One of the best and most liberating lessons I learned in the process of making my own film is the process of re-writing.
I find artists, or filmmakers, or even entrepreneurs are very closed off to this concept. You want to approach the process serially... that is, step by step, stage by stage, once you walk through one door, you close the one behind you.
This seems the most stress free and perfect-world sort of approach, yes, but it is also a fantasy. The process doesn't work like that. I learned this in my experience of making my first film, and sometimes I adhered to this rule, and sometimes I ignored it, and it cost me.
Filmmaking is a process where you are juggling seemingly multiple stages of production, simultaneously. Just because you have finished pre production, storyboards, or wrapped up production and finished animating, and lighting etc, doesn't mean those doors are closed permanently. You have to stay open minded to the fact that things will come up during the process of production, ideas, continuity issues, and you may have to seemingly backtrack, in order to get the end result that you really want.
This may be as simple as quickly boarding out a new scene and animating it quickly if it is a really simple fix, it could be far more complicated. In every instance you would have to weigh the time and effort and ultimately the cost incurred in making that choice. Does this mean just go at it haphazardly and accept that you'll have to back track anyways? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Don't be thick! You want to plan your production, anticipate everything, and act accordingly. This way you are being cost effective, and time conscious. It will also mean that if and when things come up, you are adequately prepared to deal with it.
Your film is written in pre production, obviously through your script writing, and your story boards etc etc etc... and then you get to production, and lucky accidents happen and you learn through the performances that some scenes can take longer, or can be shorter, or eliminated entirely, and then when you get to post production, especially in the editing room, you'll find the same thing happening, scenes will be cut, or trimmed, and all of it is in the interest of conveying the story you wanted to convey.
Your film, your story isn't a gigantic slab of solid marble or granite, that is immovable... it is clay. You are constantly moulding it, fudging with it, manipulating it, and as the head of the production, it is really important that you constantly remind yourself, and others, of your vision and keep it clear in your mind because you are steering the ship.
manu
