Much has been happening with the film lately. We have overcome some tremendous struggles, and are surprised daily by the place we find ourselves. One day we think we’re entering a festival with our cut, as is. The next we realize that actually, the film holds more potential, and if we really want to see our job through, we will spend more time making improvements.

We always scheduled in workshopping the film – showing it to others to get feedback and advice – but in wrapping up this first cut, we definitely got ahead of ourselves and predicted an earlier finish. I would guess (hope?) this is common among people. It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of “finishing” and you should be allowed to celebrate those small victories.

However, after all of the invaluable advice and wisdom that we received from people we’ve shared the film with, it’s clear that if we want LEiT to reach a broader audience, we have some serious work to do. Never underestimate the power of workshopping your film and getting input from peers. It’s humbling. It’s enlightening. It is what turns okay into good, and makes good even better.

It was interesting that people wanted to see more of what we, in the early stages of development, were actually going for, but somehow lost sight of. It’s a struggle to maintain a balance of providing important information verbally and then just letting images speak for themselves. So it is now reinvigorating to consider these insights and re-read our original notes and goals for the film – a bit like venturing out to find the answer, to realize that in some ways it was there all along.

What’s great is that we do have time and the footage to see this through. The nature of film making, at least with indies that are self-financed, is that deadlines are mostly self-imposed. Trust that we are not taking our sweet, precious time. But we are taking the time that that film deserves.

To those of you reading who have watched LEiT and provided feedback, thank you! You have been a huge encouragement.