Finished!

At about noon on Friday, we finally finished the edit on 100 Faces, which means I’m done and dusted and the film is ready for delivery. I feel a palpable sense of both pride and relief. I’ve worked pretty much full time on the project since February. As readers of this blog will know, it’s been a true labour of love. At times, it’s been incredibly hard work, and it certainly hasn’t been without its stresses, but the process has been rewarding from beginning to end. I feel truly immersed now in the UK Jewish community and feel, all the way through, that I have been wholeheartedly supported. Almost everyone who’s heard about the project feels like they’ve seen it as a very precious thing. It has been a great joy to describe it to people and see the lights coming on in their eyes as they get a sense of what we’ve been trying to achieve.

The last two days of the edit were something of a breeze. We finished at 3pm on Thursday and spent Friday morning making a few tweaks before exporting the film.

The ease was largely generated by Keith’s decision to grade the film - and convert it into black and white - in the week since we did the first round of editing. At the same time, PK was working on the spoken word element in the film, adding subtle and artistic sonic effects, so that it balanced the singing side of things. His work was, as always, remarkable. I’ve often said that the joy about PK is his ability to invent a special reverb effect which has the power to instantly bring a person to tears. I don’t even know if he does it deliberately. There may well be an element of serendipity, but I think a great deal of it is the instinct which comes from a forty-year career working in recording studios. He engineered Depeche Mode and Erasure albums. The man is a legend. 

On Wednesday night the track was digitally sent up to the Isle of Skye to be mastered by Denis Blackham, who is another complete legend in his field. There’s something rather magical about the idea that the music could be recorded in Tel Aviv, mixed in Worthing and mastered in the Inner Hebrides before being laid onto visuals in Skelmersdale, Lancashire.

Keith has done a staggeringly good job of filming, editing and grading the film. I feel genuinely enriched as a result of having that man in my life. He never complains (except about traffic), I’ve never once had the feeling that he isn’t thrilled to be a part of the film we’re working on, and the quality of his craftsmanship is second to none. 

Add Andrei into the equation, who Keith and I have both agreed is the best Soundman either of us have worked with, and you’ve got a winning team.

Mitch and Max did a lot of administrative grunt-work in the office and Michael exec produced the film as well as conducting the orchestra and working with some of the vocalists on the shoots, but that’s it for the team. Budget necessities and common sense forced us all to multi-task, but I genuinely don’t think people will believe that a film as complicated and ambitious as 100 Faces was essentially created by eight men: four Jewish, four not.

The film is lovely. Whether it stands a chance of finding an audience outside the Jewish community is another matter. It IS very Jewish. I didn’t want to use subtitles for the Hebrew and Yiddish, or make people temper their language for those outside of the community who might not know words like “shul” “frum” “Shabbat” “hamentashen” and “kneidlach.” Perhaps it loses a bit of universality as a result. I don’t know. I hope not, in fact I’d be devastated if this were the case. I want non-Jewish people to watch this film and see a diverse, yet utterly accessible and familiar set of people.