In two days we will premiere Dark of Winter for a home town audience in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since we last screened the film, I wrote and shot a prologue that was originally going to be a short film that we would screen separately from the feature, but has since become the new beginning of the picture. We’ll see how it goes over and if it will stay as such…
Anyway, as it happened with my first film, The Quiet Arrangement, I continually go back and re-edit. Not necessarily broad strokes, no, these edits are more minute, but still ever essential. Technology is such that the ease and convenience of changing a shot or a line of dialogue has opened up a myriad of unlimited possibilities in the edit. This, I think, is a blessing and a curse.
A blessing, yes, for I can continue to fine tune without worrying of destroying a negative or a print. A curse, yes, because I can literally change everything, for as long as I see fit!
I have tried to complete the film and walk away. But when we screened it in New York I already saw things that I was going to change. I’m sure that I’ll see things again on Saturday. Nothing is safe…
At some point and time, though, I’m going to have to just put it to bed and live with my choices. I could, conceivably, edit this film for the rest of my days, but then that would rob me of exploring other work. And why in hell would I want to do that? Is it striving for perfection? Is it my particular nature?
Or is it just because I can…?
hwicfilm 