I suppose evangelism is by definition avid. Avid have started a series of online tutorials the explain their interface to Final Cut Pro users. They’ve only just begun with the introduction and lesson 1, which is how to start an Avid project and how the file organisation on disk differs from Final Cut.
They also don’t waste too much time selling how much better Avid is than Final Cut, although it does creep in a little.
Editing is like everything else. It’s a reflection of how people think about their times and how we react to the medium. You can look at a film made in the 1960s and know if it was made in 1963 or 1969. Editing is a lively art and it changes with the seasons. So we’re always going to have something new and something unusual coming up.
Carol Littleton.
Hear more from her in the Vault at the Manhattan Edit Workshop. You can use their flash-based site to get to the Vault, or listen via iTunes.
You should bookmark Norman Hollyn’s blog. Why?
He wrote The Film Editing Room handbook. All you need to know about how to set up and maintain all the technical aspects of editing feature films. He starts with pre-production and follows the process through to the answer print. As well as technical issues, he also covers how to deal with those you need to interact with: The camera department, the director, equipment suppliers, telecine companies, effects houses and the sound editors. You learn what information you need to supply them, and what they expect of you.
He is responsible for the teaching of editing at USC (now known as the USC School of Cinematic Arts). He developed the courses that the prospective editors, producers and directors take to learn editing from first principles. You can hear him talk about editing in film schools on these two Avid Podcasts: web part 1, web part 2 (iTunes part 1, iTunes part 2).
His blog is a great place to keep up with debates on the place of the editor in film making.
These are for documentaries, but some of the documents will be useful for dramas too.
Here’s the list:
Standard release form A standard, non-payment, release form for use with documentary subjects
Confidentiality Agreement For times when you’re dealing with sensitive information
Freelance Agreement For both above and below the line, it’s useful to keep everything in writing when money’s involved
Location Agreement You’ll need this when filming on any private property not belonging to you
Sales Agent Agreement This could be one of the most of important bits of paperwork you sign
Music Recording Licence For the use of copyrighted music in your film
Found at The British Documentary Website.
Two things to do tomorrow. Visit the screenwriter’s group to support and be supported by other writers. Visit the Manhattan Monologue Slam for a very good value evening out. You’ll see stars of the future put their all into making the most of three minutes on stage.
For more on the Slam, see last month’s post.
For those of you in London, you also have a choice. Between a screenwriters group and a film networking party. Soho Screenwriters meets every Monday in Soho. The evening has three parts. The first part is a lecture on some aspect of screenwriting. Here’s the blurb on tomorrow’s:
A film consists of two stories, one the objective story (plot) the backdrop against which the second hero’s story (the “subjective” story) takes place. The central protagonist at the end of a story will not have the same characterisation that they started with; they must go through a psychological transformation (arc) to achieve their objective goal. This week’s seminar traces the Inner Journey, as are hero deals with the object and subjective obstacles in their way, from the Ghost to the assertion of the Theme.
The second part is made up of pitches and script readings. You can bring your work along, and the group will assess it. The third part is in the pub where the talk goes on until late. The session starts at 7.30 and only costs £4. Very good value. Find out more.
From a weekly event to an annual one (like toothbrush-holesmanship): I’ll be going to the The Talent Circle Super Shorts party. Looks like I’ll have to get some more cards and work up a variety of CVs for the occasion.
Remembering Graham’s birthday party, I looked to see what I could find out about his friend’s work. Andy Kennedy is a sound desgner who has worked on some big films recently. That led me to this article, and to adding a new link on the list to the right: Filmsound daily.
Buy n Large. BnL are the first licensees of my 4-D technology, which was inspired by the concepts introduced by Kurt Vonnegut in his book Slaughterhouse Five.
Back in the early 80s I used to listen to a Hip Hop show on Capital Radio in London. This is in the days before Rap. Electro had yet to sweep the U.K. It was a time when people were using the sound of early video games on records. Africa Bambaataa created tracks such as “Planet Rock” and “Looking for the Perfect Beat.”
The record that stood out for me each Saturday night was “The Payoff Mix” – an amazing collage of music and film sounds: James Brown, The Funky Four Plus One More, Grandmaster Flash, Malcolm McLaren and the World Famous Supreme Team, In Deep, Whizz Kid and G.L.O.B.E. combined with Humphrey Bogart, Culture Club, The Incredible Bongo Band, Little Richard, dance record instructions, Herbie Hancock, The Supremes and an old-time preacher.
It was created in response to a mix competition organised by Sugar Hill records. The competition winners were a couple of ‘old’ guys from the advertising business: Double Dee and Steinski. ‘Old’ in this case meant 31. “The Payoff Mix” created the genre of sampling and was the precursor to the genre of 2001: bootlegging.
For the history of sampling and bootlegging and the music of the 21st century, please download Raiding the 20th Century – a 59 minute history of all you need to know. The first three minutes feature at least three Beatles tracks, the Beastie Boys and the 20th Century Fox theme. if you wait awhile, you’ll hear some lovely Glitch Music (as well as S Club, Nirvana and Aqua). Perfect for your 59 minute visit to the gym. Once you have downloaded the mp3, start listening at 17 minutes and 21 seconds…
Why am I mentioning this? “The Payoff Mix” was probably the piece of art that inspired me to be an editor. I’ve heard that Steinski has started up his old radio show again. Listen in or stream old shows to find out more.
I almost wrote a book on music videos. We got to the proposal stage, but MTV was only available to a few people in the UK at the time, so the book-buying public didn’t have a way of seeing the videos.
Now of course, many of the videos I would have written about are available for free for you all to have a look at… (edited to show that all but the Bjork one have been taken down from YouTube)
Hey Little Girl by Icehouse
I liked the videos with a little storyline to them. This one is a mini movie with a fractured time structure(!):
Questionnaire by Chaz Jankel
This one isn’t on YouTube, but is worth checking out. It’s the extended version of the song, so the ideas from the normal version are spread out over a longer time, but it’s worth checking out (despite the poor picture quality):
More recent videos that are worth seeing:
Sugar Water by Cibo Matto
Why edit when you can do the whole video in ‘one take’ – that works backwards as well as forwards…
Bachelorette by Bjork
A story within a story about a story…
alex4D old blog 