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…
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