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April 29, 2006:

THE DAY OF THE SOUND MIX

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, no rest for me on this lovelier than lovely Saturday. I must, in fact, get my butt cheeks in gear and get over to the editing room to finish the sound mix on Deceit, which will be an all-day affair. My dinner with Miss Jessica Rush has been pushed to tomorrow evening, so at least I can come home and relax and watch a DVD or three. So, on with the notes, as they say in the show business or, at the very least, in the notes business. What a fun day I had yesterday. I got up in the morning and did a few things, then sat down at Ye Olde Laptop to read through my play. I was quite nervous about it, as I usually am when I finish something and then read through it for the first time. The first few pages were a bit alarming in terms of some sloppiness, but then I’d never gone back to those pages even once, because I just needed to get them done and find the voice and life and structure of the play. Everything else in the play I’d gone back to multiple times and done multiple rewrites on, which is how I work – I get each section to the point where I’m really happy, then I move on to the next section. So, I spent the first hour of the morning rewriting many lines and adding a few new ones and smoothing everything out – it’s much better now. The rest of the piece was in much better shape, and I made corrections, additions, and adjustments as I went along. By the end of it, I was surprised to find that I was quite happy with it. You must understand the way I work, which is after I finish writing something I have little memory of having written it – it’s almost like reading someone else’s work. People have asked me if it was hard writing the Kritzer books, for example, and I always say the same thing – no, because I didn’t write the books, the books wrote me. So, I really enjoyed the characters in the play, I thought some of it was humorous, and a couple of things were touching, at least to me. Most of all, I thought I’d really met my goal of writing a 60s-style comedy – it’s not an old-fashioned play in the sense of something in moth balls, but it does take that sort of play I grew up loving and transplanting its style to now. It’s really a piece propelled by the characters – there is a central conflict that has to get worked out, but it’s what it is and not one of these plays with CONFLICT on every stupid page. In any case, I was very pleased and it made me feel quite nice. Then, dear reader PennyO and some good actors did a reading of her play, Jewish Thighs On Broadway – a four-hander version. She’d addressed the few notes we’d discussed and those parts worked better, at least for me. It was good to hear it read aloud by good actors, and many things became apparent to me in the hearing of it. Afterwards, we spent two hours going over every page of the script, and that was really fun – it was all about clarifying things, focus, and the style of the piece. I think we’re going to try to do some sort of production a little later this year.

After that, Miss Tammy Minoff came over and we had a celebratory dinner re all the things she’s gotten through this week, and in honor of my finishing the play. Speaking of the play, we’re going to try to do a read-through of it on Monday or Tuesday evening. Happily, I know the four actors I want to read it, and hopefully one of those two nights will work for everyone. More about that later.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because this is, after all, The Day Of The Sound Mix.

So, today is The Day Of The Sound Mix, and I must be at the editing room by nine-fifteen or so. Today we’ll be doing all the sweetening – putting in sound effects, music, and whatever else we need to – we’ll also be creating the main and end titles. Perhaps I’ll bring my trusty laptop with me – not sure yet.

Well, we’d all better put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, we’d all better break out the cheese slices and ham chunks, we’d all better dance the Hora and the Pony, because today is the birthday of our very own The Vixter – even though she doesn’t post or read the site, she’s very much a presence. So, let’s all give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to The Vixter. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO THE VIXTER!!!

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a sound mix, I must continue to finesse the play, I must prepare for a play reading, I must eat something yummilicious but calorically correct, and I must also do an errand or three. Today’s topic of discussion: Sometimes film music is so indelibly tied to the film’s imagery or scenes that it’s impossible to separate the two. What are your favorite film/film music sequences – the ones where everything comes together and creates a perfect emotional fusion? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we?

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