Now we get to the sweat and tears part. Producer Eric Taylor and I had to balance giving us enough pre-production time to plan shot lists, recruit extras, rehearse the dance scene – but also give me enough time in post-production to edit this.

“Party Out” was filmed Saturday (August 14th, 2010) in the basement of my aunt & uncle’s house.  That’s a mere 4 days before this episode was to be launched.  Art Director Lizz Hodgeson, producer Eric, my cousin Tom (our host) and I set up the lighting and art direction the night before.  Although the character Nathan isn’t in this scene, Will Conlon was on board.  He’s just recently purchased the same camera as our production camera and wanted experience filming.  I was more than happy to have him on board as B-Camera operator.  An interesting fact about Will: he’s obsessed with Christmas.  He LOVES it.  He arrived Saturday morning early with two huge boxes of Christmas lights for us to add to our set.  Right on!  We strung up even more lights.  All the Christmas lights, save for three bare bulbs, were connected to dimmers so we could dim them away during the instrumental part of the dance.  We were very exited the set decor.  It totally reminded me of those basement/dance parties I attended frequently in high school.  The illumination was instantly charging.  Each new person who entered the basement was rather awe-struck.

Lets back up a bit… Will is a really funny guy.  He is always making people laugh.  You count on him to have a great line about almost anything and everything.  With this in mind, I wondered aloud what we think he’ll say when he comes down those stairs for the first time.   I knew he’d make a big deal about it.  But what would he say?  Lizz had the hilarious idea that we roll video on what we predict he’ll say, and then film him coming down the stairs.  You can watch that at the beginning of the “Behind Party Out” video down below.

First up, we filmed the conversation between Kate Conway as Rose and the girl on the stairs, played by the lovely Sarah Robbins.  She’s helped us out before having appeared as a background actor in a number of scenes we’ve already filmed.  I was excited to write a scene with actual lines for her this time.  We filmed this scene first because we knew we didn’t need to see any extras.  In retrospect, I wish we listened to the song once over before filming – I think Kate and I allowed Rose to look a little too up-beat for the conversation after what had just happened with Vanessa.  Or play it like Rose is faking being up-beat.  That’s my bad, as a director, I should have considered this.

The extras, many of whom are friends of Lindsey Middleton, started showing up right on time.  And so began the hard part.  Let me set the scene for you: the house we were filming in is over 120 years old (which is downright ancient in Toronto).  As with most century-old homes, there’s no central air conditioning.  The next door neighbours, however, do have air conditioning…  which meant we had to close the windows to keep the sound out.  And then we add about a dozen heat-producing bodies, ask them to dance and mingle on what happened to be among the hottest and most humid days of this summer.  Therein lays the “sweat” I refer to in the title.  Oh, and I’m asking my three stars to dance their asses off in this heat!  It was so hot, that even the pluming was sweating due to condensation.  Whenever possible, people who weren’t in frame would go upstairs so we had fewer bodies down there.  In between shots we’d sometimes open the windows to let some air in.  But really, that was futile, since black garbage bags were taped over them to keep the daylight out.  It was HOT.  And of course, I was down there THE ENTIRE DAY, high energy, highly focused, running around – keeping my camera steady.  Silly me, I was so focused on getting shots done and how they looked that I forgot to drink any water, thus dehydrating myself to the point of compromising my immune system.  I’ve been sick ever since.  Blah.

The scene I was most looking forward to was Rose’s breakdown to tears.  I think Kate might say the same thing – she loves the emotional stuff!  It was to be the final scene of the day. When I informed her we’re about ready for the bathroom scene she nodded and disappeared for a bit.  When I saw her next it was while I was setting up for the shot; she was listening to her MP3 player.  Ah yes, I had forgotten about this, she once told me that she will sometimes use music to help put her in the right frame of mind (I believe this is a similar technique that Edward Norton uses too).  I knew this was going to be demanding on her, so I wanted to get this done with as few takes as possible.  We did several practice walk-thrus.  This was more for my benefit than for her, because I had to walk backwards holding the camera steady, keeping focus and navigate into a tiny bathroom, then cramming myself into the corner of the bathroom as smooth as possible.  Ultimately, I would find myself awkwardly hovering over the toilet seat each take.  The most challenging part for me was to avoid knocking my elbows on the door narrow frame.  Kate suggested that Rose stops to take a breath at the doorway, allowing me to slow down to navigate more smoothly.  Good idea, plus I loved the emotional beat.  Tom, our host, helped me see backwards by gently pulling on my shoulder and then pushing me into the bathroom so I didn’t have to look for the door.  Normally I have the actors mic’d up with wireless lav microphones, but Kate had already started her process of getting to that sad place.  I didn’t want to bother her with it, so instead, I had our location sound recordist, Amanda Mitro (new to our team!), plant our new stereo sound recorder in the bathroom.  I have to admit, being a part of Kate’s process was very exciting for me; I did everything I could to shield Kate from everyone else without being obvious, giving her the space she needed.  I’m normally very jokey on set, but I let that slide for once (which I found surprisingly challenging).  Amanda needed to do a sound level check, so I told her I’d get Kate for her – but she wasn’t allowed to speak with her.  I asked Kate to go in, do her lines once at the volume she expected and get out.  Amanda got what she needed.  I don’t believe Kate and Amanda even made eye contact, from what I could tell.  She was in the zone.

The first take was remarkable.  I couldn’t believe it.  She went from all smiley with Sarah on the steps, to shocked, to sad, to all out crying.  Corey had already left for the day (he was off directing his own film that he’s written and directing).  I had Dan Beausoleil, the guitar player, read Kenny’s lines in the hall for Kate’s benefit.  (we had filmed Kenny outside the bathroom earlier in the day, and Dan had the chance to review it)
We did three takes.  After each take, Kate and I would review what we had just filmed.  This is something we do often together, I like being able to share with the actors what we’ve done.  Kate once told me that in school she was told never to expect this from filmmakers.  Today, however, playing back old footage is a breeze with these cameras.  I may not have done so if this tape-based.  Both Kate and I were satisfied with our three takes, some filmed close up, some medium parts.  Plus during a take (before I yelled cut) I’d get my insert shots by reframing and whispering “turn on the tap again”, and then “hold the water in your hands and let it drain again”, “say that last line again”.  I knew how I would be editing this scene as we were filming so I knew exactly what footage to give myself.

It’s a moment I’m always nervous about, just in case I’m wrong, “ladies and gentlemen, we are WRAPPED!  Thank you everyone!”  And applause follows.

Then, as if I needed reminding of how capable, professional and damn talented Kate Conway is: she “turned off” the sad, and was back to her normal cheery and very funny self.   Just like that.  Wow.

Editing was not a challenge.  It came together rather easily because everything was well planned ahead of time.  The only major change that occurred was the music for the final scene.  Originally the bathroom was going to be void of music, until the near the end I’d slowly gently bring back in Side Swept on the shot of Vanessa lip-syncing “But I can’t love you”.  We filmed Rose saying to Kenny (but really, more to herself) “I can’t make do”, another lyric from the song.  Although Side Swept has its quiet/sad moments, overall it’s too happy for this scene.  And that was when epiphany happened: Dan Beausoleil’s “Time is Wasting” – the mood was defiantly right.  It was already there on my timeline during the stairs conversation.  I asked Dan to read the script and pick a song he felt fit the scene.  I wasn’t too concerned because it was just meant to be diegetic background stuff that Dan is playing as Vanessa listens.  On a whim, I extended the song to continue in the bathroom.  Hang on – this works!  I did a bit of chopping and looping to make it fit better.  It fit, it really fit.

This created a small problem:  Vanessa lips in the flashback shot were supposed to be synced to Side Swept, and Rose whispers “I can’t make do” also in sync with the song.  Now that we’ve got a new song playing, it didn’t work.  I was fine chopping the “I can’t make do” line, but I really wanted to keep “But I can’t love you”.  I was too sick to leave the house and visit Lindsey to record her voice saying the words.  And she was too busy to come to me to record this (besides, I didn’t want her to get sick too).  I asked her by email if she could find the means to record the audio herself.  And she did!  Resourcefully, she used the built-in mic on her laptop/webcam and whispered several takes for me.  The quality was good-enough given how quiet I knew I wanted it – just a whisper.  I really didn’t want to loose that shot.  She re-did it for me after a bit more direction and nailed it.  I took parts of two different takes “But I can’t” and “love… you”.  Now the scene works, you can understand what she says, and I get to keep Dan’s song.

There is another scene written that was supposed to follow the party.  I had hoped to film it on Tuesday last week, but because I was too sick we had to cancel.  And now we’re having troubles getting access to the location.  It’s a short scene – too short to be it’s own episode, and it wouldn’t fit in the next episode.  So maybe… If we get to film it in the next week or so I’ll post it as it’s own mini-episode.  Perhaps I’ll call it episode 4½: “After Party”.

Okay, there wasn’t any blood.  But there was more than enough sweat to make up for it.  More on that later.  In the next few Making Out blogs I’m going to discuss what went into the making of “Party Out”

The most recent episode, “Party Out” was inspired from a number of sources.  Namely the music you hear, but also your feedback.  Trust me when I say this: I read everything you guys have to say about Out With Dad.

Feedback about Vanessa stood out to me, even though none of what you said terribly surprised me.  ”What’s up with Vanessa?” is a common theme.  People don’t get her, and a lot of people don’t like her.  Why would someone like Rose like, let alone love, someone like Vanessa?

Vanessa has been the most challenging character to write. Even casting Vanessa was a challenge – because at the time, I still hadn’t quite figured out who she is.

Kate Conway & Lindsey Middleton at Lindsey's recall audition (on February 27th, 2010)

Enter: Lindsey Middleton.  As with all the girls that came to audition, I had them read as both Rose and Vanessa.  I asked each actor which character they’d prefer to read as first; interestingly, she was the only one who choose Vanessa.  Now, let me be clear- casting Vanessa wasn’t a challenge because the actors who came out for her weren’t good enough.  In fact, it was the opposite.  There were terrific performers who auditioned and I remember them well (I hope to work with them one day).  It was a question of who ‘fit’ Vanessa, a character I didn’t really know all that well.  We did call-back auditions for the roll of Vanessa.  Kate Conway had already been cast as Rose, so she joined us to read with the candidates.  (Kate was a shoe-in for Rose, perhaps I’ll write about that another day.)  It boiled down to Lindsey’s chemistry with Kate.  They happened to go to the same school at different times, so they had an instant history together.  You could really feel it. That sense of history between Rose and Vanessa is very important.  After that, Lindsey made finding Vanessa a lot easier.  Through rehearsals and table reads, we’d discuss who she is, her family, her history and so on.  She and I have all that worked out.  However, just because Lindsey and I understand her well privately, publicly she gives off the wrong impression.  That’s one of the problems with a cold-open like our first episode.  We’re jumping in at an awkward moment.   I totally undestand why people would be asking why the heck would someone like Rose fall for a person like Vanessa?  She seems like a real stick in the mud.  This very fact is what inspired the opening credits sequence with the cork board – I wanted to paint a history of Rose and Vanessa growing up together, all the good times. Kate and Lindsey gave me loads of photos of them growing up so could scan/Photoshop them together.  But alas, it’s only about 30 seconds of story telling.  I wasn’t enough to show how much they love each other.

Well, your feedback is proof this rule is true.  We’ve said it over and over how close these girls are, but it hasn’t been felt.  I needed to show it.  That is the motivation behind the recently conceived and filmed “Party Out”.  I need to show the world how much fun these girls really have together, especially when Vanessa lets loose.  I need to show them when they’re not all awkward.  A situation that’s not about being gay or being homophobic, or questioning who/what you or your best friend is.  It was also important to me to share that heartbreak – that pain we’ve all experienced one time or another when we see that special someone and the feelings aren’t returned.  For me and my friends, these events always seemed to unfold at basement parties that were always lit by multi-coloured lights (I’m thinking of your parties Juls!).

I was at a concert a while back.  Adrian Ellis was performing with a band at The Horseshoe Tavern on Queen West in Toronto.   Next to me were two girls making out to a very passionate song by Fjord Rowboat.  Of course I got to thinking about Rose and Vanessa, had images of them dancing.  All the lights in the world fade away and it’s just them – in their own private world.  I kept thinking about this image.

One day while on the transit, with my MP3 player on random, I heard the song “Steady Beating Drum” by Lara Martin.  I discovered her music through our art director Lizz Hodgson, a friend of Lara’s.  Lizz had given me “Steady Beating Drum” as a track that I could maybe use for a future episode (Lizz’s voice is among the backup vocals).  It doesn’t fit the scene for the final season one episode, but I like it.  On this occasion had a funny vision of Corey Lof as Kenny dancing ridiculously to it, and dragging in a reluctant Rose.  It seemed hilarious to me.  I met Lara a few days later at DramaWay’s DramaWorks 2010 production.  I told her about my vision, and asked her for permission to use her song in this episode… should I ever film it.

I’d already made a connection with Nicole Simone, aka Late July, her album producer is none-other than Adrian Ellis.  I’ve spoken with her about using another one of her songs for a future episode, to which she’d agreed.  I’ve also had the pleasure of seeing her perform live.  [Note to fans in the Toronto Area: Late July will be performing at Velvet Underground on September 18th, 2010]  This summer (in late July, I believe…)  she approached me about producing a music video for “Side Swept”.  I’m flattered and excited because it’s already one of my favourite songs from her EP.  As I listened to the song carefully and read the lyrics, I couldn’t help but make connections to Rose and Vanessa.  I was supposed to be thinking about her music video… but I couldn’t help it.  While I had always planned on contacting Fjord Rowboat about using one of their songs for the scene… the connection between Rose & Vanessa’s situation and Side Swept seemed too great to ignore.  I threw out my script and started to re-write with “Side Swept” in mind.  Unrelated to Out With Dad, I sat down with Nicole to discuss her music video.  At that meeting I presented her with the script for “Party Out”, which included her song – not just in passing, but her words embedded right into the story.  I was nervous, because it was a bold move.  But confident because I knew she was a fan of the show already.  I hoped she’d be flattered, and fortunately she was.  She gave me permission on the spot.

All that was left was asking Kate how she feels about crying on command.  “Bring it on!” I believe were her words.  Always enthusiastic.

The pieces were coming together.  The cast and crew were eager.  My aunt volunteered her basement as a filming location.  All we needed now was loads of Christmas lights and date to film it.

Next article will discuss the production day.

Do you have questions about the making of Out With Dad?  Ask them in the comment section, or by Twitter, Facebook, YouTube comments.

I’ll be honest, the theatre scene scared the @#%* out of me when I read the script. Not so much because there was a lot of dialogue to remember, but because I had to play both Nathan AND his subconscious. So, instead of just watching for my cues from Kate to deliver my lines, I had to also wait for my cues from myself too. Now normally, I have no problem responding appropriately to the voices in my head, especially when they tell me to take my pants off in public, but when I’m playing a guy who is conversing with his subconcious as well as having to respond to his daughter and her subconscious, well, let’s just say it was a tough script to memorize. …especially the diatribe Nathan launches into near the end of the scene about what makes a good romance story.

Will Conlon in Mobius

I was intrigued by the idea of this scene and was really interested to see how it was going to be executed. For one reason, because this is the SECOND time I have shot a special effects filled scene with Jason Leaver, the first being Mobius, and even though these were two entirely different projects, they both had one thing in common: I had no idea what the cluck was going on (That’s what it sounds like when chickens swear)! It’s a good thing everyone else knew what they were doing because I was lost and basically was like a kid going into Toys’ R’ Us for the first time and looking at all the awesomeness and being told not to touch things.

Eric Taylor (producer of Out With Dad), director Jason Leaver and Will Conlon at the premire of Mobius in Toronto, Ontario on October 3rd, 2009.

It wasn’t until we were about half way though (on both projects) that I finally realized what we were doing and although most of this scene was done in post production with effects, it was wild to film, doing the shift between seats, reacting to things that didn’t happen, talking to myself when I wasn’t there, not to mention assaulting myself. I felt like I was in the ‘60s and I wasn’t even born until 1975. But Jason and the crew knew exactly what they were doing and it went smooth as peanut butter, the creamy kind not the chunky. We filmed at the Encore Cinemas in Oakville on a Friday night and they were so gracious to us. It was really wonderful. We arrived about 10:30pm and started setting up almost immediately as the extras arrived. We shot until about 6:30am and the amazing part was, the way it was planned out, we only really used the extras for the first hour of filming. The remaining 5.5 hours were just the crew, Kate and I, and of course the poor Encore manager, Bryn, who had to stick around with us all night (you are the best!).  I was really hoping at the beginning to get Nathan’s long speech out of the way as it was still fresh in my memory and I was wide awake and also because I was nervous I would mess up the lines as it’s a long piece of dialogue. But we started with the shots with the extras first. After that I thought ok great! Can we do the speech now? But we were going to do a few other shots first. After a few of those I asked Jason when we’d be doing Nathan’s speech and he said very soon, So every hour I’d say, “Speech time?” and Jason would say “Soon!” and I’d wait…and wait..until, guess what was the last shot…that’s right folks. At around 5:45am, after being awake for almost a full 24 hrs, I got to deliver the longest amount of dialogue Nathan has in Season 1 of “Out With Dad.” Yippee. We were already almost 2 hrs over the time we thought we’d be done and I could feel the pressure as everyone was exhausted and was anxious for the sweet release of sleep. So, when it came time to film the speech I could feel a lot of “don’t eff up, I want to sleep” vibes coming at me from all directions. GREAT! Can’t wait to see how this plays out! The shot was set up, I sat there exhausted and nervous that I’d flub the lines at least 20 times extending our shoot time into infinity. So Jason says “Action” and suddenly it poured out in one take! I was more shocked than anyone and felt like my life was just saved because everyone could go home and sleep now instead of taking turns beating me up in the parking lot.  We did do another take for safety’s sake but we could go home. This isn’t boasting, ok maybe a little, but only because I really was afraid I was going to keep everyone there so much later.  In retrospect though, it’s easy to see why I was able to do that last piece of dialogue in one take because of the comfort level and support of the crew around me and also due to the ease I find playing this role next to Kate Conway (Rose) who is incredibly talented and plays Rose with such comfort  and grace. It felt good like the delicious popcorn provided by the theatre, the chunky kind, not the creamy.

I didn’t know what to expect before I saw the final cut of Episode 3. I had seen a rough cut and thought it looked great, but then when I saw the Final, I was blown away.  I don’t know if it was because of the effects and how real it looked, or how the relationship between Nathan and Rose really came to life (I think this is the first time we see them doing a father/daughter thing  together), or even how every moment is made better by the beautiful score by Adrian Ellis (who I have become rather a stalker-ish fan of).

Can’t wait for you all to see what’s next!

Watch Will Conlon and Jason Leaver’s previous collaboration, the video installation “Mobius” .  Viewable in two formats below.  Also, please visit the Mobius webpage, which contains more photos and links.

(which is more like the installation’s intended viewing style)

(L-R) Sound recordist Brendon Smith, actor Will Conlon, key grip Josh Ary, actor Kate Conway, production manager Rebecca Rynsoever. Brendon and Rebecca, while performing their respective duties, were also stand-ins for "Head Nathan" and "Head Rose".

I must admit, I was more nervous than any other time we filmed ANYTHING. I’m a newbie film actress learning the ropes of the film process.  This scene shot using various special effects to bring two versions of myself was a very frightening thought. Was I really prepared to handle this? Once we make it to the Oakville movie theatre, I am comforted by the lovely cast and crew who always make me feel like one of the posse.  The very first order of business is organizing the lineup of extras that were fortunately brought to us by Will (dad/Nathan). There is a ton of people and 90% know Will. I guess he’s a pretty popular guy.  My initial discomfort is then addressed with free popcorn and fountain pop provided by the theatre. Food is always comforting for me. I now have everything I need. I am officially ready to work.

In my mind, the shot list goes on for miles. We are scheduled to go till 4 in the morning. If anything goes slightly wrong, that timeframe is extended. Setting up the lighting is the first difficult task that is holding up the schedule. The production crew is getting pretty imaginative in their solutions. Meanwhile, Will is telling me about his standup comedy and other personal projects. Not only is he popular, he is quite creative. And he never, I mean NEVER stops telling me jokes. It really helps pass the time between settings up shots.

We were constantly switching between the “real” self and “brain” self. It was hard to remember what I did in each shot, because I knew it had to sync up with what the other self was going to do.  Jason is very helpful with direction so I eventually find my footing with each shot. However, time ticks away and I am getting gradually more exhausted. It isn’t long until I get into that tired-giddy mood that used to kick in at about 3 in the morning at elementary school sleeps-overs. Everything is funny and I find it hard to focus. But I have to, it’s already 3 and there is still a ton to do.

At 4am, I’m ready to cry. I have visions of marshmallowley soft pillows and cashmere sheets. Not that I actually sleep on that, but it’s a nice thought when you’re that tired. 5am…6am…WE ARE ALMOST DONE. Cast and crew are desperately waiting for the last shot on the list. I must admit, the words “that’s a wrap” have never sounded so sweet!

Without struggle, there is ultimately no reward. I cannot describe how happy I was driving home to Toronto in a car full some of my favourite people in the world, all of us ready to drop. We had all made it through the night and thanks to the genius of everyone involved, had a really sweet scene to look forward to. It’s one of those moments in my life that I will never forget and always cherish.

Production began on Saturday April 10th. Altogether there were ten production days.
Out With Dad has being filmed in full high definition 1080P, 24fps. The production camera is the Canon Rebel T2i, a DSLR. The original intention was to rent a high-def video camera for each or our three production weekends, but the cost to purchase this camera ended up being less than the rental budget, including two lenses. The lenses include an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens (included with the camera) and a 50mm f/1.8 lens. The results of this camera have been very satisfying. In addition to saving costs of renting, we were able to open up the production schedule to go beyond just three weekends.  One scene, filmed on the subway, was shot late one Tuesday night when we figured it would be least busy. If we had opted to rent, our limited budget wouldn’t have allowed for this one-off night of filming.

The bright sun coming from the window required a faster than desired shutter speed of about 1/100sec. Whereas 1/30 to 1/50 is preferred.

On the first day of production, some of the cast members appeared to be unsettled, and even unconvinced, when it was revealed that a digital stills camera was being used as our motion-picture camera. After reviewing some of the footage, everyone was won over.
As great an actor as Corey Lof is, he didn’t hide his scepticism very well! The greatest thing about this camera is the ability to use lenses that capture film-like images, including a shallow depth of field – something of which this filmmaker is a big fan of. Another advantage to filming with a DSLR is how unassuming it is.

Filming with the T2i was very inconspicuous.

Going back to that subway scene, it was filmed without disturbing other riders or subway operators. A bigger traditional film/video camera would have drawn lots of attention which could have caused lots of distractions and/or interruptions. In fact, I don’t think anyone knew we were filming.
In episode four there is an outdoor night scene. This was lit almost exclusively by Christmas lights, and a tungsten porch light about 3-4m away from the actors. This camera has an ISO range of 100-6400, this night scene was filmed at 3200 ISO. It performed admirably with very little image noise.
I tended to use the 50mm lens most often because the aperture could be opened to f1.8, causing a very narrow depth of field. A polarizing filter was occasionally used as a neutral density filter to cut down the light whenever necessary. When that wasn’t available, I’d favour a faster shutter speed in order to achieve that shallow depth of field. Unfortnatly I’m not a fan of that look. For instance, take a look at Corey’s movement, particularly his hands, in episode two at around 3:20-3:40 it’s very stuttered or choppy feeling which I find distracting.
It should be noted that recently, Gerg Yaitanes, producer of the television show House, announced that their season finale this year was shot with the Canon 5D, which is essentially the bigger-brother to the T2i we’ve used, the Canon 5D MkII. Here’s a link to an interesting interview/podcast with House cinematographer Gale Tattersall.

A Panasonic DVX-100a camera was used as our audio recorder. As you can see, we recorded some bizarre footage throughout the shoot.

The biggest disadvantage to filming with a DSLR camera is its poor audio. Despite the input for an external mic, audio can not be monitored nor adjusted manually. Therefore a separate device is needed for recording audio. We used my Panasonic DVX-100a miniDV camera as a sound recording device.

(L-R) Sound recordist Brendon Smith monitoring sound on the DVX, director/cinematographer Jason Leaver, actor Will Conlon, key grip Josh Ary, actress Kate Conway, production manager Rebecca Rynsoever. Brendon and Rebecca, while performing their respective duties, also stood in as extras or stand-ins for Nathan and Rose.

This camera has two XLR inputs. In most cases we had a wireless lav mics hidden on actors. The sound and picture are easily synced in post. There was no need for slating or clap sync marks on each take, because the T2i still records audio with its internal mic. Crummy as its audio may be, all I had to do was line up the wave forms of the T2i audio with the miniDV audio in Adobe Premiere and presto – clean usable sound. Only one lav mic was available on the first weekend of production so a shotgun mic without a proper boom pole was used instead. This shotgun mic isn’t the very directional and unfoundedly it resulted in lot of noise (such as heating systems, traffic, distant music). Consequently, I’m not as happy with the audio quality from the first weekend. But overall I’m happy with the audio and have avoided the need for major additional dialogue recording (ADR).

Although normally editing from home, with the deadline of episode two looming the edit suite was brought up to the cottage for the weekend.

Post production is being done at my home edit suite using the Adobe Production suite. Editing is done in Premiere and the effects, colour correction and titling in After Effects. After each production day the footage was transferred to the computer and batched down-converted to standard-def DV-AVI with Adobe Media Encoder. The DV-AVI file format requires far less processing power than the 1920×1080 H.264 Quicktime format that the camera records in. Once editing is completed and picture is locked, the Premiere project is imported into After Effects, DV-AVI clips are replaced by their original H.264 MOV files, then the final high def output will be created from these. I’ll write more about how some off the effects are done in the near future.

On the most recent day of filming it occurred to us that rather than record the audio with the DVX pointing at nothing, we’d point the camera at something more interesting! Brendan Smith, our sound recordist, filmed us shooting the opening scene of episode two while monitoring sound. When editing, I kept the DVX footage synced with the audio as I worked, so here it is with picture-in-picture. Keep an eye open for the one line of dialogue that had to be recorded after the fact (in my dining room no less). Enjoy!