Would festivals have a problem with this type of short film?

[Ryan Elder]

Perhaps he doesnt talk about politics long enough for the shot to register...

[Brian Drysdale]

Even within a short film there is often a 3 act type structure Act I - Setup: Exposition, Inciting Incident, Plot Point One. Act II - Confrontation: Rising Action, Midpoint, Plot Point Two. Act III - Resolution. Although, Act 2 won't be as long in a short, but it's surprisingly useful for breaking things down.

Interestingly, a good lecture or school lesson can follow the same structure.

[Chris Hurd]

In his biography "Skywalking," George Lucas talked about film school exercises where they would be given 16mm short ends of, say, thirty feet (barely one minute of film at 24fps) and they had to shoot a story with a beginning, a middle and an end.

Of course these days, a YouTube ad can be 15 seconds long and tell some kind of story. Point being, there's a logical structure no matter how long or short the run time.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, we were given exercises like that as well.

Well, I talked to another filmmaker I met about it, and showed him the movie. He says the reason why some of the cuts are jarring, is that I don't hold them long enough, or I cut too soon or too slowly.

I was cutting what I felt were the best parts, the highlights, to create the best performance, or the best moments. Perhaps creating the best performance from the best sections is not first priority though, and first priority, should be cutting for emotional beats, even if it means missing small performance sections?

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by Ryan Elder

Oh okay, we were given exercises like that as well.

Well, I talked to another filmmaker I met about it, and showed him the movie. He says the reason why some of the cuts are jarring, is that I don't hold them long enough, or I cut too soon or too slowly.

I was cutting what I felt were the best parts, the highlights, to create the best performance, or the best moments. Perhaps creating the best performance from the best sections is not first priority though, and first priority, should be cutting for emotional beats, even if it means missing small performance sections?

A lot of this comes down to experience and/or understanding. For some this comes as second nature for others they have to learn the hard way through trial and error. The most important take away is at the planning stage you should be determining the structure, mood and purpose. Then you go about filming in a way to that supports that plan. If you try to incorporate movies you like or randomly applying rules out of context your head will become filled with a confused jumble of competing ideas that lead to an incoherent movie.
Movie making is like building a house, there is a lot of work involved, and if the blueprint is not right to begin with, all the hard work and time will be spent in vain.

[Chris Hurd]

There's a rhythm and a pacing to cutting. Movies breathe. Each one is a little bit different... there is no "right" or "wrong," just what's best for that story. Pick some movie you like to watch, and mute the sound. Watch it without any audio at all. Then you'll begin to notice the pace of the cuts within each scene.

[Paul R Johnson]

Ah, maybe Chris got it. You got wrapped up in editing the words, so the cuts came at radio edit points, not visual points. Your source material had the best takes in audio pretence mode, leaving you with a problem. You got forced into the edits needing to be in a particular place to make the audio work. Possibly you have b-roll (exactly the purpose of this term) that can cover these jarring edits? I'm thinking shots of the graves, more shots of him standing in silence, the melancholy stuff?

[Ryan Elder]

Oh I was talking about the subject's performance though in how I edited it. What does audio have to do with that? I meant his performance both audio and visually. I have more shots of B roll I can use, I just felt it wasn't necessary to use it in those cuts, since those cuts had a purpose and I actually wanted to show his performance though. But are the cuts a problem cause they come at wrong times, even if his performance is best in those cuts?

[Brian Drysdale]

Editing is about everything, because everything is conveying information. Even the blink of an eye is important.

You use highlights in a commercial or a trailer, but you need more in the movie, even the silences can be important and are part of a performance, just watch a Clint Eastwood film..

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay well since it was only a five minute short film with a lot of narration I didn't think you would apply the same way a feature film would was silences. I thought this would be more like a commercial. But I could do more silent moments for the next project for sure that isn't a feature. Thanks, that helps!

[Brian Drysdale]

Pacing is essential in all films, regardless of length.

[Ryan Elder]

oh okay, I didn't think this one needed more pauses in it's pacing, but I can keep that in mind. Perhaps I was too concerned about keeping it under 10 minutes as well

[Brian Drysdale]

Listen to the Patton speech, there are pauses in it. If you don't have pauses and pace changes, you risk the speech becoming a rant,

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, I've saw the speech. Mine has pauses as well, but perhaps needs more in the shots that were mentioned, or does mine not have near enough?

[Brian Drysdale]

Perhaps you should do those acting classes, so that you get a feel for these things. Even theatre centred classes would help with working with actors on films.