Raw material

A week ago, I started organising and going through the material. As I go through it, I'm writing down my thoughts about the intensions of the different scenes, and where I imagine they could go, so that we will have a starting point for the edit. It looks like there is enough different material to shape a developing narrative. Because even if it might not be a linear storyline, the film is shot to have a narrative. But will it hold? Is the curve emotionally true? Are the key scenes strong enough? 

This part of the process is a strange intermezzo. It's the stage, where you haven't yet got the full overview. You don't know if it will work yet. But you still have to look at the facts of what's in front of you. Here's the material. Raw, unpolished. This is your film. 

It's scary and it takes a while to adapt to this new reality of the piece, because all this time in the development, the film has been an image in my head that I have tried to capture. Now, that particular image has to be replaced by the facts of the material. That means some element of letting go of the imagined film in my head. Not the vision, the vision remains the same, but the imagined idea of the film. There's a difference. It can be compared to a love relation. At some point, you have to let go of the idea of someone, because it stands in the way of the possibility of having a real relationsship with the person. It stands in the way of seeing them clearly, for what they are. Sorry for the tacky metaphor, it was the best one I could come up with.

I am giving the material over to my editor sometime next week. Then he will have a chance to get to know the material and come up with his ideas, before we start working on it together. Meanwhile, I will begin fleshing out the ideas of #2. Keeping the flow and energy going.