A dark room in Granada Hills, California, at the home of Jerimiah Morey, our colorist for Emma’s Chance.

This is where the color master turns edited films into cohesive stories; aligning each frame together into one beautiful color palette, all from a converted second bedroom. I’ve been going to Jerimiah for over five years now. (Michael found him through an ad on Mandy.com, the Craig’s list of the entertainment industry)

When we first worked with Jerimiah, he was working for a company during the day, moonlighting indie projects at night. Within the five years we got to know him and work with him, we witnessed him quit his job, establish himself as an independent artist, and move his operation 45 minutes outside of LA.

I send everyone to Jerimiah. And everyone drives out here to work with him.

He’s affordable, but better than that, his work is impeccable.

He’s doing the thing he was born to do.

Nearly all of my work has been colored by him. (And if it wasn’t colored by him, it was only because I wasn’t in control of the decision.) I never have to worry when he’s in the driver’s seat. I can sit back and enjoy the process.

Whenever I come here I’m always inspired too.

I don’t know if its the front lawn and back lawn of the home that gets me (I long to have a garden), or the fruit trees he makes homemade jam from. Maybe its the simplicity of the life he lives, the avoidance of over spending and the American pitfall of credit card debt. (He doesn’t have it) Or it could be the ample free parking outside his front door, on the street. Sigh.

He’s smart. He cut his overhead in half by moving out here, defraying costs for the struggling filmmaker; thereby pulling in more work and bettering his craft.

The artist’s life is a lonely one.

You have to make decisions that our contrary to the norm. You have to go against the grain, possibly being the only one in your extended family who is repeatedly saying, “No, I’m not out of work. Just freelancing.”

“Have I seen anything you’ve worked on?”

“I don’t think so …”

“So this is more of a hobby then?”

“Not exaaaacccctly.”

“Then how do you survive? I mean, you have a job right?”

(Gotta love those J – O – B comments.)

“I make money on a project to project basis. Some times a lot, a little, or nothing at all.”

“Yikes. That rough.”

You’re telling us!

But we wouldn’t have it any other way, right? Here’s to the farmers, the freelancers, the crazies, the artists – anyone who doesn’t live on a consistent paycheck.

You are loved, you matter, and you keep going. 

Be like Jerimiah, hone your craft, stay out of debt, and ignore the rest.

x and tales,

AEJ

The post Color Grading :: Emma’s Chance appeared first on Kiss and Tale Productions, LLC.

BOOO YAAA!

We did it.

We’re on the other side of Emma’s Chance, the feature I had the opportunity of writing and directing, and where I’ve been the past three months, with my editor, in the bunker. We’re on our brightly colored bicycles (baskets overflowing with fresh produce) coasting downhill, legs out, wind in our faces, laughing and screaming as we enjoy the feeling of being free.

I call this the “release” period –

“the best feeling in the world” period,

or “this rarely happens, so enjoy this feeling” period.

I mean, the best. (Except for maybe child birth, ha) For a period of 24-48 hours I step back, take a slight breather, and enjoy our hard earned sunshine.

Movie making is grueling, grueling work.

Much of your physical and financial well-being is tested, your mental state even more so. You’re constantly being critical of what you’re creating, looking at everything from a multitude of angles and perspectives; essentially being hard on yourself. You have to be. If you want the work to not just be good, but great, you have to push yourself more than you think you can muster.

And then you have these moments where you know what you’ve done the BEST POSSIBLE work you can do, where you’ve exhausted EVERY possible scenario/conclusion, you’ve checked and re-rechecked every nook and cranny, and in this case, every frame, and most of all, have been honest in asking and listening to feedback – and you reach a CLIMAX.

And doesn’t a climax feel good!

So there you go. Our little gem of a movie is on her way, entering sound design, music, VFX and color with master artists, adding to the work so many have contributed.

Sigh. I love this feeling.

She’s sailing strong now.

Enjoy your mini-moments of success, especially those big ones. Pat yourself on the back now and then when you do something hard and challenging, and enjoy that ride downhill before having to go back up, pumping hard on those peddles!

x and LOCKED,

AEJ

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Except in film you don’t hand off the baton to another team member, you hand it off to yourself, another part of your brain and heart.

I ran the 4 x 1oo in high school. I was second leg, the only white girl on my team of four. I barely made the cut, but make it I did!  We went to state too. I felt like a white tiger in a jungle of cheetahs. It was awesome.

I love this event. The competition, the adrenaline, the intensity, the burning in the chest – all of it.

The 4 x 100 is the best way to describe what it’s like to make a movie. Mentally challenging, physically demanding, and adrenaline pumping. The end product, or the win, is the goal. But the ride … the ride is addicting. You have to really love the process of making a movie otherwise you’ll never make it. (In my opinion, one of the reasons why so few female directors aren’t in the spotlight is because this process is taxing on the body and the family, two main things mama bears are left with — being in charge of it all.) I’m glad I experienced competitive sports growing up. It may not have been a requirement for getting into film school, but it definitely is if you want to survive the jungle.

First leg in the 4 x 100 is writing. The script. Huge responsibility to get your team started off right, and in creating momentum. The script is merely a blueprint to recruit your team along the way, including your producers. Gotta start strong!

Second leg is shooting, or physical production. This is where you turn your writing brain off and let go of everything you thought to be true and right and perfect about your script, and see it from the new view, what’s actually in front of you. Thank goodness for department heads; cinematography, production design, sound, make-up and wardrobe. Without them you’d be dirt. Also talent. Thank god for talent. They make your mediocre lines, sing.

Third leg is editing where your editor takes a stab at writing the third draft, and you let him. You never know if he or she will surprise you, which they normally do, so expect it, and go with it. The two of you come together to create the final version of the movie, the best version possible, and hand it over.

This is where I am with Emma’s Chance, the third leg.

Fourth leg is final post work. This includes sound and music and color. Each element is crucial to sweetening the work the three other legs ran, to get you to finish strong. I’ve seen movies crash and burn on this last leg because the runner got too confident, lazy, or tired. Don’t let this happen!

We’re rounding the corner, amping up for the last leg, the final push. No dropping the baton around here. Once picture locked we have about 5 weeks left of work. Can’t wait to dive in with my brilliant composer, sound designers, colorist and title designer to get us to the finish line.

Super lucky to have such a great team at each phase, even more lucky to understand my brain needs four separate parts. Ha

Did you play sports in high school? Doesn’t competition get your juices going like nothing else?! Would love to hear some of your own analogies that come to mind of what you’ve experienced.

Fight on!

xo

AEJ

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