A very big week

So much has happened in the past 8 days I feel crazed- though none of it really relates to the film so I hesitated to blog it. But alas, filmmakers have lives outside of their filmmaking (though sometimes it doesn't feel like it). In the past 8 days I flew to England, became engaged to the man I love, moved his stuff into his new apartment in London where he started his new job, had my 29th birthday, came to Paris, signed on a new apartment here, sadly gone to the funeral of a lovely man- the father of a friend here, and (most impressive of all given the French bureaucracy) managed to get an electric bill in my name in the new apartment. It all feels a bit unreal as I look at this sparkling bling on my hand and think about furniture arrangements. Remodeling the apartment is next on the list- which is awfully similar to planning a movie really- having no clue what you're doing and praying for the best.

I have very little movie news except there isn't a pile of money waiting to fund the finishing of my film here, but perhaps it will appear next week. In the mean time, I'm dying to get going on sound design and am meeting my editor tomorrow.

back in action

After a very long rest on the pause button, I have returned to filmmaking (when I'm not attending weddings or working as a temporary receptionist in a cockroach-infested downtown office). I hope my readers haven't forgotten about me (hi mom)...
Today I showed my film to my advisor on campus who said it was "beautiful but a bit unclear". I think this may be code for "I hate it" but she is too nice to ever know the truth. She doesn't know if people will understand that the old lady gives birth to the little girl, but she did say I could clarify a lot with the sound design. It was good to get feedback and feel like they will indeed let me graduate and not disown me forever. Basically, I am just going to have to get used to the reaction of "it looks great (but what the hell are you talking about?)"

I also recorded sound with various actors of various talents and it was quite fun. Two didn't show up and one got lost but I still got some voiceover that I have plans for. One dude was a pro-wrestling announcer (I didn't know this until the end of the session) and we recorded a hilarious, "Get ready to rrrrrrrrrrummmmmble" thing- which obviously has no place in my movie but was too funny not to record. Maybe I can make an interesting sound collage with it.

I'm heading back to europe in 5 days, sadly without a job or visa, but happily with my film, apartment and boy waiting on the otherside of the atlantic. Some people say that once you cross the atlantic you're never on the right side, I think I'm still trying to figure out if this is true for me.