Y'all, it's done. DONE. DONNNNNNNE! Way too many moons later, Ludlow is done.
What happened since we last spoke of this a zillion light-years ago? You know, when I left off with my backyard screening of the first cut? Well, here's what happened:
Ludlow ended up with a run time that made it too short to be a feature and too long to be a short. Cutting out, oh, say 40 minutes wasn't an option...so I decided to add to it. But! How to do this without the result feeling blatantly padded?
I had some at least one problem: there are three characters, and I wasn't about to introduce anyone new. Bringing back two of those three characters for more scenes would not have been wise. That just left...a montage set to peppy upbeat music, wherein Krista (Shannon Lark) either 1) trains for a fight or 2) trains for a big dance production. Montage it was.
I kid. There's no montage. What there is, however, is a brand-new scene that is incredibly depressing and adds to the story rather nicely (if I'm allowed to say so). In fact, I think Ludlow 2.0 is better with the new scene than without, and the deliberate padding-osity was avoided. You know what that calls for- a robust round of our friend Briefcase Woman!
Now, you may recall a little fundraising drive I ran in order to...wait for it...raise funds so I could afford to transform the caterpillar Ludlow into the beautiful swan that is Ludlow 2.0- yes, the transformation is that remarkable! Let me say this about the response to the fundraiser: you guys are fucking awesome. Seriously. Every time you turn around today, someone is starting a Kickstarter project or holding out their hand. Man, I got my request out of the way just in time!Thanks to the generosity of You Awesome People, I was able to cover all expenses. It was rad to do so, so thank you.
Mind you, as this was Ludlow, Shannon and I ran into some problems during the shoot. The largest being that the room we originally shot in was not available- not because it was taken by other guests, but because the air conditioner was broken. It just...figured. We got a room that had basically the same layout, with some minor differences. I tried to shoot in such a way that the change won't be noticeable. Otherwise, the most depressing scene ever was over very quickly and went without a hitch- even our FX! Yes, FX. Scintillating. We were done in a mere couple of hours- so un-Ludlow-y- and that was that.
We shot some some more footage for the new scene in Sherman Oaks, which was strange. I mean, it was fine, but it was a reminder that these characters had...have...whatever...a life before and outside of that weird, shitty motel in the desert. It kind of didn't seem right to see Krista, for example, anywhere but Room 8. Hard to explain and silly, maybe, but there you go.
Anyway, I edited the new footage in and did a bunch of trimmin elsewhere.
And then the movie sat around in the magical negative zone known as "my computer" for several months. Months??! Damn. I have no concept of time.
And then the composer, James Barry, redid the score. He created music for some scenes that previously had none, and dudes- it's so much better now. So much. I can't even tell you. Or maybe I just did. Get off my back!
And then it was done. It's done. It's still in the Negative Computer Zone, really, but it's done. There's no more to do except get it in front of eyeballs that are not my own.
How do I do that? I have no idea. Someone tell me!
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