The Assistant Editor

Editing is FUN:

rjweditor — Thu, 19 May 2011 20:38:24 +0000

Over the past couple days I have either witnessed, talked to or overheard people stressing about post production. PEOPLE EDITING IS FUN!

Below is my latest trailer MashUP, please cover the kid’s ears because it’s a RedBand MashUp.

Great Pietro Scalia, Editor Interviews

rjweditor — Fri, 21 May 2010 05:05:13 +0000

Since Robin Hood (2010) is now in theaters I figured I’d post a couple great interviews with the film’s Picture Editor – Pietro Scalia. Hope you enjoy.

“How To Train Your Dragon” – Interview with Darren Holmes, Film Editor

rjweditor — Thu, 20 May 2010 20:05:30 +0000

Raymond Did It makes REEL Chicago

rjweditor — Wed, 19 May 2010 22:04:59 +0000

Trailer Editing Part 2

rjweditor — Mon, 17 May 2010 20:01:05 +0000

In the last couple weeks I’ve been receiving quite a bit of calls for “Trailer Edits”, both theatrical and promotional. This is mostly due to the trailer I offlined and onlined at home in 2K RED for the feature “Into The Darkness” which begins shooting in August. This is a bit odd for me because I started out assistant editing on PBS documentary shows (and still do), but apparently I’m not too bad at it.

The situation that I am in right now with the current client I’m cutting a trailer for is simply “What should I ask for?”

This client can’t hand me over the entire project and let me pluck the clips/ media I need to create a strong 2 minute story. The film’s only in the rough cut phase and only has about 5 or 6 scenes cut anyways. So, really what should I be asking for?

Below is the list of demands I asked for in order to cut a successful trailer in the above situation.

1. THE FOOTAGE: Always ask for the footage to be delivered in its native format. If it’s shot in 1080p HD, then you should be receiving 1080p HD footage loaded on a drive.

Since I will not be able to pull my own footage or clips for this project I have to give a pretty detailed list of the kind of shots I’m looking for.

- Hero Shots

- Shots of the Main Characters in the film, Character Reactions, Character introductions. The bottom line is that I need to be able to introduce these characters to the audience in the first 30 sec. and show them why they should take the time to watch these characters travel through the story.

- Story and Setting Establishing Shots and strong cut away choices

- Anything else the director feels would be eye catching and attention grabbing.

2. THE CREDITS: You should always ask for a word document of the locked credits for the feature. Ask for the client to review the credit list and make sure all the names are spelled correctly before receiving it yourself. I hate when my name is spelled wrong on credits and I’m sure someone else would also.

3. THE ELEMENTS: Do they have a Company Logo? Do they have specific music they want the trailer edited to? Do they already have title design and animation work for the trailer? Ask for all these elements from the client and make sure your receiving the highest quality deliverables of each item.

4. THE SCRIPT: Have the client write up a rough script for you to follow while you edit the project. A rough script is great. It helps the editor further understand what the client is looking for and the editor now has a roughly laid out story that he or she can begin to enhance or build off of.

Ian Johnson brings up some good points:

I think it is a mistake to try to edit a 2 min trailer from someone else’s selects. It won’t seem like enough, and you will wonder if there is something better they missed. And a lot of the best shots are often little moments in what might seem like unremarkable scenes.

If the problem is not having enough storage to take all of the footage in its original resolution, then try this. Have them select one take from every setup, every camera. They don’t have to watch and pick the best ones. If there are 4 takes, I will often go for #2 or #3, figuring they might have done it better after a few tries.

Depending on how many takes they typically shot, this could cut the amount of material down by half. They might also decide if a scene has no chance of being used in trailer, like maybe one that only features secondary characters advancing a minor plot point without interesting visuals. In that case they should include one take of the master so you can see what is there, and leave out the rest of the coverage.

Even if you don’t get all of the media for the movie, you should still get all of the master clips. That way if they chose Take 2 but someone bumped the mic during the line you want, you can see that they shot 4 other takes and ask for them to be sent along as well.

The other important thing to find out is what your options are for music. Do they have the budget to license a commercial artist or movie soundtrack? Can they afford custom work or the expensive libraries aimed at trailers? Or do you need to stick with the more basic needledrop companies? And never use something as temp that you know you won’t be able to license, it always leads to heartbreak.

Another look at Horror.

rjweditor — Mon, 17 May 2010 19:30:25 +0000

Since, I’ll be cutting a feature horror film shortly. I figured I’d post a sequence from Hellraiser that really caught my eye while going through the stacks of films Director Travis Legge has asked me to watch. This sequence is the first scene in Hellraiser and shows a strong use of the “Close-up” and how to effectively edit a scene that includes a lot of practical FX work.

instant “telecined” dailies for RED

rjweditor — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 06:47:10 +0000

This is a great tip from Michael Kammes that I found posted on his post production blog site: www.MichaelKammes.com

I may be editing a feature shot on RED later this summer and found the “quick tip” enlightening.

“RED: Make Bleeding Edge Cutting Edge

The RED camera system has revolutionized the industry, however, with every revolution there are speed bumps. Decoding the REDCODE file (natively, or utilizing the camera generated wavelet proxy files) can be a lengthy process. A solution is to bring the bleeding edge down to cutting edge. Merge old with the new.

Let the cinematographer use the RED camera, but instead of relying on the RED digital files, run a HD-SDI line out from the RED camera to an HDCAM deck. Then, run a line from the production mixers recorder to the HDCam deck. Viola! You now have your “telecined” dailies – utilizing RED glass – with audio. HDCAM is obviously HD, and is no slouch in the quality department. The metadata embedded in the digital files, coupled with a well marked slate can be used to matchback from the HDCAM footage later if it’s determined that you need the 4K image. Most RED shot projects rarely are projected above HD, and thus will not benefit from a larger frame size which the RED file gives you. The only exception would be an effects heavy project, which always benefits from more pixels.”

- If you happen to see Mr. Kammes while your out n’ about in LA congratulate him on becoming a blogger for Post Magazine.

ingenuity

rjweditor — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 06:07:30 +0000

Sorry, haven’t had much time to blog the last few weeks. But a really quick, cool tip for repairing your MacBook pro’s power adapter. I think you can get the idea from the pictures, but long story short a friend of mine had a MacBook Pro with a small break in the cable coming out of the power adapter. I fixed it with two zip ties and a small piece of plastic tubing.

Who I hope wins the Oscar

rjweditor — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:09:41 +0000

Best Picture
“The Hurt Locker”

Best Director
“Kathryn Bigelow”

Best Actor
“Jeff Bridges”

Best Actress
“Meryl Streep”

Supporting Actor
“Christoph Waltz”

Supporting Actress
“Anna Kendrick”

Animated Feature
“Up”

Original Screenplay
“Quentin Tarantino” – Read the screenplay last night, all 166 pages of the damn thing.

Adapted Screenplay
“Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner”

Original Score
“Up” – Michael Glacchino

Original Song
“Theme from Crazy Heart”

Art Direction
“Avatar”

Cinematography
“The Hurt Locker” or “Inglourious Basterds”, both show excellence in the art of classic cinematography

Costume
” The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”

Makeup
“Star Trek”

Film Editing
“District 9″, Julian Clarke

Visual Effects
“Avatar”

Sound Editing
“Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman

Sound Mixing
“Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamerti and Mark Ulano

The Link Wrangle

rjweditor — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:00:35 +0000

When I’m not knee deep in projects I like to kill time on the net. Below are a collection of articles, blogs and videos I’ve came across and enjoyed viewing this month.

COLOR / ONLINE

ProLost – Memory Colors

Walter Biscardi – Creative Cow Blog – Euphonix MC Color & Tangent Wave (side by side)

Scott Simmons – First Impressions of the Euphonix MC Color

Josh Petok – Render Notification Apps

Studio Daily – Stefan Sonnenfeld on Coloring Kirsten Dunst’s Anime Adventure

EDITING BLOG ARTICLES

Dan Wolfmeyer – Fix It In…

Dan Wolfmeyer – Editing Systems with a Twist

ACE Tech Blog – FCP Workflow Ideas

Matthew Rittorno – XDCAM Reality Television Workflow

EditMentor – Dreams of an Olympic Editor