I’ve now completed my backwards pass through SToA and I’m much happier with the results. I’ve completely re-edited some scenes, looking for better performances from the actors and more dramatic ways of cutting it together, and others I’ve just trimmed and tweaked. It’ll still need further work, but for now I can concentrate on shooting the extra footage for the opening sequence.
I’m also reading through Kerl Reisz and Gavin Millar’s ‘The Technique of Film Editing’ at the moment, which is proving very useful. Even though it’s about 50 years old and been republished more times than I’ve had hot dinners, it still holds a lot of excellent ideas, some of which seem to be getting lost in our pop video culture.
It’s strange as I didn’t think I’d still be learning as much about the whole filmmaking process as I am at this stage. I thought it would be a case of simply learning how to use Avid, knock off a quick short and away we go. But the more I think about it and edit the film, the more I realise my shortcomings as a director and a writer.
I’m really starting to appreciate the whole idea of visual storytelling, and I’m learning things that, although I might have worked out eventually had I not done this, would have taken me a lot longer had I stuck to writing alone. In fact the editing stage for me has been the hardest and the most exciting, in terms of realising what I can actually achieve on future projects.
So I’m starting to err on the side of those who say that if you want to write for the screen, you have to have made a film. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t, but it’ll get you a lot further down the road than simply sitting at your PC staring at MMS or Final Draft or Sophocles. And it’ll give you a much better appreciation of what the other people you work with (directors, AD’s etc) have to go through.
3 comments
DJ says:
October 11, 2005 at 4:42 pm (UTC 1 )
It is amazing to me the never ending recomendations on what it takes to make a film, or write a script etc. I appreciate your comments and have to agree that making a film for me is improving my screenwriting abilities. I am shooting my independant feature Ride To Live and as I do so find myself understanding more thoroughly what I am putting on paper as I do re-writes. I also do my own editing and find the same applies here. Cool Stuff.
http://www.notimewasted.blogspot.com
Andy says:
October 11, 2005 at 11:07 pm (UTC 1 )
Thanks DJ, I think your motto is excellent, I’ve been subconsiously running on the same one – especially since I hit 30! Good luck with the movie.
Marie Franklin says:
October 20, 2005 at 9:51 pm (UTC 1 )
With the internet, almost anybody can be a screenwriter. All the blogs are very helpful, but so are the websites like http://www.scriptbandit.com