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On the cutting room floor...
We set up this shot down one of the long cemetery vistas. Martin finds it and frames it. From 150 yards we semaphore ‘action’ to Harry and Charlie who move towards us. Then - serendipity: first one couple, then another, then another, come into shot, consult their maps before wandering off in the general direction of either Oscar or Jim. It’s as though we have a bunch of extras with us - and a dedicated extras director. The shot comes to be known as ‘Sunglasses Man’ and is a big favourite. And yet, as we cut and recut the film, there’s no obvious place for it. I want it in - quite badly - but to Paul and Simon there’s little point in gratuitous adornment. What is the shot doing, what is its job here? Will it make it to the final cut? I don’t know yet - but I still hope it does.
3 Comment(s)
Published by: Missy on 10 November 2008
I love reading about your thoughts during the editing. It's fascinating to ride along with you during your creative process!
Published by: Zan on 10 November 2008
It's dilemmas like that that make you realise editing is such a hard job! When you get it right, the audience doesn't even notice; get it wrong, and you can capsize the whole film.
You've reminded me of Samuel Johnson's quote about the best advice to a writer he ever heard:
'Read over your compositions, and where ever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out'
As someone who writes in a very, very small way, this is easy enough to say...much harder to put into practice - you have my sympathies!
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Published by: Andrea on 10 November 2008
Ha! You are right about the 'extras'! Are you sure that you didn't plant them there during filming?
Its a fab little scene. Really sums up the concept I think.