12.85 - As I Run

4:31 am ET 11/12

with any luck this should be the "final" post for this thread, haha...

after spending what seemed like an eternity exporting the files from Final Cut (our editing suite) and burning some 5-DVDs (there was a problem with one of the comps) we finally got this thing right!!

I'm still waiting on the final rough cut edit to burn on my comp as we speak - but i feel confident in say this will be the last time i have to do anything tonight!

Looking back, I can't believe I just spent 2 1/2 days up working on this!! It's weird because I have been working on it non-stop since Sunday - but now that the dust is settling, it all seems to have flown by so quickly. I really don't miss the sleepless hours, but it is remarkable how far we've come since I decided to pull a "Billy Walsh" (think Entourage) and change everything up.

The end result is, it feels, looks and flows better than before. We're a long ways from getting the wow we're looking for - but we do have an awesome base to get there. I'm proud of what we've accomplished, and hopefully we can show David here in the next few days!!!

1:55 am ET 11/12

it's been a long couple of days, and now i can finally rest easy and say that we have completed our rough edit of our documentary on David.

Is it perfect? far from it - but we weren't looking for that yet. Our purpose was to tell his story and at the same time show the class what our intentions were. there will be some enthusiastic people who respond to what we have, but i'm not looking for anything great until we have made our final edits and burned that final DVD.

In the coming days i will show David our rough edit, and get his feedback on it. I'm sure he'll like some of the things we've done, and he'll probably laugh at some of the things that have holes (ie jump cut for which we plan on using additional footage and so forth).

Is it enough to make me smile? yes, but is it enough to keep me content? no.

after 2+ days of nearly no sleep - it looks like I'll finally get to lie my head down on my pillow tonight. I'm looking forward to it now - but I'm looking forward to watching the edit tomorrow in class.

we'll see where the fruits of our labor take us - but for now - it's taking me off into dream land.

Until tomorrow, when i'll post about the classes response, i hope whoever is reading this enjoys...even if it's only me on here...

6:20 pm ET

Oly Trials and Olympics are finished!!! well at least the rough cut version, haha...

Right now we're on break for about 20 mins to eat some Wendy's...I'm so sick of the fast food I've eaten in the past two days - but since I've been too lazy to make my own food i guess it's what happens.

As for editing - we're almost finished - but we probably won't finish up until after class tonight. efff this is tedious - and all in the name of making a rough edit for class, haha...

but, c'est la vie...

3:53 pm ET

Okay, so we just finished with the Olympic segment for the edit - and it definitely looks amazing! I'm really proud of how we put it all together - and I hope David feels the same way.

All in all, it's going very well and I can't wait to see what it looks like when we piece everything together. right now we're taking a break while we're waiting for some files to render so we can piece together stuff for the Olympic Trials.

So far if we stopped we'd have a 6:30 piece out of a 7-minute project. it's looking like we'll finish with an edit somewhere around 7:30 for tomorrow - so all in all nothing too shabby.

I know i said I was disappointed earlier in how the stuff was pieced together - but as we work through it i can finally see the pulse of the story and hopefully it's vibrant nature will induce the 'wowness' i'm seeking.

David's truly an inspirational person and his story is a great one - i hope we do it all justice. so far i think we're on the right path.

...till the next break in action...


11:44 am ET

After 9am class it's now back to editing!!

Yeah lack of sleep!!!! I'm working straight through the day and into the night with my editor, Chris, to finalize our rough edit for tomorrow. Our only solace of a break will come in the form of a lab for our HD class that we have at 9pm later.

We know that we both want this to be great - so no matter what we're committed to getting this done right and we'll stay up until class at 9am if need be!

Okay, back to work!!!...

5:03 am ET

Restless as I lie in bed - it's been a horrible night...again. I find that i cannot keep my mind straight, as my thought's stray from me as I try to get some rest away from editing - so I'm back on the computer again.

who needs sleep anyway, right?!

so here I am...again. Who know what will get this time - hopefully we can improve and get something worth while...

1:45 am ET

Running out of gas as we speak...not that I'm tired though!! I've just expended all that I can into the doc for the night. I just realized a minute ago that I cannot finish the entire thing - only because I don't have some of the footage!!!!

I thought I got the correct files from my editor - but it turns out I only have the ones that cannot work in Final Cut - effin' a....so I have everything wrapped up as much as I can for the night.

For the most part the story looks really really good! I mean I can't really complain - it's just i wish i had the rest of the footage so I could add in more coverage and work on the stuff from the olympic trials. But that will be saved for tomorrow!! blegh...

As far as where I'm at- i'm still at the 3:30ish mark - but that's perfectly good with me because we started on the olympics stuff - which was going to take up about 2 mins and also the Olympic Trials which was going to take up about another 1 1/2 minutes - which gives us a guesstimated TRT of 7 mins!

All in all, it's not looking too bad and I'm not too worried about what we'll turn in on Weds for the rest of the class to watch. Hopefully we'll turn some heads - but who knows...

I still am a little down on it - but for the most part i think it does David's story justice. I just wish it had that missing...element...


12:15 am ET

The more I watch what I have created so far - the more I realize this doc is exactly the type of thing that NBC/ESPN/Fox would do for programing. Although mine will only be 7-minutes long (at least the version I submit for grading) I look back at it and I realize that the creative side of it all is kind of lacking.

This isn't to say the documentary will be bad - but it just follows a template that's been tried and continues to be used. It's not for lack of an idea - it's just now that I realize what everything pieced together looks like - it strikes me as funny.

Granted we did have issues with our subject being out of town until last week - and we also have the issue that this is the offseason. So there are no track meets we could have covered, there were no extended track sessions (actually there were no track sessions), we weren't given official approval to shoot on Disney property, we had issues with all of the interviews (some of which I am still working on getting), and we didn't have any prepro time with our talent.

Everything had to be laid out in my mind on a template that was ever changing. I had to guesstimate what we would have available to us and the settings we could use. Everything was done on the fly, in regards to what we shot. Granted we have a lot of good material - it's just not overly artistic.

In a way, I kind of feel like a failure because I am using a method that others have used before me and many more will still use in time. Again, this isn't to say it will be bad - because it's very very powerful. Even the music found a way to line itself up with my edits!

Whatever the case, I guess it's myself question something that doesn't need to be bothered with. Damn insecurities. I know it looks good - but that's not what I want. I want perfection...

but at this late stage, what can you do, right?! c'est la vie...


10:23 pm ET

So far I have a 3:19 story for a 7-minute documentary...and I'm only just beginning. As of right now, everything looks, sounds and feels a million times better than it did this morning. I'm sure my group - and my friend Chase who is competing with me as one of the guys who wants to be top director in the class - had their doubts.

I'm not worrying about it anymore. with what I have and how it flows I can already see how it'll look by the time we polish it later this week - and it should be awesome. But to earn the coveted 'wow' is going to continue to be up in the air - and I definitely don't want to jinx it.

As for the rest of the story - it's going to be the awe-inspiring portion in which we venture into the Olympic Trials and the Olympics.

We already have most of the Olympics done - and I must say it gives me goose bumps watching it (yes, it's that good). So I can't wait to see how the rest of it unfolds...

...'till the next break in action...


8:43 pm ET

So David's updated his blog today...the pressure is now on. I saw it earlier - but now that we're in the open as to what we're doing (and with the knowledge that David's friends and competitors check his blog) there is no doubt this will be something I will labor over down to the most minute detail.

Before we had the freedom of being under the radar - but now it's finally sinking in as the pressure starts to mount. I know it'll look amazing - but because I have my own insecurities about how the project will be - I have decided to redo the entire story...

I must be an idiot.

But I have faith in the knowledge that when I was at ASU, and when the pressure started to mount with impossible deadlines and stories - I somehow always pulled something out that was not...well...me. It was the creative me, not the structured one who took over, so that's what I believe is happening now - as I am ditching the structured format and telling an entirely different story.

Who knows how it will work out - but then again we are working for the rough edit here - not the final one. I'll get the feedback from my classmates and teachers - but then again - I hate to lose and I want to dominate the competition. This will not just be good - the goal is epic...

more to follow...

6:38 pm ET

This is going to be an experiment tonight. For the sake of keeping my sanity - and to give me the necessary distraction I need to keep going and no fall apart tonight - I've decided to keep a running log of what's happening as I continue to edit David Oliver's documentary: 12.85

So far I've already logged maybe 12-14 hours over the weekend just working on breaking down roughly 5 hours of footage from interviews, track meets, and b-roll as well as nearly 1000+ photos we've taken. it's been a tedious process to say the least - but something that's completely changed my life in the past week since we began shooting.

I probably won't get to sleep until after Wednesday's class when our rough edit is due - but I'm completely okay with that. my mission right now is to make this documentary something that reflects my group, myself but most importantly David in a way that generates the awe inspiring "wow factor". Whether I can accomplish that or not is to be seen - but for anyone who's reading this - enjoy as I continue to update deep into the night