November 16, 2005

• LONG NIGHT

  Producer Keith Collea flew down from Rhode Island last night and immediately hopped on to the production office for a viewing of the 5th Cut version of The Gene Generation. All in all, we have 5 versions of the movie of varying lengths

  Assembly Cut - Editor puts together the footage based on the script.
  Directors Cut - Longest Version at 2 hour 24 minutes. Story on every character told in the most detailed
  Producer's Cut - 1 hour 48 minutes. Story focused on Michelle (Bai Ling) and her back story
  Producer's Cut 2 - Story focused on the Transcoder and The Chip (See pic below)
  
  Director's Cut 2 - Shortest Version at 1 hour 38 minutes. Story focused on Demeter (see pic below), Christian (Alec Newman) as the storyteller and Michelle (Bai Ling) as the protagonist.
  

  So the producer came down and we had a long discussion about which cut will be locked down for the final edit and which storyline we were happy about. The key to being a producer is to be able to take a look at each cut subjectively and being able to come up with the best product that he or she will eventually be able to sell.

  That said, tonight finally ended with a picture lock. I'm not telling which version was finally given the ok. I still would want to use every version cause I love them all. But now...on to the next step for me, Keith Collea, and Kim Winther...finalising the reshoots.

  I will now be taking charge with tidying the locked down version, finalizing my shooting plan, actors .etc. while the producer will start to book the cast and crew for a possible 4-5 day shoot, schedule everything else .etc. All this while I continue working with VFX crew on the asset building of the city as well as the making changes to the script to fit the final lock down of the movie for the animatics.

  Yes, there is no such thing as a finished script in pre-production (unless you leave as is of course). The first draft of the script is really the assembly cut of the film and the final draft is the picture lock.

  So...gearing up....and moving on...I'm going to have record Parry Shen getting his bangs put back on on a high speed camera and I can have the slow motion footage to oogle at his pain. Muahahaha....I need something to look forward to don't I ?!

  Then there's Michael Shamus Wiles who has to get his hair back on again.
  

  And Bai Ling to reprise her fight scene while singing 'Like a Virgin'
  

  I think I need sleep.....

  • 12:02 pm
  • 2 Comments