Locked

After one last viewing on Friday we locked the picture, which is to say that's it, no more changes to the cut. We made a couple of quick changes, placing the final montage scene back where it always used to be (and no one can quite work out why it moved), so that the final chapter now gives Stevie his two choices in life followed by the montage to represent him making his mind up before the final rehearsal. Makes complete sense and makes you wonder what we were thinking of having it any other way. Also put back a quick shot of Stevie walking down the street just before the letter scene, which is nice to have back in as it was the very first shot we did.

So this weekend the edit list is being prepared (well done Scott, I'm sure it's much more fun than being outside in the sunshine) so that can be sent over to Lip Sync and they can start scanning every frame we need from the original negative, and putting it on to lovely High Def tape. While they're doing that we can get sound mixing.

Happily all the music looks to be cleared now, just waiting for a yes from the US for one of the tracks. Then we can start collecting all the spot FX we need, the soound of amps being switched on, things being plugged in, all that kind of stage noise rubbish. Also it's time to do the ADR, getting the cast back in to re-record lines where we've had to change something or where a plane or somesuch has made their line inaudible. This will be fun as it means we can also finally add audio to the beginning of the woodland scene which will be great to see (or hear, even).

Bits and pieces of press are starting to come through as well, including having to do a quick interview for the Times next week. Simon (Kearney, I think he's one of the producers, though all he seems to do is go to lunch and moan) and I sat round thinking of things we shouldn't say, which now means they're the only things I can think of saying, so this will probably never see the light of day.

Ian Bonar and Lyndsey Marshal came in to see the film the other day. It was great to see them both again, and I hope they liked what they saw. It must be very weird seeing yourself on screen, especially in something you shot three months ago. Hopefully we can get the cast some copies soon so they can watch it a few times and let it sink in. I've now seen the film a ridiculous number of times, probably somewhere in the region of a couple of hundred, almost as many times as I've seen Zoolander.

More pressingly is the need to name the last chapter. The film is broken into chapters, each named after a song that has some kind of relevance to the chapter, but one which also makes up a cracking mix tape. There were 12 chapters, but now there's thirteen, and the final chapter doesn't have a song yet. I've been wracking my brain but can't think of anything as yet. My suggestion of '99 problems' didn't go down too well, which is understandable.