Little Pictures Make the Big Pictures and Big Pictures Put the Little Pictures in Context

As I get closer and closer to a first draft edit (eight of the ten scenes are cut together) I find myself thinking about mosaics. Each shot of a film is made up of hundreds of individual pictures, and each scene is made up of shots, and each sequence is made up of scenes. Each shot is it’s own self contained bit of information, and when placed next to another shot we create context. Like a single piece of a mosaic, the big picture simultaneously informs and is informed by individual pieces. I think my approach to MirroLantern is different than my previous films. I’m trying to think about context a bit more; how do these scenes relate to each other? What feelings are evoked when we cut from one to the next? What information is relayed?

Editing a narrative film is such a different experience from any other type of editing. In most situations, the edit is subject to the whims of a client, an algorithm, an audience. Your choices are dictated by requirements placed upon you. But with a narrative film, there is none of that. The film can be what I want it to be. Shots can go on longer, shorter, scenes can be placed in different chronologies. I was talking with another artist over the weekend, an illustrator, and he asked me how I approach the seemingly infinite amount of creative decisions that constitute a film. It was an interesting question, and I didn’t really have an answer. I’ve only ever approached narrative editing how I approach hiking a big mountain. Look at how far you have to go sparingly, and instead focus on placing one foot in front of another. Sooner or later you’ll find yourself at the top, unsure of how you really got there, because the simple explanation seems absurd: you just walked.

I don’t mean to seem aloof or give the impression that I’m doing something radical. I especially don’t think my approach is novel. But I’ve been thinking more and more about the process of creation. If you’re an Artist then is everything you make art? Are all the rough drafts and wireframe edits art, or is it only the final product? I don’t feel like an artist most of the time. There is an air of self importance about the term that I don’t care for. I think if there’s one thing that I am, it’s a battering ram. I just pound away at problems until they break or I do. I don’t think anyone is born a great filmmaker; the language of cinema is too complicated to understand implicitly. But I do think that anyone can become a great filmmaker, if they just keep trying and have an eye for self critique.

That being said, I’m going to get back to smashing into all this footage.

xoxo