This week has seen the following progress (or lack thereof):

Firstly, and most importantly, the past few weeks have led me to the amazing discovery of Wuthering Heights. This is thanks to a serialisation of the book on Radio Four. I can’t believe I haven’t read this. It’s everything I’ve been wanting to explore and more. The heart-rending beautiful hauntedness of the Yorkshire Moors is so clear, so poignant. So now I have a mission: read this book.

Secondly, I’ve finished reading Ben Elton’s book, Dead Famous. Elton has captured the zeitgeist perfectly. This is exactly how reality television and society both function and feed from the same plate. Is it mutual parasitism or symbiosis? Everyone “deserves” their 15 minutes of Warhol. Yeah. Wicked. Biggup yourself.

Okay.

Third, I’ve taken on a new project. My friend Ronni from work has another friend Susan who is in this band called Stimulator. So Susan has a load of rushes and a very cool video and Ronni has put her in touch with me in the hopes that I can edit an electronic press kit (EPK) for this group.

So I’ve now got 60 gigabytes of video material and have spent two days converting it all to the same format (NTSC, 29.97fps, audio at 48kHz blah blah). And today I’ve been logging. They’re pretty good. Hope to have a rough cut for them by Wednesday. Visit their site here and checkout the video and say if you think it’s cool.

Fourth, The Car. What progress on your film, I hear you ask? I hear you because I’m pressed up against your wall with a beer glass. Yes. Scary huh? Okay, not really. So, what progress?

Well, the other week I borrowed a clockwork Bolex (camera) from a friend of a friend who happens to be working on Harry Potter down the road at Leavesden Studios. The studios are locked down tight so I didn’t see anything except the back of Harry’s house and the street on the back lot (an old airfield).

Shot the closing credits with the new music person’s name and other omissions included in Pete the photographer’s garden. Strange thing about a clockwork camera is that it only runs for 19 seconds and then you have to wind it up again. Which isn’t so handy for credits where you really need to keep the camera still. Anyway, got it done.

Last week I managed to get this material on to my Mac and have now edited the credits on to the end of the film. Now I need a sound mix and grading. Sound mix is being held up because I want to redo one of the music tracks but the composer has gone on holiday. Grading is being held up because I can’t figure out how to do it properly in Final Cut Pro so I was thinking I ought to really get a real pro to do it for me.

Quote for grading came in today at £200/hour. Ulp. Although doable. Just. Still no sign of the musician.

That’s it for now.