Project Update #51: On Editing, Updates, Rewards & More
Backer_whiteFor backers only, Posted by Rob Thomas Like
Hey gang,
The last week has been an intense one. As many of you know, I’ve agreed to act as the producer for a couple Veronica Mars books for Vintage Doubleday, that will continue where the movie ends. One of my goals is to get the first book into stores shortly after the movie comes out early in 2014.
What that means, of course, is that we now need to move fast on both the movie and the first novel.
As a result, I spent most of last week working with the editor and author outlining the novel each morning, and then editing the movie each afternoon and evening. I’ll share more about the novels in a future update, but for now, I can tell you that I’m really happy with the story for the first book. Also, while the books will pick up where the movie ends, the movie will be able to stand on its own. You won’t need to read the novels. (Want, yes. Need, no.)
Today, though, let’s talk about our movie, which is now three weeks into editing. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the editing process, let me take a moment to explain how it works.
The Editing Process
About a week after we wrapped production, I sat down and watched the Editor’s Cut of the movie, which is the first chance I get to see how all of the shots we’ve got come together into a full movie. Audiences often assume that editing doesn’t begin until production ends, but the truth is that editing starts immediately once we start shooting. Each morning, our editor Dan Gabbe received the dailies — untreated footage from the day before – and started putting them together in the correct order. Once we finished shooting and he added the final shots, we had our first watchable version of the movie.
We’re now three weeks into the process of editing the Director’s Cut. During this eight week phase, we make multiple passes through the entire movie, from beginning to end. For the first several passes, the goal is simply to get close to where we’re going. If a shot looks wrong, we might replace it with another take. Right now, we’re fixing shots that don’t work, rather than tweaking and perfecting shots that do. We don’t get hung up on individual moments.
During these early passes, we also don’t spend much time focusing on the sound. We’ll drop in placeholder music — old bits of the score from the show, music borrowed from other movies – so that we can start to get the general mood down. In a few places, we’ve also inserted a few needle drops — specific, existing songs for the soundtrack – that I’ve had in mind since I wrote the script. Mostly, we just need to put in music that helps the movie sound like we want it to sound, even though we’ll use different music for the final cut.
Toward the end of this phase, once we’re close to locked picture (that is, when we’ve got most of the shots selected), a composer would normally begin writing the new score for the movie. For those who remember the music from the series, you’ll be pleased to know that the show’s composer, Josh Kramon, will be composing the movie as well – and I'm pleased to know that he's already gotten started.
Now that you have an idea of how editing works, here’s where we are in the process:
For reference, the movie is divided into six reels, each currently lasting about 20 minutes, more or less. When I left to catch a plane back home to Austin last Friday night, we had just started digging into the final reel. During this pass through the movie, we're trying to get picture 90 percent of the way there. Then, in the next pass, we'll get into the super fine tuning, which is where an inordinate amount of the hard work happens.
But here’s the good news: I'm actually happy with how editing is going.
I'm a bit notorious for wanting to throw myself off a building when I'm watching rough cuts. This was true even during some of the best episodes we ever did of the show. So, I think it's a good sign that I'm already looking forward to screening it for our studio partners, even though that screening is still weeks away.
And with that, I’ll turn things over to Ivan, who I think has a lot of new details to share about SDCC videos, Kickstarter rewards, the backer site, and more.
Rob
Backer Website Updates
Greetings, gang! As many of you have noted, it’s been a while – a little over two weeks – since the last official Backer Update. But as many of you have also realized, the good news is that we’ve also been updating the Backers’ Website with new content almost every day.
Moving forward, our current plan is to send an official Backer Update from Rob every 1-2 weeks, depending on how much is happening, and to update the website at least a few times each week. We’ll still link to the highlights in these official updates, but if you can’t wait, you’ll find more – more often – over there.
In case you haven’t looked lately, here's some of what you’ll find waiting for you:
Week 3 in Photos
Video: The Official Panel @ Comic-Con
Video: The Fan Event @ Comic-Con
(We're leaving these videos as Backer Exclusives until the end of this week. Then we'll post them on YouTube as well, in case you want to share them.)
A few helpful hints:
Can’t login to the website? As always, remember: the website does not use your Kickstarter name and password. You will find the name and password you need at the end of Backer Update #46.)
Check out the captions! If you click on any photo on the Backers' Website, you’ll be able to view a larger – or full-screen – version, as well as a caption with more detail about what was going on.
Subscribe for email updates! If you don’t want to keep checking the website to find out when we’ve posted new content, use the SUBSCRIBE form on the right side of the Backers Website to get email after every site update. It looks like this:
Where are the Kickstarter Rewards?
For those of you still waiting on Kickstarter Rewards – and that’s most of you – we wanted to share a quick update on what’s happening, and when you can expect to receive the swag you’ve been waiting for.
SEASONS 1-3 ON DVD - SENT!
The DVDs for Seasons 1-3 were sent out last week! Some of you have already received them, but for those who haven’t, they should arrive within 7-10 days. (You should also have received an email with a tracking link for the shipment.) For international backers: if you requested a download code instead, we should have them out to you soon.
T-SHIRTS - EARLY OCTOBER (EST.)
Let’s be completely honest: we wanted to have t-shirts in your hands a month ago, and it didn’t happen, because our order for 80,000+ blank shirts has created unexpected supply issues. (Literally. We bought out the entire stock from the manufacturer, and are now waiting for them to make more.)
At the moment, our best guess is that we’ll be able to print the t-shirts in late September, and ship them in early October.
We hate that this has been delayed, and we’re doing the best we can to speed things up. We know most of you understand and are patient, and we appreciate it, but we still wish we could get them to you sooner. You’ll have them the moment we get our hands on them.
POSTERS - NEAR PREMIERE, EARLY 2014
We’re just getting to work on the official poster designs now. Once that’s done, we’ll need to print them. For those of you who pledged for signed posters, we’ll also need to get the whole cast back together to sign them! Our best guess is that you’ll receive these – signed and unsigned – sometime around when the movie premieres.
PERSONALIZED REWARDS - COMING SOON
If you're expecting a personalized reward, we've got more details. We’ll send you a separate Kickstarter message about these in just a moment.
PREMIERE SCREENINGS - DETAILS THIS FALL
We’re still focused on finishing the movie, so we haven’t started scheduling the premieres just yet. If your rewards include tickets to the Premieres and/or Afterparties, we’ll get in touch with you later this fall, once we have specific dates locked down.
iTunes Sale (USA) & Official Merchandise
Two last notes:
USA iTUNES PROMOTION
If you live in the United States, iTunes has a pretty sweet Veronica Mars promotion this week: you can get the (broadcast version of the) Pilot for free, and each of the three seasons in HD for just under $30/each. If your friends still don’t understand what you’re talking about, giving them a free download of the Pilot might help. Just saying.
OFFICIAL MERCHANDISE
We’re still working on plans for official Veronica Mars Merchandise, but if you can’t wait, a few older products have been re-released in the WBShop. We’ll have newer designs for you soon, and for those of you who asked: yes, we’ll do our best to make sure the new merch is available in time for the December holidays!
That’s it for this time. See you over on the Backers’ Website!
Ivan
Spoilers!