The edit progresses...

For the first time in a long time I have a lot to report.
But also realise why I have struggled to keep the blog up to date: editing is more akin to writing than directing. It is solitary, introspective and causes me to be more introverted.
So, to update from the last post, I finished what I refer to as the radical edit the week before last. However, it essentially remains unseen, except for the very first section, which I showed to David. He did not have a lot to say, but what he did say came down to this: this seems to open up a whole chapter, this is another film entirely, this is not what you wrote, or directed, this could work, but do you want it to?
So for now I think I will take a look at it myself another night but for now...
The other edit, the evolutionary edit was finished just before the radical edit and now has been seen by David, Cameron, Robert and Nathan the editor (more on that).
I was heartened by the reaction. Clearly we are making progress. Most importantly, the new idea, to develop the abstract sections were well received and have gone a long way to solving the issue that I have been struggling to solve for the past months: what is Claire thinking at the beginning? If the viewer cannot form their own idea they will become bored 1/2 to 2/3 the way through the film due to confusion. I have seen it enough times in viewings.
I created two types of abstracts: one focused on Norway, the other on the forest and the void. I have not been able to understand or articulate why this is the case, but I suppose I could start by stating Claire is preoccupied by both these questions.
I began, as I have already described, by slowing time and playing with film texture. Just yesterday I began to think that this might be appropriate for the forest/void sections, but not for the Norway sections. I am not sure why, but it would solve one problem, which is that some people confused these two parts, wondered why there was a Norwegian tree in the middle of an English forest. So this would go some way in ensuring no one confused them.
I am now in the middle of a new edit, which is a response to the feedback I received last week. Some of this came from Cameron, who came along as a runner on a number of our shoots, but very especially Robert and Nathan. Nathan is an editor, and he and Robert managed to give me a paper edit, which has been more than useful.
More on this feedback in the next post.
In the meantime I hope to have the new edit finished by the weekend.