"Who taught you to be so stupid?"

Yes, it's a take on the famous line from The Prince of Tides. Why the change; and how does it apply here?

Well, my latest short; which I've finally decided will be christened Ready to Go, is well underway. We shot for about 14 hours on Sunday. DP Clare, new found friend (and crew member) Brenda, sound guy Adam; and of course, the other half were all on board w/ me for this awesome day. Well over half of our scenes were completed (all of the stuff we had in our downstairs floor; w/ the exception of our big zombie feeding this coming Sunday), so the remainder for this Sunday should be under control. We've decided to cut our third scheduled shooting date for this coming Monday; and just get our final scenes in the later hours of Sunday night.

I've already captured the hour and a half of footage from Sunday. I actually had a rough cut of the existing footage by Monday evening. It looks phenomenal. I am thrilled w/ the lighting, the shots; and surprisingly, with my performance. Wasn't sure how I looked while we were doing it; but I'm pleased. I also had to shower in my swim trunks; which was a strange experience; and for a shot through the glass block; I went commando. No crew members eyes or sensibilities were harmed during the making of this film. It was worth it; cuz the shot through the glass block looks tremendous.

Well, the fact that I have a three minute time limit for the Romero/Diary of the Dead contest, didn't seem to concern me; until I got further into my editing. Currently, and keep in mind that I haven't even shot the second half of the film; I'm already @ close to 6 (that's SIX) minutes. What have I done? This is where the title of this entry comes into play. How was I so stupid to assume that my 4 1/2 page script (I was always under the impression that 1 page of script translates to about 1 minute of screen time) could be compressed/cut into 3 minutes? Gee whiz; that's a crazy thing...for you see, I didn't realize that it would be 1 page of DIALOGUE. I have a few voice-overs in my script, but no "dialogue". It's all heavy, word-laden description. So, it looks like my 4 1/2 page script will translate to a 10 minute film. Good heavens. Who taught me to be so stupid?

However, since all parties were brought on board w/ the promise of submitting for Mr. Romero's approval, I will not let them down. The other half said that I should do a "director's cut" from the get-go anyway; and it appears that will end up being the case. But, I still have the unenviable task of cutting what could be (remember I haven't shot the second day) 10 minutes; down to 3. How? How will I accomplish this? I've got some ideas floating around; and the other half offered some additional possibilities. Make it work, I guess.

Lots of work ahead. Tonight I tried to send the raw footage to sound guy Adam; but the size was too great. He'll be picking up some discs or using his portable drive to take the magic away to his own magic shop...and do his miracles w/ the sound.

The due date approaches...just over two weeks away.