Happy "Adventures" Anniversary
The latest in a series of "First Hand Adventures of a First-Time Filmmaker"

By Lorre Fritchy

Sandy Slade puts a ball on the finger and a smile on the face of a Hoop City fan in Philly.  Photo by Lorre Fritchy.

August marked one year since the first installment of this filmmaking foray. That means my "Sandy 'Spin' Slade: Beyond Basketball" documentary is now in distribution and I'm retiring from royalties, right? Sure, and I know a guy named Spielberg who wants to read your script...

When we last left our Adventurer, she was stranded in the "Abyss of Decision-Making" between Mac vs. PC editing systems. Everyone said to me, "You aren't serious if you don't get a Mac to edit film and video." I did a ton of research and decided to go bilingual: PCs are my choice for document-generation, while Mac brains seem better suited to graphics. Although my Mac crashes as often as my PC, I have not been disappointed -- especially since the firewire capabilities make digitizing a snap. One G4, 20 Gigs, and a refinancing plan later, I am currently editing a 3-5 minute fundraising video.

Having selected Final Cut Pro as the editing software, I then hit amazon.com to buy Lisa Brenneis' (should-be) sacred book, "Final Cut Pro for Macintosh." The layout is intuitive, the index is actually helpful, and the writing style is informal and easy to understand. Every question I have, she anticipates and answers. Although I am cutting this story together myself, I am also talking to editors for "post-Lorre" tweaking. This book (around $25) has helped me do much of the heavy lifting.

The biggest news to report is that I went to LA in August to record voice-over for my fundraiser trailer with basketball Hall of Famer and Sandy 'Spin' supporter, Ann Meyers Drysdale. If sponsors come through, as I believe they will after seeing the trailer, I will be able to bring this gracious and renowned basketball presence back into the studio to lend her voice to the full-length spinumentary.

The session itself went extremely well. One curious occurrence was that the last track of the narration CD had no "safety buffer" of dead air at the end. As soon as the narrator took her last breath, the CD jumped back to track one. Final Cut Pro did not like this at all, it simply could not import that last take (the MONEY one, of course). I went back to my trusty PC, recorded the take as a WAV file, then dumped it to ZIP to get it on the Mac. This little quirk was nowhere in Brenneis' book so either I discovered something, or I am about to.

One thing I *have* discovered is how much progress an adventurous filmmaker can make in one year. Thank you for the posts and emails supporting the project or just exchanging industry anecdotes. Meanwhile, be persistent and keep knocking on those doors! 'Til next time...

(Please direct your editing/graphics/composing resumes to my email address lfritchy@aol.com.  I am doing my best to respond to everyone).

If you've missed any part of "First-Hand Adventures," please check out the complete series below. Email lfritchy@aol.com with advice, comments, or questions. Don't forget to post your say on these matters in the Online Forum for First-Time Filmmaking.

All Parts to the Series:
Part 1: Starting Out
Part 2: On the Set
Part 3: Wireless lavs.  Editing choices. Airport redtape. Time code hell.  
Must be your first film.
Part 4: Burnout -- Hang in There
Part 5: Back in the Spin
Part 6: Post-Production and the Discomfort Zone
Part 7: Happy "Adventures" Anniversary
Part 8: From Gigabytes to Soundtracks
Part 9: It Ain't Over Even When It's Over -- From Music to Film Festivals

"Sandy 'Spin' Slade: Beyond Basketball" is now available on video at http://www.spinumentary.com; log on for production notes, behind-the-scenes thoughts and shots, and ordering information. It can also be purchased through BuyIndies.com.  Or write to MasterPeace Productions, PO Box 267, Newburyport MA 01950, lfritchy@aol.com.

Lorre Fritchy is writer-director-producer of the feature film Millies, now in pre-production while Fritchy continues to support her documentaries in distribution, The Gay Marriage Thing, and Sandy 'Spin' Slade: Beyond Basketball. Her company, MasterPeace Productions, is based in Lawrence MA.

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