It’s been a couple of months since we last gave you an update on our progress, and lately we’ve been getting quite a few emails asking us about the status of the film, so firstly, sorry for the delay, but it’s been a very busy and productive couple of months!
In our last blog post I mentioned that I was knee-deep in footage and that the current cut of the film was running about three hours long. Clearly there was a lot of trimming to do and that’s exactly what I’ve been up to since then. Last week after a lot of wrangling I managed to get the film down to an hour and a half which is about target length and although there are things I want to try and work back in (sometimes it’s possible to cut out too much) it means we are much closer to having a really good rough cut, which is very exciting!
So what’s next?
After the film is at rough cut stage, there’s still a surprising amount of work to do. Here’s a few things that have to happen soon:
- Get feedback – We’ll show the film to a few select people to get their first impressions, comments, praise and constructive criticism. This will help us determine if there are problems with any sections of the film, and also tell us what’s working well. We’ll make adjustments accordingly.
- Record the narrator – No good documentary is complete without a professional voice over and we have an amazing talent lined up to help us with this. (More on this later.)
- Music scoring- We mentioned in an earlier post that we’re really fortunate to have Jonas Friedman on board who will be composing original music for the film and based on what he’s sent us so far it’s going to be awesome! His music will bring a whole new dimension to the film.
- Mixing session – This is where all the sound elements, from music, natural sound, interviews and sound effects are all mixed and balanced so the film sounds its best.
- Color-Correction – Even though the film was shot in HD, it was filmed over three years in 5 states and multiple cities using several different cameras, which means the look changes quite a bit throughout the film. Color correction by a skilled colorist will give the film a uniformed and consistent look throughout. It’s the icing on the cake.
Once all that is complete, we’ll be ready to release the film and get it out into the world!
What’s the time frame for all this?
That’s a big question and it’s too early to answer specifically, but many of the above tasks have already been arranged and if everything stays on track, we’ll have some more specific news about the release date in the next couple of months. We’re also planning our distribution and roll-out strategy so stay tuned and we’ll do our best to share the latest updates as they come in.
Thanks for your continued support,
Jeremy, Dustin and the Class Dismissed Team.