Rough Cut

 Forgive me if I'm mentioned this before.

But a lot of people have no clue what they're looking at until it's done.

When people see a rough cut, it's very hard to figure out how the thing plays. Try as you may, it's not easy to differentiate how moments play without finished audio, picture or anything else. People are trying to help but typically, they have no clue.

I recall when my roommate about 20 years ago, were watching the rough of "The Mummy" The one with Brendan Fraser. The effects weren't in. The audio was bad. This was meant only for the advertising/marketing company my roomie was working at. As a film student at the time, I thought this to be a disaster. Clunky and chunky with bad scratchy picture and so forth. And some temporary effects were edited in. It LOOKED horrible.

Boy was I wrong. The movie is glossy and fun. And it worked.

Had director Stephen Sommers listened to people like me, he'd kick me in the nuts.

NO ONE knows what works and also...with a rough cut, you have no idea how it plays. There's so much to be done.

For a lot of filmmakers, they NEVER show a rough cut.

I typically do to show actors and crew what we've done. Sometimes it's a mistake. But at my level (low budget) it keeps them engaged. Though it's also a risk because an actor can lose complete and total faith in what we're doing. As well as the crew.

There is so much effort being put into any production.

If you were to ask me whether YOU should show anything...I'd say...yes. Do it. Who cares? But I'd also suggest getting it mostly shot before hand. Many people only look to what they've done. A production designer will only look at the art direction. A cinematographer will only look at lighting. An actor will only look at themselves. That is how we function.

The more experience you have, the less you put much merit in any of it until it's polished to final.

That is the downside to most films is that you have to let people know their efforts are not at a loss. That they are appreciated for anything that they've done thus far.