editing

[norman-normal]

how do you do it? I mean day after day after day after day of trying to get it right, and then technical problem after technical problem. It takes so much time! and all for what? For some half arsed 'its worth it in the end?' is it really?
Is all the organising and self effacement, the time, effort and money, the hassle, the re-organising, the broken promises, the lack of money, not spending time with your girlfriend/wife, is it worth it?
If so why?
Can anyone supply a real reason and not a bullshit reason?

[mbankhead]

cause without it there would be no film.

[his Dudeness]

What can I say? You need to be constantly evaluating the situation, at each stage.

When you've finished writing the script - are you happy with it? If not, identify where and why you aren't, then rewrite.

There's no point in going ahead until you're happy with the script. Get feedback from educated people whose opinion you value, and make improvements.

Once the script is a film YOU would like to see on screen, start thinking about the practicals - locations, and most importantly actors. The wrong actor could destroy your carefully planned and written dialogue.

Once the above are in place and you are happy with all elements, the actual shooting should be planned out in details, with shot lists that allow you to watch the film in your head before it exists.

If all the above is done methodically, the editing should not be overly taxing.

Do not rush though, because don't forget - Hollywood pros who do this for a living spend many months on each stage of the above. If you think you can whizz through each stage and end up with a quality product you're sadly mistaken. Film-making is hard at the best of times. Making a decent film is akin to climbing Mount Everest.

I think it's called 'Natural Selection'.

The last part is: don't give up!

[norman-normal]

each stage is equally important to the other.
Every single stage is important, mess one bit up and you mess up the whole thing.
Strewth!
Thanks for the support guys.
At the end of the day I guess you are right. Without it there would be no film- thats kind of the bottom line, and no one in their right might tries to scale everest on their own.....

[deanl]

I love editing. For me its the most enjoyable part of the filmmaking process. Putting all your little pieces together. Working with the dialog. Adding music and sound effects I love it. Actualy seeing your movie come alive infront of your eyes.

It's Magic man Im telling you.

Maybe editing is just not for you. Get some one else to chop your movie. Let them deal with it. Then let them hand you back your movie.

[marti-c]

Editing to me is very similar to putting together a very difficult jigsaw puzzle. Th main problem is when do you stop. I believe that a project is never perfect but only abandoned at a certain time. The reason most projects look shit after editing is that they havent been shot with editing in mind.

ALWAYS SHOOT TO EDIT
marti

[ilpostino]

Because you love it, you know you do but it's hard, then if it was easy everyone would be doing it.

I enjoy editing but I do turn into kind of a recluse whislt in edit mode. It's even harder when most of your family don't understand what your doing and there's a life style clash, but then moving out isn't an option at the moment. I moved back in to save money and give me a better chance at this so catch 22 man, one day one day...

[Curtin-Parloe]

I love editing! There's nothing like joining a load of clips, filmed at different times, together to make a single scene! I just wish I was good at it!

The big thing was when I finished shooting. My wife said "did you enjoy your little hobby, dear?", and then I disappeared for 12 hours. When she saw the draft edit she was gobsmacked. "I didn't realise it would be any good!"

Cheers

Paul

[norman-normal]

hmmm.......
Im talking more like 12 months to edit.
perhaps I really am mad after all.

[Curtin-Parloe]

I'm the mad one - it's a 3 minute short. It was meant to be 5 minutes but I've made it a bit more zippy! I'm using a PC as well, so I don't have to get it all digitised (I do, but I use a camcorder and a capture card)
If you're using an NLE, then once you've got it on the PC/AVID etc, it's a simple job to get a rough edit of a small amout, but getting it interesting is, well, interesting...
The thing is I keep having to come at it from fresh, it's been about 2 months!

Don't give up!

Paul

BAD EYE - Coming soon (I hope!)