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Friday, December 18, 2009

Putting the work away for a while

I was cleaning up an older short I had written for submission, and much of my original perception of it had changed.

The dialog was far stronger than I remembered (go me!) and flowed believably and beautifully - what a thrill!

On the other hand, the descriptive and action passages clunked harder than an engine with no oil - right before it throws a rod, leaving you stranded on the side of the interstate at three a.m.

When I originally wrote this piece, I was under the mistaken impression that both aspects were decent, if not glowing. Surprise...

It's always a good idea to put that piece away for a little while after you write it. The good bits are never quite as good, and the bad never quite so horrid, as they first appear.

2 comments:

  1. Agreed, even extending it to after you have shot the film, put it aside before you try and do anything with it....the last one I worked on, upon watching the rushes, I almost cried...however watching it as it was meant to be seen (with bg music, edited, etc) I find that it's just amazing....

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  2. So true! When working on a personal project, if you have the time to - always better to shelve the footage for a week or so. That way, the memories of the day aren't heavily covering the actual work.

    I've had days that were just awful, and the footage was good - but all I could think about was how poorly the day went. And vice versa, of course.

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