When I first started this I had a very clear vision for the whole film, from screenplay to music, sound design, colors, effects, picture and a lot of other things. Did I WANT to do a lot of the jobs on the film myself? Not really! Did I end up doing them anyway? Yes and no!
The problem with a 'vision' is that it's pretty hard for others to understand exactly what the picture you have in your brain is - this becomes a problem when you want to let others do certain things because A) will it ever be exactly like you pictured it and B) will it be done properly?
Many people have told me that editing your own movie is a bad idea! I can see why - but I can also see why not! In my case it was actually all very simple. It was not so much about whether others understood my vision or not - It was about the fact that there was little to no budget getting these things done and though you can find people who will work on these things as a 'project' - not paying someone for his/her time automatically means that it will understandably not be their first priority.
So what then? If you don't know I am also an actor - and I have seen many a production take either forever or even never happen because there simply isn't time, people and budget to get a lot of the post-production done. I knew this was an issue that we could face on 'Willa' as well - and in a way we did. However, knowing that it would probably take a very long time if I 'hired' volunteers to do a lot of the post-production I made the decision that it probably wouldn't take much longer if I simply taught myself to do these things as I did them. This would also be helpful in my future career and then I wouldn't have anyone to blame for the result but myself.
Was it selfish? Maybe a little - but I strongly believe that this movie would take a very long time if I had to rely on people who didn't even know much about the project to do work on it that would match my own vision - not to mention the fact that I naturally knew a lot myself about the whole thing and would save a lot of time not having to explain a lot of things to others but simply play around with the programs, tools etc required to finish this film. Besides, when I started out this was clearly 'my' film and I think I would actually feel I betrayed it a little had I just passed it on to someone else. So it's safe to say that there is more of 'me' in this film than I even dare to think about. That's good - maybe others disagree - but I need to be responsible for the product and there are simply certain thing I have to do myself to feel that I can be that.
So I did sound editing, film editing, visual effects, special effects, additional music, sound effects and sound design! And in doing so, 'Willa' has become, not only my baby but also been an extremely valuable lesson in everything that needs to be done to make a film. And for that I am very grateful. Naturally, this could never have been done this way on a much bigger production but the size of this one was just exactly perfect to actually do so. I am proud what the film was, what it is, and what I hope it will become and no matter what happens next this has been such an amazing time for me that I know I can use for many things in the years to come.
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