[Rocco Rocco]

This just in from the year 2025:

“Seriously guys, these xPad_Air editors think they’re the shiz. Remember FCP? When I started out, we actually had to watch the footage first, then organize it before we started editing! Then we had to physically search for and then load in the plugins to alter the picture quality. I mean just because you can wave your hands about for five minutes and show me six versions of the title sequence in 3D doesn’t make you a story teller!

We learned it the hard way right? On our own! With a pirated version of FCP and a Macbook Pro. When I started out I had to start from the bottom posting to Youtube before I got a break. You actually had to have real skills like converting to H.264 before uploading. Compression is a real art form you know!

These kids today with their air_xmotion_tech and their instant access to all the media ever created and their ability to quickly deconstruct another motion picture at the click of a button; it’s not even real story telling!

I even read the manual. They don’t even make manuals any more! It took me seven years before I mastered the art of editing. 15,000 hours of work. Today it’s all “30 seconds and I’m making my epic feature” I had a kid the other day, didn’t even know what a codec was! Never heard of DVCPRO HD! In FCP you literally had to move the pieces of video and audio around with a physical object. This made it feel real and organic and allowed you to tell the story. Not like todays editors who whizz around so fast they can’t even think about what they’re doing! Those were the days, man. FCP was a revolution.”

And this just in from the year 2045:

“Seriously guys, these _Kut*99_ editors think they’re the shiz. Remember xPad_Air ? We had to……………….. “

[Rocco Rocco]

It’s the colorists I feel bad for… Even fewer people know what a colorists does outside of the industry than editor. Plus if they describe a Sound Editor / Sound Mixer combo, then shouldn’t there also be a Cinematographer / Colorist combo? Poor guys ;o)

But yes, I agree that was a pretty lazy description of what an editor does.

[Rocco Rocco]

SO DO I PUT LINE 1 FIRST OR LAST???!!!

;o)

Just kidding… It’s interesting seeing the discussion unfold to include so many different elements. The human vs. computer debate often pops up and I wonder if its possible to organize sentences in such a way so as to assign a value to each sentence and then hit the edit button. I rarely watch reality TV but when I do I’m amazed at how efficiently and similarly structured all the episodes are; the ruthless producing you witness looks almost like a computer is doing it.

What happens to the “art of editing” when we have to squeeze information into pre-existing patters? Is the art lost or is that the art actually happening right there? What’s the difference between a big ol’ mess and a tightly structured documentary that adhere’s strictly to “set-up” and “pay off” kinds of rules?

[Rocco Rocco]

I made the transition from “showreel” to “samples of my work” a while back. I basically took many, many different clips and dumped them all on Vimeo (narrative, docs, music video etc). Then when I have to show my work, I send them three or four relevant links. That way only the doc producer gets doc links and the music video director gets music video links. In your case you might want to split your documentary clips up into “comedic” or “dramatic” or “stylish” (whatever works for you obviously). Then when Mr. Hip Hop documentary guy knocks on your door you email him only your stylish wham-bam edits, but for Ms. cancer documentary you send out links to your touching, heart felt clips. Whatever is relevant. Best of luck.

[Rocco Rocco]

I’m a HUUUGE Top Gear fan; stylistically it has influenced my editing and color correction more than anything else.

I’ve shown this:

https://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4660115890703519062#

to everyone I know ;o)

[Rocco Rocco]

If there were an answer to “where and when” to cut, we’d all be out of a job…

But I rather like these two books which illustrate – in there own way – why certain editorial choices are more relevant than others:

THE VISUAL STORY – Bruce Block
THE LEAN FORWARD MOMENT – Norman Hollyn

Best of luck.

[Rocco Rocco]

Let this be a warning to all “new” editors out there today: this will happen to you, soon. I don’t know in what form it will take, (possibly an internet-based process where anonymous editors and amateurs all over the globe log on and crowd-source low-rez dailies, uploaded straight from the camera, and the Producer pulls his favorite cuts) but technology evolves fast into the most efficient model. Don’t be bitter, evolve with it.

[Rocco Rocco]

“Never make a picture cut at the same frame as your audio cut unless you want to emphasize that moment.” ~ Norman Hollyn on “L-Cuts”

https://filmindustrybloggers.com/theeditor/2009/04/

[Rocco Rocco]

Editor’s Guild Magazine:

https://www.editorsguild.com/Magazine.cfm

[Rocco Rocco]

Hah! You should watch Gus Van Sant’s “Gerry” ;o)