Finished assembling/first cut of the opening scene.
It holds together very well. And lo and behold the ‘original’ cut assembly wasn’t all wasted – I ended up using large chunks of it and modifying other parts of it to fit into the new whole.
“Leap and the net will appear.”Julia Cameron
I’ve been editing the opening sequence over the week-end. So, yes, I’ve started editing the second last day of the shoot (not counting day 6 since that was a ‘repeat’ of the shoot). Nearly there…Very nervous – this is it – this is how the film opens – I hadn’t watched the scene since we had shot it.
Some amazing stuff – Danielle cries on cue - all in close up – even at low resolution you can see several tears welling in her eyes and cascading down her cheeks – this was one take –I worked the whole sequence around it.
Her panic and tears are dramatically countered by Luke’s and Chris’ cold and Zen-like manner. Hot and cold. Shocking and arresting. Love it.
For a writer/director, it doesn’t get any better than this; this was the way I wrote it – this is the way it was performed and shot – this is how it plays in the edit. I got to enjoy it three times.
So I cut - remember we’ve got ten cameras – cut - shot angles – cut - many takes – cut- reaction shots –cut – shouts – cut – screams –cut –ECU - cut– soundscape – cut etc etc…
And I made a complete mess of things… not just a little mess but huge utter custard of images and sounds – you’d think I had just got the program out of the box and started editing that day. I’ve been doing this now for over three months – on any other scene I can drive that thing like a F1 car. Usually, I’ve been working with vision from a minimum of five cameras to handling up to 8 to 10 video tracks – I’m a high performance machine.
[As an aside – I do not refer to my script as I edit – so the continuity is all in my head and based on the good take.]
This should be a cinch yet the beautiful designer baby had turned out into a monster…
How could this be?What happen I think is that as I worked around the performance I lost track of the logic of the scene – my mind couldn’t recall what happened when and where and…disaster.
I looked at it – I’ve been working on this scene the longest of all – tweaking every nuance. Fourteen hours over three days of solid work.
My eyes were stinging – my mind was numb. My heart was – well - bleeding lifelessly on the floor...
Late Sunday night - I started back from scratch. Yes – threw it all out.
Still not there yet – but as is the case, I’m rediscovering the scene and I can tell you that there are more great moments…it rocks.
[yet to edit the closing sequence – I will have to watch my step there too.]
Nearly there boys and girl – nearly there – I hope I can surprise you all with the finished product.
Will keep all posted…
Had a great session yesterday – till 1 am – fantastic stuff...sounds images cuts, cuts, performances...
I was enthralled by everything - and I’m tough audience - usually fall asleep watching action flicks (don't ask)...
I’m either extremely deluded or I got something special – time will tell.
CHW came over for lunch a sneak previews...if any one's interested in seeing some rough cut footage drop me a line...No i didn't tell him the real name of the film or show him the opening credits(!)
Chris (‘Paris’) Hilton-Woods left a message on my voicemail saying cast and crew are at the studio all waiting for me to do pick ups (!)
I wish…
Anyway – this was funny because:
1. We shot a s*&^load of footage…who needs pick ups.
2. if everyone was on set – they probably wouldn’t wait for me and go ahead and shoot something; I’d like to think that this is because everyone is so prepared and has a clear idea of what I want as a director – and not because they think I'm an idiot who should not be listened to (!) and that indeed I can make a creative contribution.
3. We shot a s*&^load of footage…who needs pick ups.
Looking good. Looking very good.
Last night I was working my way through day 3 and 4 footage– Crikey we shot a s*&%load…who was the maniac director? Man, I was knackered just logging.
Isn’t it interesting? In retrospect you think – good enough take – but on the day –I can get better – or I need better than this – mind you it doesn’t hurt to have the footage for one reason or another (technical (camera, sound), performance (never!), variety)…
Day 3 was a particularly interesting day – full of cooing pigeons and barking dogs;
What I find interesting – because I never noticed on the day – is to see the actors’ reactions up close before “action” and after “cut”.
The shear fury in Danielle’s eye every time we had to cut and go for a further take – is a short film itself - and here I was worried she was too sweet-looking. Hell hath no fury like an actress upstaged by cooing pigeons…
To be fair - she wasn’t he only one with daggers in her eyes – I could see fury and rage even in lovely Luke’s visage. Reckon it all improved their performances…
The only one to take it on the chin was Chris – unfazed by this or that problem – he just kept putting his performance out…very Zen.
It is a strange feeling making a film I get to spend so much time on my own - writing first, then reliving it all in the editing.
I still miss production and the shoot – not as bad as previously – I don’t have ‘withdrawal symptoms’ – but I am itching to go at it again…I will have a first draft script by X-mas.
There, scoop.
The other night I thought that a particular card (the 'leading' Red camera none other!) had not been digitised (Nooooo….)
Yeah, I know why would I think that with such an efficient and reliable onset postproduction crew? Well – to cut a long story short – all the other cameras recorded the card/shots – Blue and Green had the card and the log book had it recorded but the red Card was nowhere to be found on my hard drives…And I was certain I had transferred all the cards across to the Firewire HDD (see this post)
I then checked the original slave drives and lo and behold it was there.
Anyway – it was a painless exercise to then import the folder and edit.
Again, I’d like to thank all those involved in designing the system – it wasn’t perfect – and may do it differently next time - but things in the post have worked out well so far.
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