text originally posted on Lifecycles blog by Derek Frankowski

To Josh from South Africa.

We are sorry man for not keeping you all up to date for the past few months. Our days are full and with a two guy crew it’s been full throttle since the last update. So how to bring everyone up to speed and let you know what’s up on the post production scene for Life Cycles ?

Maybe I’ll start with bringing you along for a day with me. Tuesday 6:45 a.m. my daughter who is a year and a half likes to wake me up with smile. good way to wake up. I dial her in then head to my prized espresso machine for a quick two shot latte starter. Spend the day with her until about 4pm when my lady gets home, tag off the kidlet and head to the office…some times a brew a second coffee for the road depending on my tireness level.

Get to the office with some business hours left and dial in any issue that are pressing for that day/week that needs to be handled. Distribution, promotion, sponsorship ( yes we are still looking for sponsors to soak up the debt we have gone into) music, sound effects etc…By that time it’s dinner and we head home for a quick bite.

Back int he office around 7 for the late shift. This is when the lights are dimmed, phones don’t ring an the film comes to life. We have spent two years shooting the film so taking our time to get the edit right is priority.

This is my first experience editing a film. It’s be a roller coaster of emotions. Some days it feels like we are killing it, shots are dropping into place, flow is there and the images fit. Other days we are spinning wheels try to get traction and they end with very little progress on the time line. Those are hard nights wondering if we’ll make our deadline.

It’s been very cool to see is how the film will actually going look for you the audience. We have scripted the sections for Life Cycles to tell a story, but until you lay the shots on the time-line it can change and morph. This process has been some of the best times for me while making the film. Looking back over the footage, you start to open shots up that you forgot existed and were buried deep in your memory. It’s a chance to see your hard work from the field pay off and sit back sipping a beverage of choice and enjoy. Quite cool.

After a good session of 6 hours our so it’s 2 a.m.and  our eyes are sore and dry, creativity is drained and it’’s home time. We’re a 5min walk from our office to our homes and when soaking the night air in, you can decompress before walking into the door. At about 2:30 a.m. I make it to bed and with any luck my daughter will sleep in…. to like 7 or 7:30. and the day repeats.

We are very stoked with what we have on the time-line. The editing is about 7%0 done and the end is in sight. I’ll try to get you more web updates in the next little while but as you can see a 7am to 2 am day working to get the film done doesn’t leave many holes for typing web updates. No excuses though, we’ll do better because if you are taking the time to read these thoughts I type every 4 months you deserve some insight.

Peace friends,

DF