I’ve been putting away some projects for other people, and now the rush to do so caused by my craving to work on my own. I do have feelings of responsibility and obligation to my clients first and foremost, no matter how much my id pushes me, the super-ego betters myself and keeps the trains on time. Now that these other projects are finalizing and I have the free time available to me, doing a deep dive edit like the old days fits my internal agenda perfectly.
In the past three days, I’ve completed almost 80% of the edit of this new short film, which will be the longest “short” I have ever made.
I am already eyeballing whole sections for possible deletion. Pretension pervades too many short films that I have seen. I must not fall into that trap. Loving one’s own material usually ends in film only the filmmaker can enjoy.
I shifted my method a little more. I trim the clips as I re-watch a lot faster now. I used to watch it over and over, feeling the rhythm of the piece more and then internalizing that before using the razor tool. Now I’m hesitating less and less, just brutally chopping out frames, seconds, even minutes of material.
At the same time, pouring over the improvised interviews for this mockumentary, I find myself finalizing segments that otherwise might have waited, or simply been supplemental material. This is so much fun. I am having a blast playing with material, puzzling pieces together, reshaping them and putting them together in different ways. I am blessed with good material from talented collaborators.
If I keep up the current pace, I’ll be done before November 1st, not January 1st.
0 Comments