RandomCha

Just thought I’d give a quick update on how the film’s going. I have all my footage ready for Adobe Premiere Pro, and basically all my location sound too (aside from the sound from that missing roll, which is currently being digitized at Kluge Audio). The first part of editing is always organization. In Adobe Premiere Pro that means creating a lot of bins, which you use to sort all your video and sound elements. At the same time I need to merge the picture and sound from the various takes, syncing them up. Which, due to my rudimentary skills, will take some time. Hopefully I’ll get faster at it as I go along.

As an editor, you can’t wait to jump to the “fun stuff,” actually cutting shots together and so on. But this initial organization stage of editing, the sorting through of takes and syncing up of shots, is extremely important; it’s the first and best way to get a feel for your material. The last time I was editing, using a 16mm flatbed, you could certainly describe this task as mere drudgery. Even so, during all the cutting and splicing and rewinding and separating of the “outs,” your brain was still working. You were, in effect, learning the film.

Already I can tell it’s much, much different doing all that while sitting at a desk in front of my laptop. But perhaps it’s exactly that difference that will help fire up my senses and allow me to see the movie fresh.

When Tchavdar and I were editing Kosher Messiah, we wrote two mottos on the whiteboard in our editing room:

PRECISION PAYS

JUXTAPOSE = CONNECT

I’m going to write them on a sheet of paper and tack it up on the wall next to my desk.