So What's Up With SWITCH?

I realize I've been writing about so many other projects, events, and other sundries that I haven't given much of the spotlight to what's been occupying the majority of my time since SUSHI: THE GLOBAL CATCH (2011) wrapped up two months ago. I've been working diligently on SWITCH (2011) which is a feature documentary directed by Harry Lynch about global energy and alternatives. I've been involved with this film for an unusually long time. It's been well over a year that I edited five or six chunks of this film which are largely still intact in the final cut (trimmed down of course). Since helping out with the editing I've been working feverishly on the score which is proving to be one of my most difficult to date.

Back in May I had a good chunk of the film scored. The entire first act was pretty much sketched out and I was working on chunks of the second act when Harry came to me with a re-edited first act which they deemed necessary after getting feedback from a few test screenings. This is not only a difficult film to score but to put together entirely. After the feedback and revamped first act we started talks about changing direction a little bit on a few cues. At first it sounded like we'd pretty much have to start over from scratch but in the end it turned out only a few cues were completely lost and the rest just needed reworking into the new cut.



This is fine with me as of come to expect this when i work for Harry. He's a detailed oriented filmmaker which translates into me being a detailed oriented composer. I love taking the time to sweat the tiny nuances of each cue. I don't always have that luxury.

Due to the new approach we pushed back our deadline two months and I worked pretty much all throughout June while Harry was away on vacation. Since his return I've finished up pretty much all of act one and act two and I'm now shifting things into higher gear to wrap up the score in the next several weeks. Things are progressing well and I'm starting to really like the music. Again, it's been difficult so the answers on how to proceed were not always clear.

As of today, I'm nearly done with the first act which should be ready for mixing on Monday. Then I'll finish up the second act which should be ready to go by Friday. Then I'll have a little less than two weeks to compose all the music for the third act. Once the first two acts are nailed down, I think the third act will compose itself rather swiftly so I'm not too concerned about the time. It'll be tight but certainly doable. Then I'll have a week to finalize all the mixes and mastered cues and deliver them by August 7th.

After SWITCH is wrapped up, I'm jumping headstrong into two short editing projects which should be fun. I'm getting a little worried that I don't have my next major scoring project yet and need to work hard to pick something up in the next two months. I've gone nearly two years solid with a project always on my plate but now I'm finding I have to go fishing again.

I'm looking forward to wrapping up SWITCH and seeing what the future has in store for me.