Someone actually watched Secret Thoughts of Angels on YouTube this week and was kind enough to leave a comment. I was almost beside myself with excitement as I saw the automated e-mail sitting there in my inbox.

Ignoring my son’s protests, he was less than impressed that his morning glass of milk was being delayed, I could barely contain my excitement as I clicked the link in the mail to read what profound and wise words someone might have left me (why they couldn’t have actually included the comment in the e-mail, I’m not quite sure).

As Safari lurched into action (I really, really need to get a new Mac), the anticipation grew to fever pitch and questions tumbled through my mind. What would they say, who would it be? A top producer, perhaps, having seen the true genius of my work and offering heartfelt congratulations on a fantastic film? A Hollywood A list celebrity raving about the sheer awesoneness of the film and begging me to direct them in their next blockbuster?

It was from someone called Sotylover, who said…

“I don’t get it.”

Bugger.

Thank you Sotylover for watching the film, I appreciate you taking the time to do so. Sorry you didn’t get it. Not sure what else to say really…

Meanwhile, in the real world of flesh and blood and proper names,†things have been very busy for me of late. Three gigs in eight days with the band, plus a bit of a manic time getting stuff sorted out for the Digifest, plus family, plus work, plus finishing touches to House of Donn has left with barely enough time to think.

Denis came round on Tuesday and we went through the film, grading the image. He seemed pleased with some of the changes I’d made since his last visit, which I was in turn pleased about as I felt I’d pushed it perhaps a bit too far in places. Apparently not.

So now, as far as I’m concerned, the film is complete. I’ve run it though DV Film Maker (with the trusty h.264 codec) and it’s looks lovely. This week I registered it for Raindance, so I’ll pop it in the post to there tomorrow…

As part of the Digifest fun and frolics, fellow KFKers Clayton and Colin are preparing to shoot a 5 minute short and get it ready for the event. I’d not immediately jumped up and offered my services to help out as, when it was first discussed, I had no idea how much more work I’d need to do to get HoD complete for the same evening.

However, a rare appearance from David Motta at the KFK meeting on Wednesday resulted in him recommending me to edit the film (which I was reet chuffed with!) and with HoD complete, I couldn’t really say no.

Then I realised last night that it’ll all be down to me to get the thing finished on time. Zoiks.

I don’t think it’ll last much more than five minutes, although this is coming from the guy who thought House of Donn would be ’six or seven minutes tops’ (it’s 14 and a half). They are shooting in one day, although with the tried and tested formula of Denis and David on Camera and Sound the results should be of a high quality.

I’m quite looking forward to my first gig just as an editor, it’ll be a strange experience coming in with no preconceptions about the film. Could be a very useful little exercise.

I’m also still wondering what the hell I’m going to do next projectwise. I’ve got loads of ideas but none really stick out as the next obvious thing to do.

There’s the joint book adaptation project, but the likelihood of that getting beyond the completed script stage is almost zero (but you never know!). I’ll just keep plugging away at that one, I guess. I’m still not even halfway through making notes on the book yet, but I do understand it a lot more now…

On the more practical filmmaking-I-can-conceivably-do-without-a-multi-million-dollar-budget side of things, I’ve offered to help another KFKer, Kadir, develop his short script, which I can see has a lot of potential. He’s also looking for someone to direct it as he’d like to act in it (which is good as it’s about an Iraqi immigrant who’s life falls apart around him, and I don’t know any other Iraqi’s apart from him!) but I’m not sure if I’m right for it. It would be a very powerful story, but it would need a lot of care not to descend into patronising cliche. I’ll see how the script dev goes.

Speaking of scripts, I really wanted to go down to the Screenwriters Festival down in Cheltenham next week (28th onwards). But with House of Donn using up the holiday days I had spare this year I’ve had to forego the pleasures of materclasses with such luminaries as Julian Fellowes, Jimmy McGovern and Guillermo Del Toro. Hopefuly they’ll do another one next year.