Right first time every time...

One of the by-lines that I have adopted for this film is Right First Time Every Time. It emphasizes the usefulness of a well-made jig, as well as encouraging efficiency. Of course we all know that very often workshop life (or life in general for that matter) isn't like that, but I still think it's a good maxim. Indeed you can read in the previous pages the many attempts we have made to get things right.

We must be getting better though, we got loads done yesterday, more than I'd planned to,.and I think only one scene required more than 2 takes. Several were, indeed, right first time.

There has been one fly in the ointment, this week, however, and that is I have a sore eye. I went for a routine eye examination on Thursday, and came out having been told they may have to admit me to hospital. Not what I was expecting!. Fortunately my sore eye was a lot better by Friday afternoon, so my incarceration has been put off. However, I can't see very much, I can't edit what we've shot, and I'm writing this not being able to see the screen very clearly - it's all very frustrating. In addition, I can't drive, so I can't retrieve my nice new saw fence rails from the sprayers.

After nearly fifty years I should be used to having dodgy eyes, but every time something like this happens, it's still an inconvenience. I suppose that it's a testament to modern medicine that for most of the time I don't have any problems, certainly far fewer than I used to have, say, 25 years ago; it's all too easy to take for granted the fact that shortcomings can be fixed by the NHS. I always remind myself that I'm lucky to have been born in a developed country in the second half of the 20th century. If I had lived a hundred years ago I'd be selling matches on street corners.

Bob can't make filming next Friday, so, eyesight permitting, I have some time to clear the backlog of footage. I think I'm more than half way through this first DVD, so notwithstanding the setbacks, I'm still bullish.

Whether it will ever be a financial success is another matter. I was looking at my books this week too, it's scary what has gone out, and neither I nor Bob are being paid for our time. I'm going to have to sell one heck of a lot of DVDs in order to retire to the Caribbean. I told Bob we all have to suffer for our art, to which he replied he didn't mind suffering for his art, it was suffering for someone else's that is the problem. Good point...