“LOVELY” Rough Cut Update (Week 10)

Week 10 – Marathon Sessions

I now have about 4 days to finish 5 scenes for an assembly cut.  I’m racing for a Sunday (August 9th) deadline as I’ll be screening it for a small select group that day to see how it plays.

For those who may not know — an assembly cut is the first pass at editing a film without much sound, music or dialogue editing going on.  The main concentration is on the visual storytelling.

I know a lot of polishing — and possible rearranging will be going on.  Some storylines may be dropped or created based on how I observe the film play to a group.  I’ve learned with test audience feedback that you cannot try to appease the opinions of a single viewer.  You’ll never win.  However, if there are common opinions that are pointing out a problem, confusion or other issues….then it may be well worth your time to address it.

Of course I want everyone to love the film….but I’m slowly beginning to accept that this is an impossibility.  Film is art.  Art is subjective.  I was told by a friend and colleague that it’s good to have someone love or hate your film, but the last thing you want is for them to have no opinion on it.  It’s a fine balance of trying to make something with artistic integrity without going too far and alienating an audience.  This is what the test screening is for…to see how accessible the film is in its current stage…to find its strengths and weaknesses….if they like the main character (why or why not?) and so on.

It’ll be an interesting day.  I’ll report back on how things go.

Until then, here’s a new image from the film.