Kickstarter

Hey, Kickstarter backers. Jake here. The charming, formerly bald subject of the documentary you supported a while back, remember? I'm guessing that you're getting sick of Nate hogging all of these updates. Don't worry; I am too. (Just kidding, Nate! [Unless you're not reading this, in which case: What. Are my Kickstarter updates not worth your time?])

But seriously, here's the deal: A few days ago I watched the first beginning-to-end rough cut of this little documentary, and honestly? It's incredible. You know how people say, "I laughed, I cried," etc.? Well I actually did laugh and cry, and not just because I was re-living the experiences, but because it's so powerful as an actual movie. And it's not even finished yet! (More on that later.) I think it's a safe prediction to say you'll all be blown away by the way Nate has pieced the story together—the dude's got some crazy good editing skills. (His subject is pretty great, too, I might add.) The first time I saw any of the footage Nate had put together—what is now the first 10 minutes of the documentary—I remember thinking to myself, "Whoa. This looks like a real documentary." I get that feeling every time Nate and I get together to view new footage, but the feeling I got after viewing the whole thing was different. This time, I thought, "Whoa. That looked like a really good documentary."

Sitting next to Nate in his (ridiculously awesome) editing room every other week-ish for the past six months has been tremendously fun, which is something I hadn't even considered when we dove headfirst into this thing. And now that we're entering the final stages of postproduction, I'm nearly giddy about working on the things that will take Let's Do This from really good to remarkable.

In fact, that's probably a pretty good summary of the phase of post-production we're in now, post-rough cut—taking things from really good to remarkable. How do Nate and I plan on doing that, you ask? Here are just a few of the ways:

1) Several well-known bands have licensed their music for use on the Let's Do This soundtrack, including Green River Ordinance, The Damnwells, and The Farewell Circuit, and we're currently in negotiation with others. That's already a first-rate musical line-up, and I haven't even mentioned the fact that...

2) My longtime friend and world-class musician Mike Lang is composing a completely original score for the film. I frequently tell people that Mike is the finest musician I know—and I've met my fair share over the years. In addition to being a skilled multi-instrumentalist (I have personally witnessed him not just playing, but slaying guitar, piano, bass, drums, and mandolin), Mike has previously composed music for several film projects, including documentaries. I'm heading to Colorado in July to spend some time with him working out a vision for the score—and then I'm content to just let him work his musical magic and grace us with the result.

3) As Nate said in the previous update, he's planning on doing "tons of fine-tuning" and "color correction," which I can only assume is film industry jargon meaning something like, "make look more good."

4) Finally, Nate and I are in preliminary conversations with some folks at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society about our mutual interests, and there's potential for some very cool things in the film's future. I'm hesitant to say anything more at this point, since most of it thus far has been excited conversations over cups of coffee, but if even some of the conversations translate into reality, things could get awesome.

Long story short: We want this film to be something very, very, special, and we're committed to making that happen. When you see the care and attention to detail evident in the final product—hopefully later this year, and perhaps in the fall—I think you'll not only be happy you supported the project, but that you'll appreciate that we took the time to do things right. You'll probably think to yourself, "Whoa. That looked like a really good documentary."

—Jake

P.S. I have my one-year review CT scan next Monday. Here's to an "all clear"!

One hour.  Fourteen minutes.  Three seconds.

That's the runtime for the first cut.

There's still more to go.  A great interview to shoot that will glue this whole piece together.  Tons of fine-tuning.  Color correction.  Audio editing.  The writing and recording of the original musical score.  The painting of the poster.  Striking up DVDs.

It's a rough cut... but it works.

All of it could not have been done without your help.  Thank you.  Truly.

Yes, yes.  I know it's been a while!  So what's new?!

We are still deep into the editing process of the first cut of the film.  I have been calling this the writing phase of the documentary because this is where we have to craft the story.  There's so much video that the issue of finding what is most important to tell the story that we want to tell that is taking up much of the time.

Also, juggling this film with full-time jobs and lives.  That's also a small hassle.

It is astonishing to think about all that has happened in a year.  A year ago, my wife and I met with Jake and Libby to talk about the germination of the idea that has now become Let's Do This.  Jake hadn't even yet started with chemo and I was shocked to see that his weight was the exact same as when I knew him back in high school, over nine years before.  After talking about what we could do with the film, we thought about how to finance it.  We thought maybe there was a chance the film would thrive with the possible backing of Kickstarter, but we weren't sure it would reach the goal.

With crossed fingers, we pulled the trigger and our page went live.  You all know how generous the drive became.  We are very thankful for your support and we will not let you down.

There's still a long road ahead for our little film that could, but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.  We can't wait to show you the fruits of our labor and the journey that Jake went through.

Here's a two-minute look for everyone to share...

It is absolutely amazing how when you grow older, the year goes by so much faster than you remember when you were younger.  When I was in grade school, the longest period of time was the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Now, that time (like everything else) flies by so fast.

We are working through the assembly cut of Let's Do This.  The assembly is like the first draft of that college essay.  You just want to slap it together and make a modicum of scene.  That would be a successful first draft.  When you finish with that, then you can polish what is working and remove what isn't working.  A lot more extra work is in this process for documentaries than it is for traditional narrative film.  It is only now that we put together the story.  We don't have the luxury of a script!

When the assembly is finished, then the real work begins.  We still have interviews to shoot and we will figure out what voice over work needs to be done in order to glue our pieces of Jake's journey together.  All of that will be put into a second cut that will be much, much closer to the final piece.  Once that is all completed, the graphics work will come into play, a full 5.1 audio mix will be struck, and I will painstakingly color correct the entire film to fit into the emotional color palate for the film.  I am very happy that the film will begin in the cold Iowa winter and end in the warm tones of summer.  I couldn't have asked for a better timeline for Jake's lymphoma.  Did I mention that my tongue is planted quite firmly in my cheek?

From there, the original musical score will be produced.  That's right.  We will have an original musical score.  It will blow all our socks off.

I have also been in contact with an artist to produce the final poster artwork for the film that will be replicated as a T-shirt.  This will be an original piece of art that will use stills as a basis, but will be a painted piece.  It will be quite lovely.  I can't wait to show it to you.

Jake is excited for everything that the new year will bring.  It certainly will be better than 2012.

There will be major updates coming in the next few months as Let's Do This enters into new phases of post-production.  You will be first to hear and see what your gracious contributions have created.

We thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for your generosity and we won't let you down.  May all of your holidays be bright and joyous.

...ONWARD TO 2013!