Cutting Takes

Film Duration Limitation Issue

In the process of making the film more concise, my editor, sound designer, and I came to the conclusion that the issue was more than a few long takes in the film, but rather too much of an extensive plot for a one-minute comedy. We had a misconception of how long it would take to include our ideas. Even though they were all mainly short takes, it added up nonetheless! So, we had to convey our storyline differently based on what we had filmed.

Still from a scene we took out of the film that was intended to introduce the first opponent, with her expressing confusion on how to play the game. One-shots like this one were meant to contrast with the other opponent's confidence in the game, but the story was able to manage without scenes purposed to reveal character personalities.

Still from a scene cut out from the film, where opponent 2 is introduced as he talks on the phone and stares at opponent 1 (the confused girl) playing chess. This shot was also disregarded because the lighting was too strong on our actor.

Still from another scene that was removed from the film. Here, an over-the-shoulder tracking shot was attempted to capture the first meeting between the opponents.

How the Plot Changed

My role as director is to oversee the production process from all its dimensions and maintain the vision of the film. But, I was not able to do this entirely. While looking over my editor's progress with making a rough cut, it was apparent how many scenes he had to remove to make the film fit a minute. These removed scenes were put in to introduce each character's persona; a girl who has no clue how to play chess versus a smug chess expert. The first half of the film at first consisted of one-shots of the girl appearing confused and scared of her opponent and reaction one-shots of the chess expert laughing at her. However, this made the introduction too lengthy and my editor decided to remove the reaction shots, walk-up scene, and other clips from the film.

My job was to aid my editor in telling the same storyline but with the remaining clips. So, we looked over the film and focused on filling any gaps the audience may have with a single handshake scene. We realized this clip would allow the audience to establish the characters as 'opponents' in a simple and fast way. The girl reaches out for a first bump, but the boy proceeds with a handshake. It is the hesitation from the girl exhibited thereafter that we agreed still gave the idea that he intimidates her.

The handshake scene we decided would serve as the introduction of the opponents in a more concise way without any additional shots.

Due to removing the scenes purposed to display the characters' opposite personalities, when the girl has her 'comeback' scene, it is not easily inferred as one. This is because the scenes portraying her as 'nervous' and 'losing the game' were taken out. Had I had a better perception of time throughout the filming process, I would have ensured that we altered the beginning of the film to increase the clarity and humorous effects of her losing the game at first and suddenly taking the win. Regardless, we learned from this experience and moved forward with my sound designer so that the editing changes could be made up for with shifts in music (classical music as they play versus rock and roll music when the girl has a comeback and wins the game).