In Production
Heading down the homestretch
31/07/08 16:52
The audio mix is done, and the closed captioning is nearly done for “Elisabeth.” A rough cut is posted somewhere on the ‘net. Email me and if you talk really nice to me, I might let you see it :-)
I’m excited about this one. The early comments seem to suggest that this might be our best work yet. Stay tuned...
I’m excited about this one. The early comments seem to suggest that this might be our best work yet. Stay tuned...
Rough cut now complete
25/07/08 06:56
Yesterday I completed the rough cut of “Elisabeth of Berlin.” This milestone comes at a great time; it seems that we will be on track to have the program out the door in time for November broadcast on PBS stations.
Over the next few days the program will be completed. Matt Shafer-Powell, narrator of “Hearts Divided,” will record the narration for this program on Tuesday. During the week the audio will be mixed, sound effects dubbed, and music will be mixed. Then comes a color correction pass. While this is going on we will be closed-captioning the program, and once all these steps have been taken, the master will be made and sent to our distributor. It sounds like a lot of work, but it is manageable in the amount of time we have.
I look forward to sharing this very important film with you.
Over the next few days the program will be completed. Matt Shafer-Powell, narrator of “Hearts Divided,” will record the narration for this program on Tuesday. During the week the audio will be mixed, sound effects dubbed, and music will be mixed. Then comes a color correction pass. While this is going on we will be closed-captioning the program, and once all these steps have been taken, the master will be made and sent to our distributor. It sounds like a lot of work, but it is manageable in the amount of time we have.
I look forward to sharing this very important film with you.
"Elisabeth" update
13/07/08 07:21
Things are moving along well, if not slightly behind schedule, for “Elisabeth of Berlin.” The edit has now reached Act III, the point in any film where the tension and action comes together to form a climax. This should be an enjoyable piece to edit.
One very pleasing aspect of the past few weeks’ work is that I was able to assemble a segment that I was afraid would not work. In the earliest discussions about the content of the film, Manfred Gailus and I felt the need to work in the conflict between Karl Barth and Adolf Von Harnack in the 1920s. It’s a key piece, since Elisabeth Schmitz bridges them, being a student of both. But how to do this for an American audience? Theological debates rarely make good TV. But Harnack so totally lost the debate that history doesn’t take him too seriously. Barth clearly won the day.
Well, the viewers will be the judge, but I was able to put together seven minutes of Elisabeth Schmitz’s early formation that includes her sitting at the feet of both Harnack and Barth while never renouncing the thought of either one. It fits nicely into the film as an introduction to Act III, where we will go to Kristallnacht and experience her response to it and her years of sheltering Jews before she left Berlin for Hanau in 1943.
Stay tuned!
One very pleasing aspect of the past few weeks’ work is that I was able to assemble a segment that I was afraid would not work. In the earliest discussions about the content of the film, Manfred Gailus and I felt the need to work in the conflict between Karl Barth and Adolf Von Harnack in the 1920s. It’s a key piece, since Elisabeth Schmitz bridges them, being a student of both. But how to do this for an American audience? Theological debates rarely make good TV. But Harnack so totally lost the debate that history doesn’t take him too seriously. Barth clearly won the day.
Well, the viewers will be the judge, but I was able to put together seven minutes of Elisabeth Schmitz’s early formation that includes her sitting at the feet of both Harnack and Barth while never renouncing the thought of either one. It fits nicely into the film as an introduction to Act III, where we will go to Kristallnacht and experience her response to it and her years of sheltering Jews before she left Berlin for Hanau in 1943.
Stay tuned!
Things are coming together!
16/06/08 05:59
Excellent progress has been made on “Elisabeth of Berlin,” and my fears about timing are starting to fade. Over the past several days I have been able to get the first 25 minutes of the program in really good shape. I’m pleased with what I’m seeing on the screen.
With luck I believe it’s possible to get the rough cut ready over the next two weeks. I can then take a break from the program during the first week of July (when I will be taking a vacation with my family) and then come back to give the program the finishing touches through July.
It’s coming into focus! There’s no question that this will be a powerful film, and I am always my own worst critic.
With luck I believe it’s possible to get the rough cut ready over the next two weeks. I can then take a break from the program during the first week of July (when I will be taking a vacation with my family) and then come back to give the program the finishing touches through July.
It’s coming into focus! There’s no question that this will be a powerful film, and I am always my own worst critic.
Elisabeth of Berlin progress
07/06/08 13:49
Because of the redesign of the web page, it seemed a bit foolish to bring you through the production progress of “Elisabeth of Berlin” from the beginning. Filming is complete and now it’s down to editing and finishing. We have only a few weeks to complete the film and all of the necessary (!) fundraising. It must go to our distributor to PBS stations on July 31st. A rough edit will be available some time in early July.
So, today the critical issue is: time. I have to be out of town tomorrow through Wednesday. I’ll bring my laptop and external hard drive with me, and therefore get some work done in the hotel room. Sometimes this is very productive time. But the big problem is a certain loss of momentum. When the scenery changes around me, I lose track of where I am in the formation of the story. Ideas are harder to come by. And this is likely to repeat at several points this summer.
As far as editing goes, I have completed about eighteen minutes of the program. It starts off strong, then goes into a more relaxed section necessary to develop the tension points and the characters. I am now trying to construct a transition that moves us into the next important section of the film: the story of Elisabeth Schmitz’s “denkschrift,” or memorandum, that she wrote to the Confessing Church leadership in Berlin in 1935-6. This is one of three crucial turning points in the story, the other two being her resignation from her teaching position after Kristallnacht, and her letters to Helmut Gollwitzer at the same time.
We’ll see how this goes.
+Steve
So, today the critical issue is: time. I have to be out of town tomorrow through Wednesday. I’ll bring my laptop and external hard drive with me, and therefore get some work done in the hotel room. Sometimes this is very productive time. But the big problem is a certain loss of momentum. When the scenery changes around me, I lose track of where I am in the formation of the story. Ideas are harder to come by. And this is likely to repeat at several points this summer.
As far as editing goes, I have completed about eighteen minutes of the program. It starts off strong, then goes into a more relaxed section necessary to develop the tension points and the characters. I am now trying to construct a transition that moves us into the next important section of the film: the story of Elisabeth Schmitz’s “denkschrift,” or memorandum, that she wrote to the Confessing Church leadership in Berlin in 1935-6. This is one of three crucial turning points in the story, the other two being her resignation from her teaching position after Kristallnacht, and her letters to Helmut Gollwitzer at the same time.
We’ll see how this goes.
+Steve