Rough Cut

My rough cuts are usually a rough assembly. Typical roughs don't have music. But I like to add it for pacing. It also feels better, to get the mood.

As per usual, the rough does have a sense of sadness to it. Everyone goes through it, because it's the first time you see everything strung out (as you are strung out). In a lot of cases, especially with a feature, the director doesn't sit in on editorial until it gets to a manageable state. Nowadays, they can review takes on set and decide if they should move on (in terms of performance). If you have the budget, you have time, and you can make the decision then. When you need to move fast, you move on, and have to deal with what you have. Also, some directors leave for a vacation after. They want the whole experience of production to leave them so they can approach it with a fresh perspective. I'm lucky in the sense that I have no one to answer to besides myself and the actors and crew. If there were investors, I'm sure I couldn't just tip toe through the daisies to get it right.

I should get perspective on it. I'm not sure if it works or not. Only that I made...something that begins, and ends. There are really great moments. But the ones that stand out now are the ones that grate on me. Eyelines, light, camera and sound. These things stick out because I think of things I have to fix already. Shouldn't be the case, but it is.

Here's the deal. Usually, I think I have a gauge on what I think works or doesn't. So far, some things work and others not. My last film, I was giddy that people would "get it." To which they did and they didn't. I brushed it off nicely. But was still proud of the project. For "Nick's Van" I know when things will work and others won't. It's hard to know what some people will take from it and others will dismiss. What I think will work, may fall flat. What may fall flat will draw a reaction. It's an odd thing.

I'm sure when Judd Apatow was watching "Trainwreck" he was with an editor to put the project together. The movie expands and contracts CONSTANTLY, until you're fed up with it. In a movie like "Trainwreck" you're not dealing with just a handful of people. You have to gauge real reaction. An audience testing is essential because getting a reaction from people is a group think. It's not individual. I can't sit in my dark room and know what an audience can think. I can think what they would think, but it's not guarantee. That's why in a lot of comedies, there is panic to go bigger. I am not making a comedy, so that's already off the table. But it still needs to play to people.

Recently when I went to "Jurassic World" I saw it with a massive crowd of kids. There are just obvious reaction beats in the movie to get the audience moving. Honestly, the movie isn't that great. From the standpoint of just something original or interesting. They're rehashing old stomping grounds. But I saw it surrounded by families. And BOY...did that make it fun. The screaming and laughing and jumps was what made the experience so good. "Nick's Van" isn't that movie. It was designed to be more like...a Hal Ashby movie. To which there aren't any screaming kids to tell you if you did it right. Onward!