I seem to be spending a great deal of time in Toronto lately. But here's the irony, I leave New York on Saturday morning and return to NY on Sunday night. Not only have I been commuting to Toronto, but I'm doing it on the weekends, which means I get the pleasure of working all week, then leaving the country and working all weekend, too. I really shouldn't complain...
I have to apologize to anyone who's actually reading this thing, that it's been a really really long time since I've updated anything. It's hard to justify writing things down if you don't think anyone is reading them. I'm going to make another attempt to keep you informed as to what's happening in my life. Sorry.
As you can tell from the header, I've been in Toronto a few times in the last few weeks. This is my 3rd trip since February, and I'll be coming back in two weeks. We have been slowly completing the Digital Intermediate for Synecdoche, New York. What, you may ask, is a digital intermediate or DI? DI - This is a relatively new process where a film's negative is scanned into digital files, then those files are color balanced and corrected to look how the cinematographer and director want them to. Then the film is recorded out to a new negative, and that negative is used to make the prints for distribution. The process became popular after the Coen Brother's O Brother Where Art Thou, and it's become pretty standard.
Normally this process would be done over a two week period at the end of the schedule, but due to availabilities of certain key people we have had to tart early and spread the process out over a number of weekends. This complicates my world a bit because I'm having to deliver temp versions of shots so that we can adjust the color and then redeliver the finished shots and apply the look to the new material.
I hope some of this makes sense. The bottom line is that I'll be back in Toronto for the last time on this project in a little over a week.
I like it here. It's flat and cold, but nice. I am staying at the Four Seasons, which isn't awful. They also do something really great at the airport here that I think every airport in the universe should implement. When you hire a car service upon arriving in Toronto, you walk out of the terminal and you go to a kiosk and tell them that you've arrived. They pick up the phone and in less than a minute, your car pulls. There's no choas, no lines, no standing on the curb waiting for 20 minutes while your driver circles the airport six times. It really makes for a very relaxed process. I can't tell you how nice that is.
I am looking forward to a nice meal tonight, then it's back home to my lovely wife in tomorrow.
I'll try to get some more pictures up from the last 6 months in a few days. Until then, let me know if you're out there.