SURVEILLANCE FILM Post-Production Update

 

Since the last update on this blog, production of Surveillance Film has been completed, and post-production is well underway. 

The majority of the principal photography took place on Saturday, December 15, in Baltimore, Maryland, when Cullen Gallagher and I recorded our conversation about the relationship between cinema and surveillance. This conversation (shot with the Zoom camera designed for recording music performances) forms the structure of the film, which is interspersed with selected silent film clips and original footage that I shot myself (some with the Google Pixel 5 smartphone camera, others with a $20 camcorder purchased at a bargain outlet store). 

The rough cut of the picture edit was completed in January 2025, and the process has now moved on to the final stage of scoring the film and finalizing the sound mix. Cullen is composing and recording an original score for the film, which will accompany the original video and found footage segments. There may be voice-over narration recorded for the opening segment of the film, although I am still debating how I will handle that. I may opt for on-screen text, or I may opt for leaving entirely as-is. The flexibility of making an experimental film allows for this kind of freedom to try different approaches and see what works.

Once the final stages of post-production are completed, Surveillance Film will be released directly to YouTube later in 2025. Hopefully I will have more details to report about the release date in the spring. In the meantime, check back here for other updates, which will likely include sneak peeks at still images from the film and eventually a teaser trailer.