The Beginning of the End

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It's 11pm on a Friday night and I have hours of compositing ahead of me. Just waiting on a render. Though I must say that is not as much of a pain as it used to be thanks to Final Cut Pro X's background rendering. Back in September 2011, we made the decision to edit William's Lullaby on the new Final Cut Pro X, feeling that, despite mixed reviews, it would provide us with the appropriate tools we needed to complete the film and give it the polish we wanted -- and it hasn't disappointed. Sure, there have certainly been the odd hiccups and frustrations, the rare temptation to toss a computer monitor through a window or the flop sweat when you think you have backed your project into a corner it cannot escape, but we've made it through! The finish line is in sight. Still a ways to go, and still some time before we'll pull back the curtain on our baby. But we're getting there. And we're mighty proud and excited.

There are a total of 63 shots in the film requiring adjustments/compositing or additional things added to them/removed. Some were planned, others not so much, but this is all part of the process, albeit a tedious one at this point. We are about half-way through fixing up those shots at which point the locked picture will be ready for colour grading and correction. The edit itself has been locked since June 2012.

Meanwhile, my Sound Designer, Mike Whissell has been diligently putting together the Dialogue Edit, adding in the ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) that we recorded with our cast back in November.

We were graciously hosted by Zane at North of Princess Studios in Kingston, Ontario. Who knew that such a beautiful mixing and recording studio existed in the heart of the city?

Once that's complete, we'll move on to Foley (sound effects) and prepare the film for its sound mix. We both agreed from the beginning that the sound design in this film bears an enormous weight and so it has proven to take the longest in this filmmaking process and seems to be providing us with the most challenges -- in a good way! Mike has been with this project since its infancy (back when it was called "Ducklings and Swans"), so it truly is a pride and joy to work with him and see this project to completion together. You can keep up to date with Mike's progress on his website: http://www.karprecords.ca/

At the same time, I've struck gold with a talented young composer by the name of Paul Barton. The tracks he has been sending me are goosebump-inducing and completely capture the mood and theme of William's Lullaby. Hear a score he did for a brilliant short film by Kurtis Chen here: https://vimeo.com/33149647

Paul's Lullaby score is going to blow you away!



What I'd like is for this blog to be an open communication device between filmmaker and viewer. I'll keep you up to date on our progress, meanwhile, I'd like to hear from you! I value your support and interest in our film. And I'm not just saying that. Without you, this film collects cobwebs on a shelf. It happens more often than you think! This is a project that has been marinating with us for the last 6 years and we are eager to show it to you. Please share this blog, tweet, retweet, post -- do what you can and join in the discussion! Like on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and when the time comes, we hope to see you at a William's Lullaby screening in your neighborhood.

N.