After several weeks of back-breaking stress (mostly on my part) and struggle, “A Serious Student” is done. A few hours ahead, too, of what had been anticipated. A month or so ago, Alan told us that he was worried about us finishing and coming out with our final product; I don’t even need to tell you how many times I had said the same exact thing beforehand. We were the last crew to start shooting, Kanye was always playing on our computer (or Dan’s iPone), and we’ve dealt with every hold-up imaginable. Yet, we finished, and we finished with the exact movie we spent two weeks talking about back in December.
And let me be candid here: I don’t know how it happened.
That final day of editing was mainly fixing Audio Levels and trimming a little here and there. No scenes that were in the Final Script were cut. The Blue Page Scenes were ignored. Twenty-eight minutes and two seconds was our final product, and, while I am tired of watching it, I cannot stress enough how proud I am with the outcome.
We as a crew, decided to work on this movie because it was the movie we wanted to see. It was something I personally would have loved to watch whether or not it was in the Festival. Making it was a struggle sometimes, but in the end it was worth it. In the beginning, I was terrified about the whole idea of making this movie. The moment it was done, I felt like I could have kept going for another few months.
This being the first movie I’ve ever really worked on, I can’t put into words how rewarding it was. I love this movie. I love watching it. I love watching people watching it. That’s probably the coolest thing ever. I accidentally showed Jackie an extra scene before his part, and his reaction made all of the difficulty in making this movie worth it.
I can’t wait for people to see this film in May. I can’t wait to see all the movies. I am always overly excited for the Festival, but now I have just reason to be. It was a pleasure working on this movie; it was a pleasure working with these people.
All in all, making this movie has changed me immensely. A small part of me is relieved that I have a few months break from the stress; the remaining majority can’t wait for next year.