Picture Lock, Film Festivals and Everything In Between

Here is a list of updates on HEART OF NOW which currently has a soft picture lock at 89 minutes.

A MINOR DISASTER

The last six weeks have been eventful to say the least. We began extensive sound work on a 90 minute cut. In the middle of which, we had a major drive failure and lost all the sound work done over the course of three weeks. Fortunately all the core media was backed up and protected off site, and the project file and its back-ups did not reside on the drive array that failed. The subsequent weeks were spent rebuilding and redesigning the latest sound work.

MARION KERR as “Amber” in HEART OF NOW

SOUND WORK

As of last week everything has been recovered or replaced with newly recorded fx. With looming festival deadlines, Jamie and I spent this week going through the film, filling out the soundtrack, replacing mono sound with newly recorded stereo fx and foley work, giving it a solid stereo mix in the edit bay. We’ve found that the process of detailed sound work inspires new ideas for picture edits and the result here is that we shaved another minute off the film. All this is in an effort to present the film well for festival submissions.

FILM FESTIVALS & OUR OVERALL STRATEGY

Tomorrow morning, we are sending the film out to Slamdance, SXSW, Rotterdam and Berlinale. Our strategy is to limit first-round submissions to festivals that can generate significant press – for us and our publicist to make the most of. Kevin K. Shah and I are constantly refining our strategy to distribute HEART OF NOW and WHITE KNUCKLES via a theatrical tour, DVD, VOD and online outlets next year. If either film is programmed at a major fest this winter/spring, it will be leveraged to announce our platform release of both films, but the overall strategy does not rely on top tier festival acceptance. We are moving forward either way, making great strides to partner with the right companies and to make a successful, possibly innovative run at distributing directly to our audience while licensing to foreign territories.

SOUND DESIGN AND THE 5.1 MIX

I’m very fortunate to have enlisted the creative talents of Zach Seivers and J.M. Davey of SNAPSOUND for our 5.1 theatrical and home video mix. During November, we begin a three week schedule of extensive sound design and mixing that will culminate in early December with a finished, professionally mastered motion picture. SNAPSOUND’s credits included numerous independent features that have played Sundance, SXSW, et cetera.

PRIVATE CAST/CREW SCREENING

Finally, we are looking to hold a private cast and crew screening to share the film with our friends and family. If you’d like to attend what will likely be an intimate, early-December screening at the Downtown Independent theater in Los Angeles, add your info below. Press inquiries should go to pr@sabipictures.com.

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