Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much exhausted fish, listening to the delightful Tchaikovsky first piano concerto, with Mr. Mitropoulos conducting. And prior to that, I watched the first two episodes of yet another Netflix documentary series, I Am a Stalker. Each episode runs about forty-six minutes, but I swear if you cut out all the arty shots of leaves or houses or prison fences and streets and such, each episode would probably run about fifteen minutes. There seems to be a Netflix documentary template – drop in so many arty shots, have a timeline that goes back and forth on the screen, have your interview people sit there staring at the camera while you hear their voice even though their mouths are closed, cut to shots of hands, of hair – they all look and sound exactly the same. The two episodes I watched were certainly interesting, but those endless shots just irritate me. But let’s get to the meat of the notes, shall we, except for our vegetarian dear readers – for them, let’s get to the vegetables of the notes. Yesterday, a long and exhausting day, was our last day of shooting on the new web series. It began when Cindy Williams and company arrived, and we all drove to the home of pianist/musical maven Tom Griep. Once there, Cindy ran her song a couple of times and then we began recording. We did two takes and then punched in a few lines on each, comped the vocal, laid it over the orchestrated track (Cindy recorded to just the piano track), and then we headed downtown to shoot the song. We were in some building that has various former offices decked out in retro ways for shooting videos. It’s very weird, actually. We arrived early and ate in the café in the building. I had a BLT.
Then we went to the room, figured out the shot, and then had to wait thirty minutes for the makeup lady to arrive – yes, thirty minutes late. She got Cindy made up and then we began to film. Cindy was lip syncing to the track. We did a wide shot, fixed any sync issues by doing pick-ups, did a medium shot and did the same for that, and then a close shot and did the same for that. So, between the three, we’re very well covered.
We wrapped there and were on the road at four-forty. On a Friday. Rush hour. It was very slow going to actually get to the freeway, but once on and once past downtown, it was a surprisingly not too bad ride home. Once here, we set everything up and began shooting the Face Time calls that Cindy’s character has with Sami. We just fixed stuff as we shot, and we finished about an hour and fifteen minutes later – and it only took the extra fifteen minutes because she had to change tops for each of the eight conversations. Lots of fun stuff, and the character of grandpa made the first of his appearances – we never see him, just hear him from the other room. Then Cindy got her stuff together and everyone went on their merry way.
I finally answered all the e-mails that arrived, ordered my small pepperoni pizza, which arrived a while later and which was good. Then I heard another orchestrated song, and it was terrific – we just need a couple of small adjustments and that will be done. Then Richard just has two more to orchestrate, and then we can begin putting together the background music. We’ll do about eight cues for scene changes, transitions, and, of course, end titles. Then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish and watched two episodes of yet another Netflix documentary.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven-thirty, I’ll do the orchestration adjustments on the phone with Richard. Then at one, the Elmer Bernstein concert folks arrive, and we play through everything so I can hear how it all works with the cuts we’ve made. Then Robert Yacko arrives, and we run his songs. Then he and I will go have a nice early dinner. Then I can watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is a ME day and then Monday I finish choosing songs and getting them to the singers and musical director. I have to go through my Bernstein commentary to remove the stuff we’re not doing and make any updates I feel necessary. There’ll be some meetings and meals, hopefully shipping the very errant and truant three CD titles, and then we do the Bernstein concert.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven-thirty, do orchestration adjustments, play through the Bernstein concert, sup, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Who are your favorite piano players – pop, jazz, classical? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, having gotten to the meat of the notes (and the vegetables of the notes for our vegetarians).