Last Thursday night we had a casual cast & crew viewing of the film. We still have a bit of work to do on the sound mix, but it's 99% there! It was so exciting getting to share the film with the cast & crew, and such fun getting to spend time all together again (now over 7 months since we wrapped production)! The overall response was really positive. We have plans for a more formal premiere with the team & supporters next year. But in the meantime, we're working hard to wrap this baby up and start submitting to festivals!
About A Donkey
About a Donkey - Donkey Visit! (Seed&Spark Update)
The film isn't 100% finished just yet. We're still making adjustments to our sound mix and color. But we're super close!
We decided to take a trip over the weekend to visit our titular donkey Cinnamon, her mom Susie, and all our other donkey & human friends at Donkey Park.
We got to share the cut of the film with the human Donkey Park board members, as well as with the stars of the film. See the video below!
Big thanks to everyone pictured in the above photo who rescued Cinnamon & Susie and made their involvement with our film possible. The Donkey Park team all really enjoyed the film. We're so glad we got to share it with them, and we hope to have more screenings in their area next year!
More news to come!
-Christina, Kelsey & the team
Picture Lock! (About a Donkey Seed&Spark Update)
Hey there wonderful About a Donkey Supporters!
Exciting news, we've reached picture lock! This means we're done playing around with the pacing and shot choices, and our edit is locked in place (with an 80 minute runtime). And since we've already started a rough sound mix, color grade and score, we're feeling very confident about making our end of month deadline!
To celebrate, here's a quick video that features a frame for every shot captured through principal photography!
We got to this milestone through a really beneficial feedback screening, which you can read about HERE.
And through a quick pick-up shoot Sunday night! I went into the feedback screening feeling like one character's arc was lacking a certain something, and the screening gave me clarity on what that was. I avoided the thought of shooting anything new with the actor, though, because she (Sarah Haruko) had moved to LA. However, a perfectly timed work trip allowed me to brainstorm a quick scene that could be shot on the west coast and effectively fill in this narrative gap. Thanks to Sarah for being fully committed to finishing up this film, Chris Orsi for helping shoot, and friends Cat Papadimitriou & Chris Haddix for loaning a camera, we pulled it off!
Check out a raw screenshot.
I even make a cameo!
Thank you all for making this possible. Stay tuned for more as we make progress through post-production!
About a Donkey Feedback Screening
We had a feedback screening of our About a Donkey rough cut Saturday night. We chose to share it with a group of filmmakers whose opinions we value, and who we felt would be best equipped to understand what a rough cut entails and look past what's not yet finished. Overall, the night was very productive with some positive comments and a lot of constructive feedback that gave us new perspective on the story (which was necessary because we're just too familiar with it at this point). The consensus across the group was that the acting was really strong and the characters felt fully realized and believably connected in their dynamics -- which was wonderful for me to hear as a director. The screening also confirmed some narrative flaws I was sensing (and thankfully can largely fix); it made me realize where certain scenes could be trimmed down or cut out completely, and where I needed to add back in context that I had previously cut. It also helped us realize a little more about who our audience is for the film. A large part of our mission is telling a story that meets people where they're at as a means to pull them forward. Showing it to a group of already forward thinking people led to some nuanced discussions that has given us further insight into how to best execute our mission.
I actually went home that night and stayed up until 5am recutting some scenes and adding in some moments that had gone unused. I nixed 11 minutes from the total runtime and came up with a quick pickup scene (really just a shot) that I feel will strengthen a character arc that was feeling a bit empty and convenient. I have plans to shoot that this week. Our goal now is to picture lock by next Monday. We're working with no budget on the post side, so we're trying to move fast but without sacrificing creativity. I feel good about making our September 20th deadline though. Our score and sound mix are already in the works, and our colorist is ready to jump in next week. We're aiming for all early bird deadlines for festivals; and we're being very selective about what we submit to, wanting to feel confident our audience is their audience. We can't wait to share the film with more people and really get it out there.
Thank you everyone who attended and shared Saturday night!
-Christina and the team
P.S. Shout-out to my mom for cooking, as per usual.
Making Progress! (About a Donkey Seed&Spark Update)
The past few weeks have been very eventful for us! We applied for a post-production grant. (We're currently funding post-production out of pocket as much as we can, but hope to recoup our expenses and be able to fund future festival costs through other sources or another campaign next year.)
We had three rough cut screenings with a few of our crew members (and spouses) to get feedback and tighten up the cut!
We shot one pickup for the film, a hand knocking on a door (with Writer Kelsey Rauber stepping in as the hand-actor)!
We gave our footage to Colorist Anna Marie Nguyen and Sound Editor/Designer Will Graham (who also recorded sound on set).
And I (Christina) started discussing the score with our composer Alexandra Kalinowski just this morning!
We feel we've reached Picture Lock, but we're not calling it yet until after our final feedback screening this Saturday, which will include a dozen fellow filmmakers whose inclusive perspectives we respect as both creators and viewers.
Our goal is to have the edit locked by Sunday and then off to the next stages of Post, with our sights set on a September 20th festival deadline.
Thanks so much for your support in getting us this far! Stay tuned for more!
Christina & the team