Filming wrapped, now editing for Mrs. Hawking at Arisia 2021

[breakinglight11]

We are now at the point where everything is shot for the digital, socially-distanced Mrs. Hawking shows at Arisia 2021. It was a huge amount of work, but I’m proud of what we accomplished so far. Bernie designed a portable filming kit that was a workable balance between usability and effectiveness, I designed a system to film each actor in isolation that could be cut together later and still sound like they are speaking to one another, and the amazing cast put it all into action with a lot of talent and hard work. Team Hawking, yet again, makes it happen. :-)

It’s at the stage of being edited together now, which is Bernie’s purview, and there’s only a limited amount I can do to help. Just as the filming was my primary responsibility, the editing is his. Things are going well, and I can use a bit less intensity for a while. I’m pretty tired, since the shooting period was like having to prepare and execute a small tech week every couple of days for two months, and I  just finished my grading for the semester. But I’ve never been great at sitting back patiently and allowing other people to do their part, when I feel like I should be working on the project until it’s completed.

I am trying to use this stage of the process as a time to take a break. I’ve mostly been well, but I have been going hard lately, and I find my emotional regulation is a bit shot. Minor frustrations have hit me harder than expected, and I find I’m more sensitive than usual to discomfort. It would probably do me good to regroup a little. To that end, I’m going to start rebuilding some of the routines I had before filming took over my time. I haven’t drawn pictures or read books as part of my daily schedule in those two months, and cooking basically never happened, so I’d like to put that stuff back in.

Of course, being me, I immediately want to work on something else, if I can’t do much to help finish the shows at this stage. I’ve been wanting to do another episode of Dream Machine for a while now, so maybe I’ll noodle on that. When I had a filming kit set up in my house, I found myself daydreaming about other things I could use it for, including snappier versions of that show. But I think I need to be a little easy on myself for a bit, at least until Arisia is over.