editing
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
Postproduction is in a state of flux. As is well known by now, Apple’s latest Final Cut Pro iteration left a lot to be desired for professional editors, and competitors Avid and Adobe were quick to step in and lure away Final Cut users.
And now the newest competitor is also the oldest. Lightworks, one of the first viable nonlinear editing systems when it was first released in 1989, has been used by luminaries like Thelma Schoonmaker and has racked up a number of Oscars and other awards, including a technical Oscar and Emmy for the system itself. It couldn’t maintain industry dominance, though, and slipped to third place behind Avid and FCP.
That’s all set to change, though, if the system’s new owners at EditShare have their way. The UK/US-based company purchased Lightworks in early 2010 and quickly announced their intention to make it software rather than turnkey, make it free, and make it open source; their goal is to democratize and revolutionize editing again, the way NLEs did two decades ago, and get Lightworks into the hands of as many editors as possible.
A year ago the beta version was made available as a free download, and today was to be the day of the official launch. Last week, however, the company made the announcement that they were delaying the release until an unspecified date, citing problems with the Mac and Linux versions of the software, though Windows beta versions are still available for free download and OSX and Linux users can sign up for the alpha testing program. As the announcement on the Lightworks beta website says, “Obviously we are very keen to get the new version out, but we will only do this once we are confident that it meets the high standards demanded by our user community.” That’s the kind of respect to the professional postproduction community that was sorely missing in the FCPX rollout this summer.
So how will a new NLE system, supposedly as good as anything made by Avid, available for free or a low membership fee effect the postproduction industry? What … Read the rest
Friday, November 4th, 2011
The death of film, the evolution of technology, and the days of shrinking budgets have put into question the existence of the 2nd AC. Who needs someone to load and manage film when there is no film?
Ironically, the position may be more critical than ever. Whether you’re a sole cameraman, or working on a large production, managing the data coming from the camera remains critical, and is becoming more difficult. Increasing resolution and higher data rates mean that more disk space and more time is being taken up wrangling the data.
And if your capture media needs to be recycled during the shoot, you expose yourself to the risk of accidental data loss.
Having a Plan
The most vital part of the process is having a plan. Ideally, when data is copied from the card or solid-state recorder, a second copy should be made on a separate drive before the original source is erased. It’s also important that this process doesn’t happen while you’re under the gun. If you don’t have someone who has the time to manage copying data during the shoot, you should have enough storage to shoot for the entire day. That way copying the data can happen at the end of the day, when some of the pressure is off. Mistakes – and data loss – happen when you’re rushing to copy a card so that you can erase it and continue shooting.
Small flash cards, SD and Compact Flash, are easy to lose and confuse. Many people label them based on the camera (camera A, B, etc.), and store them in separate card holders that denote whether the card is blank or has been used. Even so, if your camera has the option for outputting to an external recorder, making two copies during recording (one to the card, one to an external recorder) decreases the chance that a mistake will lose everything.
At the high-end, companies are recognizing the problem and offering solutions for on-set backup and data distribution. Codex Digital offers the Digital Lab, a device that digests the content and will … Read the rest
Sunday, October 30th, 2011
Thursday night EditShare sponsored a seminar with Oscar-nominated film editor Tariq Anwar at the Florence Gould Hall on East 59th Street in Manhattan. Despite rain the evening was well attended by writers, directors, and especially editors, and Anwar’s presentation — basically a low-key Q&A session moderated by Manhattan Edit Workshop’s Josh Apter — was fun and informative. Here are a few thoughts he shared.
Anwar got into filmmaking somewhat accidentally, starting by driving a truck then getting work as an assistant director. After doing a great deal of yelling at crews, he decided “the cutting room was the most civilized place working on a film” and began moving up the postproduction ranks at the BBC. He praised the education he got there and advised one young attendee that editors should consider skipping film school in favor of more practical work. Even film school grads, he said, unfortunately have to start at the bottom of the ladder anyway, so why not save the money and get straight to work?
There were a lot of questions about his specific process and how he makes individual cuts, but he declined to articulate too much about his process. Editing is largely intuitive, he said, and it’s tiresome to have to explain the reason behind every cut to a director. In fact, Anwar said — only semi-jokingly — he’s happiest with directors who don’t micromanage but instead trust him to make the edit himself, especially early in the process. Theater directors can be better in this regard than highly technical commercial directors; they tend to be confident in their technical crew and allow the DP, editor, and others to do their job unfettered.
On the other hand, there comes a point when a director needs to make a decision. Anwar showed a scene from American Beauty, for which he and director Sam Mendes created nearly 50 permutations — and any one of them, he said, would have worked fine. Likewise with his most recent film, The King’s Speech. That film had a 70:1 shooting ratio — a number which caused an … Read the rest
Saturday, October 29th, 2011
Here’s editor Walter Murch on his first encounter with Apple’s new Final Cut Pro X, his correspondence with Apple, and the Kremlinology of Cupertino.
This was recorded at this past week’s Boston Supermeet. For a detailed report on his appearance, visit Chris Portal’s blog. (Hat tip: Notes on Video.)… Read the rest
Monday, October 10th, 2011
Monday brings more scene analysis! We watch three scenes: one from Fearless, one from Punch Drunk Love, and one from Mulholland Drive; all of them are specifically chosen not just for picture, but also for sound. The scene from Punch Drunk Love is one I remember especially well. Adam Sandler’s character discovers a lone harmonium in the street. It sits in near silence. Sandler stares at it. The silence extends and then is abruptly broken as a truck zooms by – but we see the truck approach way before we hear it … which is jarring in an effective way, and an illustration of how much sound editing can change the way we absorb what we are watching.
On Tuesday we finish our work on The Happy Sad and disconnect our drives so that the whole film can be strung together for viewing on Wednesday. It is intriguing to see the scenes we have been editing suddenly in the context of the entire story. Even though we have all read the script, it is easy to forget that there is continuation on either side of the individual segments we have come to know so well.
Over the weekend we have read a new script: Family Tree, written and directed by Brian Savelson. We start working on it Wednesday morning. It is the story of a father and a son and their respective girlfriends who unexpectedly find themselves at the same country house for the weekend. It stars John Slattery, Zach Gilford, Jena Malone and Gabrielle Union. I have one scene that includes all four cast members and another between Union and Malone. On Thursday Savelson comes in to introduce his film and answer any questions we might have. He is funny, but I already knew that from listening to him talk to his cast and crew before and after takes.
Outside of class we have all watched two episodes of Boardwalk Empire (HBO), in preparation for Kate Sanford and Tim Streeto, the editors on the show, to come speak with us, which they do on Friday. … Read the rest
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Category News | Tags: Boardwalk Empire, Brian Savelson, editing, Gabrielle Union, Jena Malone, John Slattery, Kate Sanford, post production, sound editing, The Edit Center, Tim Streeto, Zach Gilford,
Monday, October 3rd, 2011
On Monday, each of us sits down to address the notes that we received from Rodney Evans, the director of The Happy Sad, on Friday. We are all tapping away with our headphones on, filling a common room, but simultaneously lost in our personal space bubbles. We do this for the better part of the day. Tuesday we have scene analysis. This is, of course, my favorite because… we are watching movies. Watching movies has been my hands-down favorite pastime since, well, forever. We watch Monique’s award-winning performance in Precious. If you have seen Precious (sorry, I’m not going to refer to it as Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire) then you know which scene we watched. If you haven’t seen Precious, trust me, Monique earned her Oscar. Then we watch the scene(s) in Silence of The Lambs where Clarice shows up at the home of the serial killer, and we (the audience) mistakenly think that the house is surrounded by the SWAT team, only to find that the SWAT team is at a house miles away. We talk about the films and learn that that decision to intercut the two Silence of The Lamb scenes was a decision that was made in the edit room.
I start editing a second scene from The Happy Sad. My friend Maria Dizzia is in this one, which is super fun for me, and also, I am not flailing quite as much as I was the week before, and am able to assemble my own scene with fewer questions for the teachers. Periodically we break for tech lectures on subjects ranging from markers, to three-point editing to sound short cuts.
On Wednesday Sabine Hoffman, the editor for The Happy Sad, visits to look at our scenes. It is interesting to hear her different perspective. A third scene is put on my hard drive for me to work on. On Friday Evans visits the class again to see what kind of progress we have made. He watches the changes I made to the scene that I … Read the rest
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
It is the first day of my second week at The Edit Center and we are no longer paired off with partners. Left alone with my computer, I cannot remember how to do anything. Alan Oxman (whose editing credits include Control Room, Happiness and Welcome to the Dollhouse) has joined us, as our teacher. We are to start working on a feature film currently going into post-production. The film is called Happy Sad, written by Ken Urban and directed by Rodney Evans. I am delighted to learn that my friend Maria Dizzia is acting in it. We have all read the script over the weekend, and are each given a hard-drive with footage that will comprise one scene of the film. We are to start editing our scene together. Every one begins working like busy bees, while I stare in despair at my keyboard.
Oxman is a man of enormous patience. He sits with me on and off for the rest of the week. If he can teach me how to edit, he can teach a space alien how to edit (space aliens: if you are in fact all great editors, then please insert some non-editing entity into that sentence). Oxman shows me how to create interruptions and looks, which is often how an editor finds a rhythm and natural flow to a conversation between actors. I am easily frustrated, resistant, and all around difficult to teach. My hands don’t seem to listen to my brain, and my brain – let’s just say it – isn’t working at full capacity either. Slightly dyslexic with numbers, and completely without any sense of direction, I move things left when I want them to go right, I “ripple” when I want to “roll” (both names of edits). I know what I want, but I don’t know how to get it. I even manage to press a combination of buttons that turns on the voice program for the blind, which is apparently, a first for a student. Oxman spends hours with me and never loses his temper. He shows me how … Read the rest
Monday, September 26th, 2011
Over the next six weeks director and Filmmaker contributor Alix Lambert is taking The Edit Center’s course in feature film editing. This is the first of her weekly blogs on her experience. — Editor
As a director, I have sat in the editing room for the better part of two decades. My long-time friend and brilliant editor, Hannah Neufeld has talked my off the ledge, dissuaded me from many bad ideas, and brought her own keen eye and internal rhythm to projects that we have worked on together over the years. Other editors (notably David Ritsher) have done the same for me. So, when my friend and recent co-director David McMahon (Bayou Blue) suggested that we take an intensive editing class at The Edit Center, I immediately agreed. I continue to want to collaborate with editors on my feature-length projects, but I have a number of short form projects on the horizon that don’t have the budget for an editor, and I would like to be able to edit these short pieces myself. I am also just interested in all aspects of filmmaking. I think the more I have an understanding of the editing process, the better I will be at directing. The course runs six weeks. Week one goes from 10AM – 5PM everyday. The five weeks after that are five to seven-hour days.
Week One
Our class, we are informed, is unusually small with eight people — and this is a good thing. We are given books; a plastic laminated keyboard that shows all the short cuts for Final Cut Pro (FCP 7, not the new FCP X), and a script. We are introduced to our teachers: Chris and Betsy (Alan Oxman, who founded The Edit Center, will start teaching us at the beginning of week two). We go around and introduce ourselves to each other. We listen to our first tech lecture: How to set in and out points, import media, open bins, etc. Then we are paired off. I am paired with David. This relieves me as we have worked together for a year … Read the rest
Friday, September 2nd, 2011
Macrumors reported today that Apple is now selling again Final Cut Studio, the “old” version of its desktop editing software that was retired upon the launch of its new Final Cut Pro X. The software is not available in stores or even via online sale; customers must call 1-800-MY-APPLE to order the software.
As has been reported here and elsewhere, the Final Cut Pro X release has been a controversial one. Although many editors applauded its rethought paradigm and powerful tools, just as many pointed to missing features and declared it not suitable for professional use. Final Cut Pro X is also not compatible with older Final Cut projects. Apple’s decision to give Final Cut Pro Studio end-of-life status was particularly confounding in this context as editors needing new versions of the old software to continue their familiar workflows were out of luck. Upon Final Cut Pro X’s release, users complained in mass, with 8,000 signers even calling on Apple to sell the old software to a third party.
Early adopters of Final Cut Pro X hoped that speedy updates from Apple would add needed additional functionality, but it now appears that the product will only be updated once or twice a year. Some functionality, like the ability to export OMF files, has come from third-party developers — and costs even more than the program itself.
Is Apple’s returning Final Cut Studio to market just a temporary stopgap, then? Or perhaps the start of a bifurcated Final Cut product line? I sincerely doubt the latter, particularly given the quiet nature of Apple’s release. So, if you need Final Cut 7, you might want to quickly buy it now, when you can. Operators are standing by.… Read the rest
Tuesday, June 21st, 2011
UPDATE: Read David Leitner’s first take on Final Cut Pro X here.
This morning Apple released its long awaited, ground-up rethink of its professional editing software, Final Cut Pro. Available for $299 from the Apple Store, the new FCP is both drastically lower in price than the previous version and contains numerous improvements, including, wrote David Leitner at NAB this Spring, a “dramatically revamped interface, 64-bit processor capability, no more RAM ceiling of 4GB, and continual background rendering by means of unused CPU cycles.” Leitner’s takeaway then:
With FCP X, Apple is returning to the one-size-fits-all ethos of the original FCP. In other words, no more FCP Express. I think it’s revolutionary, in a democratic sense, to spend years to overhaul an epochal product to make it more powerful, more protean, yet more accessible, with the goal that my teenaged daughter and Walter Murch would both edit with the same software.
From Apple’s press release:
Apple® today announced Final Cut Pro® X, a revolutionary new version of the world’s most popular Pro video editing software which completely reinvents video editing with a Magnetic Timeline that lets you edit on a flexible, trackless canvas; Content Auto-Analysis that categorizes your content upon import by shot type, media and people; and background rendering that allows you to work without interruption. Built on a modern 64-bit architecture, Final Cut Pro X is available from the Mac® App Store™ for $299.99.
“Final Cut Pro X is the biggest advance in Pro video editing since the original Final Cut Pro,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “We have shown it to many of the world’s best Pro editors, and their jaws have dropped.”
“I’m blown away by what Apple has done with Final Cut Pro,” said Angus Wall, Academy Award-winning film editor. “Final Cut Pro X is incredibly modern and fast, but most importantly it lets you focus on telling your story in the most creative way, while it actively manages all of the technical details.”
Filmmaker was given an advance copy of the new Final Cut Pro, and Leitner … Read the rest
