Editing Thoughts – Day Two

Yesterday's editing went quite well. I've got a 6:50 Thought Cut, so at least there's something to show. But it's far from over. I'm not too happy with the way that cut went, but going through the footage led me to another core idea that I might try today. Here are some more thoughts I had yesterday:

• Deadlines and Time Limits are good. At first two weeks to edit a documentary seemed way too short, but I've gotten more work done in the past two days then I ever thought imaginable, and I know that's because I have deadlines. (See Parkinson's Law) Also, I think having a 7 minute time limit is great. I never understood why in grade school papers had minimum length requirements, forcing you to learn how to create filler, and then when you hit the real-world you learn shorter is generally always better. I'd love to put all of the interesting, unconnected footage in my film, but by having this time limit I'm forced to focus on one area and I know that will benefit the documentary.
• Make a trash timeline. I'm a clutter freak, both in the digital and real world. I just mentally have a hard time throwing stuff away, and that doesn't change when I'm making cuts in editing. Solution? I made a trash timeline for each cut (Thought Trash, History Trash, etc.). Instead of deleting footage, I'll just cut and paste it into the trash timeline. I have no intention of reviewing it, but mentally it gives me comfort.

That's it for now. I'm going to go back to my transcripts to find all the footage that goes with my new idea. I've also made new tags to make it easier to follow making the cubicle documentary or the editing process.