Monday, December 22nd
by J. Erik Reese
I think it’s safe to say that Moments is coming to a closure in terms of a final cut. However, we are still exploring new material. We are all very proud of this project and these remarkable edits. The question remains, can we still make it even better? The recent cut that Josh, Dan, and myself view is very emotional, powerful, gripping, truthful, and theme driven. It is everything we wanted and everything we wanted to convey. It’s great to know that Moments is only going up! I can’t imagine how much more powerful it will be after a few more slight changes or perhaps a few more alternative endings or sequence changes.
Furthermore, we’re all excited for the score and various other things. The options feel utterly limitless! After I watch each new edit, I am always amazed to see the performances from the cast… how distinct, unique, and passionate performances! I feel so proud to have been apart of this!
Saturday, December 20th
by Joshua Nitschke
I’m excited again. After a few months of editing this project, I started to wonder if I could ever mold it into something I’d be 100% happy with. It was good, but the excitement of seeing it come together was drowned out by watching the same content over and over again with relatively few breakthroughs. I began to feel frustrated in creating an organization that had the same kind of flow each individual scene had: it felt like a bunch of parts, not cohesive whole.
Juggling Moments with school and work was frustrating as well; I didn’t feel like I had the time to devote to the project that it deserved. Thankfully, finals came to a close early this week. I conferred with Dan who wanted to see this rolled out the door as soon as possible - I agreed with him of course, but at the same time I felt at a loss of what to do. I felt very alone in this - Erik in Sweden and Dan back home in Northern California. I was all by myself in Northridge with my mac book pro and 1.5 terrabyte drive and they were relying on me for the magic to happen.
Except I wasn’t feeling very magical. I doodled around in the timeline, trying to fix the issues, but not really succeeding. I sent the edit off to Dan and to Erik for feedback. I skyped with Erik later that day and he told me he had some ideas for a new opening and that he would send that edit to me. He did, and I was amazed - I felt inspired again to see what new stuff he could do with this footage.
I quickly edited in the rest of the footage over the next 8 hours that Erik slept and sent it to him just as he woke up. At that point I went to sleep so that when he was done I’d be awake and well rested, ready to adjust his changes. After he sent me a new revision with a whole new conceputalization of screen organization, I started cleaning it up. I think their may have beeen a little madness in all of this, and it shows in the code names for the versions:
MomentsVersusJaws.fcp
Erik’s cleanups and additions to the complete timeline I had incorporated to his intro
Dan was very impressed with this and sent a one line email saying “Moments is done.”
We knew that he didn’t mean it was done done, but that we had found the structure that we had been searching for. Erik sent this email back:
“I still think Moments needs work. Please Josh, do your surgery on it and give it a major lift. Perhaps we’re almost there and perhaps not.”
afewtucks.fcp
“Not a whole lift, but a few tucks.” - Josh
Erik: “After watching the last edit with Josh’s tummy tucks I think WE’RE THERE! Both stories are coherent and emotional. They are strong and well balanced. All it needs now is MORE tune ups.”
newlifts.fcp
A couple of changes were in here that ended up mostly being scrapped, still set up a ideas for the current version:
MomentsVersusStarwars.fcp
as dubbed by Erik.
The last two days have been an incredible ride. I am passionate about this project, I am reminded why I love working with Dan and Erik who step in when my creative juices start drying up and who are amazing filmmakers that know what a story needs This journey has been an incredible ride!
Monday, December 8th
by J. Erik Reese
I remember being unsatisfied. Inside, I was terrified of the performance. The scene was proving more difficult than I had expected. I could not let anyone know how I felt. I kept calm, pretending as if nothing was wrong. However, I felt like putting my head through cold water and hoping that when opened my eyes their was something new and better. This was not the case. This was not real. I wanted to escape back inside my head where everything was perfect.
I guess every Director has these experiences when filming a tough scene. Being a Director is not as glorious as many people think. Everyone wants to see themselves holding an Oscar, but nobody wants to see themselves taking the blame to a bad scene.
During this scene, I remember walking over to Kevin and quietly asking him for help. I did not know what to do. Kevin then told me some remarkable things which cheered me up. After this, I went back to do the scene.
A few days later, we did the scene again. Everything came out right. I was ready for the battle and I was not about to give up or let my disappointment take a big shit on me. I love these moments…they make you such a better filmmaker. They push you. If you’re not willing to be challenged then perhaps you’re not ready to be a Director. This goes the same with responsibility.
I owe an abundance to the crew and it has been a great privilege to work with them all. This short film would not have been possible without the help of these special people. Moments is not my film. I will never acknowledge Moments to ever be my film. This is Sabi…this is everyone’s film.
Without the unremitting help from Ron Santarsieo (Key Grip), Smokey Shiriwastaw (Data management, Grip) Mycel Stokes (production sound), David Rodriguez (helpful in lending equipment), David Corwin (Sound Design), Michael Floyd (Consultant, not to mention all his help during pre-production) and the cast (their dedication), their would not be Moments.
I’m also very glad to know that during the duration of Moments a family of filmmakers were formed. All of us woke up every morning and did our very best. In this constant growing and learning process we have all learned something new. Now, as all of us continue with our lives we can look back on a moment.
It makes me tremendously happy to see Daniel continue his work with Zak on Eloquent Graffiti. Furthermore, to see Josh work full force on editing Moments is yet another gratified thought. And, I know everyone else is pursuing their dreams and ambitions just as strong.
Currently, since I live in Sweden, I have been preparing the Svenskalogue. Earlier today I went over several things with my lead actor (American/Swedish actor Michael Yohannes - Wolde: His work includes several mainstream commercials, Disney, Main Stream Music videos, and small features films). As we went over the material, I told him that I wanted to try a few things which I did not do in Moments. I briefly mentioned a few of my ideas and he was very excited. In addition, location and all cast has been completed for episode one. Soon, their will be small rehearsals and by the end of the holidays shooting will begin.
Making more short films (or a series of shorts) is very positive motivation. Sometimes, I feel that after Moments I slightly died or that I broke up with a girlfriend. Now, I’ve met someone new and her name is Svenskalogue. I have an extremely good feeling for these series of short films. My lead is too perfect for the part and I am too ready to make a film. Their are no bounds.
