Above is the beautiful new logo for Delta Phi. I'm working with designer Hemza ElKhateeb to develop a look for the text as well. His stuff is so worth checking out. 

In addition to editing video this month, I'm spending most of my time working on finding clarity. I've spent too much energy trying to teach what I do instead of do what I do. I want to know, above all else, what people want in their hearts and how I can feed them. That's the job of any storyteller. 

Looking and Editing

Picture this: you’re watching a TV drama on Netflix. The lead character finishes up a FaceTime call and puts his iPhone in his pocket and then walks away. Throughout the entirety of the show he has never acknowledged or looked at you. I’m sure that it doesn’t come as a surprise to you, but are you really convinced by this kind of performance?

There is something severely wrong with this picture. It doesn’t make any sense for a constituent to ignore the camera in his face if he has one in his pocket. So among other things, metafiction also happens to address the rise of millennial interfacing (technology). Just thought I'd point that out.

Editing Delta Phi is underway. I won’t call it post-production at this stage because we are doing some editing and production in tandem. I am editing on scene at a time, and I’ve developed a system for longer projects that is working especially well for Delta Phi. I start by indexing all the takes in a a scene (I write down the strengths and weaknesses of a take, and any continuity issues, etc). I highlight anything I want to keep. I write down the method I want on a post-it note (for example: first half in roving takes 1/3, second half in static take 5). Then I look at the beat list and compose a rough cut. I don’t know that this would work for someone less verbal than I, but I find it a lot easier and more effective than visual storyboarding. I may use a more visual approach when I have to decide where to plug in Broll, music etc. 

Peace,

Ayah

#DeltaPhiFilm

Closings

While working on the script for Delta Phi, I spent a lot of my time trying to condense the story. I didn’t want to take on a feature length film at the outset. I’d rather take a minimalist approach in pre-production and give the project room to expand in production than the other way around. 

When all was said and done with the script, I anticipated a forty five minute piece that could perhaps provide an opening for a longer series. I’m still of the firm belief that Delta Phi sets up enough context for a series of just about anything, but the length itself seems to be changing. It appears that I have a feature length film on my hands! That gets me pretty excited, of course, but the goal with a story is to always let it be “the length it needs to be,” as they say. I want my audience to leave with a sense of renewal, not exhaustion. 

This got me thinking about how to determine the appropriate length of a story. I know that the arc has something to do with it, but there are narratives that have no arcs at all. (That is, they don’t express a change in the constituents). And anyway, the arc is more about the shape and form of a story than it’s length. I notice that stories with a bigger scope tend to also be pretty long (scope is the size of time and space in the world of the story itself), but that’s not to say that you can’t, for example, write 100,000 words about a single day in history. I’m as guilty as any writer of making some pieces too long. Maybe a message in it is delivered too many times, or it has some redundant moments. When it comes to fiction, though, I don’t think a piece is finished when the message is delivered. It’s finished when the constituents have said everything they need to say. Sometimes they need to say it twice. Whatever makes them feel better.

I don’t know why, but that’s what does it for me. When the character feels better, then I know my job is done. When he can shut his eyes in stillness, or when the camera can shut its eye on him, whichever. No need to drag it along past that point. When a character finds their peace, let them be. And if you revisit them, don’t waste time reopening old wounds when you can help them solve new ones. It amazes me how many characters are pulled through one abuse after another and we never get to hear the story of how they recover. That is, after all, it’s own conflict. I still have so much to learn about endings, but I know that characters are a reflection of our own selves and that’s something that I hope more storytellers can start to take seriously. 

Peace,

Ayah

#DeltaPhiFilm