Day 14 Editing
Day 13 Shooting
Day 12 Driving home through heavy, sticky traffic
I'm still pulling together the entire story of my film, still in rough
cut mode. I'm just beginning to set boundaries and eliminating
individuals wholesale, because the film isn't long enough to include
more than a certain number of faces and voices. I don't know what that
number is, but I've already eliminated 1 of 4 key interviews I did with
potters. I found that when I introduced each person at the beginning
of the film, one individual didn't fit. It was an odd experience that I
had never had before and I it hit me like a vague itch as I was
assembling the cut. It was completely apparent when I saw it full
blown, along with my class, during the screening I reported on a few
episodes ago.
It's one of those gut feelings you need to cultivate. As painful as
these choices are, I know that hanging on to scenes, footage or
characters that don't move the story ahead is like driving full speed
ahead into a mud-hole. And nobody wants that.
Wise or not, I chose to give up a night I would otherwise be editing,
in order to attend a series of talks at school by professional editors
and filmmakers. Jay Rose was one of the highlights, as was Michael Phillips
of Avid. The main message was geared towards the younger students,
about finding your way into the media business, even if it means being
a coffee toting intern. The critical thing to achieve is contacts and
develop a set of work references that will lead you to your ultimate
goal.
Five speakers, they all said the same thing: Be persistent and persevere.
The next day I used my evening to take some hirez stills at Sawmill Pottery,
Dot Burnworth's studio. I have great interview footage of Dot, but I
had to leave early the day of the shoot and got very little B-roll,
particularly of her work.
One of things I realize I must, must, must do going forward, whenever I
finish a shoot, is right away, within 24 hours at the most, review the
footage. I didn't and a lot of time passed before I reviewed it. When I
did and realized I had little to no B-roll (poor planning and poor
execution) and by then it was too late to arrange a 2nd shoot. The best
I could do was take digital stills and use them in a pan and zoom
effect. I haven't tried this in HD before, so I will have to see how
well it works. It better work, because I'm counting on B-roll to hide a
lot of jump cuts.
