Kazoo Films

Just a quick update today.

When you start editing a film, you usually first put together an “assembly” or a “rough assembly,” which is essentially everything you shot put in sequence so as to resemble the movie’s storyline. This will be very, very rough looking (and sounding), and way too long. Then you clean it up a bit, snip out the stuff that is obviously not working, and you have a “rough cut.”

The next goal to reach in editing is called the “fine cut.” The amount of work between rough and fine cuts is as little or much as you can imagine. Sometimes it’s just a little tightening and polish and suddenly, blam! you’re at the fine cut. But more often this is a lengthy process of working and reworking sequences, moving things around like a puzzle, removing and adding scenes, endeavoring to make the story come through properly while maintaining control of the mood and tone.

So, I am proud to announce that we have a fine cut. It is not the final cut as of yet, but what we have is basically a completed movie, it is just not quite yet the completed movie that we intend to release. Jesse Fisher, our talented editor, has handed over the post-production reins to Harrison and myself to pilot the film through the home stretch.

Once some final edits are made, we will officially have “picture lock,” which means that the image part of the movie will undergo no more editing. At that point sound will be mixed, which is a whole other, albeit briefer, adventure.

On-set photo by Tipper Presley

Well, it has once again been over two months since I have written a blog entry.

Actually, considering that the last two entries were technically penned by Anne Beale, it has been even longer. Anyway, it’s easy to write when you are in the habit of updating once or twice a week, but when inertia sets in, it sets in hard, and brushing off the cobwebs can be a more arduous task than you expected.

The Kazoo Films Blog

A rough overview of where we’re at: Jesse Fisher, our editor, finished the first cut of the film back in January. Harrison and I watched it a couple of times. We have done phone calls, emails, and video chats with Jesse, and for the last two months have been slowly and painstakingly working our way through the second cut, couple-minute chunks at a time. Most film festivals accept works in progress, so when we have a version of the complete film that we like enough, we will start submitting. Then, we will finish it up lickety-split, and start hosting screenings in theaters, churches, cafes, folk schools, on the sides of barns, and in your living rooms. Hopefully, between all these showings and all the festivals, we can get at least as many people to see it as helped make it!

Now, the first cut was far from being a finished film, but it looked great! It was exciting to begin to see the fruits of our labor come together in a nice fruit salad, even if the fruit salad had maybe a few too many blueberries, a rotten grape or two, the bananas weren’t sliced quite thinly enough, and we found altogether fewer mandarin orange slices than we had hoped. Also, we are endeavoring to emerge with a nicely arranged fruit salad, rather than a tossed hodgepodge, but I think what I’m trying to say is that in the first cut of If I Had Wings to Fly we saw all the ingredients for what could be a truly great fruit salad.

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In other news: Kazoo Films featured performer Dom Flemons just won a grammy with his incredible group the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Congratulations Dom! And, may I say, congratulations Grammys for managing to actually give an award to folks who deserve it!

This is the only photo of Dom that I am aware of in which he is not wearing suspenders (he's on the left).

Also, a wonderful folk music blog called The Old Weird America just published an entry about Bascom Lamar Lunsford, featuring a concise discussion of the man and his work as well as the opportunity to download 30 of his songs. Check it out!

oldweirdamerica.wordpress.com

A young and angsty Bascom

Finally, please keep abreast of our cinematographer’s (very interesting) filmic doings on his (snazzier AND more frequently updated) website.

http://www.nandanrao.com

Thanks for reading!

love, Bruno

Hello friends and Kazooers around the globe,

We have officially started editing!

A good friend of ours named Jesse arrived in Marshall, NC from New Jersey last sunday, and began his return trip early the following Saturday. What did Harrison, Bruno and Jesse do in between? They watched every single frame that Kazoo films shot this summer.

Homecoming in Texana

We went through the film, scene by scene, from beginning to end. We talked about what takes we liked, what was essential, inessential, the overall flow, tone, and the ever-elusive “pacing.” Editing is hard in a lot of ways. Harrison and I have been living with this film in our heads for a long time – it has existed in theory, on paper, in words, in sketches, in our imaginations, so it’s very nice to have someone coming at it with fresh eyes and a fresh perspective. Another hard thing: Harrison and I love everything we shot, but we now have to face the possibility that to include everything that we like might make for a VERY long movie. Jesse, ever cold and clinical, will be able to tell us bluntly yet insightfully what material is moving the story forward, and what is “fat.”

What’s next? Jesse is taking the footage back to his New York studio (small apartment) to give body to the limbs, bones, and organs of our story. He’ll be getting back to us in the next few weeks with a first cut for Bruno and I to watch. Chances are this cut will be far too long but don’t you worry dear reader, Harrison and I will be the only ones who need to watch this version. From there we’ll skim away, slowly honing the story and it’s themes. After we’ve gone through this process a few times we’ll open the film up for some test viewings. Maybe some lucky blog readers will get a sneak peak!

Kisha and Felix attend Texana's Mt. Zion Church

Jesse taking the footage frees up our hands to start working on the next steps – finding the best person to master the sound (a job of equal importance to editing the picture), creating promotional art, and researching the best film festivals for us to enter.

So keep kazooing along!

Love, Bruno and Harrison

P.S. Reveal of working title: If I Had Wings I Would Fly