This thought just occurred to me as I was falling asleep. I had to get back up and share it with you. :lol:

About 2-3 weeks ago, Square said they were only 60% done with the movie. Last January, Square said they were 50% done with the movie. Apparently, Square has been putting their efforts into Chain of Memories and Itadaki Street, which had earlier release dates. They're also working on numerous other projects.

They had to work on a presentation for the E3 convention and a presentation for the Kingdom Hearts Premier Party and a presentation for TGS. Then they had to get a 25 minute preview ready for the Venice Film Festival. They've had a total of three Film Festivals and a fourth one is coming in December. Slight changes in the previews have been made for each Film Festival, which had to keep them busy.

So what I'm thinking is.... what if Aerith's face isn't visually seen in the first part of the movie? What if her voice is heard by Cloud early in the movie, but he doesn't actually see her until later in the movie? What if the majority of Aerith's role comes later in the movie? If that's true, then maybe the part with Aerith *isn't even done yet* because they only have 60% of the film done now. How much of the movie was done by the Film Festival? Probably even less...

Is it possible this is why we haven't seen much of her yet?

Hmm... that is a possibility, but I myself can't say for sure.

I know Square has been very busy and will have to concentrate on the ones with an earlier date release. You've got a point there.

Good thinking... nice observations, too :) :D .

Well, the problem with that is: do they go scene by scene in chronological order? I know film makers don't. It would make sense to, but they never do. I still think Aeris is just being withheld from us until the release. And personally, I don't WANT to see her beatiful eyes until I'm watching the movie.

I'm not sure about filming in chronological order, but even if that's so... perhaps they simply haven't filmed the parts that she's in yet? Maybe they created the flower field sequence early so that something was done for Aerith fans at the Film Festivals?

And it's not just her face I'm talking about... we've seen so little of Aerith in general. It *could* be that they just haven't worked on the parts she's in yet. If they're only 60% done with the movie now, they were probably only like 50% done when they had to get the preview ready for the Film Festivals.

They may also be wanting to create suspense for Aerith fans, but I just wonder if their production schedule may be part of it, too?

An interesting theory, Anastar. I'd buy it, although I agree with Sefie that there's probably also a "deliberate withholding of information" going on as well. It seems like it would make sense that Aeris wouldn't come into play until later in the movie.