August 14, 2008 (Recap 3)

In this recap I'll talk about the animation discussion that took place on Saturday. We had some of animation's greatest editors and post supers before us: Torbin Bullock , John Carnochan A.C.E., Paul Cichocki, Axel Geddes, Clare Knight, and Jim Stewart A.C.E. The Show was hosted by Tom Atkin. Editing as the final rewrite takes on a whole new understanding here. Animatics, storyboards, sketches, texture maps, movement edits all play a crucial role in editing animation.

First, the editors had to make clear that editing an animation is quite difficult. Things are constantly changing from shots to pacing within shots and trying to get the footage to work with this new change is imperative. The best example came from the movie Cars we viewed all the elements seperately and got a sense of what the animation editor was doing. We started by viewing the storyboards placed side by side, then the animatics were used to give a sense of timing. Next came the characters animation, then the background animation and the final. In each one of these steps we saw how the pacing and timing had to be changed for new elements that were added and got to see what input the editors had. If they needed a particular angle they got it.


August 12, 2008 (Recap 2)

In this recap (on my lunch during an edit session) I want to quickly touch on the BIG effects and action panel at Edit Fest. This panel consisted of: Mark Goldblatt A.C.E., Mark Helfrich A.C.E., Dan Lebental A.C.E., Paul Rubell A.C.E., Rick Shaine A.C.E. and was moderated by Alan Heim A.C.E.

One of the main things that came up again and again was that editing something that big didn't require new knowledge about editing techniques but a large amount of pre-planning. The better the pre-planning the better things could be pulled off in the post end of the work load. Working with animatics and detailed sketches would give a sense of how things would work and teaming up and working closely with your effects team gave you better advantages to getting the best story told.

They all agreed that you need to be able to imagine because as you cut you might just simply be placing in a background plate. Dan Lebental suggested having the plate in the shot and then running the animatics over top so that you can get a sense of how long you should hold on a shot.

Mark Goldblatt A.C.E. brought in a scene from Starship Troopers and showed how important it was to work with live puppets and animated creatures to create the most realistic affect. Specifically when the actors have to interact with the objects or the creatures.

The other consensus is that we are no longer re-writing the story with what we have but physically we are changing the visuals of the story. As one panelist put it. The cinematographers work is now another tool for us to mold and change the story with.

On tomorrow's lunch break I'll write about the animation talk.


August 11, 2008 (Recap)

Well, I'm back and rested. Time to recap for everyone. The first seminar was all about getting into the business and will be posted tomorrow night on this website.

The next morning we had Prime Cuts a close examination of cutting for television. This panel included: Maris Berzins (Project Runway and Top Chef), Gregg Featherman (Entourage and The West Wing), Chris Nelson A.C.E. (Lost amd Mad Men), Andrew Seklir (Battlestar Galactica), Tatiana S. Riegel A.C.E (House and Pasadena), and Leo Trombetta A.C.E. (Rosewell amd Carnivale). The talk was hosted by Shawn Ryan creator and executive producer of The Shield.

One of the big questions raised was in shows such as Lost and Project Runway, with episodes that involve hidden/revealed elements, are they as editors privy to the information from an early stage. For the most part everyones answer was no. This is mostly because the writers haven't even finished. The question is what affect that will have on the edits? If something needs to be hinted at or kept in mind while editing you need to know because of the effect it'll have on your cut.

The next big question became timing? How do you go about getting things cut in such a short amount of time? The concensus was, good assistants.

The next big discussion and great example was manipulating footage and making it fit the timed structure. The best example of this was Mad Men when we viewed a scene that was originally two scenes cut into one. We watched as a military soldier sat in a bed and went back into flashback of stealing another characters identity. Originally the identity theft scene was its own scene and the hospital was its own scene and here we had a flash back. It was nicely done considering both were completely seperate the cuts were pretty smooth.

I have to head back to work, lunch is short!

I'll try to find time tonight to update you some more.




August 10, 2008 (Back in T.O.)

I am back in Toronto and I am exhausted. I'll be posting my notes tommorow morning. Sorry for the delay.

August 8, 2008 (7:00PM till 11:00PM California time)

First, let me warn you, I am having trouble with the XML file. So some readers might not be getting this. Keep checking back and introducing others to the site! It should be fixed tomorrow night... hopefully.

I went to the panel tonight discussing starting out in the film editing business. Here's the summary (*for those who want to hear the full talk it will be up in a week on this site, keep checking back)

1) Learning editing is as much observing your surroundings as it is cutting. How are people affected emotionally by things. When you're watching something, either a play, musical or just people, think about where you'd make a cut in that situation and to what.
2) View the world as a cut.
3) Become a student of Human Traits.
4) Explore everything possible outside of film editing: sewing, sailing, political science, architecture. Try to start thinking about things other than film.

I am off to bed, enjoy the night, as most of you are probably asleep.

August 8, 2008 (7:30PM Toronto Time)

My day started off slowly. It turns out that the hotel's alarm was broken and I woke up 1/2 an hour late. I rushed out the door and had a heck of a time finding the ACE office. But once it was located all was well. I met up with Jenni M. from the ACE office and she took me around Universal's lot. We grabbed a coffee and she showed me an office I could use.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to chat. I had to run and find a part for my computer. I found a place called Melrose Mac on Melrose Ave. Everyone who gave me directions said the same thing. It looks the same as it did on the show. Which would have helped had I watched the show, LOL. I got my part and was off to see Dan Lebental, he extremely generous with his time and let me interview him for an hour!!!!! (To be posted here in the coming weeks, stay tuned!)

After that it was off to Michael Tronick's suite over at Disney. It was a lot of fun to hang out in the old animation studio where some of the greatest animation work has been done. I wanted to get some photos for you all to see but I couldn't due to Disney's confidentiality policies.

Right now I am dropping the files onto my laptop and then have to run off to tonight's seminars.


August 8, 2008 (1AM Toronto Time)

Finally... I've arrived in LA. After an hour wait in the terminal in Toronto and then stopping while taxi-ing so an older man could use the washroom, we were off! We experienced some turbulence but otherwise it was smooth flying. I would write a much longer first post, but its 1:00AM and I am exhausted. I was supposee to arrive here 3 hours ago. Unfortunately, I had to call ahead and cancel my meeting with Bonnie M.

Sorry Bonnie!

After finally getting to the Hotel, I began testing my equipment. As I booted my computer my power cable began to SMOKE AND MELT!!!!! Well, tomorrow I guess it's off to the local computer store.

Tomorrow, I have two interviews to conduct for this website. One with Dan Lebental (Iron Man, Elf) and Michael Tronick (SWAT, Hairspray) and then I'll be heading off to record the Edit Fest seminars which will be posted here later this month, for you our loyal listeners... And by loyal I mean everyone.

Enjoy the night!


August 4, 2008

Between August 7 and 10, Gordon Burkell will be documenting Edit Fest and his trip to LA. This blog will be updated daily to keep those who couldn't make it to Edit Fest informed on the events.

Gordon is an editor in Toronto, Canada who also teaches editing at Ryerson University.