Working with the edit department (from the outside)

A few months ago I rather rapidly acquired a new job - my first on a feature, a stereoscopic stop-motion animation. But I'm not working in the editing department. They've been in place now for some time. I'm working in Previs and VFX. On an Avid.

Now, this was a rather contentious point. In fact, it still is. The previs reviews bring in a number of changes to the edit, where the editor isn't even present. As an editor, you become used to people making changes to the shots that you've selected - even not being present at the decision and therefore not being able to argue your case is something you have to live with on occasion. But this involves entire sequences being shaped away from the department. And is, understandably, somewhat frustrating.

I'm in a rather unique position on it all. I sympathise entirely with the editor's wish to be the one in control of these decisions. But from the previs perspective, the sequences need to be viewable at our reviews with the director. It was one of the reasons I was hired in the first place - to be able to tidy up sequences and show the director different possibilities within reviews without the entire thing having to go into the main edit suite and involve about twice as many people. But with the massively hectic schedule we have, the added complications of dialogue selects coming back on a near-daily basis, sequences being updated in edit with incoming shots and newly recorded/approved dialogue whilst they're being updated in previs to solve issues with sets, models, actions.... well, it's impossible to request the editor to attend all of our reviews, and impractical for previs notes to be given within edit reviews when there are so many feedback sessions required per sequence before they're approved.

The upshot of it all is that our approval workflow is changing on a monthly basis, as we sort out what's working and what isn't for our relative departments as well as the overall production. The meetings are vastly interesting as we all get to say what would work best for us, and then hear what that would imply for the others further down the line. It's a masterclass in communication and adaptation. And it's actually pretty damn enjoyable.
Read more

The future's 3D?

I'm beginning to understand the appeal a bit more now that I've been able to view things such as football and rugby matches in 3D, and now that people are becoming more familiar with the techniques to correctly shoot for 3D.

I'm not bothered about the new technologies and terminologies so much. I generally enjoy the challenges and opportunities to see how new methodologies can be used in storytelling. It's the creative implications that this could have for editors, as well as the cast and crew of any given production, that concerns me.

Read more

Cherry takes on London

The line-up for the 53rd London International Film Festival was announced today, and you have not just one opportunity to see Cherry on the Cake, not just two.... actually, I'm not quite sure how many times they'll be screening it. But there's certainly a lot of opportunity to engage with it!
Read more

Cherry on the Cake - coming soon to a festival near you

Cherry on the Cake (2009)

 

 




Writer/Director/animator: Hyebin Lee
Producer: Michelle Eastwood
Production Designer: James Spencer
Cinematographer: Felix Wiedemann
Editor: Judith Allen
Sound Design: Gunnar Oskarsson
Sound Editor & Dubbing Mixer: Linda Brenon
Composer: Jon Opstad
Mother, Mary, Cherry and Berry voice : Michelle Archer
Father and Policeman : Rupert Degas

 

[IMDb]

 

.... yes, Cherry's been doing fantastically well on the festival circuit, and I'm very much hoping to be able to go to the London Film Festival's screening at the very least.

 

Director Hyebin Lee is now represented by Casarotto. Expect very interesting and fantastic things.

 

... I haven't had much to say lately largely because of a lack of editing work. A lack of freelance work (owing in part to the recession, no doubt in part to my lack of contacts having just emerged wide eyed and blinking from the NFTS) means that I've taken a staff job as a tech/ edit assistant at a small post-production house in Soho. I've learnt more about the technical side, advised people on how to set up what they need, and generally been "of use" to those who are working here. Plus it's a regular wage, which just wasn't happening on the freelance side. Hopefully soon I'll be able to get back into the paid editing/ assisting work.

Festival Season!

It's that time of year.

'Cherry On The Cake', the NFTS graduation animation I edited is playing at the 12th Shanghai International Film Festival in the International Student Shorts Award section this month (incidentally competing against another NFTS graduation animation from the year before which just won a Welsh BAFTA), and 'The Love Bureau', the NFTS graduation documentary, is at Archipelago in Rome next week.

Other graduation films which I wasn't involved in are also doing really well - another animation called The Incredible Story of My Great Grandmother Olive was nominated for a Student Academy Award (Best Honorary Foreign Film), and one of the fictions went to Cannes (Cinéfondation) - see producer Michelle Eastwood's account at FilmLondon.org.uk.

There are also three animations, a documentary and a fiction screening at Edinburgh this year, with 5 graduates who worked on them named amongst Skillset's Trailblazers for 2009.

It all seems as if it's finally starting, that our yeargroup which officially finished in December is starting to make an impact and become known. People are passing on work to each other through word of mouth and being asked to recommend people from other disciplines for future work, we're getting involved in small collaborative projects with each other... exciting times indeed.
Read more

The creative impulse

Last night I went to a reading of "Wall" by David Hare. I've enjoyed several of his plays, and there was a £5 offer on, so I went along.

"Wall" is about Hare's own experiences with the Middle Eastern conflict between Israel and Palestine, and is being presented as a companion piece to "Berlin". I think it may be a testament to the fact that I'll never be a true theatre-type that when people start talking about the walls we build around ourselves, I'm more likely to think about Pink Floyd than the Pyramus and Thisbe reference  that followed last night.

Nonetheless, amongst several astounding pieces of commentary last night from both the subjective and objective viewpoint, I feel compelled to share the following paragraph - a quote from the reading last night:

I don't entirely understand this. People always ask: how do you choose the subjects you write about? I have a glib answer. Why did Bacon paint popes? Meaning: the artist doesn't choose the subject, the subject chooses the artist. 'Go to Rwanda,' said my American agent, when ten years ago I first proposed a play about Israel/Palestine. 'Better still, go to Kashmir. Now there's a dispute nobody understands. Throw some light on Kashmir.' But unfortunately it doesn't work like that. Recently, I found myself writing about Berlin because I don't understand it. Now I want to write about Israel/Palestine because I do. No, hold on, let me rephrase, that's a preposterous claim, nobody understands the Middle East - but put it this way: I recognise it. It answers to something in me.


I found editing whilst on a degree course which had absolutely nothing to do with media at all. I joined the student television station and tried all sorts of roles - camera, floor managing, sound mixing, vision mixing, co-producing... but when I got my first chance to creatively put something together at my first year - a trailer out of an evening's recorded event at the university - something was answered in me. From that point on, I knew I never wanted to do anything else. And with each project that I look at - some will inevitably stir more passion than others, and those are the ones which will really work.

Editing can often be seen as a technical vocation by the people who don't understand it - but it's truly anything but.

Still struggling on...

According to the majority of agencies, it seems that to really get onto their books (and therefore have access to the types of jobs which don't get advertised), then either I need to get more broadcast experience or there needs to be less recession. And since the former is somewhat of a catch-22 and the latter is out of my control... it's on with the unpaid work whilst continuing to apply for the jobs which are advertised and trying to build up my connections.

I do certainly have a few interesting side-projects on the go - of which there will be more news as it comes. And two of the films I edited whilst at the NFTS are now on the IMDb, so I now have my own page there on which I am described as an editor... which feels good. Almost as if by being described as an editor on that site means that I really am a professional editor from an external point of view. And in such early stages of my career at a really difficult time in the industry, the validation is comforting.

In any case, I have updated my excerpt reel. I'm in the process of making a documentary reel to go alongside it, but this one is for drama and animation:

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/4258165[/vimeo]


As usual, any feedback is appreciated.

A Pirate's Life : Not for me.

The story so far: A copy of the upcoming X-Men spin-off 'Wolverine' gets put onto the internet in its unfinished state. Because this is the internet, it spreads like wildfire. Other copies get uploaded, it seems that everyone's talking about it and has an opinion.

Then a FoxNews columnist reviews the film in its non-finished form with incomplete VFX and sound (link to article on WorstPreviews). Possibly with the best of intentions - he says in the article (which has since been removed from the FoxNews site) that 20th Century Fox should have no concerns over the leak because the film is so good.

But within that, he's endorsing the series of events which led to him being able to see it. Not only that, he's significantly denying the contribution that possibly hundreds of VFX artists whose work had yet to go into a full cut of the film. He's denying the impact that a full sound tracklay and mix will have on the film.  And he's saying that it's fine for people to go out and download films before they've even opened.

Now whatever your views on current definitions of piracy (there are certainly business lessons to be learnt from how the release of media can encourage purchases once a passion for a product has been built), this is a very bad thing to start legitimising. A lot of people who've worked in a very creative capacity (directors, cinematographers, editors, actors) on a film can be very insecure about the part they've played and will try to minimise the number of people who'll see it before a certain stage. Endorsing leaks would take that decision out of their hands and invite judgement before the product looks anything like it would otherwise have ended up as, and may even influence the rest of the post-production process and distribution. The 'released' version would doubtless be compared to the leaked version(s) without any understanding of the processes which took them from A to B to C.

Of course there are test screenings. Of course films change massively from script to production to edit.  But these are all controlled by a much much smaller number of people. Whether these people are the best people for the film is often a subject of debate amongst the fans.... but any editor will tell you how having more than a couple of key decision makers commenting on a cut can often lead to as many different opinions as there are people in the room. Imagine that multiplied on a global level. Not only is there never a way to please everyone, but any film which aspires to do so will often lead to utter blandness on screen.

So let us hope that this doesn't become a trend. News sites indicate that the FBI is following the trail in an attempt to catch the origin of the Wolverine leak, and whoever did it is certain to never work in the film industry again.  And if nothing else, the rest of us have been reminded that once out, these things can spread really quickly - irrespective of any original intention.

Graduation film update

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXFx0YnzYoM[/youtube]

From the TV graduation project, 'TV or Not TV?', some clips have been uploaded to YouTube by the producer/director, Guy Press. Please rate and/or comment them!

TV or Not TV? YouTube Channel

--



And the animation  which I edited, 'Cherry on the Cake', has had its DVD packaging finalised and it looks glorious. It's now ready to be sent off to festivals.

DVD cover for Cherry on the Cake DVD interior for Cherry on the Cake



--



Please follow the embedded links above for further information about the projects and how to contact the producers for any enquiries you may have.

NFTS '09 Graduates - links

With the graduation ceremony at the start of the month came a lot of new websites (or at least placeholders) from my yeargroup at the National Film and Television School. We have profiles on the NFTS website for the next year or so with links where available (a lot of people don't seem to have sites yet), but I thought I'd collect them all together in one place in case anyone reading this is interested in seeing what other people from my year are up to. Or you've found my site via searching but want to know more about someone from a different discipline.

I find it interesting that the Cinematographers and Composers seem to be most on the ball with this, whilst some courses (directing fiction, screenwriting, production management diploma) don't seem to be represented at all... and because of course changes we had no digital post production or sfx/vfx diploma graduates in our 'class', but the courses are alive and well.

So here we are, for your investigative/ hiring purposes: