Drama

I watched the whole Ken cut today. It's very minimal, and it gives us our narrative, however loose. I was reminded of Hitchcock's quote: "Drama is like life with the boreing bits left out." This is still not the first cut. Ken provides the narrative, now we have to add the collage. That's where the other guys fit in.

Justice

Apple is going to reimburse us for the upgrade of FCP, which is great. So, now we wait. But, as we do, PJ can still be cutting on the old machine.

Apple's Response

I fell like I'm getting further away from the project. It's not all about editing. It's about fixing crashed harddrives and upgrading software. I remember editing at LFS. We did everything on film, and I'm beginning to long for those days.

Called Apple. They were all very nice, and I managed to convince someone to help me...plead my case to the powers that be who can give me a free upgrade. I'm supposed to hear back from them on Monday. Until then, I have to re-connect Bambi so that Patrick can get on with the editing.

The Long Goodbye

Spent the entire day setting up Hot Rod. Re positioned the hard drives, moved Bambi into the kitchen and started to set up the Internet. After several calls to both Tiscali and Apple support, I found out that our free modem from Tiscali is not supported by this Hot Rod. Soooo, had to run over to Maplin on the Strand and fork out £50 on an Ethernet modem. I was thankful, though. Maplin is a 5 minute walk from my flat*.

Anyway, got the modem set up, downloaded all of the updates and got myself ready to install Final Cut Pro 4.0. It didn't work. Hot Rod does not support 4.0 I was told by the tech dude at Apple. I was very upset because my sales agent had promised me that the computer would indeed support my version of Final Cut Pro when I purchased this £1700 hot rockin' computer. By this time, however, all of the sales agents had gone home, so three was no one to complain to.

I'm calling Apple tomorrow to throw myself upon the mercy of anyone who will listen to my woeful story.

*I was reminded of buying my first computer in Buzen, Japan in 1993. We had to get the computer on an American base. Got home, set everything up only to discover that the printer cable was not included. We had to travel 20 minutes to the next town to order one.

Hot Rocking Rod

My Little Office in the Kitchen
The new computer arrived today...a MacPro Xeon with two, count 'em, two Intel dual processors. We've decided to christen the new Machine "Hot Rod." He's come to us just at the right time, as Bambi (a first generation single processor G4) is really straining under the pressure of all of the hard drives. Sometimes we have to restart her two and three times to get her going.

Bambi is not obsolete, however. She will move to my little office in the kitchen, and Hot Rod will take over in our bedroom/editing suite.

Dreaming with Ken

Spent the day looking for Ken voice over to fit over the New Years sequence. I watched the cut up to this sequence, which ends at 38 minutes, and I was really pleased with it. Ken is just so funny and human, and I think his character will form a bond with both an English-speaking audience and the Japanese. I allowed myself a daydream of grandeur. Maybe Tokyo Cowboys will give Ken what he dreamed of. Maybe it will make him recognizable to 50% of the Japanese viewing audience. Then I came back to Earth. It's good to dream. Ken reminds me of that.

PJ and I are doing the old one-two punch technique of editing. When I feel like I'm not doing enough on Tokyo Cowboys, I have to remember that he's cutting. And, when he's not cutting, I'm looking at the footage, thinking and figuring out where to go to next. I think we are well on the way of having the first cut by mid February.

Diary for Today

Wading through Words

Spent the morning pouring over transcripts...mostly Ken's. I feel like a detective looking for clues...clues to the story. Tomorrow PJ and I will go over some of the clues I've picked out and start cutting them into the film. It's shaping up. All I have to do now is make it to the computer every day.

Frustrating

This morning, after berating myself in my journal for pages about not being further along on Tokyo Cowboys, I came to the conclusion that I have director's block. I have always prided myself over never having had writer's block. I don't believe in it. If you can't write anything, it just means that you need to do more research. And research is part of the writing process. But, directing...that's a whole new kettle of fish. So, I've been blocked...afraid...not knowing what to do or where to turn.

I decided that I would do two hours of Tokyo Cowboys today no matter what. Only two hours because I was working a full day at the day job. Add to that shopping for dinner, cooking and cleaning, and I've already put in 10 hours of work before even sitting down to Cowboys.

So, I got home, announced to Patrick that I was on a tight schedule and booted him off the computer. I got through three minutes of the cut before the computer crashed. It took me 20 minutes to coax it into allowing me to watch the cut again. It's 56 minutes long. I reckon, we'll have another hour once we finish the first cut, which I hope to do by 15 February. I made notes about where to intercut the other characters (this cut only focuses on Ken) and where to search for Voice Over. So, tomorrow, after another 10 hours at the day job and life's essentials, I'll start looking for voice over. That means reviewing hours and hours of transcripts.

But, I will finish this flipping film. And I will finish it by Spring. And it will be good.

On a more positive note, we got the loan check today for the new computer. I'm going to order it as soon as the check clears. Maybe that will help us to move faster.

Loan Request

Just sent in the loan request, so we should be getting a check soon for the computer. Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait. Still trying to find the balance between finishing the film and making enough money to pay the rent. I suppose this is the case for a lot of people like me who want to live their dream but who don't have rich patrons. The problem is that, after working all day, I'm usually too tired to do any work on the film. But, today is the last day at the day job before Christmas break, and I've got a bit more than two weeks left before we got to NOLA, so there's an opportunity in there somewhere. Opportunities everywhere.

Wha-hooo

Just got email from SSB. They are gonna do it! They are going to loan us the money (interest free) to buy the new suite. Oh happy day, oh happy day. I am filled with gratitude to the great power.

My Space

Been investigating Myspace at the urging of my niece, the technocrati Dominique Elizabeth Thompson. "It's only the place for all the cool people, Nene. So, if you want your film to be cool, then myspace it." So, OK. I've gone on, gotten myself an account and uploaded some stuff. I must say that I'm a little bit addicted now.

No news from SSB about the loan for the new editing suite, but no news is good news as they say. There might be another option: a Natwest Credit Card (0% interest on the first 9 months). I don't see why they won't give me one as they have given me an obnoxious amound of "credit" on my overdraft.

Credit Hell

Against my better judgement, I applied for one of those no interest for 12 months of new purchases credit cards. I don't like credit...believe it is the spawn of Satan. But, the need for the new editing suite has caused me to consider selling my soul. Anyway, the angels protected me because I was turned down. It's insane that after 6 years of living here and with the same bank, I still cannot establish credit. Called the bank, and they will loan me the money, but the interest would amount to nearly £500. Are they having a laugh? I can get a better interest rate from a loan shark. So, my next plan is to borrow it from work. I've emailed SSB to see if she will consider it.

Other than that, I'm praying for this big gig through Spencer. If we get it, we'll be able to pay for the computer outright and have some left over for Christmas. Don't want to get too excited about it, though. These are times in which we must get in touch with our pragmatic selves.

Speaking of Spencer, PJ showed him the clip from Tokyo Cowboys on his iPod. He was really impressed and wants to use some of the TC footage to pitch the big gig.

That is all.

Even when I think Nothing is Happening

Was really depressed yesterday. I meant to write the intro to Ken voice over, but...worked up at the school all day. Then came home and tried to do a load of laundry while cooking. The washer spewed out a load of water so that I was standing in 1 inch of it while cooking on an electric cooker. Turned off the electricity, cleaned up the mess, finished off the laundry in the bath (don't try this at home), then finished dinner. By the time I finished eating it was 10 p.m., and I was in no condition to write. Just when I thought all hope was lost, Patrick said "have a look at what I edited today while you were at school." It was brilliant. We also decided to carry on with the edit before writing any more of my voice over. I'll save that for last.

Also applied for several credit cards on line. These are supposed to be 0% interest on new purchases for 12 months. If I can get one, we are going to buy a new system...the MacPro. It will scream.

New System

Had a look at the Nice Guyjin stuff that PJ cut. Also thinking about Ken's introduction V.O. I've been thinking more about a dialogue between my voice over and the cowboy voice over. Will spend some time tonight working on the intro vo for Ken. Things are moving along, but wish I could build up more momentum.

Thinking about getting a credit card to buy a new editing suite. This is against everything that I've come to believe about finance. But, we need a new system. It's either that or sell some of our sweat equity, and I just don't think I can bare going back to selling shares. It takes so much time, and I hate, hate, hate it. Begging for money...I think this will be my reality for the next few years at least.

Technical Hell

Spent the whole morning trying to get the computer started. It's definitely straining under the weight of the four external hard drives. Sometimes three hard drives mount, sometimes all four. And, I can't figure out why. I think our Mac has been brilliant over the past six years. It's an outstanding Power Mac g4. But, it's time to upgrade. PJ and I decided that I would go into the bank on Tuesday and try to get a loan for a new computer.

We finally got the computer up an running (albeit, hard drive Bruce wouldn't start at all). So, we decided to back up all of the projects onto Angelica. Because she's a USB hard drive, this took three hours. After all of this technical hell, I just didn't have the will to carry on with editing. I feel terribly guilty.

The new direction is going well, though, so I'm happy about that.

New Direction

After taking 6 weeks off to earn a bit of cash, we are back to editing Tokyo Cowboys. Patrick re-cut the first 50 minutes to focus on Ken's story as the backbone of the piece. His story has the strongest arc. As off shoots of his story, we will be making segues into the lives of the other cowboys.

We've been frustrated about our inability to create momentum with the cut. It seems that earning a living is interfering with the completion, but we continue. I guess this is the way it is.

56

Whey! Patrick's cut the first 56 minutes of the film. We are now officially smokin'.

Moving Along

Now moving from Ken to Mark. Doing this with a little segue into East West: Christmas 1997. Old footage of Ken (when he was fat!) and Mark winning every award there was to win at the end of the year. Wrote the voice over last night. Recorded it during lunch today (doing a paid gig today).

Trying to find money...free money. Don't want to de-value the shares, so the only way to go is with grants and schemes. May be spending the 12th and 13th with one of the very early investors in TC to brainstorm how to get more money in. It would be so good if I could do TC full time and not have to work for money (although I am so thankful to the people who give me work).

Introduction: Ken

Start off with Ken's V.O. about sacrificing a lot to come to Japan.

October 4th, 2002

I think sacrifice is a good place to begin. I used to think that Cowboys led a glamorous and charmed life in Tokyo. But Ken's life is more about balance...a security/freedom balance. Money buys security. But to make money on the urban frontier, you have to sell freedom. He's trying to balance by working from home as a freelance recruiter: the more you put in, the more you get out.