Wow – I’ve just realized that it’s been more than a year since I’ve last reported anything about my project. I was simply over my head with work and obligations and I had concluded that any realtime blog would be dull griping about things getting in the way. If I were a good writer it could easily be turned into a farce of trials.

Here’s a summary of the last year…

I applied to the NFB for a Filmmaker’s Assistance Program (FAP) grant for post-production services – and I got it! It provides me with a final sound mix, online colour correction and final output. But the absolute greatest benefit is a hard deadline. When working independently, while holding a paying job and a non-paying parental position, it’s hard to justify the luxury of ‘working’ on a personal film project with no obvious financial benefits. But a deadline for the NFB was an opportunity to take seriously and I wouldn’t feel so selfish in taking up time and asking my hard working partner to take up the slack.

My images and sound had to be completed by the week before Christmas. Should be no problem, I thought. I didn’t have much left to do. And yet… My son gets sick, I get sick, the computer breaks down, there’s preparation for kindergarten – all the usual family kind of stuff. And the real trials hadn’t yet begun.

We bought our house six years ago as an honestly disgusting fixer upper. There certainly are worse things in the world to tolerate but after years of working in a barely functional, possibly hazardous kitchen we decided it was time to face renovating. Good thing too, as it turned out there was a disaster waiting behind the walls. But for the summer the usual planning and shopping for elements was thrown unto the daily todo pile.

Then September came, and the cat got bitten on her bum. By another cat. It got infected and within a couple of days a dollar sized piece of skin died and fell off. She had an operation but the suture was too tight. It opened and became reinfected. Now a bigger hole needed closing. Another fancier operation turned her into frankencat (but I think the shaving made her more of a Dr. Seuss creation). She was on antibiotics and morphine – quite something to see a cat with a cone on its head on morphine – and had hydrotherapy three times a day and weekly vet visits. I thought the words ‘hydrotherapy’ and ‘cat’ in the same sentence is quite hilarious. Turns out it’s for real and it means hold cat under running water for five minutes. We were all traumatized by this at first, and then we all got used to it as a normal daily procedure. But the worst part for the cat was wearing that danged cone on her head that kept her from grooming and playing properly. At first she was bumping into everything until she adapted to a new and exotic way of walking, eating and jumping (Dr. Seuss: pompom tail and all). Animals are amazing.

So it’s November. After the requisite delays (what reno doesn’t have them) the reno has started and the easter eggs behind the walls get discovered. It turned out that for years the bathtub had been pouring water into the walls with every bath (good thing only one of us has the time for baths), our main water valve was never working, and predictably there was faulty wiring. But the most exciting news was that our main sewage pipe had a two foot gash and was so rotten it crumbled to the touch. Rotten too was all the wood beams in contact with it. More walls had to be torn down to replace the entire pipe. My son moved into our room.

But it’s November, the cat is miserable and needs attention, my son does not like kindergarten, we are all confined to sleeping in one small double bed (‘sleep’ is used nominally) and eating take out BBQ chicken with dust in my small packed office. Of course I get sick, and I have to ‘work’ to the sounds of a half dozen men dismantling the house. My deadline was approaching. Part of me couldn’t care because just getting breakfast together was a successful day. It was – stressful.

It all has a happy ending. Although I had managed to finish everything for the deadline, at the last minute the NFB postponed the work until just after the New Year – but that too is now in the past. The experience at the NFB was wonderful. I feel particularly grateful to the contribution made by sound technician Shelly Craig who thought this would sound great in 5.1 and found the perfect ambient track that had eluded me (I wanted cicadas – specifically tibicen canicularis because who knew that cicadas don’t all sound alike – but not so many drat birds).

And so it’s finished. And awaiting acceptance into festivals while I recover from about five years of stress. Our house looks great.