The last two pieces that needed to be done were the music and the Seattle Dance. We are now officially done!
Well, technically there is more editing to be done but for all celebratory purposes this year-and-a-half long project is finished. No more emails, no more lists, no more invites or events. We are done.
It's been an amazing ride and I can't wait to see what happens when this video hits the internet. It could explode, it could flop. Who knows. No matter what, I love it and am so proud of what we've done.
The recording in LA was really fun. I flew down for the day and it was so worth it. Met up with Matt at the Burbank Travelodge (a surpsingly productive place) at 2am on Weds night. Woke up at 8am for a 10am start in Alhambra.
Matt got an SUV rental. When in Rome.
2 goals for the day -
1. Record Palbasha
2. Record 27 violins and 6 cellos.
Palbasha is a 17 year old Bengali singer from Minnesota. I found her on YouTube. Her voice is incredible and it is perfect for the video.
Matt, Palbasha and Garry going over the game plan.
She sang her heart out and we got some amazing stuff.
Garry is the composer. He also composed the music for the last video and the outtakes. He also composed the music for Bioshock!
Also attending the recording were Palbasha's mother, family friend, Garry's assitant Peter, 2 guys who run the studio, Dan the engineer (worked on the other videos too) and 2 friends of Garry's who are documentary film makers and fans of Matt.
It was great to finally meet Garry and Dan after hearing so much about them over the years.
When we were done with Palbasha she sang while Matt danced.
After lunch it was time for the violins!
Matt and I felt like we had the best seats at the symphony. The we realized we'd hired the symphony.
When we were done I was planning on just heading to the airport when we got an interesting invite. One of the film makers - Sherry - invited us to a cook-out at her house. Why not? We have a couple hours.
Turns out her house is a 14,000 sq foot mansion on 2 acres in North LA that was built in the 20's. We're talking gargoyls, a library, a studio, a full bar and a living room/movie theater. It was the perfect place to sit in the sun, drink wine, chat with interesting people and wind down after an exciting day.
I didn't want to leave. I probably shouldn't have. I actually tried to miss my flight. No luck.
Delays in San Francisco caused a 3 hour trip to double to 6 hours. I was already exhausted but after getting home at 4am I crawled into bed and could barely wake up to go get Matt from the airport at 9:30am.
The next day was all about hanging out with my sister who came to town for the Seattle Dance.
The dance was fantastic. We had almost 200 people! Largest one yet! All our friends and family to dance with! I could not have asked for more for the last event.
Check out Mark's and Paula's flickr pix of the event here and here (respectively).
And now it's done. And Matt is home. Hooray!