Progress update: The good news is that we have picture lock – meaning that picture editing is now done. Now we’ve just got sound, music, color correction, and a few graphics left.
Here’s what each area looks like:
Animation
Animation is complete. We’ve still got some title graphics to do, but all the big shots are there.
Animation was a funny process, because some of our graphics involve medical drawings of the penis and foreskin, which meant very detailed conversations about those body parts, and a message chain that borders on embarrassing (Ex: “This penis shot needs more frenulum.”). But let me tell you – our film is going to have the best anatomically correct penis animations of any documentary ever made.
Thankfully our animator was a total pro, who’d done work on other documentaries before, and even did the opening title sequence of a recent season of South Park. He ended up being really right for this project.
Sound
Sound editing has also begun. We had some very frustrating technical snafus initially, but now that’s done and we’re into the bulk of sound editing. Sound editing includes a lot of things you won’t think about unless you’ve gone through the post-production process. Both myself and our sound mixer are into the process enough that we get excited over things like footstep foley or background editing.
Music
Music has also started. It took a while to find the right sound for our film. When our composer, John Graves, did music on our trailers, we had to go through a couple different versions on the first trailer, but by the third, he nailed it on the first version. Likewise, we had to do a couple versions of the first few tracks as we synced up our creative processes, but now music is really hitting on point.
Music can be the trickiest part to direct, because while I’ve worked as an editor and sound mixer, I don’t have the same technical training around music. I’ve had to learn how to speak musician a bit better, and our composer has had to learn to translate my non-musician way of speaking into his craft.
He’s been creating some really beautiful stuff. Listen to a sneak peak here:
Music can take some time. If you think about it, composing music for a film is like recording a whole album on top of all the other things that have to get done for a movie. There are Kickstarter projects created just to record music, and you wouldn’t expect your favorite band to make their next album in a day or two. Thankfully, our composer is a pro and already well into the process.
Kickstarter Rewards
We sent most physical Kickstarter rewards in December 2016. If you filled out your rewards survey after that date (or haven’t filled it out at all), then that’s the reason you might not have them yet.
For those who haven’t gotten physical rewards yet, we may do a second round of shipping sometime this summer once we’re not full speed ahead on deadlines. Expect to see those August-ish.
If you want rewards, make sure you’ve filled out our reward survey ASAP! Can’t send you stuff if we don’t have your address.
Film Festivals
I could probably write a whole update just on film festivals (and probably will at some point). Most film festivals require you to submit around three months before the festival itself, which means that if we want to screen in festivals this winter, we have to start submitting now.
It also means that if you want to suggest a film festival, make sure it’s September 2017 or later. That said, we are very interested in your festival suggestions, especially European or foreign film festivals with audiences who may not be aware Americans practice this. If you there’s a festival we should check out, let us know here.
Film festivals are very competitive, so we can’t predict where we’ll premiere yet. That said, we have a strong film, and a large audience that wants to see it. (Can you imagine how much fun it’s going to be when our audience shows up for a big festival screening?) We won’t hear back from any festivals till August, so don’t expect any festival news till then.
So that’s it. The next few months we’ll be finishing post-production, submitting to festivals, and planning our release. There should be a few updates during that time talking about ways you can help us reach people with this film, and hopefully sharing some good news as we hear back from festivals.
Thanks again for supporting our film. Can’t wait to share it with you.
