Hello wonderfully patient Rot community!
It appears that some time has passed since the last proper update on our progress with Chicago Rot, and for that, we owe all of you an apology. Work on this film has been such an all-consuming endeavor for so long that we’ve found ourselves victims of some sort of time perception vacuum, whereby our film, which takes place over the course of one day, has come to dominate our shared reality, thus enforcing some kind of Groundhog Day-type cycle upon our circadian rhythms. It is all very surreal and intoxicating, but one of us came up for a breath a few days ago and realized, shit, we should probably let everyone know what’s going on. A call went out, forcing the rest of us emerge from our respective work-caves, and after adjusting our eyes to that weird ball of fire in the sky, we came to realize that we should probably be more transparent about the process of finishing Chicago Rot.
So – where are we at? Grammatically, we still have not learned that it is a mistake to end questions with a preposition (proof positive of our Chicago credentials), but as far as the movie is concerned, we are very deep into our post-production process, and from an editorial standpoint, the film is picture locked! This means that the process of editing our shots into a sequence of images that comprise the film visually has been completed. Picture Lock actually happened several months ago, and all of work since then has been in the areas of sound design, music, color correction, and visual effects (VFX). Essentially, everything we shot has been put together into a whole that we are extremely proud of, so now we are augmenting those images, polishing them up, and adding the sonic elements that are going to imbue our movie, and its world, with all of the beautiful and repulsive characteristics possessed by anything with a beating heart. And Chicago Rot is nothing if not alive.
Clearly this is a critical stage of the post-production process, and we are moving as quickly as our very limited resources and unpredictable circumstances will allow; however, that said, we also absolutely refuse to compromise the high standards that we hold ourselves, and film as a medium, up to. We know everyone wants to hear a release date, but all we can honestly say for certain is that however long it takes for Chicago Rot to get completed, well… that’s just how long it takes. This is not to say that we are artificially inflating the time spent on getting the film done or that any sort of stagnancy has arisen in our camp – working on this movie is all we do, and believe me, we want it finished more than anyone (because we know how fucking good it is). But if something simply is not living up to the impossibly high caliber of work we know we are capable of, we are not going to accept it. And neither should you.
Making this film is a privilege, both in the sense that it is something very special bestowed upon a select few, and also in that it is something that has been earned. We have earned the opportunity to make this movie, and that’s not said to be self-aggrandizing, but to point out that with such an opportunity comes a responsibility to deliver something to all of you that is worth your time, your money, and your belief in us. All of us here on Rot want nothing more from life than to continue making films for as long as we are able, but we also acknowledge that filmmaking should never be a right. It must always be earned. And in order to earn the next one, Chicago Rot has to live up to every one of our ambitions, and every one of your expectations – without compromise.
We know you were hoping for something more concrete, but the simple truth of the matter is that because we lack the proper financial backing for a project of this scale, the cost of our ambition is paid in time. And the ambition is huge – much larger than we have let on. You will just have to wait a little longer to be edified as to the extent of it. But it is reasonable to expect that in the next few months you will be hearing those words that you have all been longing to hear, and that we have been working like hell in order to say with supreme confidence – Chicago Premiere.
Welcome to the year of Rot.