Well, dear readers, I believe we’re heading to the finish line for Sami. I saw the first cut of episode nine yesterday and it was excellent and then Marshall Harvey, our ACE editor and I finessed a little, but really very little, adding some music to one scene, that kind of thing. There are a couple of issues with the song in that episode that we’ll have to solve, but that’s not Marshall’s problem, it’s something Richard Allen and I have to deal with, and if he does what I’m hoping he can do, then it will be fine. The one thing I’ve learned on this shoot is that what worked on Outside the Box, in terms of recording live with the songs, does not work on this show, save for audition sequences, those work out fine. But if there’s to be a season two, any song that takes place in a nightclub or a fantasy sequence will be pre-recorded – it just has to be that way. We’ll still have the option of the live performance should we go that route, but pre-recording will protect us. There are two songs in season one that take place in recording studios and those were pre-recorded and that worked out perfectly and made things ever so much easier. But if we do stuff live next time, I have to have headphones to hear the live vocal WITH the track. I was only hearing the live vocal so I had no idea if the vocal was working with the track and boy is that a problem. Luckily, Sami is very good at this stuff, but it still does not allow me to play with the timing if a beat is off somewhere. Well, we live and learn. On Outside the Box what we did was we played the piano track when we recorded the video and then Marshall just laid the piano track on top of that and it worked out fine. But I wanted clean vocals on this show in case we had any pitch issues, so they could be corrected. Anyway, episode nine has really fun stuff in it – the first of the two Sami comes home to visit episodes, so those two episodes are the first time Kerry O’Malley and Cindy Williams actually get to be in the room with Sami – for the first eight episodes they’re scenes all take place on Face Time. Anyway, Marshall now begins episode ten, which has a long fantasy sequence consisting of five songs, one of which is completely done, and two of which will be easy. The others aren’t hard, but have to be done more carefully in terms of choosing takes and stuff. Meanwhile, Marshall is putting episodes 1-8 on a drive for me, so I can watch them all and see if there are any last-minute things we may want to do. I’m not really anticipating there’ll be much of that. We also will show our publicist a couple of episodes so she knows what’s what. Then we have to do both a sizzle reel and a trailer and those may just end up being the same thing.
Yesterday was fine. I was up at eleven after nine hours of sleep, I answered e-mails, proofed a few pages, then moseyed on over to Marshall’s abode. I was out of there by three-thirty. I came right home and had a little rehearsal of the song I’m singing at the Robby Awards next Sunday and that went very well. After that, I made one chili cheese hot dog and one mustard and onions hot dog and ate those all up along with the remaining chili. That was basically it for food until I had one chocolate chip cookie later. Then I proofed another few pages and then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I decided to watch M3GAN again – getting my money’s worth, as it were. It’s very entertaining, but there really isn’t a single thing in the film that you’d call original – in one way or another we’ve seen it all in other films, but the way it’s melded together here is what makes it work and I’m sure it plays even better with an audience. And again, I was very impressed with the score, although I realized something interesting and it just seems to be a film music today thing – there are no melodies, even when there should be. It’s like the beautiful orchestration to a song but without the tune. I find that completely weird. Imagine the gorgeous orchestration for Carol Ann’s theme in Poltergeist, but without the great tune that goes with it. It’s almost perverse, in a way. But it was very enjoyable to watch it again.
Today, I’ll be up by ten or eleven at the latest and I’ll proof until I finish. Then I have a few little questions for Muse Margaret, to get her opinions on a few things I may want to adjust. Then I’ll input my corrections, which will take a few hours, probably, and then I’ll begin on the two proofers’ corrections and do the ones I’m comfortable with and then run things I’m not sure about by Muse Margaret. I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of that plus a couple of meetings and meals, plus our publicist coming over to watch a couple of episodes and unfortunately they’ll have to be watched on the Big Boy computer unless someone can figure out how to plug the laptop into the TV. I can see on the input screen that there’s PC but we haven’t been able to figure out where it is or what kind of cord would be needed. I may ask the fellow in the back house if his new TV has a laptop input. If it does and he doesn’t mind, we could watch over there. Then on Sunday, I sing and present at the Robby Awards.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten or eleven at the latest, finish proofing, have a telephonic call with Muse Margaret, input corrections, eat, hopefully pick up packages, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What movie have you seen more times than any other and how many times was it? What play and musical have you seen more times than any other? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy we’re finally approaching the finish line for Sami.