We Watch The Final Film

Gabby: We have put one of James songs on the end, which is an amazing song but very close to the bone for me. It feel weird listening to it but I am glad we have put it on there, it deserves to do well.


James: So, we watch it for the first time completely coloured and finished. I’m excited and proud of Gabs and myself. Spense does such fine work.

Colouring & Finishing The Film

James: My favourite person is Gareth Spensely. Gabby and myself hold this man so dear as the man who saved “Nightshift” for us. I’m actually surprised that he will work with us again. It is always such a great time working with this guy as you know that he shares the same level of commitment to your project as you do. He is a consummate professional, and is doing really well for himself as a result of his hard work.

Gabby: Yeah, for some reason Spense manages to always managed to sustain this immense optimism even in the darkest hours. To be fair he saves my arse and does an amazing job on the colour correction, you look back at the rushes and think – ‘What was Gabby thinking?’ The continuity of colour starts to make the individual scenes feel like a film.

James: I get a break to buy tapes from the other side of London. I feel like a runner again, and I have little moment whereby I realise that I’m on the same streets that I ran on three years ago.

Once again, Spense does wonders for our film, and Gab and I start to feel a strange sensation surrounding our film – pride. It has literally joined us this late. Up to this point I know I certainly hated the little bastard, as it represented £1880 of my cash and so much of my time. Now though, I might actually like it.

That night we joined some friends for a meal in Islington, and I felt strange. This is largely due to the fact that I hadn’t seen them in ages, and that I was tired, but something dawned on me: they were all in London working fantastically hard in their media jobs and were making headway, and there was Gab and I, in our other cities, chipping away in a different fashion, and it didn’t feel wrong. I truly believe that there are no rules that apply to making it in media; you just have to chuck everything at it and see what happens.

Sound Mix begins

James: Three years ago, when I was a student, I would have relished the opportunity to do the post-production mix on a feature, as it was my speciality! Having had three stressful days collecting sounds this was the last thing I wanted to be doing. However, time has moved on so magnificently technology wise, and what used to take up a dark room at University with a rack mount hard drive now sits neatly in my 12” Powerbook and I dabble on the mix over the next few days quite comfortably.

It isn’t too hard, although patches are a little loosely miked for my liking, but I remember the difficulty of the shoot and would forgive the lads.

Gabby: I have issues with the soundtrack. I don’t think it is real enough. I want more atmos, more noise to give it that real edge. James disagrees, it isn’t done. Another instance where his word goes.

James: We also see Kings School theatre and book it for February 4th. The film has a deadline.

Gabby: Yeah that was nerve racking – looking around that 300 seater, realising that this many people will be watching our film. The only way I can describe the feeling is it like the thought of hanging out your soul for everyone to see and criticise. Gut wrenching.

Getting Wildtracks

James: This is a really difficult day, and probably where Gabby and I have the worst argument of the project. Over lunch my building frustration snaps. I complain that I shouldn’t be back in England finishing this film off, and that it should have been done ages ago by her. I’m particularly aggrieved at having to record the wild tracks, which I thought were recorded already. I think in retrospect this outburst at Gab was a bit harsh, but I felt it was necessary in order to accelerate the project towards completion whilst I was around. I was back in my ‘Gab is shit’ mode.

Gabby: Yeah this was a bad argument and we were having it whilst I was at work. I wasn’t happy. James was completely unable to see what my life had been like the past few months and just pounced on my inadequacies. I have my faults, a lot of them, but this time I genuinely couldn’t have done more, there were other things that were more important than a film.

We argue, I get upset, we make up and suddenly the air is clearer than it has been for a long time. We really needed to get that off both of our chests.

James; I want to point out that I’m being candid. The pressure upon the two of us when you consider the scale of the project is hideously large. It becomes increasingly obvious that finishing the edit won’t be the end of Peppermint, there’ll then be screenings and festivals and press kits and websites and all sorts of other shit. This pressure is enormous when you are sat there (with your other stressful job as well) and you think, ‘Christ, we’re gonna have to do all that too’.

James Comes Back To England

James: I leave Dublin without a problem and land back in England for the first time since I left and have to wait a couple of hours for train in Birmingham. I’m only back minutes and I immediately remember why I struggle in the UK. I am staying at Gabby’s for the next few days whilst we finish the final edit of the film and I am eager to get it done and get on to London where we are to do the post production colouring and credits. Whatever happens, it all ends in the next few days.