SAYING GOODBYE TO FOOTAGE YOU LOVED

I was busy putting the finishing touches on a new short film called The Climb and I realized that space was running low on my main hard drive.  So I turned my attention to the original files for my last short film Playing Through.

Almost 4 years ago to the day, we decided to make the golfing drama about a cancer scare and it was one of the best experiences of my life.  I had so much fun working on that movie.  Everything was equal parts excitement and sheer terror.  Just about every task I tackled was something I had never attempted before including working with a professional crew for the first time.

When it came time to edit the film, I went out and got myself a sweet iMac with a brand new copy of Final Cut Pro Studio 2.  I’m sure any editor out there remembers the day they got their first real ‘setup’.  Until that point, I always worked with an ancient version of Premiere Pro left over from my college days.

LEARNING THE ROPES

By the time I started editing Playing Through, I had begun my career as a professional television editor.  It was a blast to balance cutting fast paced pieces at work with the slower style of a short narrative.  Not too mention at that point, my Final Cut knowledge wasn’t all that extensive.

Every day I would wake up and edit the film for 3-4 hours and then head off to work to edit sports for 8-10 hours.  Anyone in a creative medium thrives on projects they look forward to working on.  I look back at that time fondly because it solidified my love of editing.

OLD ‘DUSTY’ FILES

Most editors are perfectionists.  You have to be.  I add my own unique blend of anxiety to my quest for perfection.  So I have every file associated with Playing Through backed up on 2 separate hard drives stored in separate areas of my house.

That’s why it was finally ‘time’ to delete all traces of the film from my computer.  Of course, I had to load up that finalized timeline one last time and watch the movie again.  I scrolled through a lot of unused footage and laughed at the outtakes and moments I had long since forgotten.  Going back and watching the raw footage again reminded me of how much I love to make movies and what Playing Through meant to me.

Then I selected the main directories and hit delete.  Officially closing the bin on that chapter of my life.  In a certain way, it symbolized a step forward as well.  I created space for new projects and endless possibilities.

So long old footage.  Hello new ideas.

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