Apologies to anyone who tried the Insite link within the first day or so and found it didn’t work; there was a stray space in the address. It works now.

The test screening at the Art College is set for next Friday. I’m very sorry, but I’ve got some programme about Abba on the TV and the sparkly costumes and gaudy primary colours are distracting me.

I decided that the dreaded nightclub sequence was not up to scratch, and am making preparations to reshoot it at the bar of Br-Ian Marr. It’s not just that the locations don’t match. The fact that we were always rushed, tired and struggling for extras when we shot in the Crystal Rooms make the whole sequence weak. The special challenge for the reshoot (and of course there has to be one, this being Soul Searcher and all) is that Ray’s had his hair cut, so we’ve got to get a rug made for him. Still, no-one told me to feck off when I uttered the word “reshoot”, which is something to be grateful for.

How did it get to be summer? Wasn’t it the freezing depths of winter yesterday? Right, well, I’ve been plugging away at assorted low-tech FX shots, things involving small cardboard letters and other assorted miscellany. I’ve also had the Lego out again, shooting some extra videomatic shots for the third act, speaking of which…

Jonathan Hayes, noted Bristolian communications engineer and quick-carving saviour of the last weekend of principle photography, has begun work on the *****. I can’t tell you what the ***** is because it would give too much away, but suffice to say it is vehicular in nature and miniature in size, and I’ve been looking forward to seeing it built for the last two-and-a-half years. (My God, has it really been that long? – Name the film for a bonus point.)

I saw James the other night for the first time in months. Contrary to the rumours, he has not joined the priesthood, but has merely been living the life of the hermit for a little while. It was good to see him again, and we promptly made plans to start writing another script – ONE WHICH I’M NOT GOING TO MAKE UNLESS SOMEONE GIVES ME LOTS AND LOTS OF MONEY.

Insitemag.net are running an interview with Yours Truly – it goes live tomorrow (Sat 24th).

I finished laying the temp music (recipe: 5 parts Batman, 1 part Back to the Future, 2 parts Attack of the Clones, plus a pinch of Broken Arrow ) and sent the application off to the Film Council yesterday morning. Should give them a laugh. Watching the whole film as I ran off the tapes, I was very pleased with the present cut, for what my opinion’s worth. Now I’m back on special effects.

Spent most of today working on a single FX shot, which involved a fishtank, a plastic funnel and several pints of milk. Problem with this kind of FX is I’m doing all the R&D at the same time, and I seem to waste large portions of the day trudging round town looking for some innocuous item (such as a plastic funnel) that I need to make the shot look right. Anyway, I still haven’t got it right, so I’ve given up for the evening and instead turned my attention to the UK Film Council application forms I downloaded today. The forms were mercifully short and can be dropped in the post along with a copy of the rough cut as soon as I’ve got round to laying some temp music on the movie. This last job is also needed for the forthcoming test screening at the art college (date as yet undetermined).

Again, little to report. as I’ve been working to pay off the credit card all this week. Post-production has been slow to get moving. Now that I’m the producer too, it takes me twice as long to get anything going. Summer approaches fast and the eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that the home page now reads “coming autumn 04”. I’d say late October at the earliest. I shudder at the memories of how post on The Beacon was rushed.

So what about those miniatures that are supposed to be getting built then, eh? What’s happening with those? Nothing just yet, but I should have more news next time I write.

I was just talking to Chris Mayall and he said, “Are you still updating your director’s journal?” Good job you reminded me, Chris.

Not that anything very interesting has happened since the last entry. I’ve mostly been holed up in the flat doing tedious effects work, and for the last six days doing audio clean-up and basic sound effects laying. I also got in touch with a local amateur orchestra about performing the score, but I haven’t heard anything back from them yet.