It’s fascinating to get inside a movie director’s head by checking out the extra features on a movie. From the Director’s Cut to the making of the film, how intriguing to see the project from the outset through to the finished product. As a writer this is great learning, but I particularly love watching deleted scenes and the accompanying Director’s commentary.
The deleted scenes are often removed for the benefit of the story. I’ve heard directors talk through deleting a fleeting scene where there might be a romantic connection that later weakens a character’s integrity or their interaction with another member of the cast. Other times the scene just doesn’t work or fails to serve a useful purpose in advancing the story.
For instance, in watching the deleted scenes from the recent movie release, Frozen, the directors revealed that for some time Elsa, the newly crowned queen, was going to be a villain throughout the entire story! What a different story that would have been. Would the powerful message of selfless love overcoming the destructiveness of fear and paving the way for healing and restoration have been diluted, if even still possible?
I wonder how many times we’ve wished for a certain scene to be included in our life? Perhaps you’re like me and long to rewrite certain scripts, convinced it should have worked out differently.
But maybe those seemingly non-existent scenes ended up in the delete scenes folder. Maybe what we thought was the best plot for our story, would have actually had a negative impact on the way our journey unfolded – or potentially changed the powerful themes of our story that enable us to connect with and encourage others.
Perhaps instead of wishing for the missing scenes, we should celebrate the ones that made the cut. It doesn’t mean we mightn’t experience a sense of loss as we release sub-plots we felt sure of having, but I think it’s really important not to spend our energy mourning the regrets, the ‘what if’s. How much better to focus on the beautiful elements of the future that await us from where we are right now.
Great analogy!
Thanks, Jessica. 🙂
Hi Adele,
I like that idea. We’d choose for some of those life scenes of our plans to remain in but the Chief Director wants them out. Even worse are the ones we’d like to delete, but He chooses to keep in. We’ve just got to trust Him. I guess sometimes we can see in retrospect why He allowed the scenes He did.
Agreed, Paula, the dots always seem easier to connect retrospectively – especially those scenes we wish we could delete! Definitely need to trust the Chief Director (I like that 🙂 ) when our scenes seem out of sync or incorporate unexpected elements. Otherwise we might find ourselves trying to wrestle the Director for His chair!
Hi Adele – I love watching the extra features on movies. Gives such a great insight into how the story took shape. I remember watching some of the deleted scenes from Bruce Almighty and there was one that would have taken things on a nastier turn. The director made the best decision. Also Casablanca, my favourite movie of all time, has a near perfect ending. But apparently a number of other ones were initially on the drawing board and one of those would have really spoiled the heroic and selfless gesture made by Rick. It’s good to think of our writing like that. I remember reading something about how much each minute of a Hollywood film costs to shoot and it was some incredible amount that I can’t remember now. The author said to think of the scenes in your book like that. For example, ‘would I leave this scene in if if was going to cost $100 000?’ Would certainly make editing easier!
I also really like your analogy of thinking of the things we missed as being the deleted scenes in our lives. As you know, there was a big scene I wish was in my story, but I am starting to see how that scene was deleted for a purpose. It may not have been the way I would have written the story, but I can see that I’m having opportunities now that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. God knows best Funny that. Take care xx
$100,000 for a scene! Now that’s incentive to be thorough in our edits, Nola! 🙂 It would be interesting (and perhaps disturbing!) if we could compare our life with all the scenes we wanted included, to the way it actually turned out (like the movie ‘Sliding Doors’). Might be quite an eye opener.
Yes, those deleted scenes… It can be really challenging to move beyond those obvious gaps, but as you say, funny how things work out – and at times, for the most unexpected purposes.