Persimmon Recipe #2: Inspection

2-10-11 It's finally done. I have inspected all of the elements and organized them all in their correct place. I have watched every second of footage, taking notes on the takes, selecting out moments and prepping for a first assembly.

Wow.

That is all I have to say. This film is going to be so powerful. The actors brought everything they had. Some of these scenes almost brought me to tears, and I was just watching uncut, raw footage! I don't know how I'm ever going to edit some of these scenes without breaking down. I had to walk out of the room after watching half the takes.

I am so excited to be working on this film and am so privileged to cut footage created with such craft. Now is the journey to create a film from the elements. I need to hack away, to juxtapose, to bring to life, and to draw out the best from everything. To close this post, I'm going to quote one of my favorites, Walter Murch:

"The editor embarks on the search to identify these 'bad bits' and cut them out, provided that doing so does not disrupt the structure of the the 'good bits' that are left...

Editing - even on a 'normal' film - is not so much a putting together as it is a discovery of a path."

May I seek the best path through this story, seeking to bring out the good and weed out what gets in the way of this amazing story. May the discovery begin!

For more entries on what is happening on Persimmon, please check out this post.