Lara and Andrew get first look at completed Shine

Today’s the late deadline for SIFF, a deadline I’ve been aiming to hit for months. Sure enough, I did it with about 15 hours to spare. I hit the submit button sending Shine on it’s way via withoutabox.com at about 9am this morning, after a successful all-night render of the final file (it took more than 12 hours to render on my 2.5gz Macbook Pro – a sign that I need to start looking at a Mac desktop that has more editing horsepower).

The final film is exactly 24 minutes long. It took 8 months from beginning to end (although it’s not fully over yet, since we still have to produce a DVD with extras and such). I spent most of the day yesterday fussing with title slates, credit roll tweaks, and audio transitions. After I made the SIFF deadline this morning, I went down to the Biznik office and gave Lara and Andrew the first private screening of the final film. They liked it!

It feels great to have it complete. I’m sending a big thank you to everyone involved, especially the more than 100 volunteers and financial contributors who made the film possible. You guys rock.