Post-Production
Editing the film began in September of 1989. We spent weekdays shooting and editing TV ads, switching to the movie after-hours and on weekends.

The movie had been shot on the go-to video production format of the day: ¾ inch videotape. While there were higher quality options available for video, we did not have access to them (or could have afforded to rent them). The tapes for shooting were large (roughly the size of a brick) but only held 20 minutes of footage. By the time the movie was complete we had amassed nearly 200 tapes, or about 4,000 minutes of footage.

This was long before the days of nonlinear editing (e.g., Avid, Premiere), so in the edit room we had large tape machines that shuttled the video, one cassette at a time, as we searched for the right shot and the best take. This moment was then edited onto another longer “master” tape. If we wanted to try another take from another reel, we’d eject the shooting tape (took about 5-7 seconds for it to pop out), insert the new tape (another 5-7 seconds to load up) and then begin shuttling through the tape to find the new shot. There was no way to quickly look at 2 or 3 different options as there is these days—it was all very manual and painstakingly slow.

But we plodded on, building scene after scene, sometimes having the actors in the edit room to re-record dialogue that had location sound issues. Some days were spent creating the sound design, adding birds, distant lawnmowers, forest sounds—and we’d occasionally drive out to distant wooded areas to record new sounds.

Throughout these many months, accompanying us in the editing room was Doug’s wife, Lori. She was there for nearly every hour—providing another perspective and voice. And often, as the night wore on, she’d curl up on the floor of the tiny editing space and fall asleep while we worked on.

Two additional one-day shoots were also added in the early winter and spring of 1990, as it was deemed a few scenes were needed to complete the story. 

Eventually, in the spring of 1990, there was a finished movie and a cast and crew premiere in Salem, Oregon.

“Things that seemed strange yesterday become so much stranger in time.”

Robert Blanche, “A Stranger in Time” song

We created three basic musical themes for the movie. The first was composed by Doug on a synth keyboard and was used for the higher drama parts of the movie.

The Music
We created three basic musical themes for the movie. The first was primarily composed by Doug on a synth keyboard and was used for the higher drama parts of the movie (in most cases).

The second musical theme was the solo acoustic guitar used primarily for quieter, tender moments. These were played by the brilliant Portland musician Greg Paul (from the band Sing Sing Sleepwalker). Greg arrived at Dogfish Sound recording studio with his guitar and, while watching clips, recorded 7-8 numbers for the movie in a matter of a few hours. After chatting with Dennis for a few minutes about the approach—he would watch the scene while recording a track on the fly.

The two original songs in the movie were composed by Robert Blanche from the popular Portland band Boys Next Door. Robert wrote and recorded the title song “A Stranger in Time” and “Not So Far Away,” the track that was used for the closing credits. Both of those songs were also recorded at Dogfish Sound by producer Drew Canulette (Soundgarden, Chris Cornell).

Lastly, as a sort of odd-man out—musically speaking—director Dennis Rockney played acoustic guitar to the bluesy harmonica of Dave Tebeau for a song that was used during the “Swimming Hole” scene.