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June 25, 2011:

SIX BITES

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, there is something somewhere in the home environment and this something is having a feast biting my flesh. I have about six bites and I have no idea where they’re coming from. Maybe they’re happening when I’m jogging, but I have sound no bugs of any sort in the home environment and I know it’s not bed bugs or I’d have even more. But enough about bites, it is late and I must write these here notes in a hurry because I’m very tired after a very long day. My very long day began at nine. I got up, answered e-mails, had a telephonic call, and then did a close to three-mile jog. After that, it was time to mosey on over to the lab. Our session began on time, which was nice. We began by looking at what we’d done on reel one. We discussed at length our two aspect ratio choices and after much back and forth and watching both ways, we decided on 1.78 rather than 1.85 (which the DVD was). There are several reasons for the decision. One reason is because there is a tiny bit more picture information on the sides and the slightly opened up framing on the top and bottom balances the image better, in essence keeping it close to 1.85 in shape. But the reality is, the framing looks very good at 1.78 – there’s a little breathing room and I like it a lot (and my co-director also thought it was the right thing to do). Plus, TV overscan will remove a bit of picture information on the top and bottom as well. I was really pleased to see that all our color choices held up and it really does look great. We re-framed a couple of shots, and then moved on to reel two.

When we got to The Lights and the Smiles we really took our time, perfecting each shot as best we could. It was painstaking work, but I have to say the number now looks better than it ever has. There are a couple of opticals in the number and we’ve made them match the other shots pretty seamlessly. The colors are now VERY vibrant and really pop off the screen. It’s one of the few sequences in the film that’s colorful so it was great to be able to make it look so good. And compared to the DVD’s color – it’s like 1000 percent better. I remember being pretty pleased with the DVD’s color, but looking at it side by side with our new transfer, it’s like night and day – the DVD is brown and soft and quite ugly, not to mention that the beginnings and ends of reels are so filthy with scratches and dirt and occasional splices – this CRI really is in nice shape. For the grain lovers, there is plenty in the scenes with smoke and lower light, but the scenes that are brightly lit look less grainy. All in all, so far, so good. We managed to finish reel two and get halfway into reel three, although we’ll probably redo the scene we completed as neither of us was that happy with it – it’s a tricky scene, but we’ll get it right. So, it really looks like Tuesday will be the day we finish the color timing – then the whole thing gets laid to hi-def tape with the sound – that may have to get done on Wednesday, depending on how we do on Monday and Tuesday. And if we have trouble with getting the sound to synch, then we may just do the picture transfer and do a proper audio layback, where it’s much easier for those guys to do it and they can even do some more EQ work on the track. I’m trying to get a price for that and if it’s not too crazy, we’ll probably go that route.

Meanwhile, we are just under fifty percent funded for the Kickstarter project, so please keep spreading the word and telling your friends. I do think that in order to make it all the way, we’re going to have to have a couple of bigger donations – we’ve had two five-hundred dollar ones, and if we could just get three or four more of those, I know we’d make it.

After that session, I picked up one little package and no important envelope (hopefully today). I had an e-mail from former dear reader Robert Armin telling me his first novel has been published. So, I went to amazon and bought the softcover (it’s also available for Kindle). It’s called The Flash Of Midnight. Mr. Armin is a talented fellow so I’m sure it will be a good read. Check it out if you feel so disposed.

Then I moseyed on over to Screenland rehearsal studios. This rehearsal was really just for staging, so we began with the first song and I just gave some rudimentary crosses, handography, and a few steps. Then we did that for the rest of the uptempo numbers. I love doing that sort of thing, and the thirteen-year-old picks up stuff very fast. Sometimes she’ll fool around and do something cute and I immediately incorporate it into whatever we’re doing.

After the rehearsal, we went over to Dino’s Pizza – we ordered two large pizzas – one plain, one pepperoni. As always, it’s the best pizza in LA and they concurred. We had quite a lot of boisterous fun. Aha! I just saw a flying thing. Perhaps that little sucker has been the source of my bites. It won’t be anymore since I just smashed the living daylights out of it. Where was I? Oh, yes, we had boisterous fun.

Then I came home, answered e-mails and that was the end of the very long day. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get some beauty sleep.

Today, I shall hopefully get a full eight hours of sleep, after which I’ll jog (I’ll try for four miles), eat something light but amusing, write a contextual commentary, begin liner notes, hopefully pick up an important envelope, and then I think that Barry Pearl’s ever-lovin’ Cindy has a ticket for me to see the show that she’s in right here in North Hollywood.

Tomorrow, I’ll relax, write, and watch motion pictures, jog, eat, and then after posting the notes an hour early, Barry Pearl asked if I’d come gather him up at LAX at midnight, which I’m happy to do. He’s coming into town for four days. Monday we continue with the transfer at eight in the morning, and that continues on Tuesday, and we also have our first Gardenia rehearsal that afternoon. The rest of the week is equally busy.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, write, eat something light, hopefully pick up an important envelope, and then maybe see a play. Today’s topic of discussion: We’ve had a lot of get-togethers and fun and even some contentiousness on this here site – what are your favorite fun memories of said get-togethers and your favorite haineshisway.com events, here on the site, and off-site. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I will hopefully receive no more bites thanks to the messy demise of the flying thing.

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