Last week we have filmed a ‘shoot to edit’ style scene and when it came to editing it made it easier to cut between shots and control the overall pace of the scene. What intrigues me now is the concept of ‘writing to edit’. It is true that when writing there are a few moments in a scene where I would imagine it being cut in certain way, but in the end that I feel that it would limit the job of the director and the editor. That being said, if I also have the roles of director and editor, I guess that would be permitted to ‘write to edit’.

I was in a similar position back in year 12 when I had to make a short film individually. At the time and even now I feel that making a film individually is extremely difficult feat. When writing I think I was a lot more specific when it came to the type of shot I wanted to use for which action since I had no one that I needed to get approval from. That allowed me to write thoroughly planned scenes that made it easier to shot and edit. However, I do feel that it eliminated any chance of spontaneity while film and editing as it was a very rigid and straight forward process from pre-production to post-production.

Ultimately I feel that a script should be flexible enough to allow for spontaneity and the unexpected as I have never made a project where everything written in the script has perfectly replicated. A script should be a guidebook for the production and post-production crew to refer to when making decisions about the film, instead of being treated like some sort of Holy Scripture. The process of making a film is constantly changing and evolving with every day, so there is no point in being held back by a script that was written up from day one.