production.  But just from his reaction I can tell that it does indeed have the heart and soul necessary to cause people to think and open up concerning the plight of the homeless, what they can teach us, the magic of jazz improvisers, and how they can heal us.

Starting the Outro

I'm almost there.  I can't believe how much editing scared me before I started and now the bulk of it is done and I'm contemplating how to end it.  I think of the ending as an outro like we say in music.  Just today I cut together the interview with our percussionist Chris Wabich.  I was dreading doing it because there's this unsightly toothbrush sitting on a ledge behind his head.  But cut together, Chris' interview is so hilarious the way he sees the world and so sweet just because of who he is that somehow the toothbrush kind of fits.  And he's a drummer after all.  They're wonderfully crazy by nature.

And now to end it.

And then to fix the problems, since the ending will the beginning of it going from a rough cut to a finished product.

I can't believe I'm almost there.