I had a tough few weeks and didn't edit for a bit, but I'm back to it now.
Before I gave up for a spell, I had started the first dinner scene. I did the beginning: Marissa tries to get Bill to help her figure out what to wear; Sarah arrives and confers with Bill about weight gain; Amy and Larry arrive with a blotchy shirt and juice; Marissa and Larry accidentally see each other half-undressed; Marissa refuses to tell Sarah where she's been; food arrives (I cut around "Get it while it's hot!" - we'll see if it works) and they all sit; Marissa asks Larry if they've met before, he says no, and Amy says he plays piano at the Fielding, which Sarah then explains is run by "fucking union busters," to which everyone responds, and she expounds.
Actually, the latter is a really good example of why I SHOULD NOT HAVE TAKEN A ROLE but should have stayed on the "other" side of the camera. Because I didn't realize that Bill and Marissa were sort of poo-pooing Sarah for this statement and her following explanation about how the hotel operates in a union-busty way. Amy should have been the only one who was unsympathetic, thus marking her very early on as something of an outsider. Bill says "uh-oh," when Sarah curses, but this should not have been derisive of her main point in any way, only of her generally "angry and shit" attitude (already alluded to in the Davis Square scene); he doesn't want it to derail his pleasant dinner party. There should have been no eye-rolling as she proceeded to explain herself, more concern that she not go too far into uncomfortable topics. And Marissa's response, "Unfortunately that's pretty common nowadays" was meant to show that she is knowledgeable about such things herself -- she's joining in _with_ Sarah -- but it comes across as if she is implying that Sarah is getting upset over nothing. Larry makes a good "Huh" noise (as in, "I just learned something interesting") but it's inaudible in some takes, and I can't cut to a CU there because that would over-emphasize the importance of the moment (viewers might then log away a mental note that Larry is becoming politicized about his job and expect this to be a developing subplot). SO it ends up being _Sarah_ who leaves this moment as the alien, as it were, while Amy ends up emotionally grouped with Marissa and Bill. Darn! If I had not been _acting_, I would have noticed this.
Also - I would have realized that we needed one more take of me singing (yegads) because we only got one and it doesn't work. Trying to cut around it.
All that is, as I say, a good example of what I meant about a lesson that I have learned in watching this footage. Keeping track of all those _little_ moments (for this exchange about the hotel really is a _little_ moment) so that they all add up to the right sum is what a director needs to be able to do well.
Anyway -
I've decided that I've been procrastinating getting back into editing because I'm bored of the dinner scene ("Uh-oh," says Bill). So rather than keep avoiding it and doing no editing, I am going to move to a more interesting scene. I think I'll try the Marissa freak-out scene. Christine and Kevin and crew will remember that this is the scene we shot twice, i.e., on two different days because the light and the blocking were somehow off - ? It's a very emotionally intense scene and both actors were fabulous troopers about it all, staying committed as best as they could.
I am going to do this scene next, A) because I'm curious about it, and B) because it really is Marissa's big turning point and the dialogue in it probably gets at the point of the movie better than any other single scene. If I can get a decent cut of it together, it's something that I will be able and willing to post here and share more widely than the other scenes I've cut so far. That is, it has a potential "P.R." quality. We'll see. It may be that once I get into looking at the footage I realize that it's too important a scene for such an amateur as myself to handle. I'll let you know.
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