One of the biggest takeaways I’ve had from finishing our film Table for One is to fall out of love with it. When I say finishing, I’m referring to the post-production process between locking the edit and the finished product. I hope everyone loves their finished movie :)
It’s a strange transition that happens from looking at your rough cut and thinking “this is exactly the way it should be,” to sitting in the color grade thinking, “we got some major sound work to do.” Falling out of love happened pretty fast and natural for me, and as terrifying as it was, in the end it made our film that much better. Once you convince yourself that nothing works, and the only tools at your disposal are music, color grading, and sound, it’s amazing what creative solutions your team can come up with to “fix” these “issues.” It feels a bit like having one arm tied behind your back, but sometimes restrictions create the greatest results. I’m not saying throw the baby out with the bathwater, but it’s so easy to go through the finishing process and end up with a cleaned up version of your offline. Fall out of love with your performances, fall out of love with your cinematography, fall out of love with your amazing direction, and tell yourself this doesn’t connect well enough. What can you do to engage the viewer more? It’s scary but exciting to admit that what you have made is imperfect. It’s going to happen eventually so might as well do it before it’s too late.
The elephant in the room is none of this is possible if you don’t have a great team to collaborate and lean on. It’s the amazing composer’s voice, the great colorist’s eye, and the brilliant sound designer’s ear that make this all possible. And finally it’s your partner & co-conspirator the producer that gives you the time, access, and leash to discover these possibilities.
Jesse
April 24, 2012, 12:32pm Comments
