Note 1: I will dedicate a future blog or two to job hunting and include advice from all the editors and assistants I interviewed.

My latest interviewee, assistant editor Rachelle Dang, clued me in a program that really helped her career: the A.C.E. internship program in LA for college grads. The editor who mentored her was Lori Jane Coleman. Now Lori has co-authored a book with A.C.E. editor Diana Friedberg, Make the Cut: A Guide to Becoming a Successful Assistant Editor in Film and TV.

Note 2: All italicized sentences are quotes from the book.

The assistant editor is the heart of the cutting room…

This 230 page guide book contains the gospel from Hollywood. If you want a Hollywood career, take heed. If you work in editorial outside of Hollywood, let me know how this differs or parallels your experience and what your advice would be.

Like Gaul (for those who, like me, took Latin and read Caesar’s The Gallic War), the book is divided into three parts. Here’s a synopsis:

Part 1 – Getting Started (titled just like my book!), has nine chapters. The first chapter details how to prep for the interview and the job. The rest address the specific duties of the AE such as supplies to acquire, inputting dailies, best strategies for organizing Avid or FCP bins for drama, documentary, and reality shows, workflows, and the stages of post (dailies, online, etc.)

Part 2 – Protocol, with three chapters, goes over editing room etiquette, the Hollywood pecking order, and surviving cutting room politics.

Being an assistant has its heartaches and rewards. There are long hours, social politics to navigate, career decisions to be made, and jobs to be won or lost.

Part 3 – Make the Cut, composed of three chapters, tells you how to shine (always bolded) as you advance and lists containing job websites. It also advises you on how to advance from freebie to paying non-union jobs to union work and provides a couple of tables. One table shows the pay scale and years to expect to wait for advancement according to the genre trail you choose to follow: feature, TV, doc, and reality. Another table provides a budget for how to invest each week’s [union] pay including saving for those times you’ll be unemployed. Part 3 and the book finish with a chapter consisting of a panel discussion of editors who relate their views on assisting and their career trajectories.

My main negative with the book is the pronoun referring to the editor being he, never she. The time for limiting editors – or any profession – to males – in writing or hiring – is long past. Use your words and hiring practices to include everyone. It’s reality and the fair, right thing to do.

admin Editing practices, Editor’s role, Technical and process, Television

After reality editor Adam Coleite’s several references to assistant editors in the last two posts, I decided it was high time to talk to one of these unsung post workers, even more unsung than editors!

I met assistant TV editor Rachelle Dang, fresh from R & R in Hawaii after completing a pilot, in Culver City. Surrounded by LA and home to MGM (now Sony), Lorimar (defunct) and other studios past and present, Culver City’s main artery, Washington Blvd., features a parade of large kiosks remarking on the city’s motion picture past.

At a justifiably popular French eatery, Rachelle summed up her job, “You’re the point person for everyone who touches the cutting room: editor, post supervisor, music editor, sound editor, VFX editor, online editor, producer, etc.”

My journey: Like so many others, I have spent years as an assistant before finally getting the break to editor. And I even assisted afterwards – climbing the ladder isn’t always a linear endeavor.

So, what do assistant editors do? Everything. Here’s a rundown of Rachelle’s responsibilities, in show order:

Beginning of show

• Create workflow for show (with input from poster supervisor and editor as needed).
• Organize paperwork: lined script and script supervisor’s report as well as camera and sound reports.
• Receive synced dailies in bins on hard drive from the post house and copy them into editor’s Avid via Firewire.
• Prep bins for editor(s) by:
  • Importing script into the Avid so it becomes a bin and shot takes line up according to the script.
  • Adding locators (markers) on pick-ups.
• Make sure director, producer, etc. receive copies of dailies (via DVD or QT file to server).

As editor cuts show

• Input SFX and MX (at beginning and as show progresses and new sounds and music are needed).
• Render and help create VFX.
• Make outputs of cuts for director, sound and music editors, producers, studio, and network.
• Back up metadata regularly to an external drive which she takes home. On a series she’ll occasionally back sup SFX and MX since they’re used regularly, but not picture media.
• Make outputs for post supervisor for promo purposes.
• Keep the cutting room running technically, e.g. media share, and secure help when things break down.
• Check email (on home and work computer) for messages from editor, other assistant, producer, etc.

Once show locks

• Build (formats) show to network specs.
• Create bin with final, formatted cut for online editor and VFX data on an EDL so temp VFX can be rebuilt.
• Provide sound editors with data and materials such as:
  • A “chase” cassette of show with burnt-in timecode with tracks split according to their specs.
  • OMF and EDL of show.
• Output a DVD or file for music editors with dialogue track on Channel 1 and temp mix on Channel 2.

An hour show will typically shoot for 7 days with a 2:3 assistant to editor ratio.  While the old union ratio of 1:1 has disappeared, Rachelle has her own editing system for her work. Still, she says, serving the editor is less than 50% of the job.

What’s her advice to managing all these facets of the editing room? Rachelle asserts, “Ask, ask, ask. You won’t know everything on any show so don’t to be afraid to ask.”

admin Editing practices, Editor’s role, Technical and process, Television

Going into the interview with Adam I was aware that editors of reality shows often are under the gun to plow through tons of crap, er, footage, to pluck out the proverbial pony.  Over the course of lunch he opened my eyes to a couple of aspects that I hadn’t thought of.

For instance, here what Adam had to say about the appeal of reality shows:

“We’ve been conditioned to understand that when the camera’s shaky, stuff doesn’t match, the dialogue’s not so audible and there are strange cuts that it’s real. We allow more leeway for mistakes, for messiness, because they seem more real.” He continued, “Reality and nonfiction TV don’t have to have production values because people [viewers] assume it’s real and forgive more.”

Role of a reality editor

Adam stated, “I’m not just putting shots together; it’s a lot more creative. I’m telling a story that didn’t exist before I started.” He reflected, “I am much more the storyteller because I’m creating the story as I’m cutting it.”

My conclusion: The reality or non-fiction editor plays the same role as a fiction editor or any other editor – story teller.

Being a reality editor

I like reality because I’m not tied to continuity -- to temporal or space continuity. I can jump cut, for example when someone pulls up to a house and knocks on the door I can take time out.”

He added, “Reality frees you up to think about a scene and put a scene together differently. How you start a scene and how you end a scene. I can start on a line and not worry about what people are wearing or where they are.”

In the examples below, from two series Adam edited on, see how true his words are.

Example 1

In this first scene, notice how the editing freely jumps around to move the story quickly and make the points clearly.

Crime 360, http://www.aetv.com/crime-360/video/index.jsp?bclid=1463262306&bcpid=1463371098&bctid=1473689147

Example 2

See how the pacing differs in this scene.

Last American Cowboy

admin Editing practices, Editor’s role, Technical and process, Television

Third in a series of interviews with working editors in and around Hollywood

I connected with Adam Coleite after putting out a call for reality editors to interview on Facebook. We met up at a restaurant of his choice – a Corner Bakery in Burbank. A genial 30-something, he gave me a rundown on the logistics and challenges of editing reality (love the double entendre) as well as some insightful comments on audience perceptions of the genre and his own take on it.

Setting up the show

It takes five weeks from start to finish to edit an hour show, Adam explained. Editorial begins with the assistant editors, (AEs), who set up each show as a project on the Final Cut Pro. They prep the bins, log the footage, and put in markers when there are multiple takes. Ordinarily the AEs set up show one of two ways: They stack takes on the timeline or multi-clip it. This entire set-up process consumes 3-4 days as reality shows are as renowned for having tons of footage as they are for being shot on the cheap.

Starting to edit

“There’s a lot of useless, unusable footage,” Adam reports. “Because there’s a lot of footage and not many good script supervisors on set, sometimes I have to look through an hour of footage to find a moment or a response. There are a lot of needle in the haystack moments.”  He sums it up, “There are more options and poor notes.”

In addition to a set-up show on the system, Adam gets a transcript of interviews marked by the loggers who can be in-house or outsourced. He also receives a story outline from the story producer. But this is just a starting point. “A lot of the work is figuring out the show as you go. At first I don’t know what I’m looking for,” Adam reveals.

Part of the job

Adam cuts out the curses or bleeps them if unavoidable. Pick-ups may be necessary from the original people in the show and/or the narrator, often at the network’s request. Most shows shun re-creations a.k.a. re-enactments or alert the audience to them with a caption.

“There’s tons of cheating [of shots] that goes on,” Adam relates. Why? Because “you’re paying attention the veracity and continuity of the story,” he explains.

He does all sound and music work and adds VFX, graphics, and titles as well. There’s a lot of rendering of VFX which take time as he cuts everything hi res.

Adam screens the cut on the system with the show producer, after which the two of them work together to redo the outline and he re-cuts the show.

Subsequent cuts may be viewed by the showrunner, network executive, and possibly the president of the production company.

Finishing

Once locked, the AEs sort out the audio tracks and send an OMF to the mixer. They sort out the video files and send them to the colorist. They also send these files to the online editor who QCs to meet broadcast specs the show and may add more VFX. The final show is sent to the network for broadcast.

Coming up in Part 2: Hear what Adam has to say about cutting reality and compare scenes from two shows that he edited on.

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Part 2 of a continuing series of editor interviews

Similar to the one-man band corporate editor I interviewed, comedy editor Steve Rasch, ACE, whose current show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, has been running six years now, finds he’s doing more than ever before as an editor. “It seems like there are no rules now,” he told me over lunch in Brentwood at Chin Chin. “Every show is different.” Steve, like most TV editors, creates green screens and other VFX and puts in SFX. Additionally, few years ago he took over editing the music so he makes extra money filling that position.

Workflow

He edits on an Avid which is still the most used system in Hollywood on mainstream, higher budget shows. (Final Cut Pro continues to make inroads and is used on low budget shows.) Steve receives a transcript of the show and a hard drive with low rez HD dailies which he views in a quad split (channel that shows all four cameras on one screen). Once the show is locked, an online editor is hired to do the finishing work, including up-rezzing the show and making it network-ready.

Comedy today

Curb is a single cam show created in the mockumentary style which Rasch traces to Rob Reiner’s 1989 movie When Harry Met Sally. Steve maintains that “The written joke is no longer funny to viewers. They don’t want to hear it. They are more interested in story and character-based comedy.” Also, the show does not use a laff track, which, he reports, most single cam comedies avoid.

On being an editor

Over fortune cookies I asked Steve how he felt after years of editing comedy and drama. “I do not like to be barked at, considered a button pusher. I like it when they value me.” He added, “Editors are always working for some one. Editors are compliant. Editors are in it because they like the craft.”

admin Editing practices, Editor’s role, Technical and process, Television

After a over a decade of working for Disney in various capacities (actor, editor, and producer), Les Perkins went solo, creating an editing suite in a set-off part of his home in Glendale, CA. His advice on setting up a system, “Make sure it’s comfortable and ergonomically sound – your butt’s going to spend long hours in that seat.”

Due to his contacts and the economy (Hollywood studios let staff editors go and were looking to save money at big post houses on many projects), one project has led to another and Les’s business has thrived.

Over a lunch at a veggie place in the (San Fernando) Valley, he told me, “I love problem solving – finding editorial solutions for production problems so the client doesn’t have to re-shoot.”

His system

Les has a tricked out Final Cut Pro system and has just installed version 7, the latest FCP version. He provides basic editing, sound work, and does all kinds of effects work on all types of corporate projects. He produces many of the projects as well as editing them, hence is called a preditor. I featured Les in Your Cutting Room View which has his contact info but here it is again: www.LesIsMoreProductions.com.

Fix it in post – Not!

This is a less desirable approach than ever, Les believes. “Before you shoot a pixel or a frame, you have to plan your post production workflow all the way through delivery.” He rattled off many issues to be figured out including: determining the codecs in the camera, the editing system, how sound will be recorded, and how color will be graded (corrected). “Post has to be part of preproduction,” he insisted, in order to achieve the most efficient workflow

Getting work and keeping up

Les checks out many websites for jobs including: www.mandy.com (good for entry level) and www.Media-Watch.com. He also attends the LA FCP Users group (www.lafcpug.org Even if you do not live in the LA area there’s lots of useful info on the site and there’s probably an ug near you.) each month and asks technical questions from his circle of tech gurus.

Finally I asked Les how he feels about editing after all these years. He responded enthusiastically, “I look at editing as being a great big jigsaw puzzle and you’re the one who pulls all the pieces into one nice, big cohesive story.”

admin Editing practices, Editor’s role, Jobs, Technical and process

“Why do you want to move to LA and become an editor? You’ll just be stuck behind a Moviola in a dark room.”

A fellow grip said this to me when I was working as a local hire on a movie in northern California and told him of my desire to relocate to Hollywood. Kinda dates me, huh?

Anyway, I interviewed the editor and assistant who were working away in a motel. I also talked to everyone on the three-week shoot and got their contact info. This gave me confidence to move south and start seeking editing work. Three weeks after moving I got a job as an assistant sound recordist at a hole-in-the-wall sound transfer house. Assistant editors dropped off ¼” dailies which we transferred to 35mm for editing. I took some freebie jobs to learn to sync and the rudiments of the 1979 cutting room. In 1980 I landed my first paid assistant job on That’s Incredible! for Alan Landsburg Productions.

Flash forward to 2010. I am re-writing my first book, Cut by Cut: Editing Your Film or Video. Before leaving LA I was madly interviewing editors of all types: assistants, comedy, reality, feature, TV, sound, online etc. I have found that each type of editing requires special skills and brings different as well as similar perspectives on our calling. So follow along as I relate their observations and particular challenges, and feel free, as always, to make your own comments.

admin Editing practices, Editor’s role, Jobs

Interestingly, DSLR has been a career changer for a few people. Here a Hollywood cinematographer steers his career to commercials and talks about how he shot on DSLR in this demo meeting.

http://www.digitalcinemasociety.org/Popup.php?video=DSLR_Cascio4.mov

Video pioneer and Pulitzer prize winning still photographer Vincent Laforet claims to have made the first DSLR video in 2008 when Canon gave him a camera to test -- no strings attached. Since he had been preparing to make moving pictures for years, he was determined to succeed. He shot with mostly natural light at night in Brooklyn. Looks like a music video cum camera test to me:

Laforet has now made his first movie for which he used a Canon DSLR. Here’s the trailer: http://www.laforetvisuals.com/#pi=10&p=-1&a=-1&at=0

Laforet brings a voice of sanity to the case for DSLR case so I am going to leave the last word to him. In this interview shot at NAB, he talks about DSLR and shooting documentaries. But then he talks about how filmmaking skills are paramount. Here’s to keeping tools and technologies in perspective!

I look forward to hearing your experiences with DSLR in editing.

admin Editing practices, Technical and process

Hollywood is trying out DSLR for segments of movies. The season finale of House was shot entirely on DSLR.

Although Canon, Panasonic, and other manufacturers are furiously working on improving the technology, still (pun intended), DSLR is in its infancy.

DSLR drawbacks

• Image quality great but tech details not all worked out.
• Double system so separate A & V files. Sync on DES (digital editing system). Make sure DES recognizes files.
• Can only shoot for 10 minutes due to overheating and load limitations.
• Long time to transfer to DES
• No timecode .
• No HDSI
• Shallow depth of field – need separate focus puller to rack focus or zoom unless you use special lenses do that.

Here’s a tutorial for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 about editing with DSLR. Again, I am not advocating one DES over another – all are tools to do the job and get you work as an editor – but this Adobe tutorial gives a view into the post process.

admin Editing practices, Technical and process

This hot new type of video camera which both consumers and professionals are experimenting with just came into my viewfinder this week so I’m going to focus on it for a few posts. I am not endorsing any camera brand. I am merely exploring and learning about what DSLR can and can’t do in the video realm and how it’s integrating into post.

I would like to hear your experiences. Has any DSLR footage come into your cutting room? What was the workflow? How did it all work out? What do you see as DSLR’s future role in filmmaking?

Exactly what is DSLR?

DSLR, a.k.a. HDSLR, is a still cam that records HD video and audio to a computer disk. DPs like it because it’s close to film style shooting and has a film look. Price, from $2000 to $4000, is another reason they’re buzzing.

A DSLR can be placed on a rig and used on set or location. Off rig, it looks like a regular still camera so it is being snuck into places where video is prohibited (at least for now).

Here’s a demo from NAB 2010:

If you are interested in purchasing a DSLR or getting more specs, see manufacturers’ sites like Canon or Panasonic. Here are a couple of neutral, informative websites that review all brands:

http://www.prolost.com
http://www.cinema5d.com -- website dedicated to DSLR.
There was controversy about some of this site’s recent camera tests so read the responses at: http://www.freshdv.com/2010/02/cinema5d-review-comments.html

In the next three parts of this four-part series, I’ll talk about more features of DSLR and put up a variety of videos showcasing their capabilities and put out what I know of how it’s being used by professional filmmakers. Feel free to chime in with your experiences at any time.

admin Editing practices, Technical and process