So, yesterday I went over to Jennifer's to do Richard's voiceover.

He really does have just the most terrific voice and style for this movie, for this voiceover. I really just chose him because he was in it when Cynthia and I did the show two years ago, and because he was such a good narrator then, and because I love his voice and accent, but listening to the recording, I was struck by what a nice tone it's gonna give the movie.

You see, it starts out with the camera sort of sweeping slowly over the tree, we see the ornaments, we see a side table with christmas cards and a poinsettia (I never thought I'd be grateful for the fact that Fran's mother gave them a fake poinsettia one year, but there you go, you never know what might come in useful!), we see evidence of a boy and a dog, toys, a bowl, a leash, and we hear this comfortable hillbilly twang say "Did you know that Santa had himself a dog? You never heard that? Well, deep in the heart of the Ozarks..." and the whole thing looks and sounds like one of those Disney nature documentaries from the 60's, "Now, ol' Rascal was wondering how he could get down!"

And then a switcharoo is pulled on the audience, and suddenly it's not a sugary story for kids, but a black dead dog comedy! The full plot is in this entry here, if you want to see it.

Anyway, we recorded and recorded, and everything went beautifully, and Jennifer suggested that perhaps he do it a little less theatrically, and I remembered the old VO trick of pretending that you are talking to one person, not an audience, so I told him to tell the story to a child sitting on his lap, and it got really good.

We did about seven takes of the opening and the bit that will run over the shot of the graves, and then everyone got up and picked up their bags to leave, until Jennifer said "Um, what about the ending?"

Whoops! That sure would have fucked up the film! So we all sat back down and Ed unpacked the equipment again and we started recording again. This time through, my direction consisted of telling Richard not to have quite so much outrage in his voice when he talks about the dead dogs, so he started doing it with a warm chuckle instead, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.

Man, I can't wait 'til this movie is done so that I get to watch the thing that has been in my head for all these months.

It's getting more specific in my head, of course, as it is now corresponding to footage actually shot rather than what I imagine it will look like, but when it's all cut together with titles and VO and inserts and everything, I have a feeling that I might just burst into tears.

It seems incredible that I have this idea for a movie, and then people come along and together we all make the thing in my head come true.

When I was watching Girlfight yesterday, I thought "They made a movie, these people got together and made a movie. I made a movie, too! I did this thing, too!" Though of course, the difference between a feature and a short that I have so far spent about $400 on is enormous, it still comes down to making the pictures in your head come out.

Which of course will only happen if I get a child. Here is the SOS that went out to Love Creek:

What are you running out of time for?

And we're still talking about new movie recommendations, what we need to be happy, our personal angels, our offices, vocal tics, and bad movies we love.

Today's horoscope:
Detachment, logic and realism are today's assets. You see clearly what is needed to improve your interactions with others.

One year ago today:
"What the...did you see...and the thing ran by...I almost caught it, did you see...I would have caught it if you weren't in the way...I've never seen anything like that...I wonder if we'll ever see one again!"

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Last Updated Wed 13 September 09:57:09 2000