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Test Screenings
Once Pete and Gregg's version of "Stolen Summer" was assembled, scene-by-scene, beat-by-beat, it was time to show their work. To be fair, director and editor only had three weeks from the time Pete returned from Chicago to put their finishing touches on the film before it was to be presented to the higher-ups who had a vested interest in the product.
Indeed, screening your film is one of those defining moments in the process where your vision is taken out of the very private arena of the editing bay, and presented to the producers, the studio, and critics, whose job it is to form a constructive opinion of your work.
Studios will often screen films for public audiences after the film is initially cut. Most of us have been approached in a mall or outside a movie theatre by some dude with a clipboard asking if we want to see a movie for free. Usually, the person's job is to find an audience (most likely he is looking for a particular demographic) for a yet-to-be-released film. The catch? After the movie is shown, you will have to fill out a questionnaire, and perhaps even asked to answer questions as part of a panel. Both methods are designed to ask you about your reaction to the plot, to characters, to specific scenes, to the ending. This is also known as tracking.
Studios sink so much money into films that they look to reduce their risk in any way possible. One such way is gathering criticism from the paying public, and continually honing in on what audiences will want to see.
Endings have been re-shot, characters roles have been reduced or increased, music has been changed, all based on overwhelming polling opinion. Big budget studio films are akin to factory products: honed, designed, and redesigned based on marketing survey after marketing survey. Showing a film to an unbiased, public audience might be peanuts compared to what lay ahead.
Like every movie, the film was screened for the producers and its studio, Miramax Films. With such a high profile and experienced producing team, Pete expected a lot of feedback on his film. The first such screening happened at producer Ben Affleck's home for about 25 people -- friends, family, and those closely associated with the film.
As was expected, everyone had an opinion, and every note was recorded for Gregg and Pete to go back and address. Pete would later say, "None of the notes that we heard were thrown out simply because we disagreed with it. We were open to anything that would make the movie better. We at least tried everything."
Pete would go on to screen "Stolen Summer" for Miramax executives, the producers another handful of times, and others close to the production. Pages and pages of notes were compiled for Pete to consider.
Several notes sparked debate. As Chris Moore indicated, "At this point, opinions become a matter of taste." No single note is right or wrong, black or white.
Best case, the film is better as a result of Pete's receiving constructive criticism from a savvy and professional audience.
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