From the BBC: Secrets of a top TV editor

I recently got an email from filmmaker and journalist Gavin Rees pointing to a video on the BBC website called Secrets of a top TV editor. It’s about BBC World News America’s Bill McKenna who was named ‘Editor of the Year” by the White House News Photographers Association. He was congratulated by President Obama and, according to the BBC website, was asked to edit a video to be shown at a an awards dinner about “what inspires a top TV picture editor.” It’s kind of a rare thing to see an editor have to edit his own piece about his own work. It’s nearly 3 minutes long is definitely worth a viewing, especially if you have ever done any news editing.

My favorite line is: “When it comes down to it, you also wonder how editors don’t end up shackled in padded cells more often.” Amen to that. Thanks to Gavin for sending the link over.

Very funny and true video on Edit Etiquette

Shane over at Little Frog in Hi-Def has posted a very funny video from editor Joy Mueller of a “lecture” about etiquette in the edit suite ... EditQuette ... get it? And as Shane said in his post, since the video is embedable I’m gonna stick it here as it’s too funny/good for editors not to see! I’ve got a big post on this that has rattled around in my head for a long while but this video really sums it up well. It’s 21 things that all clients should know before they step into an edit suite to work with an editor. After viewing this video it reminded me of links to an old 10 Commandments of Editing list that popped up a long time ago and a few commandments that I added myself.

Shane found the video from the art + copy club blog so click over there for a number of other good videos as well. Thanks to Shane for finding it as well as Joy of 19 Below and the Art + Copy Club of Kansas City for posting it. Now if all the ad agencies and directors of the world could see it ....

Science of the Movies premieres tonight on Science Channel

If you’re a movie fan then tune in to the Science Channel tonight or (more likely) set your DVRs accordingly as tonight premieres the show Science of the Movies.

What is the show about? From the Science Channel website:

Science Channel invites you on a geektastic journey to the cinematic intersection of art and science in the all-new “Science of the Movies”, Tuesdays at 9 PM (ET/PT).

Appealing to the movie junkie in us all, the new series explores the remarkable - yet rarely celebrated - scientific world that exists behind the screen, spotlighting the visionary artists, entrepreneurial spirit, innovative technology and remarkable techniques responsible for creating unforgettable, edge-of-your-seat moments in blockbuster films.

In tonight’s episode titled Spider Man Motion Control we get “Host Nar Williams explores the motion-control technology behind cloning and the famous “Spidey-sense” shot from “Spider-Man”; Nar rides a CG elephant created by the creature special-effects team behind “300”; Nar embarks on a chase scene using wireless camera mounts.” There’s a complete episode guide over on the Science Channel website. Man I hope it’s not too cheesy.

Shooting Indy Cars with the GT35pro

Back in April the Indy Racing League took their cars to the beautiful Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham Alabama. It wasn’t an actual race but rather an open test, meaning teams could run throughout the weekend and tweak their cars until their heart’s content. It was the only road course that the IRL was testing on this season and from reports around the Internet the league was very happy with the fan support as there was a huge turnout, especially for a test. The hope is that the IRL will return to the track for a fully sanctioned race very soon. A test day is great in that for a small fee you can get up close to the action around the track and in the pits. I took my trusty Canon HV20 and the GT35pro lens adapter and head down for a day of shooting Indy cars.

You CAN have a large timecode display in Final Cut Pro

Avid Media Composer has long had a handy little tool called the Timecode Window. Accessed via Tools > Timecode Window it is a floating pallette with great customization capability. You can resize the font, position the window anywhere you want and most importantly, add many different types of data to each of the lines. You can also add line after line after line of info. I don’t know how many you actually add but when I got to 20 lines I stopped adding them. You are able to add information like the Master Timecode of the edit sequence, source timecode of any of your video layer, In to Out durations, time remaining, as well as footage and frames in any number of frame rates. It’s a very powerful tool that Final Cut Pro doesn’t have the equivalent to. But there are a couple of way to at least get a window with the running master timecode of the edit sequence.

HBO’s Alzheimer’s documentary

Starting this Sunday, May 10, HBO Documentary Films is going to begin air a 4 part documentary series on Alzheimer’s disease called The Alzheimer’s Project. Normally I probably wouldn’t promote or post about an HBO film but this series looks to be a bit more important than most. Alzheimer’s disease is a cruel brain disease that affects over half of all Americans and has an indirect cost estimated at more than $148 billion annually. Any disease with that kind of broad reaching impact deserves a special event like this that HBO is producing. I’ve personally been affected by the disease as my mother suffers from Alzheimer’s and I’ve seen the toll it can take on both the victims and their friends and family so I’ve been encouraging all that I can to watch this series.

Want an ikan monitor? Enter their contest.

If you are in need of a small external monitor for your video shoots or maybe a small supplemental monitor for your edit suite then head over to ikan corporation and enter their Wish I had an ikan contest. From the ikan website:

If you can create a short narrative film either featuring an iKan product or the Ikan name, then you are eligible to win cash and prizes from Ikan.

Start Date: April 27th
End date: August 1st

1st place: $2,000 cash

2nd place: $1,000 and a V8000HDMI LCD Monitor

3rd Place: a V8000HDMI LCD Monitor

It seems strange that the 1st place winner would get cash and no ikan monitor but with $2,000 cash you can spend it how you want! Rules are available here. Good luck!

Final Draft upgraded to version 8

It doesn’t seem to happen very often so maybe it’s worth mentioning when it does .... the seminal screenwriting application Final Draft has moved to version 8!

I remember getting Final Draft back in the mid-90s and pounding out a couple of feature length screenplays before I ever went to film school. I had tried writing them in a word processor but reasoned that if something would take care of the formatting for me then I would write more, jack around with margins less. It worked. Two screenplays later I went to film school, took screenwriting classes and read some screenwriting books. My writing career went downhill from there. I think it was one of those cases where the less I knew about the “proper” way to write a screenplay the more I would write! That said, lots of shorts, and half-started / half-finished / half-assed screenplays later I still use Final Draft.

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