when you crash you'll know where your plane is
So the wrap party gave me a lot more confidence... it couldn't have been better timed, I think. Part of it is, damned if the Laika conference room isn't the best non-theater screening room I've ever had anything shown in. But most of it is, damned if I've ever had anything this pretty and possibly solid to show a group of people. Even as a rough cut with fucked sound bridges and some sloppy edits, it looks so polished. I'm now confident that I will have something to show the RACC people that will make them throw wads of cash my way to finish it up (please oh please).
And after taking yesterday "off" (not working the job, not working on the film, not even writing) I dragged myself out to the studio today and sat my ass down in front of Open again. The wrap party crew got to see two versions, one which follows the script (ending with the scene at the window) and the other which reverses the last two scenes and ends at the beach instead. I knew which one I was leaning toward, and I knew why, but I got to hear from just about everybody as to why they felt (generally pretty strongly) one way or the other about things.
I'm the worst judge of this, and the worst judge of the "success" of my film as a story, but it felt good, because it felt like people were connecting with it and had strong feelings for the characters and for where we end our time with them. Some saw the window as the punch in the gut, others as ambiguous, others as a downer. Some saw the beach as the uplifting hopeful ending, others saw that one as the downer ending, and others saw it as even more "open-ended" than the window scene. I tallied all the opinions, debated many of them, and I think I know how I want it to end. I feel better about veering from the script now.
And so: I've been cutting.
Unrelated, three songs I've had stuck in my head over and over lately:
And after taking yesterday "off" (not working the job, not working on the film, not even writing) I dragged myself out to the studio today and sat my ass down in front of Open again. The wrap party crew got to see two versions, one which follows the script (ending with the scene at the window) and the other which reverses the last two scenes and ends at the beach instead. I knew which one I was leaning toward, and I knew why, but I got to hear from just about everybody as to why they felt (generally pretty strongly) one way or the other about things.
I'm the worst judge of this, and the worst judge of the "success" of my film as a story, but it felt good, because it felt like people were connecting with it and had strong feelings for the characters and for where we end our time with them. Some saw the window as the punch in the gut, others as ambiguous, others as a downer. Some saw the beach as the uplifting hopeful ending, others saw that one as the downer ending, and others saw it as even more "open-ended" than the window scene. I tallied all the opinions, debated many of them, and I think I know how I want it to end. I feel better about veering from the script now.
And so: I've been cutting.
Unrelated, three songs I've had stuck in my head over and over lately:
- Catherine Wheel, "Strange Fruit"
("I've been inside this fruit when juices flow...") - The Eels, "Mental"
("They say I'm mental but I'm just confused; they say I'm mental but I've been abused; they say I'm mental 'cause I'm not amused by it all...") - Subtle, "The No"
("When you crash you'll know where your plane is...")