Love/Loss

It’s now a week since we wrapped production on Love/Loss, and what a week. Trying to come down from the adrenalin-fueled high of filming, trying to get back to more than four hours sleep per night, and trying not to worry about putting the film together! Plus the paperwork… so much of it, and with just the two of us in the production office now, it all takes time…

So what’s next? Simon is continuing to work on the rushes, syncing picture files with sound files. This is going to take the rest of the week to complete. Only then will we be able to move on to actual editing of both versions of the film. Both versions? Love/Loss is going to be the first film (at least in the UK) that has been shot and edited with mobile distribution in mind. As well as the 90-minute theatrical edit, we’re making a mobile-friendly edit for alternative (and very experimental) distribution — with over 4 billion mobile phones in the world, think of the new audiences you could reach… But we’re not just exporting the film to the smaller screen, we’re creating a shorter episodic structure that takes advantage of the nature of mobile devices. 21st Century film-making has to embrace all the new online distribution platforms — and new business models have to be created. We’re doing our bit….

Anyway, more on that later. Our prime goal is to create the theatrical edit. We have all of September to achieve our first cut. Then we travel up to Scotland to work on the soundtrack with Eoghan and his producer Ian. By the end of October we should be in a good position. We’ll then lock the picture, work on the sound mix, and go to grading. That will take us to the end of November. But knowing us, we’ll fall behind schedule at some point, so I think a realistic deadline for completion will be the end of December, just in time for Christmas, and hopefully a well-deserved break.

Meanwhile… Darren is working on the behind the scenes video, we’re compiling stills photos, I’m about to start work on “The Image” photo for the poster and publicity, and I have an idea for the first teaser trailer….

The various script copies, drafts, schedules and documents are being collected together, thrown away (with a couple saved…) and the production office is looking a lot tidier. Just can’t work with mess everywhere. The locksmith is coming round later because our door broke and we can’t get out…! At least everything is safe! Talking of which, picture and sound files have been duplicated and copies exist in three separate locations — these are our crown jewels, we cannot be too safe when it comes to our digital negatives.

Also this week, we’re sorting out the finances, which got into a bit of a mess during production. Our accountant will be shaking his head with disbelief no doubt. But give us a couple of days and we’ll be ship shape again.

And finally the website. I plan to create a couple of new pages, one with all our press links, and the other with some behind the scenes photos of the production. Talking of which, we’re greatful to Ken for supplying this photo of the end of filming — cast and crew for one last photocall!