Enough already!

So I did it. You know the saying, it takes a village? Well, I am happy to say it does and it did. I have worked this little gem of a film into a tight 38 minute piece that really sings. And boy was it hard.

I have to say there are some really good scenes that are sitting on my cutting room floor. Oh, if you could only see the grave yard scene. It rocks! But… at last, it won’t be there. Or the 3rd and 4th birth! So good and so much drama. They too hit the cutting room floor.

My friend was right, it is all about what moves the film. How do you keep the emotional drama moving?

I had the distinct honor of showing the 42 minute version of the film to Michael S. Murphy who rocked my world. Yeah, go ahead, check out his credits and then come back to me. He looked at me at the end of the show, giggled and said, “You have no problem knocking out two minutes.”

I quivered and I quaked. This cut was becoming utterly precious to me. EVERY shot was important and said something - whether anyone noticed or cared - but I did.

He went on to remind me that VO from a talking head can slide easily under my establishing shots. And we don’t really need to see Kaziah walk from here to there. It is OK to move some time.

Being an “artist” I found throughout the cutting process it difficult to cut up shots too much as I didn’t want to over manipulate the audience so many of my shots ran - what some might call - long. (I would call European.) I was able to see his point in many of his notes. A few, I reserved my right to my decision and didn’t speed up the shot 300%. That felt just a little too, I don’t know, MTV.

All in all, I heard the film. It really did speak to me and said… BACK OFF. It is time to fly.

I should be hearing from Sundance any day now…