When is enough… enough?
November 1, 2008
How do you know when you should quit editing? I wish you could tell me. I know I am close but…
Ever feel this way. I know I have. And well in fact feel it right now. I am in the process of finishing a short documentary on Kaziah - the prolific artist who has painted over 500 fallen soldiers.
My first cut came in at 52 minutes. Not bad but Sundance has a cut off of 50 minutes if I wanted to submit it as a short film. And I think I do as it is really a short feature, it doesn’t have enough time to play in a theater and quite frankly, the story doesn’t lend itself to much more. In other words, I would be forcing the story if I tried to make it a 70 minute film.
So, I found myself in this really interesting position. I knew I could shave off 2 minutes to make it, but wanted to invite group of trusted individuals to view it. You know, make sure it was working. Well after the screening, I received such great notes and wonderful feedback, I began to believe I had an uncut diamond in my hands. On person even said, “you know this could really have a chance for a short Oscar.”
Well, it doesn’t take much for me to take on a challenge - or to stroke my ego. So that meant I had to cut it to under 40 minutes to make that qualification! That is a whopping 12 minutes.
I find myself sitting in front of the computer saying… is it worth it? Can I do it? Where do I begin.
Well a great editor and good friend suggested that I sit down and watch every single scene and ask myself what it adds to the film. He suggested that I then write down everything. Read it and see what the film says. GREAT ADVICE!!!! So I am off to do it and hope that the 40 minute version will emerge.
Fingers crossed.
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http://kaziahthedocumentary.moonfruit.com/#
good luck in making the right editing choice. I myself am so conflicted and confused when some people advise me to make some changes to my scripts and others say, ‘no, leave it the way it is– it’s fine.’
people say, trust your gut/instinct, but I don’t know what a gut feeling is supposed to be like. oh well
I think the best thing you can do when you ask for someones trusted opinion and they give it to you is look at what they are commenting about. I have noticed with this cut a few people hit “speed bumps” in the film and they all were in the same spots. Now some people said I need to correct it by doing this, or that. I take those suggestions with a grain of salt, but if more than one person comments at the same point in the film (or script in your instance), I tend to think that part could be worked out better.
As far as instincts, we have been going around on a name FOREVER and just this weekend came back to the one we started with… Kaziah the Goat Woman. It turns out that most times your first thought, idea, “instinct” is your best.
Best of luck Ugly Punk Gurl!