The Hollywood Bowl & I: Part 2

Knowing that Part 2 was probably going to be almost as meaty as Part 1, it's taken me until the weekend to finally sit down and write...



After Labor Day came and went...where I slept past noon...Laura and I reconvened Tuesday morning to do some clean up on the Bowl project. Essentially all we needed to do was create a second set of archival master tapes for future reference. These would include the complete audio from all the films used in the program. The actual performance tapes had areas where there was no audio at all, or just dialogue and sound effects for the orchestra to play against.



As I came in, Laura had several newspapers and industry periodicals laid out on the sofa. We were both interested in what the reviews had to say of our work and the performance in general. Nothing in the LA Times...nothing in Variety yet, that would probably be Wednesday...so she handed me this week's The Hollywood Reporter. After reading the first three paragraphs praising the conductor, orchestra, and their rendition of the James Bond theme syncronized to a fast paced montage of clips, I finally reached this, and I quote:



"The expert film montage was supervised by Laura Gibson and edited by David Blanchard ("The Newcomers"), and it was even more exciting than any one film, building beautifully on top of the score derived from Monty Norman and David Arnold."



Now let me say this about that.....AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH........MY NAME'S IN THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER!!!!!!!



Of course I didn't scream like that in front of Laura, but she was happily waiting for me to reach just that part. I was like "what, what, what, whaaaat?!...oh my God!!!" She said, "that's why I was so eager for you to read it". I never actually expected to be named! At most I was looking for a positive review regarding the film clips and montages in general. This, and Conductor John Mauceri saying my name from the Bowl stage, was completely beyond anything I could have dreamed or imagined. There were also complimentary comments about the other montages and music video as well.



For the record, this is the weekly version dated September 7-13 on page 79. On the official Hollywood Reporter.com site, here is the complete article.



Apparently they also looked me up on imdb.com, which is where "The Newcomers" reference comes from. So...right after work I went to Border's Books 5 blocks away. Upon arriving I noticing that they stashed the magazine behind the counter. The clerk asked "can I help you?", and I said, "yes, can I get every copy of The Hollywood Reporter you have back there" (there were six). "Is your name in it or something?", he asked very nonchalantly, and I said "yes, as a matter of fact it is". Then he wanted to know who I was. Ah, the praisings of the little people...LOL!!!



So now I have 6 copies of The Hollywood Reporter to go with my 20 copies of the Hollywood Bowl program book. Course The Reporter is $5.99 a pop so do the math. Wednesday's review in Variety was very positive, mostly noting the orchestra's performance sync'd to the film clips and montages with precision. Unfortunately you have to be a paid member to access articles on their site, but I did pick up a copy or two of the actual newspaper for myself. This was in the daily version, but they too have a weekly.



An interesting note...In The Hollywood Reporter the one thing they thought could have been better was a rendition of the "Rocky" theme that seemed flat not accompanied by a clip or montage. Laura and I got a kick out of that because Stallone's office had refused his image be a part of the performance because MGM/UA wouldn't let him use the "Rocky" theme for his reality boxing series. And yet we had cut a montage of clips from the first film to the main theme in July. At least we still have it for possible future use, plus I ran a copy along with everything else I dubbed for my reel. I was certainly dissapointed when the news came down because it was one of our more thrilling cuts, but at some point I'm sure it'll be used later.



Now Laura and I look forward to next year...Twentieth Century Fox. And that, of course, is going to be an amazing library to choose from. With the release of "Episode III" next year, they're already batting around a giant "Star Wars" montage. COUNT...ME...THE HELL...IN!!!



As of Wednesday I started cutting an image promo for BET. Essentially they want something for the network that resembles HBO's Sunday Night spots where characters from different shows appear together and speak with one another. Those involved a lot of compositing that we won't be doing. Just cutting, with several graphics and the BET logo. The HBO effect will be very similar though. This project lasts until the end of this week. Monday I'll once again be asking Gina "what's next?". Although I think (and hope) they'll be keeping me around for a while.