editing tips

[phillipL]

anybody got any good editing tips...like handling film, organization..anything?

[rollemfilm]

books: grammer of the edit by roy thompson, published by focal press. also: film and video editing, (i think this is also a focal book, but not sure) i've read it twice, but never bought a copy so i don't even remember who wrote it. good book though.

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[mattias]

get in late. get out early. acting is reacting. know what the eye sees. know, and feel, the beats. keep things in sync on the right side, cut on the left. don't fine cut until director/producer ok's the rough cut (*important*, i've made this mistake several times). kill your darlings, and especially the director's darlings. emotional flow before logical. log everything. mark your takes and make sync marks on the mag if you don't have edge code before you cut out the slates. when it gets interesting, chances are it's wrong. when it gets beautiful... when it gets cool... don't color correct and apply other filters as part of the editing process. only keep a clean desk if it makes you feel better. edit to music, even if you don't know what will be in the final sequence. drink no more than 5 cups of coffee per day. no sugar. edit two, preferrably very different, projects at the same time, but not more.

ok, that's it for now. more specific questions are welcome. i edit short films, commercials and bad television every day, so i have gathered some tips during the years. ;-)

/matt

[Mr Blackstock]

wear gloves and be very clean.

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[phillipL]

thanks for the tip guys, what kind of gloves should I wear?

[MovieStuff]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Courier, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by phillipL:
thanks for the tip guys, what kind of gloves should I wear?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Actually, none. Unless you want cotton fibers in every splice, be it cement or tape. I found that simply washing my hands really well before editing and handling the film by the edges worked much better. Long sessions dictated that I wash my hands a couple of times. But that's my two cents...

Roger

[Matt Pacini]

Yeah, I started out using the little white gloves, but they leave tiny fibers all over the film, and they slow you down.
I found it was not difficult to get the hang of handling the film by the edges without putting your fingerprints on the surface itself.
This is the best way to do it.
Also, keep good books.
Log EVERYTHING!!!
Once you start cutting film, you will not be able to remember what something is by how it looks, believe me!
One good thing to do is to label each roll you send in, on the PK-59 mailer itself, on the part that they send back to you with your self addressing.
Then make up a log sheet, where you can log these numbers, the date the flim got back, etc., and compare those with your logs you make while shooting.
(Or the markings on your script while shooting. You are doing this, right? Like Roll 125, scene 6, take 1, the date, etc.)

Matt Pacini

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[#Pedro]

A good quality splicer is important - and some training with it before really using the final footage.

The best quality can be achieved with the Hamman system, including (dust-free) cutter device and press. It?s available new for S8 and 16 mm, already in production, but very expensive!

Nearly the same quality results you can achieve with a Bolex splicer, often offered at Ebay. It offers the same precision, and the splices are not thicker than the unspliced area, the frames meet very exactly, and there are no cement spots besides the splices. The splices are nearly invisable.

When it?s important to splice a film quickly, a H?hnel Thermocoll (with heater and electro motor) is fine. But the splices won?t have that prof quality of the Bolex.

Before final splicing, I am used to put the film together with adhesive tapes (without splicer, only simple tapes), to check the szene sequence and the final cut.
After finishing, I run the film thru the editor and exchange every tape with a real cement splice.

Pedro



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[Mr Blackstock]

Definetely avoid cotton, for film handling i use latex gloves without powder, for cleaning my cameras i use cotton.



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[miguelito]

Speaking of gloves, I too have used the white
cotton gloves and I've had the fibers stick
under the splicing tape. Then I tried using
the latex finger cots on my index fingers
and thumbs. They're made of the same stuff
that the latex gloves are made of but just
cover the tips of your fingers. They kind-of
look like little-tiny condoms. They work
great for keeping fingerprints off the film,
and best of all, no cotton fibers!


Miguelito (michael)


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