Post-Production Diary: Spotless Mind Edition

Four days ago, on August 1st 2012, I officially started editing the master sequence of my feature-length documentary The Illusionists. It’s not really the beginning of the post-production process per se, since – thank goodness – I had been judiciously editing interviews after each location. I can’t imagine beginning from scratch with all the material I gathered… I have in front of me about 150 pages of transcripts (single-spaced), 23 interviews (average length: 30 minutes), copious B-roll from London, Boston, Paris, Milan, Beirut, Tokyo and Mumbai, and hours upon hours of recorded TV commercials and music videos from 6 countries. Thinking about the big picture would bring me pangs of anxiety, so I’m breaking the film down into 10 different “chapters” so to speak. It’s not so bad to think of it as 10 short films – I can do that!

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I just returned to Paris after a 10-day stay in Tokyo, Japan, where I filmed key sequences and interviews for my feature-length documentary The Illusionists.

Simply put, I had the time of my life. So much so that I miss Tokyo, Japan and the Japanese in an almost visceral way and I’m constantly daydreaming about finding a way to spend part of the year there – on a regular basis. I experienced a calm, serenity and sense of connection there that I hadn’t felt in ages and carry enormous respect and admiration for the innate elegance, dignity and utmost civility of the Japanese. That said, there were low times in Tokyo, a low time to be precise: a rather traumatizing incident involving my gear.

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Confession: these past two weeks, I’ve experienced many episodes of creative block – a film editor’s version of writer’s block, if you will. I would stare at my Final Cut Pro timeline, totally paralyzed by fear and overwhelmed by the task ahead, unable to do anything.

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Martina Liverani, the journalist in charge of the “Thinking Curvy” column for Vogue Italia, recently interviewed me about my work on THE ILLUSIONISTS.

The interview was featured in the September issue – the most important one of the year (page 132 FYI)!

I’m incredibly grateful for this honor, especially for the chance to speak about consumer culture and body politics to a wider audience, who may not be familiar with these themes. I applaud the pluck of editor Franca Sozzani and the whole Vogue Italia team. Grazie mille!

Here’s an excerpt from my interview:

(Speaking about mass media and advertising’s “illusions”)

The chief illusion is that in order to be successful you must strive for a “perfect body” and eternally youthful looks. In our modern culture, this has become such an obsession that millions of women spend inordinate amounts of time and money trying to reach an ideal that is by definition unattainable. They are thus condemned to a life of perpetual frustration and poor self-esteem.

Full transcript coming soon. In the meantime, you can see the full page interview by clicking here.

The Kickstarter fundraising campaign for my feature-length documentary The Illusionists ended this past Friday. The outcome? 114% funded, with $37,708 pledged by 363 backers. I’m overjoyed and incredibly honored to be the recipient of so much goodwill, encouragement, and generosity.

Two dozen blogs wrote articles about my campaign. You can read them at this link.

What’s next? A short break, pre-production, and filming interviews as early as next month!