Music To My Ears

 

A new backstage movie musical comedy-drama

        Written and Produced by

        Christopher P. Jacobs, Mark Landa, and Jenny Morris

                Directed by

                Christopher P. Jacobs

                        Dance Director

                        Jenny Morris

 

MOVIE PRODUCTION CHRONOLOGY:

Story discussions November 2004

Rough story outline Winter 2004-05

Screenplay written and preproduction conferences Spring 2005 (mainly May and early June)

Initial second-unit shooting late May 2005 (set-construction scenes)

Auditions held June 28-29-30, 2005; Some shooting (audition speech scenes) done during actual auditions.

Orchestra soundtrack recording sessions July 5-6, 2005

Cast meetings & read-throughs July 8 & 10, 2005

 

Principal Photography began July 13, 2005 on draft 3 of script (109 pages)

        Production Progress:

          22.4 pages (20.7%) shot by July 17

          34.9 pages (32.3%) shot by July 24

          43.6 pages (40.3%) shot by July 31

          50.1 pages (46.4%) shot by August 7, including most of the first half and a few scenes from the last half

          50.6 pages (46.8%) shot by August 14, and most vocals recorded

          68.2 pages (63.1%) shot by August 21

          104.3 pages (95.7%) shot by August 28

          106.9 pages (98.1%) shot by September 24

          108.7 pages (97.8%) shot by November 13 (two short new scenes added for draft 5, making it 111¼ pages)

          additional brief musical numbers, revised retakes, and some second-unit inserts shot during October
          additional brief scene with Peggy & Jordan shot November 7th
          additional opening credit scene with Peggy & Molly shot December 21st

          new scenes 28A, 28B, 28C, scene 30, and scene 40C shot December 31st, January 5-6-7

          Screenplay draft 6 of 112 pages plus some improvised scenes - about 99% shot by January 7

          inserts of theatre program shot January 14

          production wrapped January 17, 2006
                    with shooting and recording of “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” solo for cutting into singalong scene

 

Editing began sporadically throughout July and August, becoming more intensive after September 9

        Postproduction Progress:

edited by August 29 - Roughcut Scenes 2-9 (9 min.) and movie within movie, part 1 (5 min.)

edited by September 11 - Roughcut Scenes 1-19 (23½ pages, 20 min.)

edited by September 18 - Roughcut Scenes 1-23, 27, 29 (36¾ pages, 30 min.)

edited by September 25 - Roughcut Scenes 1-25, 27, 29-29A, 52 (47½ pages, 43 min.)

edited by September 28 - Roughcut Scenes 1-29A, 52 (54¼ pages, 49 min.) - the first half of the movie! -

edited by October   9 - Roughcut Scenes 1-29A, 31-32, 41A-43, 52 (66¼ pages, 65 min.) - including rough opening credits -

edited by October 16 - Roughcut Scenes 1-29A, 31-35, 40, 41A-43, 52 (76½ pages, 75 min.)

edited by October 30 - (same as Oct. 16, except also a third trailer and a 30-second spot)

edited by November 6 - Roughcut Scenes 1-29A, 31-40A, 41A-44, 46-50, 52 (92 pages, 92 min. - about 84% complete)

edited by November 13 - Roughcut Scenes 1-29A, 31-40A, 41-44, 46-52, 56-56A (103¼ pages, 107 min. - about 81% complete)

edited by November 20 - Roughcut Scenes 1-29A, 31-40A, 41-44, 46-54, 56-56A (105¾ pages, 115 min. - about 88% complete)

 

edited by December 5 - cut 1 done - Roughcut scenes 1-29A, 31-40A, 41-56A (108¾ pages, 129 min. or so - about 97% complete)

edited by December 12 - same scenes but shortened to about 123 minutes and some audio conformed

edited by December 21 - same scenes but shortened to about 115 minutes and closing credits lengthened


December 23 - added new scene under opening credits and shorted last scene to keep at about 115 minutes (cut 2.0 completed)

December 27 - roughcut 2.1 - another 10 seconds cut and additional fade transitions added

December 28 - roughcut 2.2 - some audio revised and vignette added to dream scene

 

January 8 - Roughcut 3 begun, starting at about 125 minutes: newly shot scenes edited, and other scenes shortened or modified,
          adding about 4½ minutes for scene 30, 1½ minutes for scene 40C,
          and 4 minutes for first cut of improvised sequence of scenes 28A-28B-28C (featuring Terry, Bill and Peggy),
          while deleting about one minute from other scenes and restoring about a minute deleted from one music number after cut 1

January 15 - Roughcut 3 now about 120 minutes, including 2 ½ minutes of opening credits and 6 ¼ minutes of closing credits

          [approximately 10 minutes of new footage added to roughcut 2, and about 5 minutes of previous footage deleted so far]

          brief slo-mo and echo effect added to final dream transition; about a minute of opening credits moved to closing credits

          several scenes slightly re-edited, as well as color and brightness levels and volume levels readjusted

          scene 41A moved earlier to become scene 40B; background music changed in scene 22 and modified in some other scenes

          conforming of audio approximately 15-20% complete (scenes 1-14, 21, 40A-B-C, 51, 56, and parts of others)

January 16 - the first half-hour of the movie now in the finecut stage with remixed conformed audio (about 25% complete)

January 17- stage finale scenes 55A-55B now recut, conformed, and exported in finecut version

January 25 - all dialogue scenes conformed (finecut about 75% complete)

          roughcut 3.0 output to DVCAM at just under 120 minutes

January 29-30-31-February 1 - ADR and Foley recording sessions, more color correction, closing credits revised

          and final versions of montage scenes 28A-B-C and dance scene 30 edited

February 1 - Cut 3.1 completed at 119½ minutes (119 min. 29 sec. 22 frames)

February 2 - Cut 3.1 finecut version (conformed, remixed and color-corrected) output to DVCAM tape two weeks before premiere!

February 5 - Cut 3.2 finecut version (audio remix in a couple of scenes and specially brightened-up “St. Louis Blues” dance scene for video projection) encoded to mpeg and burned to DVD for Empire screenings (including special Empire trailer reel)

Feburary 8 - Big-screen preview of cut 3.2 projected at Empire; DVD audio commentary recorded

February 10 - final version of soundtrack CD mastered with three revised songs (including rap version of “On the 5:15”)

February 12 - Cut 3.3 finecut version (additional minor editing and audio level adjustments, “St. Louis Blues” video levels readjusted for home TV screens) encoded to mpeg and home DVD version authored with audio commentary, trailers, and cast bios; final running time is 119 min. 28 sec. 13 frames.

February 16-19 - WORLD PREMIERE at Empire Arts Center (of cut 3.2)!

February 21 - Cut 3.4 finecut version (remixed stereo placement of vocals on two songs) encoded to mpeg and burned to DVD

March 11 - Cut 3.5 finecut (remixed audio for several songs and a couple of scenes, and slightly revised closing credits) encoded to mpeg

March 12 - trailers re-encoded at lower bitrates to fit on same disc as revised feature; DVD remastered

 

 

 

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