More on the new edit and Norway

So a long time since my last post. Everything has been in limbo.
First, there was the Kent vs Norway issue. Could the Kent forest stand in for Norway? Well that question was answered by way of the new edit.
Since the showing at JCs place I have also shown it to David. Beforehand I felt that this edit was truly make or break. If I could not start to make it work now I would be in trouble. So David's response was quite important.
The shots we inserted from the Kent workshop made sense, for the most part, as part of the story, even if Kent didn't look like Norway. But what the new edit made clear was what could work worked, what didn't work was down to a lack of material and development.
Most of this revolved around the ending. Would that long take, of Claire starting in the foreground and climbing the ridge, and then disappearing into the forest, would it now work? I had met the week previously and his comment then was that the shot was in a way a literal representation of the film up until the point. Seeing the shot was not development, but repetition. But when I showed him the edit he felt that perhaps it did work. I could see now that we would be in for some difficult choices, but again this was also part of the process, and a great sign of progress.
The ending is where we will spend most of our effort, and it is also the most exciting part. I would like to do a whole post just around the ending, because think there is so much to say.
I also feel that we can no longer move forward without more development of the sound design, and so to that end, Roland is coming over to see the edit tomorrow. What might we do with sound as part of the ending?
And I am looking for some new test subjects, people who have not seen the film before. More on that.
So yes, we are going out to Norway for a second trip. We will not only fill in the gaps we had identified previously, but also develop other parts. This is tentatively planned for the end of August. We are just waiting to find a Camera Assistant and to be certain that David can come as well, and then I will begin making all the arrangements.
And the next post, soon about the ending.

New edit and more

I finished the latest edit on Sunday. I had already cut in the workshop video we had shot in May and April, and so the past two weeks I had been editing for pace, and patching up the sound. At the end, even though I had trimmed a large number of scenes, with the new material the latest edit was now longer. 98 minutes, versus just over 90 minutes.
I wanted to meet up with JC so that we could look at the Kent footage and make a decision - will it stand in for Norway? So I took the edit over to JC's place so we could watch it on his new projector.
Some conclusions.
Now, as edits do, even though it was longer than the last edit, it seemed shorter. There was a sense of focus, pace and rhythm. It was clearer because it was simpler, and the opportunities were more obvious. That is I could see the gaps, where I needed to do work, and what could work. I think that it was a big improvement on the last edit. I could also see that once I had shot the new material I would come to a point where I could no longer add anything more to the edit. I mean that if it needed to go further then I would need an editor, someone who bring something new to the project. I feel this is progress too.
The other conclusion was that the new material went a long way in addressing the lack of balance in the film. What I still don't though is whether the other new scenes I wrote are necessary. We haven't work-shopped those yet.
As to the Kent question, what gave it away was the lack of inclines and the dirt ground. Our Norway locations were steep and there is stone everywhere.
So I am now thinking of returning to Norway. More on this...

Kent workshop

It seems so long ago, but that is my fault for taking this long to post. So, Flora, JC and myself went out to Ashford to workshop some new scenes and a few new shots. These are meant to fit into the Norway segment of the film. We were looking for a coniferous forest that could stand in for Norway if you didn't look to close. Lucy, who plays Sophie, told us about a forest where her friend Huf worked. So out to Ashford we went.
Now a small disaster, as I had not known that there was an Ashford in Surrey, as well as one in Kent, and Surrey is where we ended up. Aughh! No matter, we managed to turn it around quick enough.
I wanted to add some elements to the Norway segment in response to the feedback I had over the edit back in January. First, there was a lack of clarity in what Claire goes through before her sister Natalie shows up. I wanted to develop these parts. So, what happens when she first arrives? Why does she wait until nightfall to break into the cabin? Well of course, I am not one to provide easy answers, but at least a new scene would be able to ask the question.
I wanted to develop the concept of Claire's relationship to the opaque image near the end, and this is the only part we were not able to finish (we would have made it if I hadn't taken everyone to Surrey first).
Still, if we need to develop that we need to develop that earlier as well, and so we worked this into another scene we needed to develop.
Last weekend I cut this footage into the latest edit and then I began to rework each segment, trying to simplify and clarify. I was especially aware that I had made so much too complicated. I also wanted to repair much of the sound, only in that I needed to test the edits, and having sound click, flip from one channel to another, and jump from level to another made it difficult. So that's where I am.
I have to say that presently I am quite unsure that Kent will be able to stand in for Norway, but I need to test this on a number of people who will be more objective than myself.
More on this subject later.