Whiskey Tango Foxtrot trailer

[David Roth weiss]

It’s a very good trailer… And the movie is a terrific idea, and looks like excellent execution as well. It’s simple cuts and dissolves, and could have been cut on any editing system.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist & Workflow Consultant
David Weiss Productions
Los Angeles

David is a Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Apple Final Cut Pro forum.

[Bret Williams]

I heard the big green ratings screen at the front was a free motion template. Really streamlined the whole process.

[Bill Davis]

Yep, it sure could have been cut on anything.

But then again, they decided to cut this movie on the same software they used to cut their last feature film, because they liked way it worked for them last time around, and that made them elect to use it again.

With all those millions of dollars on the line – If the team had struggled with the workflow for Focus, I suspect they would have changed this time around.

But they didn’t.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Tim Wilson]

[Bill Davis] “If the team had struggled with the workflow for Focus, I suspect they would have changed this time around.

But they didn’t.”

Quite the contrary.

I’ve mentioned that I’ve started working on a story with Glenn Fiacarra, one of the directors of both focus and WTF. In fact, the interview was ostensibly going to be about Focus, but he was so excited about what they were able to do with FCPX on WTF that that was pretty much all he wanted to talk about.

His excitement was positively leaping through the wires, and not at all in some fanboy way. He was just THAT excited about what he and the team was able to accomplish, and already dropping hints about how much further they’re taking to take FCPX workflow on the feature after this.

Make no mistake: FCPX was in no way peripheral or incidental or anything other than precisely at the heart of what embodied their on-set vision.

Now that this trailer is out, I’m going to go ahead and put this article at the very very top of the list of things I’m not getting done. LOL Look for it next week.

[Misha Aranyshev]

It will be an interesting read. More so because the two impressions I got from Focus workflow presentation was Sync-n-Link X is a great piece of software and they had an obscene amount of time to prepare the footage.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[David Roth Weiss] “It’s simple cuts and dissolves, and could have been cut on any editing system.”

Next up: iMovie.

[Oliver Peters]

Remember this is a trailer. It was probably cut by a trailer company by a completely different editor and a completely different system. Unless it was Charlie, odds are it wasn’t cut with FCP X. So I wouldn’t use the trailer as any sort of a guide as to the cutting of the film.

Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Oliver Peters]

Regarding workflow, remember that “Focus” lived through the shift to a unified library structure within X and a lot of learning curves with new workflows. I’m sure this workflow will be a whole lot smoother.

Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Jeremy Garchow]

But the movie was cut in X, not just any editing system, like iMovie.

It’s only cuts and dissolves, you know?

There isn’t any VFX (temp or otherwise), or sound design and hand off, or collaboration with any other artist like color grading because you know, cameras are so good these days you can just nail the quality right through the lens, and master all the effects optically. Who cares where it’s edited or how those decisions are made, you know? Who cares about staying organized through the insular process of editing? It’s so easy to shoot and edit a movie these days because when it comes down to it, it’s only cuts and dissolves!

[Scott Witthaus]

[David Roth Weiss] ” It’s simple cuts and dissolves, and could have been cut on any editing system.”

Yeah, right. So is the vast majority of videos and films. What’s your point with this?

Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter