“If you don’t get physically ill seeing your first rough cut, something is wrong.”
-Martin Scorsese
Filmmaking is a beast. First, you stress your ass off for the funding to come together, then you throw yourself into a trauma-inducing shooting process, and eventually end up watching the first cut and feel devastated: this is what I shot? This is what I bled for?
Every time.
And yet, as it is with everything in a movie, you must trust the process. And the process is simple: you keep your vision clear, and work with professionals to hone the raw material into whatever it will eventually become. In my experience, the more you get to do it the way you believe in it, the better the end result will be. The more outsiders are meddling in the process, the worse the outcome will be.
With Iron Sky movies and Star Wreck, I managed to do things pretty much the way I believed in them, but with Jeepers Creepers: Reborn and 97 Minutes, I didn’t really have too much say on any of the crucial processes, from casting to post-production, and it shows, admittedly. While I keep on being proud of both of those movies, I know they are not what I wanted them to be, as they were taken away from me and finished without my approval and supervision.
Here I am again, with another rough cut of an upcoming movie in my hands. Just watched it yesterday, and was slightly freaked out, but came back to the guideline: trust the process. I’ve once worked on a film where this wasn’t heeded, and the film ended up never being released because the producer panicked and started to run around like a headless chicken, and the whole process fell apart. After, picking the pieces up has been a bit of a journey…
My point being, and this goes across the whole board of pre-, post-, and main stage of the production: just trust the process. The film is cluttered underneath all kinds of gunk and dirt, and the process will unearth it.
I’m ready and hyped up about the next part of it all – post-production. We’re starting editing the movie in just a few weeks, and then it’s all the fun stuff with VFX and music and sound (I love sound, especially foley!!) that are to follow.
One of the perks of living in Lauttasaari are the public saunas around here – but the one I love the most is The Sauna Society’s sauna complex tucked away in Vaskiniemi woods. It’s a private society and one needs two member’s invitation to be able to even join, but luckily my friend and trusted DOP Mika Orasmaa is member and has the invitation right, so we’ve taken a custom to go take a proper sauna session before our respective stints of filming somewhere in the world.
Nine saunas, and great company – what a better way to enjoy a day off?
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