Congratulations to all winners and nominees. And a big salute to all toil for the tube: assistant editors, editors, sound editors, visual effects editors, music editors, online editors, post supervisors, PAs, and post house personnel.

Here are this year’s winners:

OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES
(SINGLE OR MULTI-CAMERA)
RYAN CASE, Editor
Modern Family
Pilot ABC

OUTSTANDING SINGLE-CAMERA PICTURE EDITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
STEPHEN SEMEL, Editor
MARK J. GOLDMAN, Editor
CHRISTOPHER NELSON, Editor
HENK VAN EEGHEN, Editor
Lost
The End ABC

OUTSTANDING SINGLE-CAMERA PICTURE EDITING FOR A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
LEO TROMBETTA, A.C.E., Editor
Temple Grandin HBO

OUTSTANDING SHORT-FORM PICTURE EDITING
CHRISTOPHER TARTARO, Editor
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
6-Bee (Episode 226) NBC

OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING FOR A SPECIAL (SINGLE OR MULTI-CAMERA)
BILL DeRONDE, Supervising Editor
JOHN ZIMMER, Editor
MARK STEPP, Editor
MICHAEL POLITO, Editor
The 25th Anniversary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Concert HBO

OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING FOR NONFICTION PROGRAMMING
SAM POLLARD, Editor
GEETA GANDBHIR, Editor
ARIELLE AMSALEM, Editor
By The People: The Election Of Barack Obama HBO

OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING FOR REALITY PROGRAMMING
ERIK CHRISTENSEN, Editor
Intervention
Robby A&E

admin Awards, Television

While no one is quite sure how Oscar came to stand for the annual motion picture award and statue, Emmy’s lineage is clear. She was named after a camera. Actually “she” was almost a “he.” Syd Cassyd, founder of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS), proposed Ike after the iconoscope but since there was a standing president by that name, this idea was quickly abandoned.
The statue started out as Immy, named after an early image orthicon camera. Immy was changed to Emmy after the statue was designed, to be a more clearly female name.
How did the design evolve?
In 1948, after rejecting 46 design proposals votes, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS) members agreed on a design created by engineer Louis McManus who modeled the statue on his wife. In keeping with the times, Emmy holds out an atom, representing science and sports wings, representing art.

Here’s a video (editing is slap-dash) on how the 4¾ lbs statuettes that winners receive, are made today:

admin Awards, History/research, Television

As a member of the Editor’s peer group for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, (ATAS), every year I vote on the nominations for best editing in all categories as well as for best drama and comedy show. This year I had to forego the fun due to packing and unpacking for my move to northern CA.

Nomination process

Here’s how it works:

2010 Emmy Nominations

Here are this year’s nominees for best editing: What do you think?

One thing has changed: There used to be separate categories for single- and multiple-cam comedy; now they’re combined. Also, notice Steve Rasch, whom I just blogged about, was nominated for Curb Your Enthusiasm.

1) Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series

Breaking Bad • No Mas • AMC • Sony Pictures Television
Skip MacDonald, Edited by

Dexter • The Getaway • Showtime • Showtime Presents, John Goldwyn
Productions, The Colleton Company, Clyde Phillips Productions
Matthew V. Colonna, Edited by

Lost • The End • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios
Stephen Semel, Editor
Mark J. Goldman, Editor
Christopher Nelson, Editor
Henk Van Eeghan, Editor

Mad Men • The Gypsy And The Hobo • AMC • Lionsgate Television
Pattye Rogers, Edited by
Christopher Nelson, Edited by

Mad Men • Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency • AMC • Lionsgate Television
Tom Wilson, Edited by

2) Outstanding Picture Editing For A Comedy Series (Single Or Multi-Camera)

Curb Your Enthusiasm • The Table Read • HBO • HBO Entertainment
Roger Nygard, Editor
Jonathan Corn, A.C.E., Editor

Curb Your Enthusiasm • The Bare Midriff • HBO • HBO Entertainment
Steve Rasch, A.C.E., Editor

Modern Family • Pilot • ABC • Twentieth Century Fox Television
Ryan Case, Editor

Modern Family • Family Portrait • ABC • Twentieth Century Fox Television
Jonathan Maxwell Schwartz, Editor

30 Rock • Dealbreakers Talk Show #0001 • NBC • Broadway Video, Little Stranger, Inc. in association with Universal Media Studio
Ken Eluto, A.C.E., Editor

3) Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Miniseries Or A Movie

The Pacific • Part 5 • HBO • Playtone and Dreamworks in association with HBO Miniseries
Edward A. Warschilka, Editor

The Pacific • Part 9 • HBO • Playtone and Dreamworks in association with HBO Miniseries
Alan Cody, A.C.E., Editor
Marta Evry, A.C.E., Editor

The Pacific Part 8 • HBO • Playtone and Dreamworks in association with HBO Miniseries
Alan Cody, A.C.E., Editor

Temple Grandin • HBO • A Ruby Films, Gerson Saines Production in association with HBO Films
Leo Trombetta, A.C.E., Editor

You Don’t Know Jack • HBO • Bee Holder, Cine Mosaic and Levinson/Fontana Productions in association with HBO Films
Aaron Yanes, Editor

4) Outstanding Short-Form Picture Editing

82nd Annual Academy Awards • John Hughes Tribute • ABC • Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Dakota Solt, Editor

82nd Annual Academy Awards • Horror Tribute • ABC • Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Jon Bloom, Editor
Bayard Stryker, Editor

American Idol • Dream (Episode 924/925A) • FOX • FremantleMedia N.A., Inc. & 19TV Ltd.
Oren Castro, Editor

Jimmy Kimmel Live • The Handsome Men’s Club (Episode 10-1330) • ABC • Jackhole Industries in association with ABC Studios
Brian Marsh, Editor

Jimmy Kimmel Live • The Late Night Wars (Episode 10-1304) • ABC • Jackhole Industries in association with ABC Studios
Kevin McCullough, Editor

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon • 6-Bee (Episode 226) • NBC • Universal Media Studios and Broadway Video
Christopher Tartaro, Editor

5) Outstanding Picture Editing For A Special (Single Or Multi-Camera)

Kathy Griffin: Balls Of Steel • Bravo • A Rick Mill Production in association with Donut Run and Bravo Media
David Foster, Edited by

The Kennedy Center Honors • CBS • A George Stevens Jr. Presentation, Kennedy Center Television Productions, Inc.
Michael Polito, Editor

Robin Williams: Weapons Of Self Destruction • HBO • Fiat Risus, MBST / CKX, and Funny Business in Association with HBO Entertainment
Michael D. Schultz, Editor

The 25th Anniversary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Concert • HBO • Playtone, Tenth Planet Productions and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation in association with HBO Entertainment
Bill DeRonde, Supervising Editor
John Zimmer, Editor
Mark Stepp, Editor
Michael Polito, Editor

6) Outstanding Picture Editing For Nonfiction Programming

America: The Story Of Us • Division • HISTORY • Produced by Nutopia for History
Matt Lowe, Editor

By The People: The Election Of Barack Obama • HBO • Green Film Company, Citi Productions, Class 5 Films and GOOD in association with HBO Documentary Films
Sam Pollard, Editor
Geeta Gandbhir, Editor
Arielle Amsalem, Editor

Deadliest Catch • No Second Chances • Discovery Channel • Produced by Original Productions, LLC for Discovery Communications
Kelly Coskran, Supervising Editor
Josh Earl, Editor

Life • Challenges Of Life • Discovery Channel • A BBC/Discovery Channel/SKAI Co-Production in association with RTI Spa
Martin Ellsbury, Editor
Sharon Gillooly, Editor

Whale Wars • The Stuff Of Nightmares • Animal Planet • Produced by Lizard Trading Company, LLC, for Animal Planet
Eric Myerson, Lead Editor
Andy Schrader, Editor
Joseph McCasland, Editor

7) Outstanding Picture Editing For Reality Programming

The Amazing Race • I Think We’re Fighting The Germans, Right? • CBS • World Race Productions Inc.
Eric Goldfarb, Editor
Julian Gomez, Editor
Andrew Kozar, Editor
Paul C. Nielsen, Editor
Michael Bolanowski, Editor
Jennifer Nelson, Editor
Jacob Parsons, Editor
Rich Remis, Editor

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition • Extreme Makeover: The Muppet Edition • ABC • Endemol USA
Steve Mellon, Supervising Editor
Wes Paster, Supervising Editor
Matt Deitrich, Supervising Editor
Tenna Guthrie, Lead Editor
Arek Hope, Editor
Karin Hoving, Editor
Phil Stuben, Editor
Hilary Scratch, Editor

Intervention • Robby • A&E • Produced by GRB Entertainment for A&E Network
Erik Christensen, Editor

Survivor • Tonight, We Make Our Move • CBS • SEG Inc.
Michael Greer, Supervising Editor
Tim Atzinger, Editor
Chad Bertalotto, Editor
Andrew Bolhuis, Editor
Eric Gardner, Editor
Evan Mediuch, Editor
Joubin Mortazavi, Editor

Top Chef • Vivre Las Vegas • Bravo • Magical Elves, Bravo
Adrienne Salisbury, Edited by
Matt Reynolds, Edited by
Jamie Pedroza, Edited by
LaRonda Morris, Editor
Steve Lichtenstein, Editor
Kevin Kearney, Editor
Katherine Griffin, Editor

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Every year IDA (International Documentary Association),  puts on DocuDays in LA, screening all nominees for documentary features and shorts. IDA times this event to the weekend of the Oscars so that all the filmmakers and their amazing subjects are in town. It’s worth a visit to LA! This year I saw two features and two shorts and was enthralled by all of them. Each is powerful in its own way and highly recommended.

Shorts

Rabbit à la Berlin, made by a band of Polish filmmakers, gives a rabbit’s eye view of the Berlin wall. The analogies between humans and hares are left for the audience to make in this grounded, pensive doc. The movie’s schnitt (German for editor) was on the panel following the film and its editing was a major subject of the discussion.  Turns out there was very little archival footage so shots of rabbit from many different countries were gathered and stitched together (with a lot of color correction) I’m sure. The producer quipped, “It was an international cast of rabbits.”

The director remarked that it was necessary to gather a lot of rabbit close-ups and reactions to tell the tale. My conclusion:  This story, as so often occurs with a documentary, came together in editing. How else to consistently put across a bunny’s POV of the decades preceding and following the wall? To get a view of the doc, here’s the trailer:

The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
This movie is about the decline of the genial, always in control, well liked ex-governor of Washington and his drive to pass an initiative granting terminal patients the right to elect doctor-assisted death. It made me cry. It also made me believe in politicians once again and the ability of filmmakers on one side of an issue to fairly present both sides.
During the panel discussion the director stated that the “Film’s intent was to open up dialogue on end-of-life issues, not to be an advocacy film.” But seeing a powerful man fight his deterioration due to Parkinson’s disease with every brain cell and muscle, humanized the issue. When Gardner was wheeled on to the stage by his daughter after the movie, he received a standing ovation. Here’s a sampling from the beginning of the film:

Oscar winner for best documentary short: Music by Prudence

Features

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
This stellar doc reflects on the war in Vietnam and the downfall of President Nixon from the angle of the act of Daniel Ellsberg and his assistant Anthony Russo. The pair worked for Rand Corporation to support the war and then turned over 7000 pages of evidence to show that each successive administration disregarded the facts, lied to the American people, and escalated the war.

Afterwards, it was touching to see septuagenarian Ellsberg, who also got a standing ovation, and his wife -- a dove on the war from the start -- holding hands and intelligently and passionately laying out the facts about the wars we’re embroiled in today. Get an idea of the movie from the trailer:

The Cove

I had already seen stills of the gruesome, bloody footage of this film about the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan on Facebook. Still, I ducked my head to avoid watching at times, but did not duck its truths about mercury build-up in dolphins and other fish which gets passed on to humans and the intelligence of these creatures.

This film, like Rabbit à la Berlin, gave voice to creatures and clearly depended on VO and editing to make it work. In the post-screening panel the director talked about the challenges of making this film which included death threats, risking arrest, going without a salary for 18 months, and not knowing if there was a film in what they were shooting.

This movie is a “must see” because it proves that docs can be entertaining and change the world and all the effort and sacrifice are worth it. Get a glimpse of it below:

Food, Inc.

This high budget doc about how our food is produced by a handful of companies who mistreat animals and humans alike to put unhealthy foods in our supermarkets is also a game change changer and a “must see.” Again, IDA put the director and producer on stage as well as Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and an expert seen in the film. Here’s the trailer to get you started:

Oscar winner for best documentary feature: The Cove. Like Man on Wire, which won in 2009, The Cove can be seen as a caper film with much reconnaissance and stealthy nighttime set up leading to daytime coup.

admin Awards, Editing practices, Editor’s role, Joy goes to the movies

I was extremely pleased that The Hurt Locker won for both picture editing and sound editing and sound mixing too. This was a picture and sound editor’s movie if there ever was one and it previously won the A.C.E. Eddie award for best feature editing. Picture editing drove the rhythm of this story about an American bomb diffusion squad in Iraq and in a way, diffusion was the movie’s metaphor – trying to mitigate the harm the war’s causing. The editing provided the tension from the film’s first frame,  and brought the excellent script, acting, and footage together. It was also the first time a husband-wife team won. Hats off to Bob Murawski and Chris Innes.

Sound editing

I will never forget the night scene in The Hurt Locker when members of the squad go up a blind alley, guns at the ready, not knowing what they’ll find. We can’t see much of anything but their grunted words and the sound effects carry us through. Thank you sound team, led by Paul  N.J. Ottosson, editors and Paul  N.J. Ottosson and Paul Beckett, mixers. Today’s LA Times reported Ottoson’s words backstage, “The most important part was to put you as a viewer into being the fourth man on the team and always being with the guy we’re with. We really [thought] about every shot in the movie instead of making something flashy and cool.”

Last thoughts

All movies nominated had excellent editing but I am glad not only that Hurt Locker took the editing Oscars but also the best picture and best director awards. In accepting her Oscar (finally a woman!) I was hoping Kathryn Bigelow would mention other women directors: Lois Weber, Dorothy Arzner, Barbara Streisand, etc. But I was pleased when she said, “I think the secret to directing is collaborating,” giving credit to all who toiled along with her.

admin Awards, Editor’s role, Joy goes to the movies, Sound and music editing

Last night I enjoyed being on an Oscar panel at the Writer’s Store (a terrific store with wonderful film folks) in LA with three other writers of film books: Chris Riley The Hollywood Standard – 2nd edition, Marcie Begleiter From Word to Image 2nd edition, and Michael Hauge Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds, and moderator-writer Chris Vogler The Writer’s Journey 3rd edition.

Marcie got the discussion off to a stimulating start by talking about reading the screenplay of The Hurt Locker. The scriptwriter describes the landscape as “brown on brown.” She counted the colors mentioned in the script: white and brown dominate and green is entirely missing. I had never thought much about the color palette of a movie and what is says about the character and now will be more aware.

During my introductory remarks I talked about how the editor is the last storyteller on a movie. Chris Riley followed this up by instructing screenwriters to put character, place, and plot on the page so that producers can visualize the film and that dialogue is less important in a script or movie, though it should be well-written.

Here are the discussions that most intrigued me:

Themes of this year’s Oscar nominees

I deciphered two themes and the panel agreed:
1) Cultural diversity whether on another planet as in Avatar and Up, in another country The Hurt Locker, in the U.S. Precious, The Blind Side, and Up in the Air or in the future, District 9.

2) The fettered 1960s and how people dealt with them: An Education, A Single Man, and A Serious Man.

Themes of the future

In the face of our stuttering at home with economic woes and reform attempts and abroad as a leader, I foresaw four types of movies:

1)    Certainty: Good, old American values about winning, overcoming adversity and kicking ass like in The Blind Side, and Precious.

2)    History: Reflecting on, taking comfort in, or re-writing history a la Inglourious Basterds.

3)    Fantasy/escape – there will always be thrillers and action movies.

4)    Exploratory: Probing our world like Up in the Air. I thought this movie took an incisive look at what our modern devices, air travel, and motivational speakers can produce. Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) has a cell phone yet isn’t connecting with anyone, is a fanatical frequent flyer who’s going nowhere fast, and asks “What’s in your backpack?” as he’s becoming increasingly lost in his own life. And a computer is threatening to take over his high flying job of laying people off for “rightsizing” corporations.

U.S. vs. European films

Chris Volger talked about how U.S. films demand an upbeat ending and eschew tragedies. European films, on the other hand, accept tragedy and often have ambiguous endings. Michael Hauge brought statistics on box office grosses and pointed out that this year’s cinematic crop trended toward a European or international style by not yielding to simple happy endings.

Rhythm and pacing trends in movies

Also, the question of rhythm and pacing in films came up. I’ll delve into this and talk about an interesting new article from APS (Association for Psychological Science) after concluding my series on comedy editing – unless something cuts in the meantime!

admin Awards, Editor’s role, Joy goes to the movies

Annually, MPSE presents the Golden Reel awards to honor the year’s best work in all areas of sound editing: ADR, dialogue, effects, Foley, and music. MPSE has a large swath of categories including features, TV, computer entertainment, and student films. They also bestow a Filmmaker Award which will go to Steven Spielberg this year.

Here are MPSE’s Best Sound Editing live action feature film nominations (nominees too numerous to list) for Sound Effects and Foley:

admin Awards, Sound and music editing

Every year A.C.E. nominates editors in a variety of categories, from three types of features to reality TV series for their prestigious Eddie award. Here are the nominees for best dramatic feature:

Click on the Eddie statue to see all of this year’s Eddie nominees and winners.

And while we’re speaking of A.C.E., you can put the letters after your name only if you are an active member. How do you become a member? Apply, be accepted and pay dues. There are four categories of membership. To learn more, go here: http://www.ace-filmeditors.org/newace/abt_Memshp.html

admin Awards

For the first time since 1943, there are 10 nominations for best picture. Everything else gets five nominations. Let Joy know your thoughts on the nominees and all things Oscar, especially the editing nominees.

I will be on an Oscar panel with other film authors, so if you’re in the LA area come on over! I’d love to see you. Here’s the official announcement:

The Writer’s Store Pre-Oscar Bash and Discussion with the Authors of Michael Wiese Productions
Date: Thursday, February 25th, 6-8PM
Location: Writer’s Store, 2040 Westwood Boulevard,  Los Angeles, CA 90025
Phone:  (310) 441-5151
RSVP: http://www.storylink.com/event/2009OscarPanel

Join Screenwriters, Directors, Editors, and Indie Filmmakers for a lively discussion about the picks and pans for 2009!
Hear from Industry Insiders about their favorite movies for 2009 and learn new skills about writing, screenwriting, editing, storyboarding and more.

Panelists

Moderated by Christopher Vogler, author of The Writer’s Journey 3rd edition

Marcie Begleiter, author of From Word to Image – 2nd edition

Gael Chandler, author of Cut by Cut: Editing Your Film or Video and
Film Editing: Great Cuts Every Filmmaker and Movie Love Must Know

Michael Hauge, author of Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds

Christopher Riley, author of The Hollywood Standard – 2nd edition

admin Awards, Joy goes to the movies, Sound and music editing