The art has its reasons...

First off --
Happy Birthday, Jenny!

Secondly --
I think I should start a running list for next time: What Not to Do!

I suppose it could have positive things on it as well -- surely I must be seeing more than what I did "wrong" as a director... right? Let me think... Is there anything I think I actually did right on this film? Hmmm...

In any case, What Not to Do Next Time #394:
Do not block a scene with two people working at the same counter or stove without the ability to shoot from the other side of the counter or stove! I mean, unless there is some artful reason to use their backs.

In S & B, I did not have an artful reason to use their BACKS, for heaven's sake. I mean, I had would-be artful reasons for doing a lot of things that others will think were accidental, I suspect, but having BACKS TO CAMERA was not one of them.

Also -- #4,632 -- Do not shoot actors in profile without having them "cheat" towards the camera a little.

I guess I could phrase that one in a positive way: when shooting in profile, have the actors cheat toward camera a little (unless an artful reason to do otherwise).

This reminds me of that Pascal phrase I love so much: "The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing." In this case, though, it's art, not heart, of which reason knows nothing. Ha ha?

ahem.

Anyway -- I have been better about editing than about blogging, but it's also true that I'm finding it harder to stay out of my new garden than I expected (pictures on my Facebook page). AND I've developed that Minnesota/Northern Territories disorder, PWSD (Post-Winter Stress Disorder), which manifests itself with the primary symptom of the occasional plaintive, desperate cry in a doorway, vis., "Please don't make me go inside!!" I'm terrified that I'll wake up tomorrow and it will be cold and dark again, that June will turn not into July but into November. I must be outside - I must be where I can see the "leafing greenly" (paraphrase of e.e. cummings) and feel the warm air caressing my sunscreened skin! I wish I could edit on the deck, OMG do I, but the laptop screen gets to washed out.

So, here I am in my study. At least it's overcast today.

I have managed to upload the Gay Comedian stuff from Tape 22 after all (though I have great concern about future tapes having similar degradations), and have cut Scene 27. I'm now about a quarter of the way done with the Attraction/Evolution scene (28). We shot this scene using the ends of four different tapes, which is a little inconvenient.

What Not to Do #4: Do not divide one of the longer scenes over several tapes when you have SEVEN set-ups to cover the way the actors move around the room throughout the scene.

For example, I'm only a little ways into the scene, but I need Bill's close-up now, which we shot in the middle of the footage on the day's third tape (Tape 9). I have already uploaded some footage from Tapes 2 & 3, have not yet looked at Tape 17, where most of the dramatic stuff is.

I suppose an editing teacher would tell me I should look through all of Scene 28's footage, all four tapes, all the way through, before uploading anything. Hmm. It has been a couple years since I did such a thing (when I logged the footage originally). ...see what coverage I really got, not rely on my "ridiculous ice cream" notes.

Oh, all right!

So that's what I'll do now -- watch the rest of Tapes 9 & 17.

See you later!
Rachel