Time for a change of voice! This is my first guest blog. Please welcome PJ Bruno, a producer at Grovo Learning Inc. It’s an internet company which provides a field guide in the form of two-minute videos for learning everything from how to use Twitter to netiquette training.

A Passion for Video

by PJ Bruno

I’ve had a love for video editing as long as I can remember.

Thanks to my parents, I had a well-documented childhood from birth all the way through high school.  Before they could afford a video camera they would rent one for a week at a time and capture as much footage as possible.

I grew up watching VHS tapes of my brother, my sister, and myself; by the time I was 14, I was shooting on my own. By age 16, I was editing video.

It was the complete control of narrative that inspired me; any small variation of timing or shot sequence would put forth a different motive, attributing to the filmmaker’s vision. But although I started early and worked often, I didn’t get an editing job until I was 25 (almost 2 years ago).

I was half way through my master’s degree in Media Studies at The New School in New York when I came across an editing job on Craigslist. The description read, “Unpaid Video Editing Internship with possibility for full-time employment.”

I told myself that all I had to do was get the internship and the full-time position would be in the bag.

The job was editing short video tutorials for an online education startup called Grovo. I won’t tell you how long I had to intern before I was made a full-time employee, but I will tell you that I learned more in 6 months editing at an Internet startup than I did throughout grad school. There really is nothing like working 50-60 hour weeks for a start-up with 20 other people working just as hard. The Internet’s permeation into pretty much all occupations has opened the doors of possibility wide. Not only do I get to edit video, but I get to be innovative with the format of our education. I toy with live action, animation, Camtasia video grabs, and more.

And on top of that, my co-workers have become my best friends.  I’ve never loved the art of editing more, and this is likely to be the most satisfying work experience of my life.

Grovo sample

Here’s a sample video PJ created:

http://blog.grovo.com/2012/04/grovos-tip-week-commandf-search/

admin Editing & life, Jobs

Ken Lee, VP and my book editor at Michael Wiese Productions, informed that as of April 1, my first book, Cut by Cut: Editing Your Film or Video, will cease being printed. Published in December 2004, it had 7.5 years of active printing and will be available online, as most things new, old, and outdated are! It makes me think of dog years. Is 7.5 years a long time for a non-fiction book that could be classified as technical?  Should I feel sad, glad, or proud? All three seem appropriate.

The drive to write the book was to pass on my knowledge of editing gained in the cutting rooms of Hollywood and the LA area. The book has helped people, I believe, (some have even told me directly.) And, frankly, it’s made me realize one of my biggest life goals: to be a published writer. I have (by choice) not birthed a child but I have labored to deliver 2.5 books to the world. What do I mean by 2.5? Read on. Or skip to the end.

Publisher’s words

“Write your book for where you want to take you,” Michael Wiese urged a group of his authors in 2010 at publisher MWP’s annual gathering in LA.

Cut by Cut has helped me get work, meeting new people and taken me a few places, including the annual UVFA (University of Video & Film Association) conference in Chicago in 2005 where professors meet and deliver their papers. This baffling ritual consists of the prof standing in front of a group of other profs (and other conference attendees) and reading the paper verbatim making little attempt to communicate with the audience and taking few questions before stepping aside for the audience to disperse and be replaced by a new audience and the next professor to appear to toss of their paper and check that box on their job “to do” list.

With editor Nimet Tuna (left) at Onk Agency in Istanbul.

More importantly, Cut by Cut has led to Michael proposing my second book, Film Editing: Great Cuts Every Filmmaker and Movie Lover Must Know which took me to Onk, a literary agency in Istanbul where I got a tour and spent an interesting evening drinking wine and having dinner with Onk’s head editor.

Equally important, Cut by Cut has begat Cut by Cut: Editing Your Film or Video, 2^nd Edition, which is being printed as you read this and will be available May 13 at Amazon and June 1 everywhere. You can pre-order it online now from www.mwp.com or your favorite online bookstore. Long may it live!

Yes, the second edition, while a third book, is an offshoot of the first, so it makes the total 2.5.

admin Announcements, Editing & life

Here’s my list of ten reasons. Take what it with your own shaker of salt and develop your own flight plan. (See Part 1 for Intro and reason I came up with this list). Feel free to send Joy your reasons.

1. Band of brothers and sisters.

When you pursue a career in film, especially Hollywood, you’re joining a special group of non-conformists. This group scoffs at the question, “What’s the use of a liberal arts education?” You may have majored in art, philosophy, physics, film, or digital communications but you have a passion to work with filmed words and images that communicate with an audience. Respect yourself and pursue your choice with everything you’ve got.

2. Chance to make a difference – leave an imprint

This reason is not a flight of fancy. Your work influences viewers, be they students watching a training film, an art audience changed by your documentary, a family kicking back to your comedy, or a dorm full of students hooked on your web series. Not every project will be something you want to show Mom or keep on your resume, but it will influence others and increase your skills and contacts.

3. Meet a variety of people

You will interact with all sorts of sane and crazy people in the film biz. They will drive you nuts, enrage you, enrich your life, help you, and allow you to help others. Value them and know when to say, “Thanks” and “Farewell.”

4. Encounter a variety of subjects

Whether you work on scripted shows (e.g. dramas and comedies) or non-scripted shows (e.g. documentaries, reality shows, or instructional videos) you’ll learn a range of subjects you’ve never imagined. You may drop these topics or follow them once the show wraps, but they will widen your horizon either way.

5. Travel

Being a filmmaker will land in places you’ve haven’t dreamed – that you could have possibly put on your flight plan. One day you’ll be in the doldrums, contemplating a career change, the next you’ll be flying across the country on that series you just landed: Turbulence and unexpected ports are part of the profession.

6. Hold the heart of the film in your hands

If you become an editor, as you view shots and decide which frames go in out and out, you will hold the film’s heart (characters and) and heartbeat (rhythm and pace) in your hands. You will play a vital role in shaping the show’s story and message and the director or client’s vision. It will be your joy, honor, and responsibility to sculpt the best show possible from the footage, no matter how big or small the project is.

7. Work with cutting edge tools

We’re in the midst of a digital revolution in which the technological territory morphs annually. This is converging work and changing relationships between preproduction, production, and postproduction. As a filmmaker, you will be a part of this change and get to use these incredible tools – editing systems, state-of-the-art plug-ins, third party software, etc. While they’re a lot to keep up with, the gratification from creating on them – and keeping employed – are worth it.

8. Work a little, work a lot

You career will not always be in your control – you may work mondo hours and be desperate for time off, then find yourself with too much time off and be desperate for work. During your downtimes, lunch with colleagues and new folks, go to industry events, and polish your skills along with your resume. Time off is part of film life and brings its own set of challenges and rewards, just like the work itself. During the 90-hour weeks with no days off, remember to breathe, sleep, de-stress, kiss your beloved, and that you’re on a (hopefully) worthwhile project.

9. Special moments that no other industry brings

Filmmaking is both magical and mundane: One moment you’re picking up the producer’s tuxedo, the next you’re at the Academy Awards. You’ll experience times of predictable boredom and the opposite on the job. True story: One day a producer lucky at the horse races handed $100 bills to everyone in the cutting room. The week before, on the same show, director and producers alike worked an unexpected all-nighter to re-cut the show from frame 1 because the editor – not me – turned in a subpar cut.

10. You’re your own agent – even if you have an agent

You will always be your own pilot: forever networking, re-inventing, honing your skills, self promoting, and sussing out the next job. There is no one path to success in the film industry. That wedding video you edited may lead to your first feature, that feature may go nowhere and send you on unemployment, but you have to pursue every lead, follow every highway and byway, and make your own way.

admin Announcements, Editing & life, Editing practices, Editor’s role, Jobs

Michael Wiese Productions, my publisher, has asked all its authors to address the above in an essay, comic piece, or list. MWP plans to assemble, these articles into a 75-100 page pdf file and distribute it via MWP’s website, Amazon Kindle, Scribd, and as many venues as possible. It will be free or cheap – $1.99 – and available starting in December at the latest.

Yeah, the lists are being written to help promote our books but I for one, am not writing a marketing piece. And I suspect none of the other Wiese (pronounced “weezy”) writers will either – we’re a pretty caring and “tell it like it is” bunch. I will be interested to read what the other authors write.

The subject made me think: Why would I encourage people to enter the film industry. While it was a major part of my life’s journey and I don’t regret going to Hollywood, it wasn’t an easy path; there were close encounters of a good, bad, and ugly nature along the way – not unlike other professions but with a unique, film industry twist.

What would you tell people? Let Joy know. Here’s the intro to my list: Full list in my next blog post.

Top Ten Reasons Why it’s a Great Time to Be a Filmmaker

With four decades in and around the industry – working from projectionist to grip, electrician, and craft service to editor to digital systems trainer and college editing instructor to author of three books on editing – I guess I can be lumped into the category “Old Salt.” So when sharing my hard earned grains of wisdom with those desiring – daring – to enter the profession, I want to be enthusiastic and supportive yet realistic. A scene from The Wizard of Oz jumps into my head – the one where the wicked witch urges the monkeys to “Fly, fly, fly!” It makes me want to be responsible for where I’m sending fledglings off to. How many will make it intact and be glad for the journey?

admin Announcements, Editing & life, Jobs

My publisher, Michael Wiese Productions, launched an online film school in September. It was a deal at $50/2.5 hour course. Due to a poor marketing partner there were insufficient sign-ups and most courses, including mine, were cancelled. I worked hard on “Inglourious Editors: The State of Editors and Editing Today” and was really looking forward to delivering it on 10/13 and to starting a dialogue with you all on its thought provoking topics e.g. traditional, Hollywood style editing vs. modern MTV style editing. I did hear from a couple of you who tried to sign up for the course late – when it was already cancelled – and found the links defunct. My apologies to you and others who may have tried to sign up; I should have blogged earlier about the cancellation. (See below for my excuse.)

Good news: My publisher plans to re-launch the school next year and assures me that my course will go. So I will let you know when this happens.

Excuse
I have been up to my eyeballs with the galleys of Cut by Cut: Editing Your Film or Video Second Edition. My challenge? To go through 472 pages (this edition gained almost 100 pages) in 12 days, looking for layout and typographical mistakes. This proofing was a lot like re-editing a show where you go through a cut to make trims, extensions, find better cutaways and audio, and generally tell the story more leanly and clearly. Most of what I found was places where I wanted to rearrange or delete sentences (or parts of them) and massage words. I hadn’t seen the book since July 1 when I turned it in. Now I got to see what the astute copy editor and talented layout artist created. I viewed photos, illustrations, appendices, charts, and text all put together and tried to see the whole as well as the words. This third child is looking robust and strong, I’m happy to report. I‘m ready for you to see it as soon as possible, which will be spring or summer 2012 according to the publisher.

admin Announcements, Editing & life, Editing practices

Videographer Thomas Roebers dedicates the video below that made with his brother Floris Leeuwenberg to the people of Baro and writes:

Life has a rhythm, it’s constantly moving.
The word for rhythm, used by the Malinke tribes, is FOLI.
It is a word that encompasses so much more than drumming, dancing or sound.
It’s found in every part of daily life.

I sure hope the women have their own song and dance with the men playing but somehow doubt it. Still the video is worthy watching for any editor who has ever cut to music, which means all of us. Roebers further writes – and I agree:

In this film you not only hear and feel rhythm but you see it.
It’s an extraordinary blend of image and sound that feeds the senses and reminds us all how essential it [rhythm] is.

admin Editing & life, Editing practices, Editor’s role, Sound & music editing

I’ve always been concerned when editors get awards and directors don’t. It seems wrong to me because without the material we can’t do a thing. We are only interpreting what we’re given. We are the dream repairmen. That’s what we do. We repair other people’s dreams.

Jim Clark, from Dream Repairman: Adventures in Film Editing

UK editor Jim Clark entered the cutting room at age 20 in 1951 and in 2010, at 79, turned in Made in Dagenham, Mike Leigh’s latest film, released this year. (See January 27^th post: I loved this film.)  In case you’re not familiar with this work, here’s a partial list of his credits: Vera Drake, The Jackal, Marvin’s Room, Copycat, Nell, The Mission, The Killing Fields (for which he won the Oscar), Marathon Man, The Day of the Locust, Charade…the list goes on.

But what I want to talk about today is Clark’s book, Dream Repairman: Adventures in Film Editing, written with the help of John H. Myers and debuting in 2009. There’s a lot of years and a lot of life to cover and Clark does it as succinctly as possible in 300 pages. He worked at the famed British studios – Ealing, Pinewood, Shepperton – and many across the pond: WB, Columbia, Universal, etc. Clark talks about the stars, the directors, and the producers along with the hits and the duds, which he puts in, he says, “simply because their progress to the movie graveyard is memorable.”

Clark also mentions the tools. He started when the medium was nitrate film and cutting rooms prohibited smoking, fearing the picture would go up in smoke before being exhibited and going down in flames. He started with British editing tools including the Compeditor, Acmade’s pic sync (pictured on left), Robot joiner which made hot cement (glue) splices, and, the Moy inkcode machine, where he, like  a lot of assistants, coded many a movie before ascending the next step on the ladder. He moved on to the Moviola, the KEM, the Steenbeck, Lightworks, and finally, Avid (pictured on right).

Survivor: Editor

Clark is in good company with his memoir, following Ralph Winters’ A Few Cutting Remarks, Bobbie and Sam O’Steens’ Cut to the Chase, and Ralph Rosenblum and Roberts Karen’s When the Shooting Stops…the Cutting Begins. What sets Clark’s book apart is the sheer length of his career as an A-list editor and his frankness. Most editors, by nature and in order to survive, are taciturn with producers, directors, and other powers-that-be, unless there is a helluva a lot of trust. Clark does his share of lip biting in the face of the attitude [my words], “What do you know? Just cut the damn picture and shut up.” Like the rest of them and us, he also stands up for the footage – even when it’s indefensible – trying to pull the best piece out of the pile of rubbish by cutting scenes in many different ways, suggesting re-cuts, and  even re-writing the script on one movie.

Editing film is really a combination of instinct and experience with a lot of experimentation thrown in.

Jim Clark, from the Foreword to Dream Repairman: Adventures in Film Editing

Where Clark goes that no editor memoir has gone before, is to a higher level of frankness about his profession, those he worked with – many in the grave – and the cost to his family. Bravely, he inserts letters from his wife and his daughter where they strongly and lovingly ask why he is in Hollywood in a nightmarish post that is taking him away from them indefinitely. About the job – his one high-flying foray into being an administrator – he writes, “In spite of my sophisticated title as a Columbia executive, my real job was studio mortician. When I received these films they were dead and, though I couldn’t bring them to life, I could touch up the corpse. That what I was doing, touching them up so they would be releasable.”

Fade out

I don’t really have a definite style. Each project brings with it a new set of challenges that must be met.

Jim Clark, Dream Repairman: Adventures in Film Editing

Most of us won’t have stratospheric careers like Clark, but the long hours, the lack of fresh air and exercise, the frustration, dare I say it -  the resentments and the feelings of futility – as well as the time we take away from our loved ones are the same. This is why I titled this post “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Editor.” You’ve got to have stamina, an insane and true love of puzzling together shot material – and being called and desired to do this – to make it in the long run. The nominations, awards, and compliments are fleeting. It’s what you create of yourself and your life and whom you love and loves you that’s important.

Buy this book to learn about the editor’s life, to dip into editing history, and to spend time with a superb cutter who brought us all some important and memorable films. I’ll leave the last words to Clark who ends the book with this: “It’s not always the hits that one remembers fondly. As this story has indicated, I had fun working on them all. It [his grandson’s asking why Day of the Locust wasn’t more appreciated] did get me thinking. Perhaps my life has not been entirely wasted after all. When I look at my family, I know it hasn’t.”

admin Editing & life, Editing practices, Editor’s role

Editors are often called story tellers and the last re-writers on the show. This struck me anew as I have been putting together a picture album of my new house for my parents. I won’t always be there to tell them about each photo so reflexively I began arranging the photos as if a phantom narrator was talking about each one. Putting together an album or a slide show or a PowerPoint is telling a story, relating the picture (or content) before to the picture (or content) afterwards, one page or slide at a time.

My parents live in a retirement community beautifully situated on the Hudson River in NY where they are well taken care of. My father, 86, devotedly takes care of my mother, mother, 84, who has dementia and macular degeneration to the point where she can no longer read. I miss the intellectual essence that has departed yet I marvel at the mother essence which remains intact. I am awed by her ever upbeat attitude and continue to learn from her: She values life, loving her family and friends, listening to books on tape, and determined to enjoy what she can and not focus on what is gone.

The album is for her as she will never be able to visit my new home. And for my father, who hopefully will, and will be able to go over it with her.

So this is my holiday wish for you: As you mingle with your family, friends, and strangers – in shops, airports, bus stations, places of worship, soup kitchens, etc. – listen to their tales and be aware of how you are telling your own. And do so with as much honesty, tenderness, and caring as you can muster. This will assure you the best possible holidays for everyone. And let’s carry this truthful, compassionate story telling into the next year and beyond as editors and people on this earth.

admin Editing & life, Editor’s role

The other day I had a couple of memory flashes:

1) Seeing a phalanx of abandoned CMX 6000s in the storage room of a post facility, all at attention, as if they were waiting for Wallye to salvage them.

2) Walking past a line of heaped up Moviolas and parts pushed up against a wall in the hallway of a former lab, looking like a wayside Guernica memorial.

I found myself ruminating on all the editing systems I’ve worked on over the years, from film to video to digital. What do you remember?

Below is a partial list of obsolescent editing tools. Granted, not all of these are strictly computers but most had some computer or digital elements. RIP. We remember many of you fondly:

Lucasfilm created only 30 EditDroids, an NLE which stored A & V on laserdiscs. EditDroid roamed the galaxy before the term “media” was used and external hard drives were invented.

admin Editing & life, History/research, Technical & process

Einstein was wrong. The world is made up of stories, not atoms. I think that story is not only the root of film, theatre, literature, and culture but of the life experience itself.

Catherine Ann Jones, The Way of Story

As editors, we understand writing because, like writers, we shape material – images and sounds instead of words – into compelling stories, be they webisodes, commercials, dramas, comedies, reality shows, documentaries, etc. So this book struck me as both a writer and an editor and an occupant of the planet.

If you’ve ever wanted to write with words and/or need a holiday gift for yourself or someone else, look into this well wrought guide book from a successful scriptwriter. I love its title and cover, and more importantly, author Catherine Ann Jones’ approach to writing. She steers writers, both new and seasoned, strongly and soulfully through the shoals, eddies, and other treacherous waters of creating compelling tales.

Confession: I have briefly crossed paths with Ms. Jones at my publisher’s (Michael Wiese Productions) annual summit of authors. Our crossing of paths was brief however, and I know her primarily from this book.

Jones includes a lot of well thought out exercises in The Way of Story to ease you into writing as she focuses successively on story visualization, structure, theme, characters, dialogue, and how a writers’ group can be helpful.

To hear from the author herself go here: http://www.wayofstory.com/video/JonesIntroQT.mov

The book is directed at screenwriters but could help editors and writers who want to write in other genres. She’s also gives workshops to help you on your way. There’s more info at her site: http://www.wayofstory.com/

You can order the book on Amazon, Google books, and elsewhere, but here’s a direct link to our publisher: http://shop.mwp.com/search?q=the+way+of+story

admin Editing & life, Editor’s role