Monday, May 18th
by Jamie Cobb
When I first started the process of cutting this film, it was very hard to get Zak to consider leaving anything out of the cut. Eventually, if I made a good enough argument as to why the story would be stronger without something he would go with it. So you can believe the shock I felt today when he suggested cutting some major scenes from the film.
Let me assure you that his suggestion was not just to get Heart of Now down to a certain length. After watching the cut today it was clear that a few scenes were not as strong as others. And you know if you cut one scene it is going to domino effect a few others. So it is/was terrifying to delete them from the timeline. But after we watched it down, the story really began to move and it also became more focused. It also presented the idea that a few scenes could now be approached in different ways.
The down side is that there are 3 great scenes that were sacrificed because they make no sense without these other scenes to connect them. This may not be a permanent change, but it is something we have to try and consider to tell the best story possible. But man, it really is tough.
Tuesday, February 3rd
by Jamie Cobb
A scary thought as I date this entry, this journal is a year old.
I’m sorry I have been sucking in the journal update department. I’ve been sort of stuck lately. For a lack of a better analogy, I have gone miles upon miles with this story and I’m really close to the finish line, but it’s these last few feet that are really challenging me.
To keep pushing us towards that finish line, Zak and I brought in some fresh eyes with some fresh perspective. After much time, curiosity, and patience, Kevin has finally seen Heart Of Now.
I gotta say I was scared to get his notes, but it couldn’t have been a better experience. His notes consisted mainly of compliments. And the items that he did have ideas about he referred to as only suggestions.
The most rewarding part of his feedback was to hear which scenes really hit home for him. I had felt emotional towards a lot of the footage back when I originally saw it, which is not the case when I watch it currently. So to hear that all of these decisions that have been made were working, was really exciting for me.
So you are reading this thinking awesome, its done, when can I see this baby…not yet. The running time before finished credits is still 2 hours and 9 minutes. Ideally with credits we would love to have this movie at a nice programable 90 minutes. Realistically that is not going to happen. But Zak and I have been racking our brains on which scenes we could lose since we fixed the problems of V1. We couldn’t do it.
Luckily Kevin has been through all of this before with White Knuckles and he really had the best advice. As politely as he could, without calling us idiots, he informed us that there is no way we could pull anymore scenes. To shave minutes off of the running time he said that all we should be losing is beats, not entire scenes. And he also said to only shave those beats from the first half of the film and to leave the second half alone.
So that’s where I’m at. I cut a minute and 20 seconds worth of beats today and it felt pretty good. Just 10-15 more minutes worth to go…
Saturday, January 24th
by Jamie Cobb
The hardest lesson I’ve learned while editing dramatic improv is to embrace the imperfections. Usually when editing a scripted scene you look through all of the coverage and pull the best takes with the best performances and cut them together into a tight and/or polished scene. If something isn’t working in the scripted two-shot, you can hide that by cutting to the same line in the close up and the problem is more or less solved. That is not the case when editing Heart of Now.
There was a script, but the dialogue was written only as guide knowing that on the day the scene was shot, the location, the wardrobe, the props, personal experiences, and other various factors would influence and inform something new and natural from the actors who were guided by the director. And to add to this process, the camera operators were also instructed to be in the moment, sometimes acting as the audience’s eyes as a third person in the conversation moving back and forth between the actors.
One of the first scenes I had to cut was a scene on a beach that involved 4 actors, 100% improv, and only one camera to capture it all, thereby creating five very different takes to cut from. After many failed attempts of forcing the best lines together, I finally started looking for bigger moments that could play out with each other and the scene started to present itself to me. Forcing the lines and small pieces together never worked. The physical continuity was probably there, but the emotional continuity and natural rhythms rarely were.
Do I sometimes wish the roaming camera was on this actor instead of that actor when he said that? Sure. Do I wish the actor could have said that differently to build to this? You bet I do. But when I try to change or hide these imperfections I lose the organic human element that this process was used to achieve in the first place.
So I have learned to embrace these imperfections. My job is not to create a different moment. My job is to find the moment with the most emotional truth for the character and for the story and to sculpt that into the best moment it can be for the film.
Wednesday, December 17th
by Jamie Cobb
A beautiful thing happened today, I finished V1. I realize that doesn’t mean picture lock, but its a huge milestone for me in this process. I have now been through every frame of the footage, and I am one step closer to taming the beast. Now all decisions will be made focusing on the story as a whole, and not on the individual scenes.
Clocking in at 2 hours and 12 minutes I proudly present to you all V1!
Friday, October 31st
by Jamie Cobb
So I was cutting scene 120 yesterday. It’s the scene where Gabe and Amber stop for gas on their way to Death Valley and I was struggling with it. The scene had about five or so beats to it, and with all of the beats together, it wasn’t really working for me. So I went through all of the takes and pulled my selects of the beats that I thought were working. I still didn’t have the enthusiasm that I wanted to cut the scene. So I showed Zak the selects that I had pulled and it lead to a really good discussion.
He agreed that I was right to want to cut some of the beats, but the most important information for the scene was not in my selects. Mixed in with all of the other stuff, Gabe explaining the rocks of an up coming location didn’t seem important to me. But Zak informed me that without that information it would take the wind out of the finale’s sails a few scenes later.
With this new insight from Zak, I was finally able to jump into the scene. I focused on Gabe’s description of the rocks. This, by itself, achieves all of the things that the other beats combined failed to do. Gabe is finally trying to reach out to Amber but he’s clueless on how to do it, so he talks to her about rocks. It’s perfect for the character and the story. Simplification, especially simplification while cutting improv has not failed me yet.
On a side note, I was trying to remember how I celebrated Halloween last year, and for the life of me I couldn’t remember. But when I went to synch up the takes for scene 121 there was Kester slating the take like always, but in this scene he was in his magician’s Halloween costume. It brought a huge smile to my face. A year ago to the day we were in Death Valley shooting the scene that I am cutting today.
Happy Halloween Everybody!
