Filmmaker's Diary (The Editing days)

"Film is a battleground."
– Sam Fuller

So we had our filming days...

For more context, you can read the previous article here:
( https://steemit.com/filmmaker/@maxjoy/filmmaker-s-diary-the-shooting-days )

Then after a couple of days (I was editing another video during that time) I had a look at the footage... and I must tell you... it was as if my soul left my body. ( If you have read any of my previous Posts you know what a journey it has been. )

I had messed up. This video has been facing blockages for a year and for some reason on the day of shooting I mess it up. The footage was barely usable... I couldn't make any thing out of it.

This was a gigantic blow to my ego... and ... I just shut down that day. (Funny enough my girlfriend was on quite a bad mood that day too. )

So... I wake up the next day, do some stretching and breathing, take a shower and had a couple of eggs. I look in the mirror and said" I had to fix this."

"Being an artist means not having to avert one’s eyes."
– Akira Kurosawa

The decision is made.

I need and extra day for Re-shoots. Keep in mind that I had to wait a year in order to have two shooting days... So I wasn't loving the notion of going back. This was also the first time in my life where I had to re-shoot.

But I had to do what I had to do.

As Corman told Cameron " Sometimes films are made in post-production"

Long story short... we end up filming one more day.

We went back to the woods, where there where people in wolf masks dancing to cheesy music on top of rocks. And where there is a micro climate making it extremely windy and cold. Yeah, that place...

One of the actors could not come ( actually his character is always wearing a mask, so I decided I would just do it. So I didn't ask him but he was giving a concert that day)

The guy who's this video is for, could not come either... I really wanted to re-shoot a scene where he appears in front of the camera...

But well, the Director of photography ( Who was about to become a father) and the actress could and those where the two essencial people. Since it took so long the first time, I decided just to do it that day instead of waiting for someday. So me the actress, the Dp and my girlfriend, who was a production assistant, props and make up, went back to the scene of the crime.

First thing I see when the actress came out of her car is that she had coloured her hair... yeah... you could not make this up...

In the end it well quite well... we where way more efficient and got the shoots.

Then we had another scene, left to film, that was to take place in a cemetery. We had no time so I decided to shoot it in my living room, changed it a bit and kept the narrative impact of it.

I forget who said it, but I was listening to some podcast and the guy asked "What's your advice for a young filmmaker?" His answer went something like this:

"Well... you know that scene that you love and you've been abscessing about... That scene that takes place inside the club and you've imagined every detail about the club... And the club is crucial for the story ... well... my advice is, be ready to shoot that club scene, in the street next to your house"

To be continued ...

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(All images (except logo) From pixabay.com)