Finish what you started....

I feel like I am a child who has rushed to dessert without finishing the main meal. I have begun filming a documentary about an 94 year old lady called Nin, who lives and works as a maid in Ireland, whilst Andy is still back in England finishing off the Rosie edit. Still , it is nice to have a few projects on the go. I am going to be in London pitching another 72 hour film project to Fremantle in August, this time to take place at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2010. We are a busy bunch....

Our plan is to screen Rosie, alongside 'The Gloaming', as an hour-long silent cinema experience. They will get projected onto walls in cities in the autumn and winter months and act as visual graffiti. The plan at the moment is to pump out the soundtracks upon a frequency that people can tune into on either their mobile phones or radio device.

Whether this comes into fruition is a different matter, especially with everything that we have on. I should finish what I started...

The Fleadh

So a year after the 72 hour film experience, I returned to the Fleadh in Galway to see the festival. I work throughout the festival to get support for a 72 in Melbourne, but the economy is very bleak in Ireland and business is hard.

Whilst at the Fleadh I speak to Matt Branton about the colouring process for Rosie. He is a bit gutted that we aren't taking it to Windmill Lane. He convinces me to change my mind and bring it in at the start of August. This is helped by Justin McCarthy at Abaltat volunteering to do the music for me. I wanted to play around and do it myself, but I'm not sure I'll have the time over an ever-increasingly busy period...

I also had a chance to catch up with Etain McGuckian. It seems like ages ago that she was helping us in Birmingham. She is busy with films of her own right now, which is awesome.

A change of plan

I have come to the Galway Film Fleadh to sort the pre-production on another project but Rosie hasn't come with me. I have left the film with Andy Paton, as he feels he can tweak it further. I am actually happier to have it entirely in his possession, albeit means I don't do a colour at Windmill. Perhaps we can get the project in at Splice, who are keen to help us also.

An Inspirational Dinner

Similar to my positive meeting with Carl, I had a great dinner with Gary Carter, where amongst a broad, fascinating conversation, we hit upon the notion of mastery, and whether we can truly master something. This has always been something that I don't necessarily believe or feel compelled to achieve. But Gary speaks so convincingly of his desire to master certain elements within his life. When he asks me what I think of my own films, I say that I am serving my apprenticeship - convinced that these experiences will inform an eventual mastery of a subject. I point out Boorman, Scorcese, Loach, all in the sunset of the lives, still making films because they want to. This isn't a job, it is a way of life.

When we discuss the marathons I ran without training, Gary asks me "what would you be like if you trained?". I don't have an answer for it, but it neatly mirrors another element of our conversation. If I was directing and producing for television when I was 22, what I be like with training?

I leave the dinner almost convinced that I want to return to the industry and put myself to the test once again, but it would mean relinquishing the creative freedom that I enjoy in Staffordshire. Food for thought perhaps.

Meeting with Carl Schoenfeld

Today I met with Carl Schoenfeld, who I am going to take the liberty of calling an old friend now. We have been in contact since he knidly helped me with my Masters thesis in 2006. We've been in contact ever since.

I tell him about Rosie, and he suggests talking to a few other groups of people as he thinks there could be a nice little future for it as a punky side project. He points out a few different routes, which I prefer to keep private at this stage so we're not seen to be jumping the gun. I've always enjoyed this about Carl as he never shits on things from a great height. He always sees a merit in most things and seeks to optimise things on those merits. Put better - he points you in good directions.

I would go so far to say that I enjoy almost a mentorship from Carl. We've never formalised anything as such, but he is such a helpful and experienced mind. I think that such mentorships are crucial to our development as people, let alone filmmaking.

Andy gives a helping hand

So with my rough edit done, I hand it over to Andy Paton, another colleague at Staffordshire University who specialises in editing. I figure he can cast a pretty critical eye over the project because he hasn't been involved too closely on it. I ask him to cut 6 minutes out of it. I'm sure he'll cut twenty.

This is a little strange for me, as I have usually done edits relatively autonomously, but I figure the variety of input will help give it some shape. I believe that it is such a challenging project in some respects, that it could do with a completely new set of eyes looking over it...

36 mins & 22 secs

It is the early hours of Sunday morning and I have finally finished a rough edit. I am suffering from a bit of man flu (hopefully not swine flu!) and it has been a slow stagger to the finish! The film currently runs at 36 mins and 22 secs, which is obviously a great deal shorter than I had originally intended, but I think that it suits the length that it has. I will aim to tighten it further once I have added one pick-up shot that goes at the end. If I can get it to 30 mins I will be very happy.

For now though - bed.

London

Rosie latest from James Fair on Vimeo.

I'm amazed how a clip that is one take can be in sync at the start but then be out at the end. Never mind, consider it radio...