"DDUP" Editing & Exploring Ideas for our Next Short

I am in the post-production phase of "Death Do Us Part" and I have morphed and grown in this phase more than I thought I would.  Since my wife, Rebecca Croft (writer & editor for the project) has been working full time at her editing gig at HSN (she has, by the way, grown some great relationships there) I have been editing more for the short, which means I have been doing it somewhat inefficiently and unconventionally compared to my wife.  I have found that I rely a great deal on rote routines and find difficulty with new experiences unless I am very prepared for them.  So, I have been going over our rough edit for some time now & modifying my ideas about how to narrow down a cut.  Since there is no ONE way to do this- I find it an interesting process.  I am now working to make the beginning communicate to the viewer as a beginning.  Also, we need to drop in the vfx scenes and get the pacing working with the soundtrack- which we still need.

An easy distraction for me to embrace during this post phase is coming up with story ideas for our next short.  Coming up with ideas for shorts is harder for me than feature ideas because the time limitation is so restrictive.  I have a creative flux that loves possibilities of fleshing out very epic stories- not short 'farts' of story.  Just as its always been hard for me to learn and to tell jokes or quippy remarks- since I always get caught up in the huge context of what makes an epic story work.  In other words, the real world is very complex and it takes time to sort out life's complexities- but its something I do very naturally and easily- like taking a snapshot of that very technically complex story or idea... then laying out 'how' to tell the story to make the maximum impact  on the viewer... instead I am left with one or two very short moments to plant a growing seed of lasting interest for the viewer.

This is why we decided to do "Death Do Us Part".  It is like one big punchline that creates a potential for great moments where the viewer is supposed to be very affected by the relationships and atmosphere in the film.  It just needs that punchline to happen and the film can hinge on that moment.

For our next short, I hope to do something a bit larger in scope, as well as to learn from our mistakes in this last one.  I had planned a sort of thriller/horror based on a short my wife made years ago in high school.  I also keep having ideas for an epic art film idea that I call "The Fire".  It has some horrific elements, some sci-fi and steampunk elements and some dystopian ideas in it which is so much of what I love about film.  I think I need to do what my heart most leads me to do but this is a very difficult decision.  Once I write the script it will be an easier choice.

I need a triangulation of advantages to help me take my films to the next level and this is much of what I am concerned about- not so much about whether I can make a film- but "what will it be?" and "how will I get it out there to reach the next level?" is more the questions I am struggling with.