Experience When did you realize a scene wasn’t working?

[admin]

There are scenes that feel perfect on paper and even on set, but something just doesn’t click once you reach the edit. Realizing that can be frustrating, especially if a lot of effort went into it.

I’ve had moments where letting go of a scene was the hardest part of the process.
Have you experienced something similar?
How do you decide when a scene needs to be changed or removed entirely?

 

[Lucas]

There are scenes that feel perfect on paper and even on set, but something just doesn’t click once you reach the edit. Realizing that can be frustrating, especially if a lot of effort went into it.

I’ve had moments where letting go of a scene was the hardest part of the process.
Have you experienced something similar?
How do you decide when a scene needs to be changed or removed entirely?

Man, this hits close to home, it’s that classic "kill your darlings" moment and it never gets any easier. For me, the realization always kicks in during the first rough assembly, because on set you’re riding that adrenaline high, but in the quiet of the edit suite you suddenly notice the pacing just completely tanks. If I find myself getting bored watching my own footage, I know the scene is dead weight, so I usually do a quick "lift test" where I ripple delete it from the timeline and play the project straight through. If the story still makes perfect sense and actually flows way better without it, that scene goes straight to the digital bin. It’s brutal to throw away hours of hard work and budget, but at the end of the day you have to protect the project, not your ego. Has anyone here ever managed to save a totally broken scene with some crazy editing tricks or ADR, or do you usually just chop it?

 

[Michael]

There are scenes that feel perfect on paper and even on set, but something just doesn’t click once you reach the edit. Realizing that can be frustrating, especially if a lot of effort went into it.

I’ve had moments where letting go of a scene was the hardest part of the process.
Have you experienced something similar?
How do you decide when a scene needs to be changed or removed entirely?

One thing I've learned is that a scene rarely fails because of the acting, cinematography or dialogue.

More often, it fails because it answers a question the audience isn't asking.

I've seen beautifully shot scenes with strong performances disappear from the final cut simply because they stopped the story instead of moving it forward.

When I'm unsure, I ask a simple question: if this scene vanished tomorrow, what would the audience actually lose?

The hardest scenes to cut are often the ones everyone loves. But sometimes protecting the film means letting go of the scene.

 

[Anderson-Mark-Ian]

I have found multiple times, that edits in my book, my music, my screenplays etc have all mostly arrived without my blessing.

Let me explain.

I play my idea in my mind. I write that down as best I can. I create a character and story arch. I begin.

During the writing, I will let the scene play out in my mind but, I am known to digress. I would notice this - and have at times had to pull pages not just paragraphs.

Does it bother me? Not really.. if I know changes need to be made, it is to protect the story I already have in my mind. Sometimes however, I don't realise until further on that my brain went it's own way. I write that much with the characters in mind, almost living the scene, that I do not notice the writing digress.


Advice from others also leads to changes that I would not have expected but again.. changes are usually necessary.

As a writer? I roll with it.

I just wish my brain and my hands would communicate a bit more

How do you guys find this? Does it bother you or do you take it in your stride?

 

[Zoltan]

I have found multiple times, that edits in my book, my music, my screenplays etc have all mostly arrived without my blessing.

Let me explain.

I play my idea in my mind. I write that down as best I can. I create a character and story arch. I begin.

During the writing, I will let the scene play out in my mind but, I am known to digress. I would notice this - and have at times had to pull pages not just paragraphs.

Does it bother me? Not really.. if I know changes need to be made, it is to protect the story I already have in my mind. Sometimes however, I don't realise until further on that my brain went it's own way. I write that much with the characters in mind, almost living the scene, that I do not notice the writing digress.


Advice from others also leads to changes that I would not have expected but again.. changes are usually necessary.

As a writer? I roll with it.

I just wish my brain and my hands would communicate a bit more

How do you guys find this? Does it bother you or do you take it in your stride?

Yeah, I think a lot of us struggle with that communication between the brain and the hands.

What you said about outside feedback is especially interesting. From a distribution perspective, sometimes it takes a completely fresh pair of eyes to spot something the creator simply can’t see anymore because they’ve lived with the story for so long.

And sometimes the scene they stumble over is exactly the one everyone was most attached to. That’s when the difficult question comes in: are we protecting the scene, or protecting the film?

 

[Anderson-Mark-Ian]

Great follow on question Zaltán. This is a huge question that most skip without giving a thought.

There have been decisions I have personally made that I have reconsidered for this exact reason. It isn't just the story that grows - we grow alongside THEM.

I like to let my ideas develop naturally themselves. This has already caused such a headache when finalising my story and character arcs. But, if the changes improve it? Great!

The biggest piece of advice I can give anyone in the writing phase? - If you edit your work, keep the original file in an archive. This way, if you change your mind, you do not have to worry as you will have the originals - never save over!

I always wonder how many files people end up with? So far for Bloom? I am currently sat at 125 files within 20 folders, and that is BEFORE I have managed to begin a visual short animation! (Most in the archive now but worth it!)