Dig: Post-Production Part 2

While taking a short break from editing each night, I'm going to try and take the time to write up a quick post. I'll never do it if I wait till the end of the night and this, at least, gives you a sense of me in the thick of it.

Tonight is going much better than last night. I'm humming right along, I'm cutting action, things seem to be working better for me and I have a much clearer image in my head of what this is. Like a first draft of the script, it's important that I keep going, relying mostly on instinct and not second-guessing myself too often. This is a first cut, not a final cut, and if I try and perfect things too much it'll take me forever. In essence, this is my vomit cut.

I started by cutting the two scenes I started last night which is mostly non-dialogue action. Do to a few continuity issues it took some time to get the cuts where they needed to be, but I think it's a pretty good rough cut. A little long and there is a chance that I'll need to go back and shoot some pick ups but we'll see.

A big part of this scene in particular is how the scene before it ends (which I haven't cut yet) and the music. Music, during particular sequences, will be a huge part of this film and it's not easy to cut without it, especially early on. Eventually, through time and practice, I figure out the rhythm of the film and can almost hear the music in my head as I cut it. But that takes time to get there. Meanwhile, I'll throw this down, move on, and come back to it as I finesse the cuts.

My goal was to finish that scene tonight. I don't want to push myself too hard (I already find myself taking more breaks than I should) as it's a little like writing at the moment - it's very easy to find an excuse to not do it. However, I finished that fairly early on and have moved onto the follow scene. Again, a heavy action scene, but the one I was most worried about.

It was the scene we shot on Day 01, which took forever to shoot (you'll learn more about this in the production journal) and had me really worried about whether the action would cut together. Fortunately, it's all coming together nicely, and has a narrative flow to it, making it easier to cut the action. My hope is that I'll be able to finish a version of this scene tonight, which would be a nice little surprise.

I'm humming right along.