Feedback in the editing process
I like to get feedback on my work throughout the writing process, by doing readings (in front of audiences of other writers or live audiences, depending on what stage the script is in) and I started getting feedback on my rough cuts when I did Words Fail Me last year. Last weekend, I had six friends come over and we watched the latest version of the rough cut of The Deadline.
I prefer to do the screening in my apartment because then people will actually sit there and watch without distraction–it’s hard to sit through a short film when you’re home alone and your phone is beckoning to distract you (at least it is for me).
I thought it was going to take about an hour — 15 minutes to watch it and 45 minutes to discuss, but we ended up talking for about 2 hours. The feedback was really great and it allowed me to see things that were in front of me but had become invisible through repetition. And there were a couple of beats that I loved but everyone said that they should be cut. It’s heartbreaking because I really loved those parts, but they just didn’t work for the story.
And there were some notes that I will not be using. I think you shouldn’t take everything, otherwise people will feel too much responsibility when they give a note, because they know you will take it.
And sometimes there are secret reasons for doing something and you just have to trust your gut that they are for the best. Feedback should make the work stronger and make you a better editor. I wonder if mastery of editing would mean that your instincts are so refined that all feedback would be superflous.
Tony Zhou on editing
Who needs film school when you have Every Frame is a Painting? This couldn’t have come at a better time for me, as I’m getting into the exciting but difficult part of editing The Deadline.
Panel on getting constructive feedback for filmmakers
Hey, I’m speaking on a panel this weekend at CIMMcon in Chicago (the industry conference portion of CIMMfest). The panel is called “Constructive Feedback for Filmmakers (and Other Artists Too!): How to Ask For it and What to Do With It.” I’m a huge fan of getting feedback on scripts through table reads and staged readings, as well as getting feedback on rough cuts, so this should be fun.
Here’s the panel description:
Every Artist has to learn how to get feedback that actually helps their project, not just their ego. This interactive workshop teaches participants how to ask for and give constructive creative input at two critical stages of filmmaking: the script and the rough cut. Award-winning filmmaker and theater producer Keaton Wooden will discuss project feedback with filmmakers Erica Avery and Robert Carter, who participated in IFP Chicago’s intensive Screenwriter’s Workshop. Carter recently completed filming the script from the workshop and the group will put their new-found skills to the test during a live rough cut feedback session. While this panel focuses on film projects, artists of every discipline can apply this approach to their own work.
Speed up Adobe Premiere Pro with previews (how to get rid of those yellow and red lines)
I don’t know how I didn’t know about this. I’ve been trying to edit some really high-res footage from The Deadline and Premiere has been dropping frames like crazy (you can hit Ctrl-Shft-F11 to see if frames are dropping). Basically, it’s been really choppy and impossible to get into a good state of editing flow because of the choppiness.
Then I discovered that you can render previews of the footage. Basically, it’s the same as rendering an export, but you’re having Premiere render video to be used within the project. It doesn’t change the underlying source files, but it means that you can work with and edit much smaller preview files and get smoother playback in the monitor.
Here’s how you do it:
You can render any part of a sequence that falls under a red render line. You can also define a section of the sequence you want to render by setting In and Out points.
Render a preview file for a section of a sequence setting In and Out points:
1. Set In and Out points to mark the area you want to preview.
2. Choose Sequence, and select one of the following:Render Effects In to Out Renders the sections of the video tracks lying within the In and Out points containing a red render line. Alternatively, press Enter.
Render In to Out Renders the sections of the video tracks lying within the In and Out points containing either a red render line or a yellow render line.
Render Audio Renders a preview file for the sections of the audio tracks lying within the work area.
Note: You can set Premiere Pro to render the audio tracks whenever you render the video tracks. For more information, see Render audio when rendering video.
The rendering time depends on your system resources and the complexity of the segment.
These options are not available if the work area is enabled.
To maximize the quality of motion in rendered preview files, check the Maximum Render Quality option in Sequence Settings. For more information, see Settings.
Oh, and you know those yellow and red lines that you sometimes see on the timeline? Red means that Adobe thinks that you’ll have a hard time playing the footage in the monitor without dropped frames. Yellow means there’s a decent chance of dropped frames. And green (which I’ve never seen until today) means that you’re all good to go.
I feel relieved at finding this and a bit dumb for not finding it earlier.
Claude Chabrol on filmmaking
I still love and find great joy in filmmaking. The part of the job that I love the most is being on set. Thanks to the 50 unlucky people that work with me all the time, they make my joy. When I start shooting I am surrounded by these technicians and actors who do nothing but to make me happy and to share my dream. What can I want more?
and
Luckily the cinema of filmmaking did not stop with La Nouvelle Vague. Of course there are many young directors that are avant-garde nowadays. I think all over the world there are two kinds of filmmakers: those who have the inner need to make films and those who just want to be in the film industry. The second category doesn’t interest me at all, while the first one is always very interesting. Having said that, I see a lot of movies and two or three per year are very good, but the rest you can forget.
Joe Swanberg’s Keynote at SXSW on his indie film career and financing his films
I enjoyed this one just as much as the one with Mark Duplass. I really love Joe’s films and while I don’t necessarily work in his style or want to make similar films, I’ve learned a lot from his DIY career approach and the way that he’s making a living as a filmmaker without giving up creative control.
Wide-angle close ups and the Coen brothers
I’ve watched this EFIAP about eight times now. I watched it about a week before production on The Deadline started and I sent it to Nick the DP and he was like “oh man, I just watched that too!” So we ended up stealing the idea of going wide in close-ups and I’m really happy with the way it came out. You really feel like you’re there with the actors.
When I watch the scene in Tony’s video where the camera changes angles on Roger Deakins, I can actually feel an emotional difference–it’s subtle and probably most people can’t tell, but I think it’s meaningful.
I also like the way they shoot from “inside the space” between the two characters. Personally I don’t like dirty close ups because they take me out of the moment. There’s something ‘off’ about a character talking while we’re looking at the back of their head, and it always takes me out of the moment.
Here’s the video:
And here are some stills from the film. They haven’t been colored yet, but you feel like you’re right there with them. At least I do!
Sidney Lumet on theme
The question “What is this movie about?” will be asked over and over again throughout the book. For now, suffice it to say that the theme (the what of the movie) is going to determine the style (the how of the movie)… I work from the inside out. What the movie is about will determine how it will be cast, how it will look, how it will be edited, how it will be musically scored, how it will be mixed, how the titles will look, and, with a good studio, how it will be released.
Writing again
It’s good to be writing again. I took about 6 weeks off from my morning routine while I was doing development and pre-production for The Deadline.
It was just too much to wake up at 6am, write for an hour before work, do a full day at the office and then come home and work for 2-4 hours on production prep. There was a massive amount of work that had to be done with meetings, planning the shots, breaking the script down, scheduling, finding a location, hiring crew, paperwork, project management and so many emails. You only get one shot at production so better to prioritize that over writing.
Right now I have three feature screenplays in various stages of rewrites, ranging from 2nd or 3rd drafts to “done.”1 And then I have about ten other projects that have been waiting on the backburner: a short that I’d like to shoot when I’m in Europe this summer, a short doc about my friend’s dating life that may or may not have legs, a one-act play that I can knock out in a week, a book adaptation that I’m not ready to write, two bigger-budget features that I’m not ready to make, and four narrative features that are actually feasible to write and shoot on a low budget.
I’m going to take a few weeks to outline one of those features (I have about 30 pages of notes and ideas already) and then try to write a script really fast, just to see what happens when I write 90 pages in two weeks. In the meantime, I’m talking to some producers about getting one of the written scripts into development.
If I stick to writing every day, I should have 2-3 features that are more or less ready to shoot in the spring.
They’re never really done until the film is shot ↩
A surprising number of earnest conversations
One aspect of production that surprised me was the sheer earnestness to the many conversations I had in those three days on set and at the bar after we wrapped.
How many times in life do you genuinely tell someone that you appreciate their hard work, that you love working with them, that they’re doing great work, that they’re an essential part of the team, and that without them there, things would not have been half as enjoyable or successful?
In normal office jobs, this happens rarely. We might say these things sometimes to people we love romantically, but rarely to co-workers and even more rarely to someone we met just three days ago.
It’s a wonderful thing.