Fourteen weeks with a documentary

Saltmarsh was the longest project I have taken on alone: ninety-six hours of footage and a director who cared about stillness more than story.

The four-hour assembly

Week four ended with a cut nobody could sit through, including us. It was still the most useful version, because it showed what the film was not.

Cutting around the holds

We picked twelve long shots that had to stay and cut everything else to make room for them. The film found its shape around those twelve.

Grading the weather

The look is cool and low in contrast. I let the sky do the work and kept the town a little too grey, the way it felt.