Starting to slot in some sound effects and I'm starting to think this just might work.
Also started the part of the process where I put some things back in. I always end up doing that after I "finish" cutting what I want. A big part of making a good fanedit is thinking you can improve something, but being able to realize when your plan isn't working.
For instance, I cut the "love at first sight" moment during the flamenco dance, but I also cut a lot of the staring back and forth during the car ballet. I realized that I had to have at least one of those moments, as we have to believe the love story between Ethan and Naya very quickly as they're soon separated for a big chunk of the film. The one during the Flamenco dance feels less important, as they don't know each other at all yet. I also like the idea of starting the sequence with a character we just met, not knowing anything about them or why we are following them. Then, Ethan shows up out of nowhere and it starts to click.
In the car ballet, I simply cut it because I don't personally like it. However, the movie couldn't handle losing both moments.
I'd rather cut dialogue than active moments, so I put back the stuff in the car ballet and left it more or less as is. I then decided to cut Ethan and Naya's conversation in bed as it's no longer needed, the romance has been established. So I ended up switching out a dialogue scene for something more active, which works better for this type of film. I ended up saving roughly the same amount of time and actually got better pacing out of it.
I could've stuck with my original plan out of sheer stubbornness, but acknowledging it could be better another way has made the movie better overall.
Forgive the rambling, just thought some of you might be curious what goes through my brain when I'm making these decisions!