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Year
6
Ashburton, then Bendigo, then Camberwell 2003-04
The
quest for a catchy tune began. With a big orchestral
score in mind, it quickly became apparent that my sound collection,
particularly the brass section,
just wasn't going to cut it. I
experimented with synthesizing sounds and searched for free
samples. I pumped out numerous 4 and 8 bar ideas but a worthy theme
proved elusive. What might have sounded fine on its own just
wouldn't meld with the picture.
Meanwhile,
I had assembled a presentable version of the film and began
researching funding options. First on the list was the Australian
Film Commission. Having called and confirmed a few things
about rights
and obligations, I began preparing an
application for post production funding. The
forms were quite extensive, and were geared toward
traditional reality-based productions involving a complete crew (as opposed to computer-generated
ones with no crew), so I drew
up my own form.
The deadline was near and I
was somewhat underequipped and inexperienced in such activities, so
this involved a frantic two weeks of pretending to be a producer;
gathering quotes, cobbling
together a detailed budget, production schedule, project details and
finding a means of making a VHS copy of the film and printing out the
documents (my printer was dead).
If I missed the deadline, there would be a six month wait
for the next round of funding.
On the way to deliver the
application
package it dawned on me that I had left the application form itself at
home. I sat in the AFC reception filling one in again, and made it with
10 minutes to spare.
On my arrival I
discovered that the AFC had been trying to contact me, and seemed
particularly interested in the project...
After
an interview at the AFC and a subsequent third budget revision, I was
notified
that I had been granted the maximum post production allowance of
$50,000. Meetings,
research, paperwork and stress ensued, and because I had omitted a
marketing component to my budget, they added a further $5,000.
The tracks were laid - I was going to be a "real" film maker.
I
started researching film
festivals and GST, and visited an accountant to find out about setting
up funds and other businessy things. With all
these new obligations it was becoming clear that this wasn't free money
at
all -
it was a job.
I was scheduled for completion in December, but
production had taken a back seat to "producing". When the
pressure had eased off slightly, I inserted a new "peeking
through the fence" scene into the film to help ammend a nagging
weakness
in the narrative. This, along with credit(s) would bump the
final running time up
to seven minutes.
I began some render tests at
Swinburne University's Astrophysics and Supercomputing department
which were successful, but ultimately unaffordable.
Now that I had a budget, I decided there was
nothing for it but to get a
decent
orchestral sample library. There were only two serious
options for convincing symphonic realism at
the time; Vienna Symphonic Orchestra and the as yet unreleased
EWQLSO. Both were in excess of $4,000. I opted for the
latter, and while waiting for
it to become
available I
bought Cubase SX and a new soundcard.
At
this point it transpired that not only would I be required to share
gross proceeds from the film but also that I would have to share the
copyright, contrary to what I had been led to believe.
At least I was given the assurance that this would exclude
ancilliary rights (sequels, spin-offs, merchandise, websites... etc).
Another downside was the
ongoing revenue documentation I was required to submit for the next 8
years.
When
the contract arrived, I found that there would be a 50/50 share in both
the gross proceeds and the copyright - somewhat alarming considering I
had already payed
for seven eighths of the project myself. What's more, this included
anciliary rights.
I
voiced my concerns and was "reassured" that short films don't really
make much money anyway, and that those minor details like... rights and
things... aren't really important. They said the contract was
negotiable - which of course, it turned out not to be.
I never signed the contract. I didn't need the money that badly. Now
untethered, and still unfunded, I was at last able to resume
production, and actually
enjoy it. I reconsidered the sample library. It was
expensive,
but the recent events had realigned my priorities, so I
bought it. When it
arrived, my ancient PC crumpled under its enormity (19 DVDs!), so off to the shop
I went to get a Pentium 4.
An
early messy test with the new
software based setup.
Rendering
assistance came in the form of local effects and animation company
Iloura, but unfortunately Lightwave wouldn't cooperate with their
renderfarm. There was nothing else for it but to buy my own. Back to
the shop for another two P4s.
Now
with my own four PC render farm cranking out the frames, and the
virtually boundless
possibilities offered by my new sample library, I was
unstoppable - except for the fact that I still, inexplicably, couldn't
come up with a tune that I
liked. I shifted focus onto something more maddening: colour
grading. Should it be darker? Lighter? Less saturated? Is there enough
contrast? browner? Bluer? 2%
greener???! There was no point of reference.
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