POSTPRODUCTION.

"Once everything was taped we started editing. I like to do the off-line myself on my Lightworks. It's old equipment but I still like it because of its intuitive interface.
"At the end of April we hired Avid editor, Hans van Riet, a fellow Dutchman who moved to America the same time I did. We imported my off-line EDL into the Avid, smoothed everything out, had some test screenings and a lot of input from the actors and their agents. By the end of May we were ready to on-line the movie.
"At this point we had heard a lot of horror stories about editing HD-CAM. Prices could be sky-high, and the results were not always great. Many issues with sync sound could occur:, everybody warned us. Now, as Dutchmen we were ready to go anywhere on this planet to do this as efficiently as possible. David Bijker (producer) was in touch with HD-postproduction houses in the US, England, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan and even Hong Kong. Interesting were the differences in price for the same job. These differences would make a long flight more than worthwhile.
"One difficulty with all of these promising options was the fact that we recorded everything in 25P. Many of the post-houses we talked to did not know how to work with this 'odd' frame rate. Predicted complications would occur in Color correction and sound layback. Then Hans van Riet showed me an article written by the founder of APS/Victory Studios, Conrad Denke. The article was on frame rates. I read it with great interest. I called their offices in LA and got in touch with Marianne Nassour. I told her about our project. She asked me for an EDL, which I e-mailed to her. Within a few hours we were talking on the phone again. Marianne asked me to send her an off-line version of the movie, which I did. She liked it, and with an absolute 'Can Do' attitude she told me what the options were.
"APS (the Victory Studios) seemed to be a story too good to be true. Not only could they handle almost every frame rate the HD cameras offered, they also proved to have very competitive rates. We decided to use their facilities in Seattle, because of the Da Vinci 2K color corrector and sound facilities they could offer us there.
"Once we arrived in Seattle, the whole process went smoothly. Much of that was due to the 'post-team' Victory Studios offers. The sound and picture department really work as a team, which prevents a lot of the problems one could encounter by using separate facilities for these tasks.
"Right now the movie is being submitted to a few international film festivals. We hold our fingers crossed and keep dreaming, an attitude we learned so well during this unpredictable process of making a first feature."

INTERVIEW: DAVID ARQUETTE

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