Christian Glawe
Forum Replies Created
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Thanks for the heads up, Walter… Now that you’re famous, I hope you’ll still find the time to respond to all our posts!
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”In today’s environment, it’s impossible to separate them, but that’s what colleges and universities are trying to do.” That’s right… you can’t separate them! And, I would argue, learning institutions are doing a huge disservice by trying to separate them – are you going to issue a “video/film degree” to somebody without teaching them about alpha channels, color channels, bit rates, etc.? If you are going to embrace the new technology as empowering for the Little Guy, then it’s up to the Little Guy to learn the tech stuff! The “I’m an artist, man” card is not going to play… unless you’re willing to hire a tech consultant (“paging Bob Zelin… paging Bob Zelin…”) to handle all that for you. If anything, our jobs are more difficult than ever… we’re expected to be creative storytellers, but, at the same time, we’re expected to be systems admins, tech trouble-shooters, workflow specialists, etc… simply keeping up with all the new tech developments is a full-time job!
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Wow! Great post…
“I’m having a problem with numerous editors who either refuse to learn how to use the editing equipment, or are too intimidated to touch it.”
At first blush, I’d say “don’t hire them” – are you being thorough enough in your interviewing process to weed these people out?
“There are two colliding thoughts here that burn me up. One is that some of these editors are making from $500 to $1000 a day to do this work.”
Don’t worry… they won’t be for long.
“Emotionally, I want to cut the day rates of the editors who don’t know their chops on these systems, except most of them are actually AMAZINGLY good editors, when it comes down to the concept and execution.”
If these editors were willing to learn something new, and you were willing to be a little bit patient with them while they learned it, that could be a great situation for you. Personally, I would rather hire the great editor, who’s maybe a little short on particulars of a FCP/Kona system, than the guy who knows all the FCP setup menus, but can’t edit a lick. This, of course, presumes that the Great Editor is willing to learn something new… you should be able to determine this in an interview.
“Am I being to pretentious to think that the so-called power skills I have gone out of my way to acquire over the years are too much for the average pro editor to acquire as well?”
Too pretentious? No.. probably not. The rules of market economics will weed these people out – but it will take a few years for the new paradigm to become Established Convention.
Quick story: I had never worked on FCP before I moved to LA – I was Avid, and discreet edit before that. Once I knew I was moving out here, I did some research, and realized that there’s a big FCP market in LA. Well… guess I’d better get a Mac, get FCP, and start learning it! Now, easily 90% of my work is FCP, and I’m busy as can be…
I was willing to adapt to the realities of the marketplace – some people aren’t, primarily because it requires a time investment and hard work to properly learn new skills.
Your rant is completely understandable – I’d say A) interview more thoroughly – some people make prospective editors do a “hands on” test as part of the interview for the gig, and B) take the time to share your knowledge with those folks that are eager to learn… it might take some time, but it will ultimately pay off in spades as you cultivate your pool of talent.
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Purchased 2 x 2 GB sticks from OWC for my new 8-core machine… arrived quickly, installed painlessly, working perfectly…
BTW, my wife now calls me “Doc Ock”…
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The answer here is to quote such an insanely high rate to fix the footage, that they have no choice but to reshoot…
You shouldn’t be “expected” to do anything here… it’s the DP who screwed up…
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Walter- Curious to know if you guys have tested any of the G-Tech G-Speed arrays…
Christian Glawe editor/compositor christianglawe.com Read my blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/blog/111 Pain is temporary… film is forever.
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Ah… thanks for the input, Rafael! I’ll try this and see how it looks…
Christian Glawe editor/compositor christian.glawe@yahoo.com https://homepage.mac.com/christianglawe/iMovieTheater5.html Pain is temporary… film is forever.
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Yep, I’ll second capturing whole tapes….
However….
This may sound weird, but I generally prefer to do the initial capture myself… while the footage is being ingested into the edit computer, it’s also being ingested into another computer… my brain! Granted, there are many sitautions where you don’t have the luxury of time to do this yourself, but I find that edits go faster when I’ve already screened all the footage myself.
Years of editing have destroyed my eyesight, made me somewhat absent-minded, and stunted my social development – but, I’ve developed an amazing visual recall of shots…. If I’ve done the initial capture, and rough cut, I’ve gotten to the point where I am faster than any producer with a tape log at finding a shot. I just *know* where it is, and will remember whether the person is looking screen left/screen right, who else is in the shot, the fact that the shot is handheld, goes out of focus 4 seconds into the shot, etc.
Depending on what types of projects you work on, I’d maybe think about getting the Assistant familiar with Photoshop, so they could be scanning/resizing pictures (very helpful with historical documentaries), or creating lower thirds/credits, etc.
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It’s easy to get “pigeonholed” in this business… if you get a reputation as a good Assistant, or a good “Tech”, then that’s what people will know you as…
If you want to be an editor, then start editing stuff! Do a project “on spec”… maybe a music video for a friends band… or, edit a short film for a friend… anything… just start editing stuff… a post house in New York had a contest a while back for assistants, where they would take movies, and cut trailers for them that changed the story and feel of the movie… the winner was a recut of “The Shining” as a feel good family film – Google “The Shining Trailer” and you should find it. I’d think this would be good practice. Just cut stuff… take a favorite scene from a movie and tighten it up, play around with it. The sooner you start cutting, and mentally engaging in the problem-solving aspects of cutting, the further ahead you’ll be.
If you’re working at a facility as an Assistant, or Tech, chat up some of the Editors that work there, and let them know (nicely – don’t be pushy) that you’re interested in editing. That’s how I got my “first taste” in the professional ranks as an Assistant… the Editor would go to the bathroom, or coffee break, or whatever, and he’d say to me “wanna lay in the next shot?” … which I would then do.
Now, during this time when I was an Assistant Editor by day, I’d be spending nights and some weekends doing projects with friends at our local Cable Access station – doing creative projects that were fun, and just generally making things that we thought were funny.
Most good editors (because some of them feel that people don’t fully appreciate the creative and technical aspects of what they do) will jump at the chance to share knowledge… sometimes it will be hard to get them to shut up!
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My goodness, I couldn’t agree with you more!
The two main things that I thought FCP was lagging behind Avid were: Color correction and that god awful Media Mangler – well, not god awful, but nowhere near as intuitive and solid as Avid’s…
This was my hope when I heard Steve Bayes was coming over to Apple – that he would help straighten out the Media Manager functions.
I think that Apple has been creating a laundry list of things that FCP didn’t do as well as Avid, and they’re ticking them off one by one… good news, indeed!