Pacing

[Johan]

Could anyone share about pacing in "real" life conditions ?
Is there any "real life (not theory)" rule how fast is too fast, and how slow is too slow, because sometime when I feel the pace is medium, some viever say it is too fast, some say it is too slow

Thanks

[J.R. Hudson]

Thats a tough question.

I always felt the following rule works best:

As soon as you get your point across; whether it be an entire act; a scene or an individual shot. Cut it.

Less is more and redundancy is distracting.

[kyle_doris]

you can learn so much regaurding pacing by finding some actors to do a read through. read throughs are some of the most rewarding and beneficial things you can do with a screenplay.

[J.R. Hudson]

I second that. If you don't know any actors check out the local college or rep.

[kyle_doris]

mos def, student actors are really indie's best friend. obviously you have to pick and choose carefully. if your material is strong enough and you get along with the people, you'll be surprised how willing student-actors will be to help you. from a selfish sense, they know too how hard it is to get exposure, and if they like what you are doing; it works well :)

and how this relates to read-throughs is, you get to secretly "audition" actors in a way. at least find people you'd be willing to spend more time screen-testing. another tip i've found is... get actors the material weeks before you do formal read-throughs if possible. listening to people who have reviewed the material as opposed to listening to people cold is a big difference.

[Neil Rowe]

pacing also pends on your audience.. the elderly think everything is too fast, and teenagers fall asleep if your not blowing somthing up every 4 seconds. so be sure to figure your target audience into the equation as well.

[PurposeDriven]

Another thing to consider, is that many of us tend to drift away from the point of what we are trying to say in our film. So, either during post, or before you shoot, you should consider getting rid of any scene that does not add to a character, the problem, or the story. Random scenes, while somtimes more fun then others, can start to take away from your film rather then add to it.

[Neil Rowe]

..much agreed, many new writers find that when they strip the story down to the actuall meaningfull and pertinent story line they have a shabby thin wire of an actuall story if anything is left at all. i like to write the other way around, by thinking of a main story line first, and then decide how much fluff if any i can puff the story up with.. mainly just building character backgrounds , or location, or other buildup material. ..then i strip that down to what looks good after letting it sit for a while and coming back to it,, when my mind isnt so wrapped up and clouded.

[David Jimerson]

Pacing also VERY MUCH depends on the type of story it is.

Sometimes you just have to feel it out. And what looks good on paper often doesn't work on the screen.