Two nights ago I purchased Amanda's plane ticket from Los Angeles to Reno - we'll be filming during the 5th to the 15th in May. I still have to purchase a plane ticket for myself, but I'll most likely be flying back to NY and not MI, so I have some details to work out first. It's all very exciting - May is approaching fast (58 days from now) and I've been loosing sleep trying to make sure nothing has been left unplanned.

As for the script; it currently stands at about 98% complete (I'm sure it's been at 99% in the past, but come back down due to rewrites). I've been struggling with the right way to wrap up the film's very last paragraph. So much so actually that I'll be putting the script down for the time being and re-focusing my efforts on the rough cut of the film (with intercut storyboards and all). My hope is that I'll be able to get more work done on the script when not staring at the same two pages day-in day-out.

The wonderful Karen Abad and I will be going over - via Skype - what I have storyboarded so-far as well as what still needs to be added to our May shot list. I'm nervous because time-wise, as well as budget-wise; we have 10 days to get every last shot needed involving Larry. There's some other work that requires an old 8mm camera and two college-aged girls during the 40s... but that's a different shoot for a different time.

Also, one quick Kickstarter update before I sign off - I just received the first KSR-edition of our 64 Days Production Journals in the mail and everything looks great! So for those of you who have been waiting very patiently for those, I'll be getting them out very shortly.

I apologize for the post feeling so short and scattered - but that's very much how I'm feeling currently - perhaps I should force myself to bed before 3 am tonight. I think I'll do that...

Labels: 64 Days, Crew, p52, Post-Production, t.minus, Writing

Post Production * Week 112 from mike ambs on Vimeo

I sound a bit under the weather in this update - but despite my sore throat I've been hard at work editing and writing for the film.

Amanda and I have been working over video-chat to work out the rough parts of the script. On top of that, we recently finished our 64 Days Production Journal and I just so happened to get it in the mail today after I started recording this video.

I'm really excited at how they turned out! We'll be posting more on that later - for now, it's time for me to get back to editing.

Labels: 64 Days, Post-Production, Vimeo, Vlog, Weekly Update

On Thanksgiving morning I woke up with a killer sore throat - which by the time Saturday night hit, turned into a full-blown flu that kept me up the entire night in the bathroom. Three days after that and I was finally able to drag myself out of bed without being too dizzy to stand. I haven't been that sick in a long, long, long time - six days in bed was fairly extreme for me when it comes to my typical cold.

I have an overwhelming pile of things to catch up on now that I'm back on my feet - first up is putting the finishing touches on the Kickstarter rewards for all the unbelievably amazing people who helped us reach our goal and secure $8,945 towards the film!

Our 64 Days Production Journal is 98% complete, and up next is creating the 64 Days - parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 - DVDs with bonus features and commentaries from Amanda and I. If any of you have ideas for fun things that we could add to some of the 64 Days DVDs, please let us know!

In between working on our KSR responsibilities I'll be very anxiously story-boarding more pieces of the film that we'll be shooting in Northern California with Larry. I have to remind myself most days that there are still many small stages of FToM left to complete - but at the same time, we feel so close to the end. I look at the script and I compare it to the time-line in Final Cut and it's just very exciting. I feel like we only have several major hurtles left to deal with before we're able to sit down and actually watch a rough cut of FToM.

It's time I get back to work - don't forget to share any ideas for DVD bonus features in the comments!

Labels: 64 Days, Kickstarter, Post-Production

I've had several days to think about the two possible directions I mentioned in my last video update. First off, thanks so much to everyone who gave their advice and helped me weigh the pro's and con's.

After a lot of consideration - I've decided the next step in post-production is continue moving forward with FToM, and to hold off longer on another addition in the 64 Days series.

There's a lot of little reasons for this, but for the most part, I left LA behind with the idea of focusing 100% on the film.

I feel that 64 Days, being a supplemental aspect of the project, needs to take a back-seat while I'm being so heavily supported by Erica. She has been bearing a great deal of financial stress the last three months - and I am trying to not waste any of support she has been willing to give.

On a related note - for whatever reason, we've been getting a sudden increase in donations and I wanted to stress how amazingly helpful they have been. The recent PayPal donations and the $1,000 Kickstarter campaign we ran in June have helped me work full-time on FToM and narrow down 115+ hours of footage into a 4 hour rough-edit segment. And that has been an huge step towards finishing the film, so thank you so much!

That's all for tonight - I'd like to write a separate post about the specific steps ahead, as always I'd love to hear questions and comments regarding any aspects of the project.

Labels: 64 Days, FToM, Fund, Post-Production

It's taken Amanda and I a long, long time to put out this episode - and in the last several months since we released 8, the script for 9 has gone through many changes. The last two weeks that we've been working on this has been exciting, I didn't realize how much I miss posting new episodes.

I'm watching the progress bar on Vimeo slowly climb past 8% and it's a little before 1 in the morning as I'm writing this. It's gonna be a long night - but it's worth it.

So - a brief introduction to this episode. This is the 9th episode overall that we've put out, and it's the 4th chapter in the 64 Days series. It introduces in greater detail the three crew members: Olan, Olivier, and Jef. Who all flew out from Belgium to work on Pedal without any pay... at least yet, I hope I'll be able to change that when the film is finished *fingers crossed*

Our time on the road with them taught us both so much. It was an experience I will never forget - and never really know how to properly put into words. Well, enough talk. I hope you enjoy it. Amanda and I worked very hard on it.

64 Days - Part 4 from mike ambs on Vimeo.

If you do enjoy it, as always we'd love to hear your comments and questions - but also, if you have a twitter account, we'd really be flattered if you send out a quick twitter about it. Which you can do all with one click here.

We're also excited about being able to embed this episode on your own blog in beautiful HD - we purchased 10,000 HD embeds from Vimeo so you can see it in full resolution *anywhere* on the web - so please help us put those 10,000 embeds to good use!

And as I mentioned in my last post - here's a link to the PDF of episode 9's script. This was scanned in about two weeks ago, so you'll notices some slight differences in what's typed out and what ended up in the timeline. We tend to make small changes and rearrange the edit up until the last minute.

Thanks for being so patient with us - and thanks for all the support.

Labels: 64 Days, Crew, Episode, Post-Production

I guess I should start this post off by answering two questions: 1) "Why did we re-release Episode 8?" And 2) "Do I really have to re-watch this?"

First; Episode 8 was extremely exhausting for Amanda and I to write, record and edit. And by the time we were 2/3rds of the way finished cutting it together, we stepped back and said, "ehh, this is getting long, I think it's good enough the way it is now". And we chopped off the whole ending we had written. What bugged us about doing that after the fact, was that the ending is what tied the whole episode back into the rest of the 64 Days series.

And second; If you're pressed for time, then my honest answer would be, "No.", you don't have to watch the *whole* thing. But if you wanted to see the major change, then you could skip to the last 3 minutes. As for the rest, there are only minor changes... many things taken out, several small things added in.

64 Days - Part 3 - Extended Edit from mike ambs on Vimeo.

I believe Amanda and I said this before, when we first posted Episode 8, that we would never be 100% happy with this episode. That there was just too many things that could never be squeezed in - but I think we both try to remind ourselves that 8 was one of our most successful episodes. Not in number of views, but definitely in comments and reaction. People really opened up after watching it, and no matter how many little things we know we had to leave out, I think we still managed to make something people can relate to.

Okay, enough stalling. I hope you like the extended cut of this episode. As always we'd love to hear your comments and questions - but also, if you have a twitter account, we'd really be flattered if you send out a quick twitter about it. Which you can do all with one click here. Thanks!

Labels: 64 Days, Episode, Post-Production

Episode Eight: 64 Days - Part 3 from mike ambs on Vimeo.

so this is episode 8. initially we planned on making this 3 parts. first the story of our break-up, followed by the story of our relationship, and ending with the decision for me to continue working on pedal. a few days ago we decided to end it after the 2nd part. mostly because it was getting too long. we plan on adding the 3rd part to a future episode, most likely episode 9.

i have to say that mike and i are both very worried about this episode. i am normally pretty shy and get very awkward in front of the camera.. and although i have a lot of face time in this episode, that's not what i'm worried about. i'm happy to say.. after this episode, i think i'm finally starting to get over that and warm up to the camera. i'm pretty happy with my camera time and our voice overs. so, no.. that's not what worries me.

i can't speak for mike and i'm not sure exactly what his worries are, probably something like, people won't like this episode as much as the last two. but for me, i think of this episode as the story of one of the most important times in my life and i just want it to be perfect, and i don't think that it is. i'm afraid it was rushed, i'm afraid things were over looked, i'm afraid it might be boring.

so.. that's that. i hope i'm wrong. i look forward to your honest comments.

Labels: 64 Days, Episode, Post-Production

As always, we'd love to hear your feedback - it will help greatly in deciding what questions to answer and in what order. Thanks for watching. Digg this episode here.

Note: If you'd like to watch this episode in 1280x720 HD, click here :)

Labels: 64 Days, Episode, Post-Production

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64 days was the exact length of Pedal's production, the number of days we were out on the road. It feels really exciting to be releasing episodes again, I've been editing and filming the last few nights till 5 in the morning, and although it's been hell on my cold, I've had a blast doing it.

I'm anxious to get started on part 2 - when Amanda and I originally began writing the production related episodes, we were expecting to fit everything into 3 cuts. But that doesn't look to be the case any longer - we're finding we have a lot more to say, and many different layers of the whole experience to cover.


We'd love to hear your feedback - it will help greatly in deciding what questions to answer in what order. Thanks for watching.

Note: If you'd like to watch this episode in 1280x720 HD, click here :)

Special thanks to: Angela for her footage of our last dinner home - and to Justin and Amanda for helping operate the camera.

Labels: 64 Days, Episode, Post-Production