The Wasting Movie
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The Wasting Movie

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i've got no skin left, because it's all in the game

8/23/2016

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We finished post-production three weeks ago. A half hour later, when it was at last safe to, I got sick. Sprawl-on-the-couch-for-weeks, hack-up-a-lung sick.  The doctor called it a bacterial sinus infection. I call it giving everything you have to a film for years, so there’s nothing left to hold you up when it’s over. 
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On set, blissfully unaware of looming illness
Some people like to talk about having skin in the game.  I have skin in this game. And bones. And other assorted body parts, or their metaphorical equivalents.  That’s how important it was for me to make The Wasting. 
Picturecourting illness in the West Midlands chill with DOP Michal Wisniowski
Back a few Septembers ago, when I decided to stop waiting for permission to make my film, and just make it,  I wasn’t even sure why I’d waited so long, except that it was The Way Things Are Done. Suddenly, that seemed dumb. The Way Things Are Done isn’t a good model for a lot of people – filmmakers or otherwise -  and it definitely wasn’t working for me.
People, including the permission-givers, liked my script. But between the hemming and the hawing over this being my first crack at directing a feature (despite all the related stuff I’d done) it looked like it might take 400 years to get the cameras rolling. Who has 400 years? Not me. I’d already put in the time upfront to create a solid script with the principles of low-budget filmmaking in mind. It was time to pull the trigger.


So I did. I’m happy I did, because now I have a finished film, and it’s quite beautiful and we are all very proud of it. But I’ll tell you, I had to put so much skin in this game that I’m holding myself together with binder twine and tight dresses.
PictureLook ma! A finished film.
I sold half my worldly goods to pay to shoot a trailer that helped to raise private financing. I can’t say enough good things about those investors/exec producers.  I ran a crowdfunding campaign, a job that consumed four months of my life. I can’t say enough good things about our supporters, but man, I hope I never have to crowdfund again. What a tough slog!  I spent two years giving 18-hour days to this film. If you do the maths, you’ll know that left six hours for sleep. I gave up other work to focus on this, I gave up my house, I slept on couches for months, all to make this work.  

PictureProfessor Paws, nursing me back to health
This isn’t particularly unusual, by the way. This is how indie films get made. (Useful knowledge to have if you are right now 20 years old and trying to choose between film school and accounting.)

I wasn’t alone. I had two super producing partners who are still working hard so that you, gentle reader, can see The Wasting on the big screen.  I had a crew that went to the wall for this film, an editor that dug in and dug in and dug in till we had it right, an online post team that worked overtime to make it look and sound gorgeous.

Without them, I might be dead, rather than just skinless. 

And you know what? I would do it
all again. And when you see
The Wasting, you’ll know why. It
was worth every
scraped-away dermal layer. And
I can’t wait to start my next film.
 

Somebody hand me the potato peeler.
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director goes to montreal to colour grade her film, you won’t believe what happens next…

8/2/2016

2 Comments

 
Picture

​…she ends up with a film that looks awesome.

The End. 

That's right. The film is finished.
 
I just spent two weeks at Rev 13 Films with our rather amazing colourist Tony Manolikakis, throwing in my two cents as he created the last piece of the beautiful puzzle that’s consumed my life for three years.  We screened the final version last Friday, and I’m over-the-moon happy. 

The colour enhances everything. It takes us on the emotional journey through the film. It defines the story in all its stages. It is integral and stunning. It isn’t just about Tony’s technical skill, it’s about his understanding of the film, his creativity and his collaboration with me and our DOP, Michal Wisniowksi. 

​I’m so pleased with the whole experience, I made a dorky little journal of what my those lazy crazy colour-grading days in Montreal looked like:
                   MY DORKY JOURNAL​
•    Wake up every morning in home of childhood friend, who has seemingly endless supply of rosé
•    Pat the sweet, goofy dog who lives there
•    Get on the Metro. Marvel at how clean it is, compared to Toronto’s subway system.
•    Arrive at giant old building housing Rev 13 Films.
Picture
Sweet goofy dog gazes at stuff
Picture
•    Walk up many many many many flights of stairs. Probably a hundred.
•    Pause to appreciate the beauty of the heritage building I’m in. Also to catch my breath. 
•    Walk up more stairs. 
•    Arrive at Rev 13 Films, setting off the door alert. 
  • Tony emerges from his dark and mysterious edit suite, exudes equal parts creativity and technical genius. He has something new and cool to show me and to discuss.
  • One of us says something about how stinking hot it is.
  • Drink coffee. No milk. Doesn’t matter.
  • Eat broken pieces of biscotti from a jar. Reflect on how it’s all fun and games till somebody gets fat.
  • Trip on imaginary step in very dark edit suite.
  • Much discussion, about tones and moods and colours and what we’re trying to achieve, and how to highlight this bit without highlighting that bit and how we want to use colour to define the three different states within the story. And so on…
Picture
•    DOP weighs in. He’s in Poland, but his ideas carry weight all the way across the wide Sargasso Sea.   
•    VFX guy Nick Fodor does a cool thing for a scene with Sophie and Liam that makes us want to stand up and cheer. 
•    DOP says “hey, about the final scene! Do this!” 
•    We do. It is good. No, great. 
•    Screen final version. High five Tony.
•    Take exactly four seconds to think “wow, we did it!”
•    Go back to House of Rosé and sprawl on the couch, too overwhelmingly exhausted from this journey to move, speak or comprehend the enormity of what we’ve done, let alone drink wine.
•    Get over it. Drink wine. 
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jammy stuff

6/29/2016

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Who knew sound mattered so much? Okay, probably anyone who saw Valhalla Rising, but really, I’ve been bowled over by the latest development from the murky and mysterious land of post-production.
 
Our sound mix is done! And it’s brilliant!
I don’t know how we managed to be lucky enough to get Toronto’s Jam Post in our corner, but well done, us. The team there is incredibly talented, committed and so lovely and easy to work with, thus allowing me to stick with my mandate to never work with jerks. (Granted, “jerks” isn’t the word I usually use, but my mom might be reading this)
Picture
Brendan Flynn in ADR at Jam Post

​When we sat in playback last week and I got to hear what they’d done, I realized that all this time, half my movie had been missing. Jam Post found it, and everything is elevated. Whole scenes have taken on a deeper meaning because of Mark Shnuriwsky’s clever sound design and Steph Carrier’s delicate hand on the mix. (I’m talking to you, anorexic girl dancing scene) 
Picture
Lauren McQueen in the anorexic girl dancing scene

Sound effects, dialogue, music, and foley have solidified the tone of the film and given an immutable shape to this thing that once only existed as an amorphous blob of words on my laptop screen. 
 
Along with Steph and co-owners Janice Ierulli (supervising sound editor) and the aforementioned Mark, there’s a whole big crew that had a hand in our post audio and it looks like this:
 
Nadya Hanlon         ...          sound effects editor
Heather Kirby          ...          dialogue and music editor
Vladimir Borissov   ...          sound effects editor
Matthew Hussey     ...          dialogue editor
Dave Johnson         ...          dialogue editor
John Sievert            ...          foley artist
Clive Turner             ...          sound effects editor
Brandon Bak            ...          foley mixer/recordist

Thank you, gang. We are most pleased.
Picture
Producer Alan Hausegger and dialogue editor Heather Kirby watch ADR from the safety of the booth
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notes from the basement 

4/12/2016

1 Comment

 
PictureGray O'Brien and Shabana Smith
So here we are, deep in the heart of post-production. So much to tell, but so little time because…post-production.
Everybody keeps asking “when is that movie of yours going to be done?” It’s like when you’re nine months pregnant and everybody keeps asking when that baby’s going to pop.  The answer is “Pass me a sandwich, and one of those nice pickles. Oh, and a bucket of coffee, please. Because I haven’t had time to eat or sleep this week."


Been busy looking at stuff like this (eyes right) 


​So here’s what you need to know about how we're doing...
​


  • It looks beautiful. Stunning. We are wildly happy.
  • The performances are outstanding. We expected a lot, but this is beyond the beyond of the beyond. And don’t even get me started on the chemistry of our two young leads, Lauren McQueen and Sean Stevenson. You can’t tear your eyes off them.
  • While we’re on about chemistry, Alexz Johnson and Brendan Flynn are a riot to watch together. 
  • Our editor is a superhero.
  • Our composers have started their work on the score and every day is a beautiful revelation. They are innovative, talented and they really understand the deep connection between the story and the music.
  • Every time I sit in front of the screen (and so far it’s been hundreds of times) and see all our hard work coming together so perfectly, I’m newly grateful for the miracle that is my cast and my crew.
Picture
Cast. Crew. Lunch. Much miracles.
 
Yes, post-production takes long time. So do babies. But in the end, they’re both worth it.  And unlike babies, The Wasting won’t throw up on you. 
​
1 Comment

    Author

    I'm the writer-director and more or less the mother of this film.

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