On the eve of the American Thanksgiving it seems an appropriate time to say thank you once again to all of the people who have supported Seduction this year. It is been a long - but exciting! - journey and I cannot wait until the project wraps up in the new year so that I am able to share the fruits of our labour. There are still your project rewards to be distributed, DVDs and hopefully . . . invites to screenings! 

I am happy to say the project is still ticking along. We have laid down an assembly from start to finish and the film now stands at 18 minutes. We know this is entirely too long to hold an audience's interest and to protect what we hope will be the impact of the film. I have always felt that it's better to have the audience leave the cinema wishing they could have stayed a tiny bit longer rather than wishing they could have escaped 10 minutes earlier! 

But the biggest challenge that stands in our way now is not the whittling down of the film but rather the coordinating of the post-production crew's schedule - at one point there was someone in Namibia, someone in Romania, and someone in China. But strangely enough for such a busy time of year we have pinpointed several quiet days in December when the editor and I can hunker down and trim the film. After that the sound and music work can begin! 

In the meantime I wish each one of you a wonderful holiday season wherever in the world you are celebrating. 

Until the new year....
Meghan

Dear Supporters 

It has been awhile since the last project update but rest assured that work on the film is still ticking along. After the summer holiday we are now back into the full swing of editing!

During the summer we managed to 'lay the film down on the timeline' by strictly adhering to the script. The editor Gavin and I chose what we felt at the time was the best takes in each scene and plunked them down in the right order. 

But now things are getting messier. Because how a scene is imagined on paper does not necessarily have the same effect when executed visually. There have been some surprises. For example the scene that starts off the film just didn't seem to work and after we almost gave it up for dead Gavin re situated it elsewhere in the film and voila! It came to life. Which leads me to believe that the effect of a scene is all relative. Watch a scene in isolation and then watch it wedged between two other scenes and well, you may feel differently about what you saw. So you can imagine the possibilities of combinations. 

We have to follow the material Gavin has said. And this is the fun part! We are analysing bit by bit and asking ourselves: is this the best place in the film for this scene? Because there is no point in making a film if you put your audience to sleep halfway through. You have to give them a reason to keep watching. 

At the moment the film is about 23 minutes which is entirely too long and a length which was never our goal. Over the next few weeks we hope to lose roughly 10 minutes and I think this is achievable simply by fine cutting what we have already pieced together. For instance, coming out of a scene sooner, perhaps starting later. These sort of things. But sometimes I have learned fine cutting can only take you so far. Sometimes you need to kill whole scenes. 

I want to thank you all again for your support of this project. We are hoping it will be completely finished, and that you will finally be able to see it and receive your rewards, by the end of this year. A long journey, but we are near the finish line! 

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank psychiatrist Sameer Sarkar who is the main funder and Executive Producer of the film. Years ago (yes, years) he came to me wanting to make a film about 'boundary violations' in psychiatry which aside from having a film festival run could also be used in the classrooms of medical schools around the world. 

But the subject of abuse of trust and violating boundaries within professional relationships cuts across many disciplines and continues to be topical. The other day I was walking behind two men in suits on Leadenhall Street in London, daydreaming about what I might share with my Kickstarter supporters when I overheard the following:  'He was a teacher and he fell in love with a 15 year old student...Love blossomed, and then he was jailed.' And the filmmaker David Cronenberg is about to release his new film A Dangerous Method about Jung and his relationship with a female patient and how that affected his relationship with Freud. You can watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ7JKmcLTsI.

So the topic of Seduction - crossing a professional boundary -  is one that is relevant not just to psychiatrists but to many.  

Until next time
Meghan 

To all the supporters of 'Seduction' -

We did it!
[imagine this sentence bolded, as the formatting refuses to cooperate!]

And with enough time before the deadline for me to be able to sleep tonight. Though I still can't tear myself away from my computer. Who knew fundraising could be so addicting?

I just want to say thank you again for believing in this film project and for helping to usher it through the last, and perhaps most time-consuming, phase: post-production.

With the success of our Kickstarter campaign we will be able to sketch out a work plan for the next few months in order to complete the film and get it ready to send out to film festivals around the world.I hope to be able to bring you more information about what this entails tomorrow, and more importantly, when you can expect to receive your rewards!

One of our supporters has sent me a link to an interesting article about Kickstarter and film fundraising, so for those of you who are interested in crowd-funding as a way to fund creative projects, have a look at this: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_23/b4231052825865.htm?campaign_id=rss_null..

Along the way I have tried to give you a feel for the film as it stands now, in its pre-edited state. In keeping with this, Andrew McDonald, who plays the psychoanalyst Frederick in 'Seduction', has also taken the time to share with you his experience shooting the film as well as his experience working in theatre...

How would you describe what 'Seduction' is about?

Well, from Frederick's point of view, it's a story of an older man who thinks he has his life in control (and whose job is to help control the lives of others). But then he has the order in his existence thrown out of kilter by his attraction to Adriana in his consulting room.

What attracted you to the role of Frederick, the psychoanalyst?

The tension between his controlled and controlling early appearance and the doting, besotted person he becomes through his contact with Adriana. And of course the sad aftermath for him when he discovers she's married.

You have worked a lot in theatre. Is working in film different for you?

Personally I think there's no essential difference between the two. The job is to convey the feelings and emotions of a character to an audience in order to tell a story. The difference in the two media is that in theatre, you have to project all those feelings and emotions out to hundreds of people in sometimes quite large spaces, so subtlety can be lost, whereas in film, one has the luxury of the camera and microphone to pick up those feelings. If the thought behind the emotion is true, then the camera should pick it up.

Apart from this technical difference, the other big difference in the two is the amount of time you spend working. For a theatre piece you will typically rehearse for 3 or 4 weeks from 10am - 6pm which allows you to build up a character slowly and methodically. You then perform up to 8 shows a week. In film you quite often spend hours waiting around for a shot to be set up and then you're whisked onto the set, a quick rehearsal for all the technical departments and then the camera is turning. So you need to be fully prepared before you arrive. With 'Seduction' we did have the luxury of some rehearsals before the filming began.

Is there one you prefer over the other?

I enjoy acting, so love to perform in any media. However, I think I ultimately prefer theatre as the slow build up of a character, gradually adding layers and layers of detail is a process I love. Also the immeadiate reaction of a theatre audience (if it's going well!) can be a great joy.

How did you come to understand Frederick as a character?

I simply read the script many times and tried to put myself in his shoes. I don't really have a method of 'understanding' the characters I play. My approach tends to be built up from my own instinctive reaction to reading a role, coupled with discussion and rehearsal with the other actors and the director.

How would you sum up Frederick? Do you feel similar to him in any way?

I think Frederick's quite restrained, buttoned up and repressed. Probably happily single all his life and with his whole existence neatly ordered until Adriana comes along and makes him think of having a relationship with her. It's not a direct parallel, but I think I'm also emotionally repressed (in life, not too much room for it as an actor) and self-centered, a loner if you like. But since I've met my partner, she's made me more open and emotionally released.

What is your favourite part of the filmmaking process?

I love keeping a third inner eye on my own performance, making sure that I keep a consistency in continuity that will hopefully make the editing easier. There's something about the putting together of various takes to make a scene that appeals to my inner 'geek'!

Were there any challenges in this particular film for you?

I think the biggest was to try and keep a stillness in Frederick - particularly early on - and to try to reveal as little as possible to the other characters whilst (hopefully) letting the audience in to Frederick's thoughts.

What were some of your significant roles before 'Seduction'?

I've had the good fortune to work in a lot of classy theatres, usually as an understudy of large parts and a player of small ones. I think my biggest challenge so far was taking over the lead role of Pizarro in 'The Royal Hunt of the Sun' in the Olivier Theatre of the National Theatre for 10 performances. That gave me a huge thrill. I have also had the chance to work on stage with two of my actor heroes - John Hurt when I played as an understudy with him in a play called 'Heroes' and Derek Jacobi who I understudied as Philip II of Spain in 'Don Carlos' where I also had a small role as a courtier and so acted on stage with Jacobi every night.

What are you working on at the moment?  

I'm currently understudying Dominic West 'The Wire' and Paul McGann 'Withnail and I' in 'Butley' at the Duchess Theatre in London from June to August.

Is there any one out there you'd love to work with - either in film or TV?

Oh yes, the third of my Actor heroes - Anthony Hopkins!

It was only 10 days ago when we were just under $2,000 and now we are nearing $4,000! It's amazing how this campaign has worked, the way the momentum has built up and continues to build.

I can only say: thank you!  

With only 5 days remaining, and a long weekend (and hopefully sun!) ahead for those supporters in the UK and the US, I am sending one more round of emails to people I think would be interested in supporting Seduction. If you know anyone who might be interested in supporting us, please send them our Kickstarter link, or post it on your blog, Facebook, Twitter. Social Media is apparently the future, and for me, this campaign is an interesting experiment to see how far and wide the word can spread.

The amazing concept behind 'crowd-funding' is that many people can give small amounts (say, $10) versus one or two people giving big amounts as has been traditionally the case. But if we don't meet our goal of $5,000 by 1 June we will lose all of the money (some $3,600) already pledged.

We only need 130 people to pledge $10 to push us over the edge!

If we are successful our page will stay live on Kickstarter which means when our efforts are redirected from this fundraising campaign back to editing the film, we will be able to keep you updated on our progress.

But before our campaign ends, we still have one last update to post, an interview with actor Andrew McDonald about his role in Seduction.

So stay tuned!