Did I get the grade?

Why yes yes indeedle I did! Today was spent grading my film. For non-film nerds – this entails going through your film (pretty much frame by frame) and getting all the colors to look even (or if you want them to look uneven, uneven)! It is a rather lengthy process but one that you definitely should do if you want your film to look good and professional (then again, a lot of people cannot afford this process so skip it  - I know that I will never be able to afford a luxury like this any time soon!).

Katie, Jonno, Tony and Matt all doing bits and bobs to "Sweet As" before grading begins...

Therefore, I tied to absorb, learn and absorbs some more in the time that I was given today. Matt my grader was AMAZING. He is totally the silent but deadly type as he whittled away making my film really pop. I had been researching the exact look of what I wanted my movie to look like for quite some time. I wanted my colors to be overly saturated but at the same time for the whites not to be blown out and for it not to be so over the top that it distracts from the characters and story. In the film world, this look is called a “Bleach Bypass” but what is so great about using digital is that we (and by we I really mean Matt) could control EXACTLY how the colors looked etc for me (hurrah). This means that my film looks SO GOOD! The colors really pop and Tony said it best when he said it reminded him of old Kodachrome film… perfect!

Me wondering what would happen if I pressed the giant red button in front of me...

Anyhow, I was also summoned by the great Dave Whitehead to listen to a track that he wrote for my movie. I ran up there thinking he may have hit a few bongo’s and then thrown a bass line over the top... BOY WAS I WRONG… that crazy cat had about 12 tracks laid down and had composed the most INSAME music for me. I was truly blown away… then again I don't know why I would expect anything less from Dave (he even invented a damn language for the director of District 9 – the man is a genius!).

Dave's District 9 Language in the written form...

Tomorrow I start recording and laying all the sound effects and we are re recording one line of dialogue with Luke hawker (this is called ADR in Film nerd world). I have never done this before so am looking forward to it! Monday is the final mix and then…. Its back home! Can’t believe that this experience is almost over??!!