Interlude

Had to take an enforced break from the edit suite today after the computer decided last thing last night to stop recognising the external drive, where we had all of our footage stored. For a brief half hour it seemed like we had lost the whole project - which would have meant starting again from scratch - but then Barbara managed to retrieve it. So, that meant that we had to spend today redigitising all of the footage back into the computer - basically losing a day out of the edit.

This came at the end of quite a difficult day anyway. We had our screening of the rough cut for our exec from Em-media Paul Welsh. He watched it twice through, then gave us some notes on where he thought the story wasn't working. Most of the points he identified were points we'd also talked about changing - but when we got into a discussion about the opening - with Paul insisting that it should do something which I'd never intended it to do - it felt like we were back into a morass of mutual miscommunication. I felt pissed off because he didn't seem to saying anything positive about the film, so I was in a crabby mood anyway, but trying to get my head round exactly what he was asking us to do just made it worse. By the end it just felt like we were a million miles apart in terms of how we're looking at the film. Which isn't good, really - you want people you're working with on a film to have a belief in what you're doing - and when you're editing it's quite a crucial time to get feedback that helps the project develop. It's just difficult if you feel - like I do - that what you're trying to make and what your expected to deliver are two different things.

Anyway, after all that it was almost a relief (albeit a relief thickly lined with intense stress) to have to take some time out today.

For a break, I started in again on 'Mum and Dad'. Up to now, I've been making notes for the redraft without actually getting back into the script again, but with this time available today I forced myself to sit down and give it a go. And, after a short period of mentally kicking myself up the arse, I found myself quickly getting back into it. By the end of the day I'd added about 7 or 8 new pages to the script, which was about the speed I was at when I writing the first draft. Of course, I'll have to go back and revise everything, and there's still a way to go, but all the way along with 'Mum and Dad', it's felt like it's flowed quite naturally. Maybe I've just been less precious about it because I've not had the time to think about it too much, or maybe it's because I can see the characters a bit more clearly than I usually can - whatever the reason, I hope it carries on that way.

Back in the edit suite tomorrow, so I'll have to switch my brain back to 'Deliver Me' again. We've got another viewing in the afternoon, so I'm going to try and get my head into a happy place in preparation. (Not to be confused with this. )