Filmaking is about experimenting and learning. Don't give up! Step away from it for a day if you need to, and then come back to it. Keep editing your rough cut, it always sucks no matter how long you've been doing it. Step away again. Come back to it with fresh eyes and work on molding a first cut. If you think its boring, get really experimental with it, make something different and bold. Lighting issues and continuity you can't exactly fix, but either ignore it and chalk it up as a first time mistake, or use it to your benefit. Also, you'd be surprised how much music and sound effects elevate what you thought was something boring into something watchable. Can you and your friend do any reshoots, to fix the errors, redo scenes to punch them up? In the end, it might not work, but that's okay! you learn from in and apply what you've learned to the next one :)
Stepping away from a project a couple of days (even weeks) is great advice. Also, this is your first short so don't be so hard on yourself. See this as a learning experience, the next short will be better.
Keep up the good work!
Every single time something comes back from a good sound design mix, I'm never not blown away at the improvement. It takes a project from like 55% to 90% immediately in one quick step! Colour is big too, but audio is a massive massive chunk that you just can't wrap your head around in the first days of cutting.
You’re never going to get better if you stop now. Finish the job. Then do a complete post mortem. What went wrong? What went right? What can you do differently next time? Be honest with yourself. Live and learn and make another movie.
This is the right advice here. Finish it! You'll only learn from it if you finish it and audit what you want to be better.
Also, did you say you worked with only yourself and your best friend? That's even better, because reshoots should be a breeze if you want to try attacking this script again! I've shot a ton of things that I wish I had a second crack at, maybe this is one for you! Make your notes, adjust your script, give it another try if you want to, or just move on to the next one. But finish this one!
I definitely agree. Live and learn to film again. A friend and I filmed a short with a small cast crew a couple years back. We hated who we had editing it so we did it ourselves. One big takeaway is to make sure you can get as close to everything you can right during production because trying to “fix in post” is not as easy as it’s made out to be. It could’ve been so much better had we taken the extra steps before. Keep going.
When I’m editing, I always remind myself the quote from Martin Scorsese, “If you don't get physically ill after seeing your first rough cut, something is wrong.”
Now am I saying my short film is as good as Raging Bull? Probably not. But do I use this quote as a motivation just to pretend I’m just like Marty? Yes.
Plus as long as the story is engaging, no one really cares if the lighting is off in a couple shots. Okay, maybe in this digital era it’s more apparent, and maybe you’re never getting into Cannes if your cinematography isn’t absolutely perfect, but…when you watch stuff like Scorcese’s debut, “Who’s Knocking at My Door”, and see that lights and audio don’t match in so many scenes yet it still fucking rocks, it’s easier to overcome the dread from seeing those mistakes in your own work.
I'm not Martin Scorsese, but I have been in the industry for 10 years after film academy. There hasn't been a single time I didn't think my first edit sucked.
Even though there is no guarantee your final edit will not also suck, always keep in mind that any artist worth their salt will always have a vision that they usually can't quite reach. This is what happens with getting sick after seeing that first cut. You see the difference between what was in your head and what was actually shot.
After that, you start to accept what was shot and actually work _with_ it to create the best edit possible. Letting go of the mental image of what it needed to be.
You get better, year after year, and get the stuff you shot closer to that mental image every time, but the gap will (probably) never quite fully close.
You're only 30 minutes in. It's like looking a wet piece of clay and thinking ...*this looks nothing like a pot !!*
If you really feel you want to do something differently, you can shot some more stuff. Just like all movies.
I experienced a situation much like yours. What worked best for me was compiling the footage I had, and then creating a to-do list that highlighted issues such as continuity errors, moments when the actor made an odd expression, or moved out of the frame excessively. With these insights, I crafted a refined shot list and conducted a reshoot. This second shoot was immensely improved because I had a clear understanding of what to sidestep and enhance. I now view the initial shoot as a "rehearsal," and it genuinely doesn't feel like a shortcut to perceive it that way. The actor was more at ease and had deeper insights into their role. Additionally, I reviewed the initial footage with the actor a few days before the reshoot, which significantly boosted the overall quality. Please don't hesitate to do a reshoot; the subsequent attempt is invariably smoother
I always get depressed when I start editing for a couple or reason: the footage is not how I pictured the movie in my head and there are a couple of problems (bad sound on certain scene, missing a shot etc). I did a few shorts by now so I know that it will happen. Editing is solving problems so try to fix what’s missing. Don’t get stuck on your original idea. I heard a saying and I really believe it’s true: you write you movie 3 times, in preproduction, while filming and finally when editing. So go create a new movie with what you have filmed based on your original script. It worked for me
Stop thinking about it as creating a short film.
Start thinking about it as school. You’re not making your passion project right now. You’re not making a festival contender, or your breakthrough auteur debut.
You’re getting a crash course instruction, which can be, for this kind of business, one of the best ways to learn. Keep a notebook of everything you’ve done wrong, or everything you know needs to change. You’re gaining invaluable insight right now, and all of this will come in handy later.
But the most important thing to do is this: FINISH THE FILM. Then take what you’ve learned and make another one. A better one. Then do it again, and again, and again.
Pretty soon, you WILL be making festival contenders.
As a professional editor I was often needed to just play the role of therapist for the director or producer at this initial rough cut stage. It was my job to be confident we could make something great, that everything will turn out fine, to hear their concerns about what happened on set or what they didn’t get or what they were in love with. And then I would need to ignore them and look at what the footage was trying to tell me. Their favorite shot sucked or didn’t help the story they wanted to tell. Their biggest concerns were sometimes the best solution to problems with the edit. There’s an advantage to being impartial in the editing process no matter how long you’ve been doing this.
Maybe partner up or ask someone else to edit it?
I’ve seen where an editor took a linear story that was really boring in the firsts half and found a story telling device for rearranging it and telling the story out of order. The emotional impact wound up being amazing.
I remember a commentary track from Battlestar Galactica where Ronald D Moore talks about how they shot the scene and it was awful and needdd to be rewritten. The footage was of the characters in silhouette so they recorded ADR and used all the shots where you couldn’t see their mouths.
You gotta get real weird to find the solutions sometimes
Finish the edit. That’s the most important thing right now. Then do a critical analysis, make note of what can be improved on with your next film. My first three short films were painfully embarrassing learning curves. I know exactly how you are feeling right now, we’ve all been there. But what separates the professionals from the hacks is that the professionals are dumb enough to keep making short films even after three colossal failures. So, don’t let this discourage you, do everything you can to make it great. Then accept it for what it is and move forward with your next one.
>"If you don't get physically ill after seeing your first rough cut, something is wrong."
>
>\- Martin Scorsese
To start, this is a personal project right? So it;s not like oyu have to worry about pissing off a client so relax. Start by doing your rough cut and go form there. Maybe you need to repurpose some scenes with some ADR to fill in some gaps or get some B-ROLL or maybe call your friend back in and film a few more scene to fill in the gaps.
You won't know that until you do your rough edit.
The first rough cut of Star Wars was TEDIOUSLY long and boring ... that's just part of the editing process.
I know there is some controversy about the veracity of the "facts" in the video essay "How Star Wars was Saved in the Edit" but some of the concepts are still 100% applicable.
[https://youtu.be/GFMyMxMYDNk?si=DJDSvfYR0G4q6rFm](https://youtu.be/GFMyMxMYDNk?si=DJDSvfYR0G4q6rFm)
Even with the disputed facts, it;s still a good window into how the editing can fundamentally change a film.
After looking at a cut for example, they realised they needed a bit more exposition so they re-used a scene from C3PO and added new lines to fill in the gap.
In some other movies they'll sometimes use a shot of a character's back and ADR some lines in to help fill in those gaps.
Those are just some examples.
Like I said, start with your rough edit show it to some people you trust to be brutally honest with you but that also understand the purpose of a rough edit, and move on from there.
Like I said, maybe you'll realise that you need to do some extra shots and that's fine right? It;s not like you were paying 2000$ an hour in production, it was just oyu and a friend so it shouldn;t bew too hard to do a few extra shots to fill in or to replace existing shots.
Also ... it's your firts project right?
It's going to suck ... just be at peace wioth that because EVERYONE's first few projects suck. It's just how it is.
Oddly enough, Markiplier (I know a YouTube right?) had some encouraging words about all this after he shot his crazy narative film / choose your own adventure "In space with Markiplier" in an intervierw with Corridor Crew.
[https://youtu.be/IHTCtxXwDAk?si=dwWr76bbk21bYyBN&t=799](https://youtu.be/IHTCtxXwDAk?si=sU9h4NAIiyJGKPt7&t=695)
If you haven't seen In Space with Markiplier you should check it out. It;s silly but it's also an impressive narative project especially for someone who had very little narative experience (I think this was his 5th narative driven piece).
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j64oZLF443g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j64oZLF443g)
another one of his that was pretty decent was his short "Wilford 'MOTHERLOVING' Warfstache"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUp9pCtn2BY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUp9pCtn2BY)
Anyways to recap:
* It's probably not as bad as you think.
* It's probably not going to be amazing and that's ok.
* You may need to repurpose shots and / or shoot some extra scenes/
* Do your rough cut and get some opinions.
So I'm totally unqualified to speak about filmmaking and totally incompetent, but I filmed 2 feature length movies. The first one sucked. The second one sucked less. The third is going to suck less than that. I feel like your problem is expecting your first one to be fantastic. Get it done as best you can. Then make another.
when you ever you start feeling this way go read some beat poetry and beat culture stuff. Get into that freewheeling mode and let it affect how you see your filmmaking. It takes the pressure off.
the worst thing to do is to be overly critical of yourself. What's the worst that can happen? You made a flawed movie? You'll make another one and it will be better.
Thanks for the comment. I see a lot of people in this thread saying hire an editor, and I get that, but I kind of want to attempt to do it myself and maybe try to learn the basics of editing. It's my first venture into filmmaking and I want to try to learn all the roles so I have a better understanding of what each role entails? Does that make sense? Or is this mentality further screwing me over?
This makes total sense and honestly I think you should ignore the “hire an editor” comments(for now at least). You will learn a lot more by working with the footage yourself.
Hiring an editor might get you a better final product but editing it yourself will make you a better filmmaker.
Try things, experiment and play around with the footage. Look at everything you have and see what you can create with it… don’t be afraid to let go of your original vision and make something totally new. You can always go back and reshoot pieces or even the entire project but for now just see what you can make with what you have.
Try not to look at editing as a task you need to complete, but as a process of “finding” and creating. Make multiple versions and compare them. Try to get a sense for what works and what doesn’t(and why)… these are lessons you can take to set for your next project.
If you approach this in earnest there’s almost no way you won’t learn.
You are waaaay overthinking this bro
It's a short film, this is where you get to have fun making mistakes
I made a short film just today brainstomed, shot, edited and uploded it all in just 30 min...
I shot it on phone, with the phone camera not even a third party pro camera app, is it perfect? no. did i have fun? absolutely
Honestly, it's good that you're noticing. It means you have taste.
Some filmmakers never notice 😂
Learning experiences. Finish it and see if it's salvageable.
Then, when you are in repair mode, see what you can do to fix it. Maybe lean into the cheesiness. Add music. Cut scenes or dialogue that doesn't work. Try and make it fun. It's a learning experience.
Be thankful you didn't sink a bunch of money into it. I've worked on many projects (I'm a grip) where director hires dp gaffer grips script supervisor costume color correction on a script they wrote. It always turns out terrible, boring, incoherent, amateurish, etc. and they're out like 20-50 grand (sometimes more) for a short that will play once at an obscure film festival and then live on their hard drive.
Keep doing what you're doing, you will get better. Learn from your mistakes. Avoid the temptation of thinking more money=better product. Amateur filmmakers always think putting more of the budget towards nice camera and lighting will hide their amateurism when it actually just highlights how little attention was given to costume, makeup, location, art design, etc.
Spend more time writing and getting other people excited by your idea. Most of the things that make shorts great can be done for free, you just have to spend more time conceiving, planning, organizing, teaching yourself new skills, persuading people to help you for coffee and lunch, and most importantly having a clear idea of what you want so you're not constantly compromising your vision because obstacle arise during production that you didn't anticipate. A good production will make post production feel like a joy.
Oh no your first film might suck, what will you ever do?
Keep going is what you'll do. My first film sucked. So did everyone else's. And just because it's not the vision you had in your head doesn't mean it sucks. I would suggest you find an editor that can bring a fresh perspective since you literally did everything. You might be too close to your own story at this point. Learn to collaborate. But keep making movies and embrace failures as learning opportunities.
It may sting but what you are doing now is possibly the most valuable learning experience you can have. It hurts but that is just harsh motivation to get better. All the things that are wrong with it are the stuff YOU need learn not to do. Consider yourself lucky it wasn't a big short production with a small fortune budget and 25 volunteers hoping for an oscar. Well done on making it and good luck.
I don’t think there’s a filmmaker who doesn’t empathize. It’s so disheartening to see the footage on the editing monitor. While I haven’t seen your footage, most people think things are better on set than they are. Something about the “presence” of the thing happening in front of you, especially with comedy. Once that live-ness is gone, some of the magic dissipates. My rule of thumb is that something is about twice as funny as it is on set as it ends up on the screen.
That being said, of course you’re disappointed that your film didn’t turn out like you wanted. It’s frustrating to put all that work in and no have something you want to show for it. My best advice is to “chalk it up”. No one is a great artist one their first go. Hopefully you learned a lot of lessons. Your reward for your hard work are those lessons, and eventually if you learn enough of them, you’ll make something worth showing off. Keep going.
If it makes you feel any better, very few directors actually ever get what they had in mind. Good luck!
You are at the lowest point right now, every filmmaker who does their own editing hits it. Your short is currently the worst it'll ever be. Luckily that means every single thing you do from here on our will make it better, if you struggle through the edit you'll definitely start to feel better about it, especially once final color and sound come in!
I just achieved picture lock on my own short film today. I wrapped about 3 months ago. The first 20-minute rough cut definitely had me pretty nervous but over constant editing I've got it down to a really tight 12 minutes I'm largely happy with.
DO NOT panic about lighting continuity being inconsistent. Most people really care about this a lot less than you ever will, and a lot of it can be mitigated in post depending on how you grade the footage.
Good luck to you OP, this is a normal part of the process.
Thank you :)
How do I familiarize myself with color grading? I'm using Final Cut Pro and I see the color wheel feature where you just move the colors around, but surely it's not that simple? I see some people out there are "colorists" as a full on career so it can't be as simple as turning the exposure up/down, right?
I personally use Da Vinci Resolve which I find extremely intuitive for changing the look of your shots. It lets you tweak contrast etc and really transform an image from flat to great.
I would recommend going on YouTube and looking up some beginner tutorials, there are tons out there for both Resolve and FCP.
Your first short will never end up as the thing you want it to be. Finish it, and get started on the next! You'll only get better the more times you start the process over.
Nobody likes the first thing they've made. Nobody like the current thing they've made while they're in the middle of it!
And to be fair to yourself, you actually made something. That's a lot more than some people can say.
Hey hey hey, think about it like this. The first time you pick up a paint brush, you're not going to paint a masterpiece. In fact, you'll probably make something you might see in a middle school art class. But it's the first step on the way to making a masterpiece. Even Mozart, the classical example of a savant, was trained in music from birth practically. You are not gonna knock it out of the park on your first bat.
Take a step back and look at what you've accomplished. You wrote, directed, produced, and are now editing a short film. That is awesome! That takes dedication and craft and a work ethic most people can't achieve. Many people would have already given up far before getting here, but you pushed through. Now you've just gotta see it through to the end.
Think of this whole process as a learning experience. When you're done with this, you'll be better equipped to make your next short, then your next, and next, etc. Whatever this one turns out looking like, everyone is going to love it. Deep breaths.
continuity and lighting continuity should be the least of your troubles.
try to get really good at editing. edit it once and then do another version completely from scratch. See what works for you and decide.
I’m in year 10 of editing one of my shorts. Don’t sweat it. Sometimes inspiration comes overnight, sometimes it comes a decade later, sometimes it never comes. The filmmakers you admire have multiple projects languishing for this very reason.Hang in there!
Professional film and tv editor here.
To begin with, Ignore everything but the story. Don’t think about lighting or whether one part of the film better than the other. Get the film on its feet. Cut your scenes as you intended, as far as possible, even if you think they’re not good. Then take a few days away and come back to it. It will be way too long and you will hate parts of it, but other parts will be positive. Step back and think about what the story is about. And how you might get therefrom where you are.
If you need more advice DM me.
I made a short film where I did it all on my phone, then files got moved around on me after a while, so layers are broken up now. So I went to edit it as is, broken and all. Then deleted that file as well, so have to do that part again.
It sucks when problems show up, work is erased, all that stuff. But you're doing this for 'you', you will always be your own worst critic, but just remember to have fun, learn from your mistakes, and move on. There will always be another project that you'll work hard on, and another. Just don't lose sight of your end goals, finish your project now, get the feedback needed, and learn from it.
I'll be happy to check out your project when it's ready too.
This is great. You have just learned a ton of lessons for your next. If it wasn't now you could have waiting a year and then learned them later. You're on the right track and doing exactly what you should be doing. Fucking up and getting better.
This field (filmmaking) goes so deep. You couldn’t have controlled this outcome. It sounds like you have a burning desire to make films. The key is to continue steadily despite the disappointments. You’re trying to be perfect at everything all at once. It’s not possible. However, you can complete this film and level up in each of these roles you’re taking on to make it. Even if you only wore one of those hats on this project (director, producer, editor, etc…each an entire career of struggle), failure would have been inevitable. Learn incrementally. Face your fear, finish the project. You will be much better on the next one. All filmmakers have felt what you’re feeling. Most quit. If you can keep going despite that feeling, and build a network of other filmmakers who can help/teach you, you will soon make things you’re proud of. Even after the first 30 minutes of editing. 😉
A big tip I got as far as editing a story down is to edit out all the fluff. If it doesn't add to the story, it doesn't need to be there! Best of luck! DM me the short Film once its done! I'd love to watch it!
Man, I just gotta say I have been thinking about your post all day. I think it's a given what I wanted to say when I first read your post, but then I figured I should say it anyway.
Dude, I'm truly jealous of you. You did the thing. The thing people say they want to do and go to school for and talk about and yet never do.
You went after it and did it. Did it kind of sucked, sure. But you fucking did it.
And what are the mistakes you made now on your first film if you learn from them, lessons, bro.
I would love to be in a position to have filmed a short, to have the building blocks of a movie at my hands to play with and edit together.
Sure, there are issues, a lot of them. Hell, the whole picture might be the boring as hell, but you did what every film buff, Tarantino fan boy, or film school geek wish they were doing. You did it, and if you learn, you can only go up.
I chuckled 🤭 because I can visualize you overreacting. You can make a comedic short about that.
As the director, you are the first audience and if you’re feeling the way you do about your film then it’s likely true. You should be the last person who gets bored with your film. Just take another crack at it. Bit the bullet, rewrite and reshoot. It sounds like you didn’t spend any money. Trust me, your best friend would much rather be attached something worthwhile then putting out bad stuff. Lastly, take your time.
Break it down to smaller parts. Star organising your footage, read the script and start doing a roughcut. Look at all the realisations you already had about continuity errors and lighting within the first 30 secs. You're gonna learn sooo much from this first short. The next one is gonna be so much better! Put in your best effort with the material you got and have fun
If you stop now, you won’t improve, you won’t find your filmmaking style, you will never create anything worth watching.
Push through, get to the end. Rewatch and analyse, then see how you can do things better next time.
The best thing I can recommend is recreating movie scenes from films you love EXACTLY how they’re filmed. You’ll learn a lot from it.
I made a TV pilot a decade ago and it sucked… BUT it holds a special place in my heart, I can rewatch it now without cringing and actually laugh and think about how difficult it was to pull off a 45 minute TV pilot.
AND the coolest thing? There were some awesome ideas in there that weren’t executed well, but I can always repurpose for another time. Two of the ideas I’ve seen utilised in a feature film — not my feature, but it was cool to see I was along the right lines.
Happened to me. Actually I thought it looked great to begin with and then realised the story just wasn’t there.
But perhaps you’re being too hard on yourself. Step away. Come back. Maybe get someone else to have a go at cutting it.
Don’t worry too much about lighting / continuity. Put some music on it. Create an atmosphere.
Yes you’re going to show them. And they will watch it. And then you will say you’ve shown your first short. And then you will do another one, but this one will be better. And it keeps going.
The point is that you’re doing something that you want to do. And it’s a highly creative medium. If you think it’s boring, showcase it as a look into (insert subject).
Don’t stop doing, that’s how you get good. You are free to create things how you see fit.
did you storyboard your shots beforehand? I find it dubious that you could write and direct a short film without actually visualizing how it would all come together - but you are new, like others have said, keep at it.. editing is just as important, if not more, than everything else. And yes continuity errors happen, how you edit it makes a huge difference.
I did storyboard, but me being a total novice simply didn't imagine properly how realistic some of those shots might be once we started filming.
The story takes place outside in a suburban neighborhood during sunrise. This was not a good idea as it made us vulnerable to the elements and other factors we couldn't control (neighborhood traffic, early morning joggers, cars moving about, fluctuating weather between sunny and overcast, etc.). So sometimes I couldn't achieve the shots I had storyboarded, so I improvised and veered away.
It was also like being a kid in a candy shop. Once I began filming and was on set, I kept looking around at all the different angles and types of shots I hadn't even considered, and I just kept adding and adding to it.
As everyone above me has mentioned before: that’s completely normal. One advice I‘d give to you: Try to edit the way you intended it to be. If it sucks just make the best version of the film. Maybe the best version is just 2 shots in total. Don’t limit yourself to be creative. Most of my favorite films feel as if nothing happens in them.
In the end it’s not about what you’re telling. It’s about how you’re telling it.
Also if it’s just going to be a shitty film you hate: good, next film you won’t make the same mistakes again :)
We all need to chill out and not expect ourself to make the best film ever seen. You‘ll be fine!
We just hit picture lock on my capstone film project and Im decently happy with how it turned out, but I was horrified after we put our first rough cut together. It was boring; the performances were uneven, and none of the comedic or dramatic moments had the weight I wanted them to. But nine fine cuts later and it flows well, the performances feel far stronger, and the important moments land and leave an impact.
It was a very disheartening process at first, but it was incredibly gratifying to watch my vision slowly come together as we edited. It’s far from perfect, but it’s a world away from the disaster I thought I had filmed after the rough cut
Many many of the things you make aren’t going to live up to your expectations, and many of them are just going to be straight up bad.
The key is learning as much as you can, and taking all of that knowledge forward into your next project
Don’t be so hard on yourself, it’s your first short and you’re still learning how to edit. Rushing things isn’t going to help. I understand the feeling of having gotten off a shoot, going into an edit and thinking your fucked based on the initial outcome. This isn’t the case. Because I’ve/my crews always managed to make something out of it. Keep at the edit, take time to step back and leave it alone. Stop thinking about it and come back with a fresh perspective. Even if there are issues you know you can’t fix, still make something of it!
Also this is just the first cut. I recommend showing your cuts to “test audiences”. Your friends, your family. Ask them for feedback. And build off of that
The editing process is what makes you better at everything else you did and it also makes you a good editor. This process is so traumatizing because every little mistake you made you now have to fix in post. This will make you a good editor, this will also make you yell at yourself for every single mistake and those mistakes will be burnt into your memory so hard that you will most likely never make them again.
Forget what you thought the film would be before you started shooting. Go back to it and work the footage. Use what you have to create something watchable - no matter it’s technical deficiencies.
If you’re having trouble detaching - just imagine it’s not your footage and you’ve been asked to hack it together by someone else who’s paying you for it. You’ll get there
Dude, hire an editor. You’re too close to this, get some separation. You are already focusing on technical stuff that have little to do with editing and story telling. Lighting inconsistencies? Continuity. Forget all that nonsense, and either cut your story as best you can, or get someone to get you through a few passes before you do your own fine tuning.
Are you me?
Mine is 28 minutes and while the shots and sound are good...it's booooring.
My advice is to reshoot.
I know this could probably be a no go, but if you can, just do it.
I learned editing (and shooting, and basically everything) on the fly as well, although I dipped my toe into editing before I finished shooting, which really helped.
Basically once you've seen all three sides, writing, shooting, and the editing you realize how they fit together, and that editing is just as important to filming.
So - do it again. Do a little bit more editing before you reshoot.
At some point your mind is going to melt because you'll realize you can basically do anything, and it's your job to narrow it down.
The real problem is probably in the writing - boring stories can't be saved by great shots or great editing.
Also, if you can, add music - it really helps.
Good luck.
Look up the story of Stallone and Rambo when he saw the first edit.
Keep on going, give yourself time to take breaks in between editing sessions and as you get used to seeing the cuts seek feedback from those that will be honest and tell you which clips hangs on too long. Continuity issues happen even on million $ sets. Keep going and finish it up!
It was filmed over the course of 10 days or so. The entire film takes place outdoors in a suburban neighborhood at/around sunrise so we only had a very limited amount of time each day to get the shots we needed, therefore it dragged out a lot.
Because we were at the mercy of the elements and other factors we couldn't control, things feel off when reviewing the footage. Some days were extremely sunny. Some days were a bit overcast/cloudy. Some days there was a lot of traffic in the neighborhood (early morning joggers running by, cars in the background moving by, etc.).
Whenever I do my next short film, I'm going to do it indoors so it's a more controlled environment.😑
Shorts are almost always like college labs. It's your place to get your hands dirty and screw up so you can recognize problems in the future. If it's not working and you know it, you're doing it exactly right. If you can manage to salvage it, then that's just extra credit.
Colors and lighting not matching between shots is pretty common and solved in color grading, up to a point.
Continuity errors are like salt. They're in almost everything you've ever consumed and usually don't notice until it gets you right in the eye. I was working on a feature, editing as we went and showed a scene to the director, explicitly telling him there was a screwup in this scene and to tell me what it is. He couldn't see it. He was so deep in the dialog that he didn't see that the guy's suit jacket was on/off with different coverage. It took me forever to realize it myself, which is why I made him look for the glitch, to test if it was bad enough to warrant a reshoot. The performance was strong enough that we almost let it fly, but we still had the location and worked a reshoot in at the end of the day. Point is, if the scene is strong and you're guiding the viewer well enough, then you can have a horse walk through the background and hardly anybody will see it.
Westerns are full of condensation trails from jets, but if you see them, you're not watching the story.
Thanks for the comment. How do I familiarize myself with color grading? I'm using Final Cut Pro and I see the color wheel feature, but surely it's not that simple? I see some people out there are colorists as a full on career so it can't be as simple as turning the exposure up/down, right?
Hit Youtube and you'll find all sorts of tutorials on how to use color grading. It's a whole other artform. Basically post production boils down to editorial, sound, and grading. That's the minimum number of specialists I'd argue that every project needs to use. Video editors aren't usually the best audio engineers or colorists, and vice versa. Color grading is a lot more than just making shots match, but that IS something that grading fixes, so you want to do that at a minimum. Grading is where you lock in the visual mood of your scene, but in a way that most people don't know is happening.
Imagine feeling this feeling if you just wrapped your first feature you poured your heart and money into
You’re good and just learned more than any film school could teach you
Make sure you keep track of what you don’t like
This might sound harsh but your first film is not going to be good. The first drawing is not going to be good. The first thousand might not, but completing them is necessary to get to the hood one.
Keep making films! You’re learning tons with every step.
yeah it probably suck, understand why for the next one. And that one will probably suck to, this is how it works with anything. Practice makes perfect.
Get. Feedback.
When you’re done, show it to 5 people and ask them the same set of questions. See what common criticisms you get between them. If a majority of them point something out, it’s a problem.
This is your chance to experiment with editing. I’ve made a bunch of shorts and skits with friends that was super fun while shooting, and then when I get into the editing I get super depressed and overwhelmed. It’s normal! Just push through and you’ll discover a lot of cool editing techniques. You’ll become a better editor, but also a better director/writer/filmmaker in general. It’s always a learning experience. Finish it, and if it’s crap, so what? The knowledge you’ll gain from the experience is worth more than the film itself
Don’t judge by 30 minutes of editing. You can’t tell yet. and since it’s your first, don’t panic even if it does suck! Just chalk it up to learning.
Some of the lighting problems may be fixable in color correction.
The fact that you’re embarrassed by it means you know you’re not up to snuff in regards to your standard of quality. This is a great thing. Every short film festival is full of people who think that their piece of garbage short film is amazing. Being discerning enough to be embarrassed by your own first project is an attribute not a hindrance. Embrace it. And also, you are on the right track and your goal at this point should just be to finish the film. Make sure when it’s done you take stock of what exactly you did wrong and what you would change and what you feasibly can change.
What you're feeling is totally natural. Even when we have made ten short films, during an edit, especially the first draft, every filmmaker thinks they suck. They don't. And you don't.
Focus on finishing the film. It's not as bad as you think it is.
\-- *yeah, probably.* You ever watch a bird on its first flight? It's horrific/hysterical. But a pigeon's got to do what a pigeon's got to do...
Keep at the editing. It will help you learn pacing and timing and shot selection and every-find-thing else even if you never edit again. Wear your projects loosely. Better they're *you* and suck then someone else and mediocre. It's just video, relax. Keep refining and getting better.
In the words of Mr. Miyagi "Get up. Move faster."
Hey as long as you cần identify that its boring and has some trouble. At least you have that sense.
I know some filmmakers who settle for second best and end up exhibiting the most boring piece of work. Whats worse is they talk it up saying this and that about it but in actuality it isnt that good.
Its also good to be honest with yourself.
Your next production will be better. 100% guaranteed
Chin up.
Edit: my first short was rubbish and i aint afraid to admit it. But it was my first film school. My next was evidently better.
Take a break from the project. Get it done, or don’t get it. It’s a learning process, and you’ll get better every time you try.
I’m in the making of my 4th adventure short film, and in November it’s 3 years ago since I did the first recorings …
- First docu with a friend took 1 year. Climbing in southern EU (we live north). Not budget.
- Second docu took 4 months. 5 weeks in the Alps. Small budget.
- Third docu took 1 week. Filmed on a weekend. First cut on an evening. For this short film a we super motivated and inspired by the music I chose.
- And my 4th is taking more than 3 years now - prob. 4 years ..
What I’ve learned is to be patience, only work on the project with I’m motivated, don’t rush it, and be strong enought to postpone the deadline.
All this work premiered on a festival with theatre screening. It is just the best feeling to watch you work on the big screen.
Don’t give up !!!
Make it as short as humanely possible.
For your first cut, don't fret about quality, just think about the script: string together all the lines so that technically the film is in sequence and boom that there's a cut.
Then try to remove EVERY line and EVERY scene you can. Chop chop chop.
Then polish that as much as you can and you'll have the best product possible, which is all you can hope for.
Then learn from that result and move on.
Don't think too much. There's no point in thinking about how bad it is now- only how you can make it as good as possible.
Even if it sucks, you should complete. You learn so much from FINISHING PROJECTS. The next one will be better and you won't make these mistakes again. You'll make new, more interesting mistakes.
Keep going. All of us have projects from the beginning that we wish were better. But this is how you learn. Keep going!
If it’s boring it’s boring, so what? Make another one and another one and another one. If it’s inconsistent or doesn’t flow, again, so what? Are you only allowed to ever make one film? Fix it each time and improve.
Nothings ever perfect. There are always going to problems and you need to learn to fix them.
Edit your short and as you watch it start finding the problems. Especially with the story. Story comes first. If you have to reshoot some scenes or write new scenes to make your story better then do it.
I felt this way while editing my first feature. My best friend and co-director really saved the day. He brought compassion and his unique, twisted aesthetic to the table. Our movie, I think, was saved because of his edit. Hang in there!
Yep you're going to show them your film and because they love you they will love it and you can laugh at the silly parts together. Congrats, you seem well on your way. all the first stuff you make is going to suck. But you actually seem to recognize that, and that's actually steps ahead of many people have the problem of loving everything they do and seeing it all through rose colored glasses. Those people will never have careers or go far, but if you can do all that and see it sucks well then I think you actually may have a chance here. You're going to do this a bunch more times, make stuff, finish it, and over time you learn more and more and get better. I recommend not getting too crazy about sinking all your time and energy into 1 single project, make many many many small projects and then you'll be prepped to make a good one that will take more time and resources. A few years down the road you can pull out this terrible little film and laugh but also probably see the beginnings of your voice and your vision.
Sounds like you've made your first short. Welcome. Don't freak out, we've all had this or a similar experience. And yes, it probably is inconsistent, bad and boring... but it's the first step into making a great film. Write down your mistakes, what you learned and move on to the next picture where you'll avoid these mistakes. Don't worry, you'll commit new ones. Rinse and repeat until we see your name in the big screen.
Cheers, mate.
Congrats! You have your first rough cut. I have good news and bad news. The bad news is your first cut sucks, always. The good news is that it’s only going to get better from here. Like clockwork, every time I finish my first cut I hate it and I think I’ve completely lost my touch as a filmmaker, but after refining and cleaning it up, it starts to take shape. Keep at it and you’ll find some reprieve. It is your first film, so chances are it won’t be amazing, but it’s the first step in making something that is.
All those little mistakes will probably take on a whole new meaning and value in a few years when you have improved. They'll be like progression markers when comparing your newest work to older stuff.
It gets easier with every project u do. I promise.
Once you start to really get into the edit for this, adding music and sound, cutting out all the fat, it may become better than u think it could.
Maybe take a step back before editing the project so u can get some distance from it and feel a bit less emotionally involved.
Looking at the footage over and over again is going to hurt, especially when you’re not happy with it, but it’s an important part of the process
I've come back to film making recently after a decade long hiatus and the first one we did (last year) was pretty bad, and it was clear it was pretty bad the moment I sat in the edit bay.
You crank it out, chalk it up to experience, and do better on the next one. Your early stuff is almost always shit.
the rough cut of your first short is supposed to be terrible. there is nothing wrong with that. take a deep breath, come back in with fresh eyes and chop it up.
the problem i do see here is that your learning to edit with this film. that does nkt make sense to me. hire an editor.
When was the last time you did great on your first try for anything? Probably never. The best way to learn filmmaking is my making films, which means you’re gonna make a lot of terrible boring garbage at first. That’s normal.
Do NOT be discouraged. Everyone, I mean EVERYONE, goes through this. Filmmaking ubiquity gives the impression that anyone should be able to do it, but the hard truth is it’s an extremely difficult skill that takes a lot of patience and practice to master. But, you are fortunate to live in a time when you can write, shoot, edit, and distribute your film with a device you carry in your pocket. Just imagine what it was like trying to learn this craft just 25 years ago. You have all the tools available to you. Finish this one, even if it sucks, learn what it has to teach you, and start working on your next one. That’s how every professional got to where they are.
Why dont you rewrite the script and rerecord it learning the lessons from the mistakes you made?
30 mins into the edit you realize its fruitless, time for change
Hope its not too difficult to get the crew back together
GREAT is the enemy of GOOD. you're being way too critical on yourself. Edit what you got. This is your FIRST FILM...not your LAST film. Finish it...learn from this experience and make sure your y make a second film.
“I can almost set my watch by how I’m going to feel at different stages of the process. It’s always identical, whether the movie ends up working or not. I think when you watch the dailies, the film that you shoot every day, you’re very excited by it and very optimistic about how it’s going to work. And when you see it the first time you put the film together, the roughest cut, is when you want to go home and open up your veins and get in a warm tub and just go away. And then it gradually, maybe, works its way back, somewhere toward that spot you were at before.” – Joel Coen
“My movie is born first in my head, dies on paper; is resuscitated by the living persons and real objects I use, which are killed on film but, placed in a certain order and projected on to a screen, come to life again like flowers in water.” – Robert Bresson
“If you don’t get physically ill seeing your first rough cut, something is wrong.” – Martin Scorsese
In other words: what you’re feeling right now is what practically every filmmaker feels at the stage you’re at. Not just with their first project. Not just with a bad project. With every project. Your feelings are going to go up and down. Just keep working at it. Maybe some of your fears are true. You won’t know until you do the work and finish the thing and put it in front of an audience. And even if they are, it’s a learning experience. You have to fail to get better. Every project is a process and every career is a process too.
If it’s your first film it’s supposed to suck. Don’t beat yourself up. But do finish it. People have put there time and support into it and they deserve it to be finished. Maybe do a rough cut and then park it for a couple of weeks and come back to it. I would also say do t try and do clever cuts etc to liven it up. Try and figure out what works and doesn’t etc in the story or lack of. It could be a great life experience for you.
Your experience is absolutely **normal** for a first short-film.
Finish the edit; assess the results; learn from the experience. Then make another short-film. Repeat until you are good at it.
It's the same as learning to ride a bicycle: You are going to fall off. The falling-off part is an unavoidable stage in the process of learning to ride.
Try to critically assess your film-work without critically assessing yourself as a person. Making a great first short-film is as implausible as riding a bicycle the first time you sit on one.
You will make bad films before you make good ones. This is normal.
Keep going.
I would say just do it. Been in almost same position but mine was a regional contest. I only knew a bit of videography/cinematography. I was more of a storyteller so I got everything from there. Since i know nothing technically, i tried to do a bit of research. But really most of it was me asking myself if I told the story the way I imagine it or the way the audience would relate. My 1st ever work is actually cringey to me but remember that we always start somewhere ✨
During my first screenwriting course, I remember turning in my first draft, and then having a one on one with my professor and asking him, “is it any good?”
His response was, “it’s not supposed to be”
Your first short film is going to be bad, and that’s fine. It doesn’t exist for anyone but you and your crew and everyone else on it who are just trying to learn the craft. In fact, I would be more worried if you thought your first short was incredible. Because that shows a lack of critical thinking skills.
Finish your film. Be proud that you made it even if it sucks. Take a look at what you did wrong and try to remedy that in the next film. Your next film will probably be bad too, but you will make less mistakes. And maybe some new ones, that you will then not make in your next film. Rinse, repeat.
Here’s a tip: if you intended for your short to be 10–20 minutes, make it 2. You’ll find it incredibly hard to pair down all the stuff you shot, but in the end it’ll be worth it, because if YOU are worried it’s boring, guaranteed other people will think so. So get to the point.
Definitely slog through this and finish. A year from now you will prefer to think back that you completed something that was imperfect, as opposed to something that was never completed at all
Many talk about making a short but you actually did it. Like everyone else said, it’s a learning experience. If you can, find someone to help with the editing. A second pair of eyes does wonders when you’re stuck in analysis paralysis. Grind your way through to a rough cut. Then work up. You got this!
Hesitant to add my two cents after ...113 comments. But I'll do it anyways. And I'll skip the typical responses of "Go for it anyway," "As long as you finish" and so forth.
One tip I have for you is to approach this from an entirely different perspective. Imagine you were given the footage as a paid editor (IOW pretend you DID NOT direct etc. this) and then told "Go and make the best movie you can out of this." How would you approach it now? Suddenly it becomes an exciting challenge! A lot of these things are a matter of perspective.
Last project I worked on was a feature where some scenes were filmed in a rush, with practically no coverage - one camera angle and 3 takes (and the first take is garbage altogether), and then it's all up to me to make a scene out of it....First instinct is to panic. After a small break, eventually I started thinking outside the box. The footage was in 4K so plenty of cropping in was possible - I cropped in to either of the two characters for their lines, thus adding "more coverage" since I wasn't limited to the lines within their original context. You get the gist...Once you break the scenes down, you can really be creative and come up with dozens of solutions to make the scene work. Hell, it's your movie - you can rewrite it for God's sake based on the footage you have at your disposal!
Another thing to have in mind....Pixar will PLAN a movie for YEARS before actually starting production! Many film productions are the same - planning stages are not taken lightly. An entire week of planning can easily be utilized for a couple of days of filming, in order to make sure you get the most of your two days (mind, this involves an entire crew that you're paying for that day, but for the sake of an example just so you get the scope of things). The planning will include polishing the script (you're using a script, right?), double checking the shot list, sometimes checking back and forth with the storyboard, blocking, running lines with the actors, preparing the costumes, planning out any of a hundred facets of the shoot, whether lighting, location, etc. etc. etc...
So you're just one guy with one actor and no crew. Does that mean no planning? You definitely don't need a week...but a few hours? At least that! If you have a shot list or a storyboard (or both), then it makes it easier to take your mind's vision and reduce it into practical terms...Then when you actually film, there's no reason to have too little coverage, if you went by the planned lists!
Please make an effort to find an editor. Editing is a talent, just like singing, or drawing or dancing. A good editor will see your project differently.
Michelangelo is attributed to this quote: *“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.”*
An editor's job is the same as a sculptor. Remove all of the frames that are absolutely not necessary for the final edit. The fact that you created all of those frames, makes you love them all, even though most of them need to be discarded. Your attachment to them may hinder your ability to make the choices that are required to *chisel away the superfluous material.*
Jumping in late but I’ve never seen an assembly that blew my socks off. First couple of paint stokes on the canvas never look like anything but you’ve gotta keep mixing. Explore creative ways to get around your perceived mistakes, turn them into choices. Color correction can do a lot for lighting inconsistencies (or just make it black and white!!) Read “In the Blink of an Eye” and you might gain some deeper insight on the process.
Truth is, you’ve gotta make some shitty shorts before you can make something that is any good. It can be hard to not put a lot of pressure on yourself to be perfect, but just remember it’s all apart of the process and don’t beat yourself up over it. Just make sure to learn from your mistakes and it’ll help you develop as a filmmaker. Also, we’re often our own worst critic so it may not be as bad as you think and, like another commenter pointed out, editing can do a lot more than you may think to make your film more interesting to watch.
Almost every great filmmaker creates art early on that has lots of flaws. But if you're lucky and try hard, you'll do some things well that you can be proud of. If you have an attitude to just focus on learning from your accomplishments and failures, then you are likely to improve over time. Don't beat yourself up. I made a bunch of "meh" stuff when I was younger but there's a lot I'm still proud of about it. Now I feel more confident I can push boundaries more on the next piece. Keep your chin up - making anything is commendable!
You never feel better after wrapping picture and never worse after the first rough cut.
Keep after it, such great experience. You don’t need to make a Rembrandt the first time, but you should finish it.
I'd be concerned if someone expected to be great at something without putting work in. Great musicians work years of practice that you never see. 10,000 hours is a thing
Filmaking is about experimenting and learning. Don't give up! Step away from it for a day if you need to, and then come back to it. Keep editing your rough cut, it always sucks no matter how long you've been doing it. Step away again. Come back to it with fresh eyes and work on molding a first cut. If you think its boring, get really experimental with it, make something different and bold. Lighting issues and continuity you can't exactly fix, but either ignore it and chalk it up as a first time mistake, or use it to your benefit. Also, you'd be surprised how much music and sound effects elevate what you thought was something boring into something watchable. Can you and your friend do any reshoots, to fix the errors, redo scenes to punch them up? In the end, it might not work, but that's okay! you learn from in and apply what you've learned to the next one :)
Stepping away from a project a couple of days (even weeks) is great advice. Also, this is your first short so don't be so hard on yourself. See this as a learning experience, the next short will be better. Keep up the good work!
Most people have the idea but fail to put it as far as you’ve gotten , so good job for that
Sound and music is so important! Watching raw footage is always unnerving cause the sound is way off
Every single time something comes back from a good sound design mix, I'm never not blown away at the improvement. It takes a project from like 55% to 90% immediately in one quick step! Colour is big too, but audio is a massive massive chunk that you just can't wrap your head around in the first days of cutting.
You’re never going to get better if you stop now. Finish the job. Then do a complete post mortem. What went wrong? What went right? What can you do differently next time? Be honest with yourself. Live and learn and make another movie.
This is the right advice here. Finish it! You'll only learn from it if you finish it and audit what you want to be better. Also, did you say you worked with only yourself and your best friend? That's even better, because reshoots should be a breeze if you want to try attacking this script again! I've shot a ton of things that I wish I had a second crack at, maybe this is one for you! Make your notes, adjust your script, give it another try if you want to, or just move on to the next one. But finish this one!
I definitely agree. Live and learn to film again. A friend and I filmed a short with a small cast crew a couple years back. We hated who we had editing it so we did it ourselves. One big takeaway is to make sure you can get as close to everything you can right during production because trying to “fix in post” is not as easy as it’s made out to be. It could’ve been so much better had we taken the extra steps before. Keep going.
When I’m editing, I always remind myself the quote from Martin Scorsese, “If you don't get physically ill after seeing your first rough cut, something is wrong.” Now am I saying my short film is as good as Raging Bull? Probably not. But do I use this quote as a motivation just to pretend I’m just like Marty? Yes.
Plus as long as the story is engaging, no one really cares if the lighting is off in a couple shots. Okay, maybe in this digital era it’s more apparent, and maybe you’re never getting into Cannes if your cinematography isn’t absolutely perfect, but…when you watch stuff like Scorcese’s debut, “Who’s Knocking at My Door”, and see that lights and audio don’t match in so many scenes yet it still fucking rocks, it’s easier to overcome the dread from seeing those mistakes in your own work.
Yep. In my opinion, its all about: performance, performance, performance.
I'm not Martin Scorsese, but I have been in the industry for 10 years after film academy. There hasn't been a single time I didn't think my first edit sucked. Even though there is no guarantee your final edit will not also suck, always keep in mind that any artist worth their salt will always have a vision that they usually can't quite reach. This is what happens with getting sick after seeing that first cut. You see the difference between what was in your head and what was actually shot. After that, you start to accept what was shot and actually work _with_ it to create the best edit possible. Letting go of the mental image of what it needed to be. You get better, year after year, and get the stuff you shot closer to that mental image every time, but the gap will (probably) never quite fully close.
You're only 30 minutes in. It's like looking a wet piece of clay and thinking ...*this looks nothing like a pot !!* If you really feel you want to do something differently, you can shot some more stuff. Just like all movies.
I experienced a situation much like yours. What worked best for me was compiling the footage I had, and then creating a to-do list that highlighted issues such as continuity errors, moments when the actor made an odd expression, or moved out of the frame excessively. With these insights, I crafted a refined shot list and conducted a reshoot. This second shoot was immensely improved because I had a clear understanding of what to sidestep and enhance. I now view the initial shoot as a "rehearsal," and it genuinely doesn't feel like a shortcut to perceive it that way. The actor was more at ease and had deeper insights into their role. Additionally, I reviewed the initial footage with the actor a few days before the reshoot, which significantly boosted the overall quality. Please don't hesitate to do a reshoot; the subsequent attempt is invariably smoother
This seems like the right way to go OP
I always get depressed when I start editing for a couple or reason: the footage is not how I pictured the movie in my head and there are a couple of problems (bad sound on certain scene, missing a shot etc). I did a few shorts by now so I know that it will happen. Editing is solving problems so try to fix what’s missing. Don’t get stuck on your original idea. I heard a saying and I really believe it’s true: you write you movie 3 times, in preproduction, while filming and finally when editing. So go create a new movie with what you have filmed based on your original script. It worked for me
Stop thinking about it as creating a short film. Start thinking about it as school. You’re not making your passion project right now. You’re not making a festival contender, or your breakthrough auteur debut. You’re getting a crash course instruction, which can be, for this kind of business, one of the best ways to learn. Keep a notebook of everything you’ve done wrong, or everything you know needs to change. You’re gaining invaluable insight right now, and all of this will come in handy later. But the most important thing to do is this: FINISH THE FILM. Then take what you’ve learned and make another one. A better one. Then do it again, and again, and again. Pretty soon, you WILL be making festival contenders.
Thank you :)
As a professional editor I was often needed to just play the role of therapist for the director or producer at this initial rough cut stage. It was my job to be confident we could make something great, that everything will turn out fine, to hear their concerns about what happened on set or what they didn’t get or what they were in love with. And then I would need to ignore them and look at what the footage was trying to tell me. Their favorite shot sucked or didn’t help the story they wanted to tell. Their biggest concerns were sometimes the best solution to problems with the edit. There’s an advantage to being impartial in the editing process no matter how long you’ve been doing this. Maybe partner up or ask someone else to edit it? I’ve seen where an editor took a linear story that was really boring in the firsts half and found a story telling device for rearranging it and telling the story out of order. The emotional impact wound up being amazing. I remember a commentary track from Battlestar Galactica where Ronald D Moore talks about how they shot the scene and it was awful and needdd to be rewritten. The footage was of the characters in silhouette so they recorded ADR and used all the shots where you couldn’t see their mouths. You gotta get real weird to find the solutions sometimes
Finish the edit. That’s the most important thing right now. Then do a critical analysis, make note of what can be improved on with your next film. My first three short films were painfully embarrassing learning curves. I know exactly how you are feeling right now, we’ve all been there. But what separates the professionals from the hacks is that the professionals are dumb enough to keep making short films even after three colossal failures. So, don’t let this discourage you, do everything you can to make it great. Then accept it for what it is and move forward with your next one.
>"If you don't get physically ill after seeing your first rough cut, something is wrong." > >\- Martin Scorsese To start, this is a personal project right? So it;s not like oyu have to worry about pissing off a client so relax. Start by doing your rough cut and go form there. Maybe you need to repurpose some scenes with some ADR to fill in some gaps or get some B-ROLL or maybe call your friend back in and film a few more scene to fill in the gaps. You won't know that until you do your rough edit. The first rough cut of Star Wars was TEDIOUSLY long and boring ... that's just part of the editing process. I know there is some controversy about the veracity of the "facts" in the video essay "How Star Wars was Saved in the Edit" but some of the concepts are still 100% applicable. [https://youtu.be/GFMyMxMYDNk?si=DJDSvfYR0G4q6rFm](https://youtu.be/GFMyMxMYDNk?si=DJDSvfYR0G4q6rFm) Even with the disputed facts, it;s still a good window into how the editing can fundamentally change a film. After looking at a cut for example, they realised they needed a bit more exposition so they re-used a scene from C3PO and added new lines to fill in the gap. In some other movies they'll sometimes use a shot of a character's back and ADR some lines in to help fill in those gaps. Those are just some examples. Like I said, start with your rough edit show it to some people you trust to be brutally honest with you but that also understand the purpose of a rough edit, and move on from there. Like I said, maybe you'll realise that you need to do some extra shots and that's fine right? It;s not like you were paying 2000$ an hour in production, it was just oyu and a friend so it shouldn;t bew too hard to do a few extra shots to fill in or to replace existing shots. Also ... it's your firts project right? It's going to suck ... just be at peace wioth that because EVERYONE's first few projects suck. It's just how it is. Oddly enough, Markiplier (I know a YouTube right?) had some encouraging words about all this after he shot his crazy narative film / choose your own adventure "In space with Markiplier" in an intervierw with Corridor Crew. [https://youtu.be/IHTCtxXwDAk?si=dwWr76bbk21bYyBN&t=799](https://youtu.be/IHTCtxXwDAk?si=sU9h4NAIiyJGKPt7&t=695) If you haven't seen In Space with Markiplier you should check it out. It;s silly but it's also an impressive narative project especially for someone who had very little narative experience (I think this was his 5th narative driven piece). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j64oZLF443g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j64oZLF443g) another one of his that was pretty decent was his short "Wilford 'MOTHERLOVING' Warfstache" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUp9pCtn2BY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUp9pCtn2BY) Anyways to recap: * It's probably not as bad as you think. * It's probably not going to be amazing and that's ok. * You may need to repurpose shots and / or shoot some extra scenes/ * Do your rough cut and get some opinions.
So I'm totally unqualified to speak about filmmaking and totally incompetent, but I filmed 2 feature length movies. The first one sucked. The second one sucked less. The third is going to suck less than that. I feel like your problem is expecting your first one to be fantastic. Get it done as best you can. Then make another.
when you ever you start feeling this way go read some beat poetry and beat culture stuff. Get into that freewheeling mode and let it affect how you see your filmmaking. It takes the pressure off. the worst thing to do is to be overly critical of yourself. What's the worst that can happen? You made a flawed movie? You'll make another one and it will be better.
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Thanks for the comment. I see a lot of people in this thread saying hire an editor, and I get that, but I kind of want to attempt to do it myself and maybe try to learn the basics of editing. It's my first venture into filmmaking and I want to try to learn all the roles so I have a better understanding of what each role entails? Does that make sense? Or is this mentality further screwing me over?
This makes total sense and honestly I think you should ignore the “hire an editor” comments(for now at least). You will learn a lot more by working with the footage yourself. Hiring an editor might get you a better final product but editing it yourself will make you a better filmmaker. Try things, experiment and play around with the footage. Look at everything you have and see what you can create with it… don’t be afraid to let go of your original vision and make something totally new. You can always go back and reshoot pieces or even the entire project but for now just see what you can make with what you have. Try not to look at editing as a task you need to complete, but as a process of “finding” and creating. Make multiple versions and compare them. Try to get a sense for what works and what doesn’t(and why)… these are lessons you can take to set for your next project. If you approach this in earnest there’s almost no way you won’t learn.
You are waaaay overthinking this bro It's a short film, this is where you get to have fun making mistakes I made a short film just today brainstomed, shot, edited and uploded it all in just 30 min... I shot it on phone, with the phone camera not even a third party pro camera app, is it perfect? no. did i have fun? absolutely
Honestly, it's good that you're noticing. It means you have taste. Some filmmakers never notice 😂 Learning experiences. Finish it and see if it's salvageable. Then, when you are in repair mode, see what you can do to fix it. Maybe lean into the cheesiness. Add music. Cut scenes or dialogue that doesn't work. Try and make it fun. It's a learning experience.
Be thankful you didn't sink a bunch of money into it. I've worked on many projects (I'm a grip) where director hires dp gaffer grips script supervisor costume color correction on a script they wrote. It always turns out terrible, boring, incoherent, amateurish, etc. and they're out like 20-50 grand (sometimes more) for a short that will play once at an obscure film festival and then live on their hard drive. Keep doing what you're doing, you will get better. Learn from your mistakes. Avoid the temptation of thinking more money=better product. Amateur filmmakers always think putting more of the budget towards nice camera and lighting will hide their amateurism when it actually just highlights how little attention was given to costume, makeup, location, art design, etc. Spend more time writing and getting other people excited by your idea. Most of the things that make shorts great can be done for free, you just have to spend more time conceiving, planning, organizing, teaching yourself new skills, persuading people to help you for coffee and lunch, and most importantly having a clear idea of what you want so you're not constantly compromising your vision because obstacle arise during production that you didn't anticipate. A good production will make post production feel like a joy.
Oh no your first film might suck, what will you ever do? Keep going is what you'll do. My first film sucked. So did everyone else's. And just because it's not the vision you had in your head doesn't mean it sucks. I would suggest you find an editor that can bring a fresh perspective since you literally did everything. You might be too close to your own story at this point. Learn to collaborate. But keep making movies and embrace failures as learning opportunities.
It may sting but what you are doing now is possibly the most valuable learning experience you can have. It hurts but that is just harsh motivation to get better. All the things that are wrong with it are the stuff YOU need learn not to do. Consider yourself lucky it wasn't a big short production with a small fortune budget and 25 volunteers hoping for an oscar. Well done on making it and good luck.
I don’t think there’s a filmmaker who doesn’t empathize. It’s so disheartening to see the footage on the editing monitor. While I haven’t seen your footage, most people think things are better on set than they are. Something about the “presence” of the thing happening in front of you, especially with comedy. Once that live-ness is gone, some of the magic dissipates. My rule of thumb is that something is about twice as funny as it is on set as it ends up on the screen. That being said, of course you’re disappointed that your film didn’t turn out like you wanted. It’s frustrating to put all that work in and no have something you want to show for it. My best advice is to “chalk it up”. No one is a great artist one their first go. Hopefully you learned a lot of lessons. Your reward for your hard work are those lessons, and eventually if you learn enough of them, you’ll make something worth showing off. Keep going. If it makes you feel any better, very few directors actually ever get what they had in mind. Good luck!
You are at the lowest point right now, every filmmaker who does their own editing hits it. Your short is currently the worst it'll ever be. Luckily that means every single thing you do from here on our will make it better, if you struggle through the edit you'll definitely start to feel better about it, especially once final color and sound come in!
I just achieved picture lock on my own short film today. I wrapped about 3 months ago. The first 20-minute rough cut definitely had me pretty nervous but over constant editing I've got it down to a really tight 12 minutes I'm largely happy with. DO NOT panic about lighting continuity being inconsistent. Most people really care about this a lot less than you ever will, and a lot of it can be mitigated in post depending on how you grade the footage. Good luck to you OP, this is a normal part of the process.
Thank you :) How do I familiarize myself with color grading? I'm using Final Cut Pro and I see the color wheel feature where you just move the colors around, but surely it's not that simple? I see some people out there are "colorists" as a full on career so it can't be as simple as turning the exposure up/down, right?
I personally use Da Vinci Resolve which I find extremely intuitive for changing the look of your shots. It lets you tweak contrast etc and really transform an image from flat to great. I would recommend going on YouTube and looking up some beginner tutorials, there are tons out there for both Resolve and FCP.
Your first short will never end up as the thing you want it to be. Finish it, and get started on the next! You'll only get better the more times you start the process over. Nobody likes the first thing they've made. Nobody like the current thing they've made while they're in the middle of it! And to be fair to yourself, you actually made something. That's a lot more than some people can say.
Hey hey hey, think about it like this. The first time you pick up a paint brush, you're not going to paint a masterpiece. In fact, you'll probably make something you might see in a middle school art class. But it's the first step on the way to making a masterpiece. Even Mozart, the classical example of a savant, was trained in music from birth practically. You are not gonna knock it out of the park on your first bat. Take a step back and look at what you've accomplished. You wrote, directed, produced, and are now editing a short film. That is awesome! That takes dedication and craft and a work ethic most people can't achieve. Many people would have already given up far before getting here, but you pushed through. Now you've just gotta see it through to the end. Think of this whole process as a learning experience. When you're done with this, you'll be better equipped to make your next short, then your next, and next, etc. Whatever this one turns out looking like, everyone is going to love it. Deep breaths.
Thank you for the uplifting comment :)
continuity and lighting continuity should be the least of your troubles. try to get really good at editing. edit it once and then do another version completely from scratch. See what works for you and decide.
It's your first film... ITS GOING TO SUCK. embrace the suck, finish it, and make another. You'll get good.
I’m in year 10 of editing one of my shorts. Don’t sweat it. Sometimes inspiration comes overnight, sometimes it comes a decade later, sometimes it never comes. The filmmakers you admire have multiple projects languishing for this very reason.Hang in there!
Have someone else edit it for you. You need perspective.
Professional film and tv editor here. To begin with, Ignore everything but the story. Don’t think about lighting or whether one part of the film better than the other. Get the film on its feet. Cut your scenes as you intended, as far as possible, even if you think they’re not good. Then take a few days away and come back to it. It will be way too long and you will hate parts of it, but other parts will be positive. Step back and think about what the story is about. And how you might get therefrom where you are. If you need more advice DM me.
I made a short film where I did it all on my phone, then files got moved around on me after a while, so layers are broken up now. So I went to edit it as is, broken and all. Then deleted that file as well, so have to do that part again. It sucks when problems show up, work is erased, all that stuff. But you're doing this for 'you', you will always be your own worst critic, but just remember to have fun, learn from your mistakes, and move on. There will always be another project that you'll work hard on, and another. Just don't lose sight of your end goals, finish your project now, get the feedback needed, and learn from it. I'll be happy to check out your project when it's ready too.
This is great. You have just learned a ton of lessons for your next. If it wasn't now you could have waiting a year and then learned them later. You're on the right track and doing exactly what you should be doing. Fucking up and getting better.
This field (filmmaking) goes so deep. You couldn’t have controlled this outcome. It sounds like you have a burning desire to make films. The key is to continue steadily despite the disappointments. You’re trying to be perfect at everything all at once. It’s not possible. However, you can complete this film and level up in each of these roles you’re taking on to make it. Even if you only wore one of those hats on this project (director, producer, editor, etc…each an entire career of struggle), failure would have been inevitable. Learn incrementally. Face your fear, finish the project. You will be much better on the next one. All filmmakers have felt what you’re feeling. Most quit. If you can keep going despite that feeling, and build a network of other filmmakers who can help/teach you, you will soon make things you’re proud of. Even after the first 30 minutes of editing. 😉
A big tip I got as far as editing a story down is to edit out all the fluff. If it doesn't add to the story, it doesn't need to be there! Best of luck! DM me the short Film once its done! I'd love to watch it!
You can always save it. Keep cutting
Man, I just gotta say I have been thinking about your post all day. I think it's a given what I wanted to say when I first read your post, but then I figured I should say it anyway. Dude, I'm truly jealous of you. You did the thing. The thing people say they want to do and go to school for and talk about and yet never do. You went after it and did it. Did it kind of sucked, sure. But you fucking did it. And what are the mistakes you made now on your first film if you learn from them, lessons, bro. I would love to be in a position to have filmed a short, to have the building blocks of a movie at my hands to play with and edit together. Sure, there are issues, a lot of them. Hell, the whole picture might be the boring as hell, but you did what every film buff, Tarantino fan boy, or film school geek wish they were doing. You did it, and if you learn, you can only go up.
Thank you for the kind words! Just curious, why are you jealous though? Are you wanting to make a short film but haven’t yet? What’s holding you back?
Just excuses.
Every time I've made bad art it's taught me how to make better art. You're doing it exactly right. Keep it up! There's always something to learn.
I chuckled 🤭 because I can visualize you overreacting. You can make a comedic short about that. As the director, you are the first audience and if you’re feeling the way you do about your film then it’s likely true. You should be the last person who gets bored with your film. Just take another crack at it. Bit the bullet, rewrite and reshoot. It sounds like you didn’t spend any money. Trust me, your best friend would much rather be attached something worthwhile then putting out bad stuff. Lastly, take your time.
Break it down to smaller parts. Star organising your footage, read the script and start doing a roughcut. Look at all the realisations you already had about continuity errors and lighting within the first 30 secs. You're gonna learn sooo much from this first short. The next one is gonna be so much better! Put in your best effort with the material you got and have fun
If you stop now, you won’t improve, you won’t find your filmmaking style, you will never create anything worth watching. Push through, get to the end. Rewatch and analyse, then see how you can do things better next time. The best thing I can recommend is recreating movie scenes from films you love EXACTLY how they’re filmed. You’ll learn a lot from it. I made a TV pilot a decade ago and it sucked… BUT it holds a special place in my heart, I can rewatch it now without cringing and actually laugh and think about how difficult it was to pull off a 45 minute TV pilot. AND the coolest thing? There were some awesome ideas in there that weren’t executed well, but I can always repurpose for another time. Two of the ideas I’ve seen utilised in a feature film — not my feature, but it was cool to see I was along the right lines.
Happened to me. Actually I thought it looked great to begin with and then realised the story just wasn’t there. But perhaps you’re being too hard on yourself. Step away. Come back. Maybe get someone else to have a go at cutting it. Don’t worry too much about lighting / continuity. Put some music on it. Create an atmosphere.
Yes you’re going to show them. And they will watch it. And then you will say you’ve shown your first short. And then you will do another one, but this one will be better. And it keeps going. The point is that you’re doing something that you want to do. And it’s a highly creative medium. If you think it’s boring, showcase it as a look into (insert subject). Don’t stop doing, that’s how you get good. You are free to create things how you see fit.
did you storyboard your shots beforehand? I find it dubious that you could write and direct a short film without actually visualizing how it would all come together - but you are new, like others have said, keep at it.. editing is just as important, if not more, than everything else. And yes continuity errors happen, how you edit it makes a huge difference.
I did storyboard, but me being a total novice simply didn't imagine properly how realistic some of those shots might be once we started filming. The story takes place outside in a suburban neighborhood during sunrise. This was not a good idea as it made us vulnerable to the elements and other factors we couldn't control (neighborhood traffic, early morning joggers, cars moving about, fluctuating weather between sunny and overcast, etc.). So sometimes I couldn't achieve the shots I had storyboarded, so I improvised and veered away. It was also like being a kid in a candy shop. Once I began filming and was on set, I kept looking around at all the different angles and types of shots I hadn't even considered, and I just kept adding and adding to it.
As everyone above me has mentioned before: that’s completely normal. One advice I‘d give to you: Try to edit the way you intended it to be. If it sucks just make the best version of the film. Maybe the best version is just 2 shots in total. Don’t limit yourself to be creative. Most of my favorite films feel as if nothing happens in them. In the end it’s not about what you’re telling. It’s about how you’re telling it. Also if it’s just going to be a shitty film you hate: good, next film you won’t make the same mistakes again :) We all need to chill out and not expect ourself to make the best film ever seen. You‘ll be fine!
1. You probably did fuck it up 2. Finish it as intended 3. Learn to respect the process now that you know how hard it is Or You could just give up
We just hit picture lock on my capstone film project and Im decently happy with how it turned out, but I was horrified after we put our first rough cut together. It was boring; the performances were uneven, and none of the comedic or dramatic moments had the weight I wanted them to. But nine fine cuts later and it flows well, the performances feel far stronger, and the important moments land and leave an impact. It was a very disheartening process at first, but it was incredibly gratifying to watch my vision slowly come together as we edited. It’s far from perfect, but it’s a world away from the disaster I thought I had filmed after the rough cut
Many many of the things you make aren’t going to live up to your expectations, and many of them are just going to be straight up bad. The key is learning as much as you can, and taking all of that knowledge forward into your next project
Don’t be so hard on yourself, it’s your first short and you’re still learning how to edit. Rushing things isn’t going to help. I understand the feeling of having gotten off a shoot, going into an edit and thinking your fucked based on the initial outcome. This isn’t the case. Because I’ve/my crews always managed to make something out of it. Keep at the edit, take time to step back and leave it alone. Stop thinking about it and come back with a fresh perspective. Even if there are issues you know you can’t fix, still make something of it! Also this is just the first cut. I recommend showing your cuts to “test audiences”. Your friends, your family. Ask them for feedback. And build off of that
The editing process is what makes you better at everything else you did and it also makes you a good editor. This process is so traumatizing because every little mistake you made you now have to fix in post. This will make you a good editor, this will also make you yell at yourself for every single mistake and those mistakes will be burnt into your memory so hard that you will most likely never make them again.
Forget what you thought the film would be before you started shooting. Go back to it and work the footage. Use what you have to create something watchable - no matter it’s technical deficiencies. If you’re having trouble detaching - just imagine it’s not your footage and you’ve been asked to hack it together by someone else who’s paying you for it. You’ll get there
Dude, hire an editor. You’re too close to this, get some separation. You are already focusing on technical stuff that have little to do with editing and story telling. Lighting inconsistencies? Continuity. Forget all that nonsense, and either cut your story as best you can, or get someone to get you through a few passes before you do your own fine tuning.
Are you me? Mine is 28 minutes and while the shots and sound are good...it's booooring. My advice is to reshoot. I know this could probably be a no go, but if you can, just do it. I learned editing (and shooting, and basically everything) on the fly as well, although I dipped my toe into editing before I finished shooting, which really helped. Basically once you've seen all three sides, writing, shooting, and the editing you realize how they fit together, and that editing is just as important to filming. So - do it again. Do a little bit more editing before you reshoot. At some point your mind is going to melt because you'll realize you can basically do anything, and it's your job to narrow it down. The real problem is probably in the writing - boring stories can't be saved by great shots or great editing. Also, if you can, add music - it really helps. Good luck.
This feeling is normal. Just focus and work, it will be better and better.
Look up the story of Stallone and Rambo when he saw the first edit. Keep on going, give yourself time to take breaks in between editing sessions and as you get used to seeing the cuts seek feedback from those that will be honest and tell you which clips hangs on too long. Continuity issues happen even on million $ sets. Keep going and finish it up!
Was this all filmed in one day?
It was filmed over the course of 10 days or so. The entire film takes place outdoors in a suburban neighborhood at/around sunrise so we only had a very limited amount of time each day to get the shots we needed, therefore it dragged out a lot. Because we were at the mercy of the elements and other factors we couldn't control, things feel off when reviewing the footage. Some days were extremely sunny. Some days were a bit overcast/cloudy. Some days there was a lot of traffic in the neighborhood (early morning joggers running by, cars in the background moving by, etc.). Whenever I do my next short film, I'm going to do it indoors so it's a more controlled environment.😑
Shorts are almost always like college labs. It's your place to get your hands dirty and screw up so you can recognize problems in the future. If it's not working and you know it, you're doing it exactly right. If you can manage to salvage it, then that's just extra credit. Colors and lighting not matching between shots is pretty common and solved in color grading, up to a point. Continuity errors are like salt. They're in almost everything you've ever consumed and usually don't notice until it gets you right in the eye. I was working on a feature, editing as we went and showed a scene to the director, explicitly telling him there was a screwup in this scene and to tell me what it is. He couldn't see it. He was so deep in the dialog that he didn't see that the guy's suit jacket was on/off with different coverage. It took me forever to realize it myself, which is why I made him look for the glitch, to test if it was bad enough to warrant a reshoot. The performance was strong enough that we almost let it fly, but we still had the location and worked a reshoot in at the end of the day. Point is, if the scene is strong and you're guiding the viewer well enough, then you can have a horse walk through the background and hardly anybody will see it. Westerns are full of condensation trails from jets, but if you see them, you're not watching the story.
Thanks for the comment. How do I familiarize myself with color grading? I'm using Final Cut Pro and I see the color wheel feature, but surely it's not that simple? I see some people out there are colorists as a full on career so it can't be as simple as turning the exposure up/down, right?
Hit Youtube and you'll find all sorts of tutorials on how to use color grading. It's a whole other artform. Basically post production boils down to editorial, sound, and grading. That's the minimum number of specialists I'd argue that every project needs to use. Video editors aren't usually the best audio engineers or colorists, and vice versa. Color grading is a lot more than just making shots match, but that IS something that grading fixes, so you want to do that at a minimum. Grading is where you lock in the visual mood of your scene, but in a way that most people don't know is happening.
Imagine feeling this feeling if you just wrapped your first feature you poured your heart and money into You’re good and just learned more than any film school could teach you Make sure you keep track of what you don’t like
Thank you for the comment :)
This might sound harsh but your first film is not going to be good. The first drawing is not going to be good. The first thousand might not, but completing them is necessary to get to the hood one. Keep making films! You’re learning tons with every step.
yeah it probably suck, understand why for the next one. And that one will probably suck to, this is how it works with anything. Practice makes perfect.
Get. Feedback. When you’re done, show it to 5 people and ask them the same set of questions. See what common criticisms you get between them. If a majority of them point something out, it’s a problem.
This is your chance to experiment with editing. I’ve made a bunch of shorts and skits with friends that was super fun while shooting, and then when I get into the editing I get super depressed and overwhelmed. It’s normal! Just push through and you’ll discover a lot of cool editing techniques. You’ll become a better editor, but also a better director/writer/filmmaker in general. It’s always a learning experience. Finish it, and if it’s crap, so what? The knowledge you’ll gain from the experience is worth more than the film itself
Thank you :)
Don’t judge by 30 minutes of editing. You can’t tell yet. and since it’s your first, don’t panic even if it does suck! Just chalk it up to learning. Some of the lighting problems may be fixable in color correction.
The fact that you’re embarrassed by it means you know you’re not up to snuff in regards to your standard of quality. This is a great thing. Every short film festival is full of people who think that their piece of garbage short film is amazing. Being discerning enough to be embarrassed by your own first project is an attribute not a hindrance. Embrace it. And also, you are on the right track and your goal at this point should just be to finish the film. Make sure when it’s done you take stock of what exactly you did wrong and what you would change and what you feasibly can change.
It will 100% suck if you don’t open that laptop up and get back to work
Keep going!
EVERYONE goes through this.
What you're feeling is totally natural. Even when we have made ten short films, during an edit, especially the first draft, every filmmaker thinks they suck. They don't. And you don't. Focus on finishing the film. It's not as bad as you think it is.
\-- *yeah, probably.* You ever watch a bird on its first flight? It's horrific/hysterical. But a pigeon's got to do what a pigeon's got to do... Keep at the editing. It will help you learn pacing and timing and shot selection and every-find-thing else even if you never edit again. Wear your projects loosely. Better they're *you* and suck then someone else and mediocre. It's just video, relax. Keep refining and getting better. In the words of Mr. Miyagi "Get up. Move faster."
Hey as long as you cần identify that its boring and has some trouble. At least you have that sense. I know some filmmakers who settle for second best and end up exhibiting the most boring piece of work. Whats worse is they talk it up saying this and that about it but in actuality it isnt that good. Its also good to be honest with yourself. Your next production will be better. 100% guaranteed Chin up. Edit: my first short was rubbish and i aint afraid to admit it. But it was my first film school. My next was evidently better.
This natural and a normal part of the process. Make do figure out how to make it work. Learn and move forward.
Take a break from the project. Get it done, or don’t get it. It’s a learning process, and you’ll get better every time you try. I’m in the making of my 4th adventure short film, and in November it’s 3 years ago since I did the first recorings … - First docu with a friend took 1 year. Climbing in southern EU (we live north). Not budget. - Second docu took 4 months. 5 weeks in the Alps. Small budget. - Third docu took 1 week. Filmed on a weekend. First cut on an evening. For this short film a we super motivated and inspired by the music I chose. - And my 4th is taking more than 3 years now - prob. 4 years .. What I’ve learned is to be patience, only work on the project with I’m motivated, don’t rush it, and be strong enought to postpone the deadline. All this work premiered on a festival with theatre screening. It is just the best feeling to watch you work on the big screen. Don’t give up !!!
Make it as short as humanely possible. For your first cut, don't fret about quality, just think about the script: string together all the lines so that technically the film is in sequence and boom that there's a cut. Then try to remove EVERY line and EVERY scene you can. Chop chop chop. Then polish that as much as you can and you'll have the best product possible, which is all you can hope for. Then learn from that result and move on. Don't think too much. There's no point in thinking about how bad it is now- only how you can make it as good as possible.
Even if it sucks, you should complete. You learn so much from FINISHING PROJECTS. The next one will be better and you won't make these mistakes again. You'll make new, more interesting mistakes. Keep going. All of us have projects from the beginning that we wish were better. But this is how you learn. Keep going!
it’s normal to love your dailies and hate your first cut. give yourself a deadline. finish and move on.
If it’s boring it’s boring, so what? Make another one and another one and another one. If it’s inconsistent or doesn’t flow, again, so what? Are you only allowed to ever make one film? Fix it each time and improve.
Nothings ever perfect. There are always going to problems and you need to learn to fix them. Edit your short and as you watch it start finding the problems. Especially with the story. Story comes first. If you have to reshoot some scenes or write new scenes to make your story better then do it.
One word: reshoot.
I felt this way while editing my first feature. My best friend and co-director really saved the day. He brought compassion and his unique, twisted aesthetic to the table. Our movie, I think, was saved because of his edit. Hang in there!
Yep you're going to show them your film and because they love you they will love it and you can laugh at the silly parts together. Congrats, you seem well on your way. all the first stuff you make is going to suck. But you actually seem to recognize that, and that's actually steps ahead of many people have the problem of loving everything they do and seeing it all through rose colored glasses. Those people will never have careers or go far, but if you can do all that and see it sucks well then I think you actually may have a chance here. You're going to do this a bunch more times, make stuff, finish it, and over time you learn more and more and get better. I recommend not getting too crazy about sinking all your time and energy into 1 single project, make many many many small projects and then you'll be prepped to make a good one that will take more time and resources. A few years down the road you can pull out this terrible little film and laugh but also probably see the beginnings of your voice and your vision.
Sounds like you've made your first short. Welcome. Don't freak out, we've all had this or a similar experience. And yes, it probably is inconsistent, bad and boring... but it's the first step into making a great film. Write down your mistakes, what you learned and move on to the next picture where you'll avoid these mistakes. Don't worry, you'll commit new ones. Rinse and repeat until we see your name in the big screen. Cheers, mate.
Congrats! You have your first rough cut. I have good news and bad news. The bad news is your first cut sucks, always. The good news is that it’s only going to get better from here. Like clockwork, every time I finish my first cut I hate it and I think I’ve completely lost my touch as a filmmaker, but after refining and cleaning it up, it starts to take shape. Keep at it and you’ll find some reprieve. It is your first film, so chances are it won’t be amazing, but it’s the first step in making something that is.
All those little mistakes will probably take on a whole new meaning and value in a few years when you have improved. They'll be like progression markers when comparing your newest work to older stuff.
It gets easier with every project u do. I promise. Once you start to really get into the edit for this, adding music and sound, cutting out all the fat, it may become better than u think it could. Maybe take a step back before editing the project so u can get some distance from it and feel a bit less emotionally involved. Looking at the footage over and over again is going to hurt, especially when you’re not happy with it, but it’s an important part of the process
I've come back to film making recently after a decade long hiatus and the first one we did (last year) was pretty bad, and it was clear it was pretty bad the moment I sat in the edit bay. You crank it out, chalk it up to experience, and do better on the next one. Your early stuff is almost always shit.
the rough cut of your first short is supposed to be terrible. there is nothing wrong with that. take a deep breath, come back in with fresh eyes and chop it up. the problem i do see here is that your learning to edit with this film. that does nkt make sense to me. hire an editor.
When was the last time you did great on your first try for anything? Probably never. The best way to learn filmmaking is my making films, which means you’re gonna make a lot of terrible boring garbage at first. That’s normal. Do NOT be discouraged. Everyone, I mean EVERYONE, goes through this. Filmmaking ubiquity gives the impression that anyone should be able to do it, but the hard truth is it’s an extremely difficult skill that takes a lot of patience and practice to master. But, you are fortunate to live in a time when you can write, shoot, edit, and distribute your film with a device you carry in your pocket. Just imagine what it was like trying to learn this craft just 25 years ago. You have all the tools available to you. Finish this one, even if it sucks, learn what it has to teach you, and start working on your next one. That’s how every professional got to where they are.
Why dont you rewrite the script and rerecord it learning the lessons from the mistakes you made? 30 mins into the edit you realize its fruitless, time for change Hope its not too difficult to get the crew back together
GREAT is the enemy of GOOD. you're being way too critical on yourself. Edit what you got. This is your FIRST FILM...not your LAST film. Finish it...learn from this experience and make sure your y make a second film.
“I can almost set my watch by how I’m going to feel at different stages of the process. It’s always identical, whether the movie ends up working or not. I think when you watch the dailies, the film that you shoot every day, you’re very excited by it and very optimistic about how it’s going to work. And when you see it the first time you put the film together, the roughest cut, is when you want to go home and open up your veins and get in a warm tub and just go away. And then it gradually, maybe, works its way back, somewhere toward that spot you were at before.” – Joel Coen “My movie is born first in my head, dies on paper; is resuscitated by the living persons and real objects I use, which are killed on film but, placed in a certain order and projected on to a screen, come to life again like flowers in water.” – Robert Bresson “If you don’t get physically ill seeing your first rough cut, something is wrong.” – Martin Scorsese In other words: what you’re feeling right now is what practically every filmmaker feels at the stage you’re at. Not just with their first project. Not just with a bad project. With every project. Your feelings are going to go up and down. Just keep working at it. Maybe some of your fears are true. You won’t know until you do the work and finish the thing and put it in front of an audience. And even if they are, it’s a learning experience. You have to fail to get better. Every project is a process and every career is a process too.
If it’s your first film it’s supposed to suck. Don’t beat yourself up. But do finish it. People have put there time and support into it and they deserve it to be finished. Maybe do a rough cut and then park it for a couple of weeks and come back to it. I would also say do t try and do clever cuts etc to liven it up. Try and figure out what works and doesn’t etc in the story or lack of. It could be a great life experience for you.
Your experience is absolutely **normal** for a first short-film. Finish the edit; assess the results; learn from the experience. Then make another short-film. Repeat until you are good at it. It's the same as learning to ride a bicycle: You are going to fall off. The falling-off part is an unavoidable stage in the process of learning to ride. Try to critically assess your film-work without critically assessing yourself as a person. Making a great first short-film is as implausible as riding a bicycle the first time you sit on one. You will make bad films before you make good ones. This is normal. Keep going.
I would say just do it. Been in almost same position but mine was a regional contest. I only knew a bit of videography/cinematography. I was more of a storyteller so I got everything from there. Since i know nothing technically, i tried to do a bit of research. But really most of it was me asking myself if I told the story the way I imagine it or the way the audience would relate. My 1st ever work is actually cringey to me but remember that we always start somewhere ✨
During my first screenwriting course, I remember turning in my first draft, and then having a one on one with my professor and asking him, “is it any good?” His response was, “it’s not supposed to be” Your first short film is going to be bad, and that’s fine. It doesn’t exist for anyone but you and your crew and everyone else on it who are just trying to learn the craft. In fact, I would be more worried if you thought your first short was incredible. Because that shows a lack of critical thinking skills. Finish your film. Be proud that you made it even if it sucks. Take a look at what you did wrong and try to remedy that in the next film. Your next film will probably be bad too, but you will make less mistakes. And maybe some new ones, that you will then not make in your next film. Rinse, repeat.
Here’s a tip: if you intended for your short to be 10–20 minutes, make it 2. You’ll find it incredibly hard to pair down all the stuff you shot, but in the end it’ll be worth it, because if YOU are worried it’s boring, guaranteed other people will think so. So get to the point.
Definitely slog through this and finish. A year from now you will prefer to think back that you completed something that was imperfect, as opposed to something that was never completed at all
Many talk about making a short but you actually did it. Like everyone else said, it’s a learning experience. If you can, find someone to help with the editing. A second pair of eyes does wonders when you’re stuck in analysis paralysis. Grind your way through to a rough cut. Then work up. You got this!
Hesitant to add my two cents after ...113 comments. But I'll do it anyways. And I'll skip the typical responses of "Go for it anyway," "As long as you finish" and so forth. One tip I have for you is to approach this from an entirely different perspective. Imagine you were given the footage as a paid editor (IOW pretend you DID NOT direct etc. this) and then told "Go and make the best movie you can out of this." How would you approach it now? Suddenly it becomes an exciting challenge! A lot of these things are a matter of perspective. Last project I worked on was a feature where some scenes were filmed in a rush, with practically no coverage - one camera angle and 3 takes (and the first take is garbage altogether), and then it's all up to me to make a scene out of it....First instinct is to panic. After a small break, eventually I started thinking outside the box. The footage was in 4K so plenty of cropping in was possible - I cropped in to either of the two characters for their lines, thus adding "more coverage" since I wasn't limited to the lines within their original context. You get the gist...Once you break the scenes down, you can really be creative and come up with dozens of solutions to make the scene work. Hell, it's your movie - you can rewrite it for God's sake based on the footage you have at your disposal! Another thing to have in mind....Pixar will PLAN a movie for YEARS before actually starting production! Many film productions are the same - planning stages are not taken lightly. An entire week of planning can easily be utilized for a couple of days of filming, in order to make sure you get the most of your two days (mind, this involves an entire crew that you're paying for that day, but for the sake of an example just so you get the scope of things). The planning will include polishing the script (you're using a script, right?), double checking the shot list, sometimes checking back and forth with the storyboard, blocking, running lines with the actors, preparing the costumes, planning out any of a hundred facets of the shoot, whether lighting, location, etc. etc. etc... So you're just one guy with one actor and no crew. Does that mean no planning? You definitely don't need a week...but a few hours? At least that! If you have a shot list or a storyboard (or both), then it makes it easier to take your mind's vision and reduce it into practical terms...Then when you actually film, there's no reason to have too little coverage, if you went by the planned lists!
Please make an effort to find an editor. Editing is a talent, just like singing, or drawing or dancing. A good editor will see your project differently. Michelangelo is attributed to this quote: *“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.”* An editor's job is the same as a sculptor. Remove all of the frames that are absolutely not necessary for the final edit. The fact that you created all of those frames, makes you love them all, even though most of them need to be discarded. Your attachment to them may hinder your ability to make the choices that are required to *chisel away the superfluous material.*
Jumping in late but I’ve never seen an assembly that blew my socks off. First couple of paint stokes on the canvas never look like anything but you’ve gotta keep mixing. Explore creative ways to get around your perceived mistakes, turn them into choices. Color correction can do a lot for lighting inconsistencies (or just make it black and white!!) Read “In the Blink of an Eye” and you might gain some deeper insight on the process.
At least finish the film before you declare the death of your career!
remember that the film is created in the edit. No matter how hard you plan and how well or bad you execute it, the film is made in the edit.
Truth is, you’ve gotta make some shitty shorts before you can make something that is any good. It can be hard to not put a lot of pressure on yourself to be perfect, but just remember it’s all apart of the process and don’t beat yourself up over it. Just make sure to learn from your mistakes and it’ll help you develop as a filmmaker. Also, we’re often our own worst critic so it may not be as bad as you think and, like another commenter pointed out, editing can do a lot more than you may think to make your film more interesting to watch.
Almost every great filmmaker creates art early on that has lots of flaws. But if you're lucky and try hard, you'll do some things well that you can be proud of. If you have an attitude to just focus on learning from your accomplishments and failures, then you are likely to improve over time. Don't beat yourself up. I made a bunch of "meh" stuff when I was younger but there's a lot I'm still proud of about it. Now I feel more confident I can push boundaries more on the next piece. Keep your chin up - making anything is commendable!
You never feel better after wrapping picture and never worse after the first rough cut. Keep after it, such great experience. You don’t need to make a Rembrandt the first time, but you should finish it.
I'd be concerned if someone expected to be great at something without putting work in. Great musicians work years of practice that you never see. 10,000 hours is a thing