After several months of planning, organization, and several weeks of intense work, the documentary, AFTEREFFECTS has been completed and screened for the producers of the film, EFFECTS, which is obviously the subject of my documentary.
I have never had a project this size before, nothing even close. With 11 interviews totaling nearly 5 hours along with movie clips, photos, etc, this was beyond anything I had ever approached before. It was maddening, challenging, frustrating, and at times I felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall that I could find a way to scale. But then if I just took a break and came back to it, I would discover that the wall had a door in it the whole time that I just wasn't ready to see yet.
The final hours of editing on this one were among the most insane of my life. I had had little or no sleep for the last 4 or 5 days of this week. I would nap, edit, eat, edit, edit, edit, eat, nap, not nap, edit...etc. But at last on Tuesday morning...the final pieces came together and what I had hoped would be enough for a 35-40 minute documentary ended up being enough for an entire hour. I could have made it longer with little effort, but this is the running time that works the best.
In a state that I can only describe as sheer exhaustion, I managed to dub off a few copies on VHS and overnighted them to the producing/directing/editing team of EFFECTS comprised of John Harrison, Dusty Nelson, and Pasquale Buba. Most of my conversations concerning this documentary were with John, who had beyond helpful in my efforts to complete this documentary. I have had one conversation with Dusty Nelson, which was extremely pleasant, and up until yesterday I had never spoken with Pat Buba.
Yesterday brought some of the happiest news I can remember in a long while. Pat, and his wife Zilla, loved the doc, and I was treated to a wonderful conversation with Pat where he and I basically talked shop for a while. He treated me as a filmmaker, and not some wannabe halfwit who was flying by the seat of his pants on a project he wasn't exactly prepared for at times. I can only say that he was a class act in every sense and that his kind words about my work made my head swell to a rather obscene degree...but oh well... :)
Today, John Harrison told me that he, Dusty and Pat had watched the doc at Pat's house last night together, and that everyone was now in the "loved it" camp. Then just an hour ago, Pat's wife Zilla Clinton called me to offer her kind words and thanks, which was extremely kind of her. The people who came up from those glory days of filmmaking in Pittsburgh back in the late 60s to early 1980s are just about the classiest bunch of folks you could ever hope to meet. To say I'm proud to have done this story right is understating the matter. My only goal in this was to give the best representation possible of the time and place that EFFECTS was made, and I think I did OK. As long as those three gentleman are happy with it, then I'm happy.
I don't know what fortune has in store for me yet, but I can't help but feel blessed that John, Dusty and Pat, as well as my good friend Don May Jr. at Synapse Films took a chance on me with this film, and I'm glad I didn't let them down.
Now...onto the next project, which I should have more details on next week.
whew...whattttttttttta week!
Michael Felsher
mfelsher@redshirtpictures.com
I have never had a project this size before, nothing even close. With 11 interviews totaling nearly 5 hours along with movie clips, photos, etc, this was beyond anything I had ever approached before. It was maddening, challenging, frustrating, and at times I felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall that I could find a way to scale. But then if I just took a break and came back to it, I would discover that the wall had a door in it the whole time that I just wasn't ready to see yet.
The final hours of editing on this one were among the most insane of my life. I had had little or no sleep for the last 4 or 5 days of this week. I would nap, edit, eat, edit, edit, edit, eat, nap, not nap, edit...etc. But at last on Tuesday morning...the final pieces came together and what I had hoped would be enough for a 35-40 minute documentary ended up being enough for an entire hour. I could have made it longer with little effort, but this is the running time that works the best.
In a state that I can only describe as sheer exhaustion, I managed to dub off a few copies on VHS and overnighted them to the producing/directing/editing team of EFFECTS comprised of John Harrison, Dusty Nelson, and Pasquale Buba. Most of my conversations concerning this documentary were with John, who had beyond helpful in my efforts to complete this documentary. I have had one conversation with Dusty Nelson, which was extremely pleasant, and up until yesterday I had never spoken with Pat Buba.
Yesterday brought some of the happiest news I can remember in a long while. Pat, and his wife Zilla, loved the doc, and I was treated to a wonderful conversation with Pat where he and I basically talked shop for a while. He treated me as a filmmaker, and not some wannabe halfwit who was flying by the seat of his pants on a project he wasn't exactly prepared for at times. I can only say that he was a class act in every sense and that his kind words about my work made my head swell to a rather obscene degree...but oh well... :)
Today, John Harrison told me that he, Dusty and Pat had watched the doc at Pat's house last night together, and that everyone was now in the "loved it" camp. Then just an hour ago, Pat's wife Zilla Clinton called me to offer her kind words and thanks, which was extremely kind of her. The people who came up from those glory days of filmmaking in Pittsburgh back in the late 60s to early 1980s are just about the classiest bunch of folks you could ever hope to meet. To say I'm proud to have done this story right is understating the matter. My only goal in this was to give the best representation possible of the time and place that EFFECTS was made, and I think I did OK. As long as those three gentleman are happy with it, then I'm happy.
I don't know what fortune has in store for me yet, but I can't help but feel blessed that John, Dusty and Pat, as well as my good friend Don May Jr. at Synapse Films took a chance on me with this film, and I'm glad I didn't let them down.
Now...onto the next project, which I should have more details on next week.
whew...whattttttttttta week!
Michael Felsher
mfelsher@redshirtpictures.com
