Footage back.

I picked up the film from Wal-Mart about 30 minutes ago. $31 including tax for 6 reels of processing is pretty cheap, all things considered. Shipping both ways (if you used a normal lab) would cost at least $15-20 by itself, not including lab fees. Wal-Mart's processing via Dwayne's is roughly half the cost of anywhere else (which is good, since Dwayne's is the only lab serving the US that offers K40 processing).

I'm struggling with the urge to load some of the footage in my Elmo projector and see how it turned out, but I have to hold off until I'm ready to transfer to miniDV, since each projection introduces dust, hairs, and scratches on the emulsion. I did sneak a peek at the first few frames of one of the reels and it looks fantastic - sharp, saturated colors and good lighting. The only scene I'm really worried about is the forest sequence near the beginning - there were some areas that were very bright and others that were comparatively very dark. Also, the shots were framed wider than I would have preferred. I hope the character's face is visible, since it's critical for that scene. I should transfer the film tomorrow, and start editing by Saturday at the latest.