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Editing and Editors
COW Library : Editing and Editors
Feature articles on the subject of editing.
Art of the Edit
Editing Eye of the Beholder: The Art of Dungeons & Dragons
Kelley Slagle began her career in entertainment as an actor, so it's not surprising the communal storytelling of Dungeons and Dragons caught her eye. She both edited and co-directed the prizewinning documentary "The Eye of the Beholder: The Art of Dungeons & Dragons", speaking to overe 40 artists across the 45-year span of the game's history. Creative COW Managing Editor Kylee Peña spoke to Kelley about the challenge of managing that much material into a 90-minute film, balancing indie filmmaking with the demands of a day job in video production, and the power of art to sustain a community.
Feature, People / Interview
Kylee Peña
Editing SyFy: Editor Shiran Amir on Rejecting Rejection
When talking about her career path, you get the immediate sense that rejection isn't a "no" for Shiran Amir. There's never been an obstacle that's kept her from living her dream. From editing engine maintainence videos for the Israeli Air Force to assistant-editing local celebrity news, she packed up, moved to Hollywood, and kept doing whatever it took to reach her goal of editing scripted TV and film, experiencing lots of rejection along the way. "Reject rejection!" isn't just her advice. It's what she had to do herself, and in this remarkable story, she takes you on a journey that could be like yours if you reject rejection too.
Hillary Lewis
Editing The Emmy Award-Winning Phenomenon, Wild Wild Country
Wild Wild Country premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival to great acclaim, and when it hit Netflix a few months later, it quickly became a phenomenon, going on to win the Emmy for Outstanding Documentary of Nonfiction Series and netting editor Neil Meiklejohn an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming. Creative COW's Matt Latham spoke with Neil about managing a project of this scope, treating the eight parts as a single film rather than episodes, his use of Adobe Premiere Pro, workflows with visual effects and music, and much more, including career advice for aspiring editors.
Matt Latham
Business & Career Building
Luck: A True Hollywood Story
It's all about who you know, right? But what if you don't know anyone? Yoni Rusnak didn't come to Hollywood until nearly 30, not knowing anyone, yet is rapidly building an enviable resume in both scripted and unscripted TV. He's found that you CAN create luck, using a formula for breaking into the business that everyone can use, in Hollywood or anywhere else.
Yoni Rusnak
What It Takes to Edit Big TV Shows: This Guy Edits
Sven Pape of "This Guy Edits" joins TV editor Josh Beal (House of Cards, Bloodline) for a close-up look at editing Season 2 of Counterpart, the Starz series starring JK Simmons in a dual role -- which is only the start of the challenges presented by this high-energy sci-fi thriller. Josh dives deep into storytelling techniques, workflow, teamwork, organization, and even offers some insights for people wondering how to get started as TV editors themselves.
Sven Pape
Editing Marvel's Black Panther: Debbie Berman ACE
This is an epic tale spanning two decades, three countries, 12,000 miles -- and that's just the story of Debbie Berman, ACE, starting in reality TV and indie film in South Africa, making her way to Canada and then the US to edit Marvel's Spider-man: Homecoming and, most recently, Black Panther, already one of the most popular films of all time. In this exclusive interview with Creative COW Managing Editor Kylee Peña, Debbie talks about struggling toward US citizenship, a serendipitous meeting with an ambitious young director, helping to bring representation to the big screen and pride to her home country.
People / Interview
Searching: Creating Cinematic Drama From Small Screen Trauma
The thriller "Searching" takes place on computer screens, but no screen captures were made. Instead, the team built the individual elements in Adobe Illustrator, animated in Adobe After Effects, and edited those elements together with live action footage in Adobe Premiere Pro. Creative COW Managing Editor Kylee Peña spoke to editors Nick Johnson and Will Merrick about the extraordinary lengths they went to to create this exceptionally compelling big screen drama from the family crisis being played out on small screens before us.
Know Your Film Editing History, Part 1
Knowing about the history of film editing can help you understand how best to use these tools today, as well as point to where film editing might go in the future. Join feature film editor Sven Pape, host of "This Guy Edits", for part 1 of his fast-paced, example-packed conversation with Los Angeles-based filmmaker and film teacher Tyler Danna.
Tutorial, Feature
Preparing to Edit the PyeongChang Winter Games, Pt 2
Growing up, Kylee Peña says that she was always glued to the Summer or Winter Olympics. And as a young and ambitious video nerd, she wondered what went into the incredible number of visual stories being told. Between pre-cut packages and live footage and montages put together with moments that had happened seconds ago, she couldn't fathom what went into the teams who created this media. But for the next few weeks, her friend Mike Api is in PyeongChang, South Korea, where he's working as a freelance editor on the Olympics for NBC. Having been through the Olympics editorial experience before ??" the Summer Games in Rio two years ago ??" he knows he has a lot of interesting stories to tell us while he's working.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Kylee Pena
Always Be Editing: Sculptors & Bricklayers Revisited
Do you edit like a sculptor, or like a bricklayer? It seems a simple enough question, but as longtime editor, post house owner, and VFX software developer Simon Ubsdell shows, the implications for how this affects the way you edit can be profound. His advice, regardless of where you land on the spectrum? Always be editing.
Simon Ubsdell
TV Workflow Supervisor Kylee Peña: The Benefits of Pressure
TV workflow supervisor Kylee Peña (Jane the Virgin, Colony) visits Adobe's "Make It" talk show to chat with host Jason Levine about the evolution of motion picture workflows, from the days of film and tape to our modern digital world of crazy-high shooting ratios and constantly evolving technology. She also expounds on the upside to creative constraints and tight deadlines. And don't miss the lightning round!!!
Cow News
Beautiful 8K Timelapse of Norway's Four Seasons
One year of planning, one year of shooting, and four months of post-production is a lot of time to spend on a single timelapse, but photographer Morten Rustad's creation SEASONS of NORWAY captured this 8K masterpiece by travelling a total of 20,000
Morten Rustad
Film Editing: Should You Edit Scenes to Music?
Music can elevate the emotion of a film scene. As a film editor, should you first cut to music or focus on dialog and visuals alone? In this tutorial, This Guy Edits shares his point of view by example with a rough cut using some temp music by Max Elto.
Oliver Peters interviews editor Tom Cross of La La Land
The ambitious opening sequence of La La Land was done with just three cuts, according to the film's editor, Tom Cross. Oliver Peters brings you the story of this and many other aspects of editing this remarkable film.
Creative COW
Videoguys Top 10 Products of 2016
As we look back at 2016, we reflect on a year that involved media consumption -- and more specifically LIVE media consumption. Increased bandwidth, improved cameras on mobile phones, and easy access to YouTube LIVE...
Editorial, Feature
Don Burgess aligns with Light Iron and Panavision for ALLIED
Don Burgess, ASC trusts Light Iron. His last seven films can attest, so Burgess chose Light Iron to support him again with digital dailies and post finishing services on Allied. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard, the World War II-set film sees an intelligence officer's romance with a French Resistance fighter tested when high command thinks a double agent might be in play.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview, Business, Project
Being an Advertising Editor: The Ins & Outs of Agency Work
Katie Toomey takes Creative COW members inside the world of the advertising editor, where being a generalist means you are often not only a video editor, but a designer and audio editor, problem solver, as well as tech support professional. Join Katie as she takes you inside her world.
Katie Toomey
The Science of Editing
Sven Pape, aka @ThisGuyEdits, joins Dr. Karen Pearlman -- former President of the Australian Screen Editors Guild and a three-time nominee for Best Editing at the Australian Screen Editors Guild Annual Awards -- for a provocative look at "Editor's Thinking," a cognitive skill set that you can use to improve your screenplay before you start principal photography of your film.
Tutorial, Project
Gravity's Mark Sanger: Cut & Talk with Oscar-Winning Editor
Academy Award-winning editor Mark Sanger stopped his usual activities to talk about working with director Alfonso Cuarón and his amazing work on Gravity, what to cut out of the film, and what to cut out of life with his guiding principle: make yourself invaluable, but never at the expense of others.
Mark Sanger and Christian Jhonson
Ten Ways to Avoid Editor's Block
Just admit it. You're afraid of the empty timeline. Maybe you're one of the lucky few who can dive right into cutting a new project. Then there are the other 99% of us for whom there's nothing worse than that moment after you're prepping, and you have to face it: time to start cutting something. As an editor for high-profile shows including Empire and Burn Notice, Zack Arnold has been there. Here Zack, shares 10 proven tips from his own experience for not just beating editor's block, but completely avoiding it.
Zack Arnold
'Art of Post' Art Show Features Creativity After Delivery
The creative folks in post-production often apply their artistic skills beyond their jobs. They sometimes even apply to it to art. This is every bit as true for technical and administrative people who don't have a specific outlet for their artistic impulses on the job. The folks at the bi-coastal visual effects and motion graphics company came up with a fantastic idea: let's put some of the work they've created in galleries. and call it "The Art of Post." Creative COW Associate Editor Kylee Peña responded strongly. "When I saw the Art of Post event featuring art created by post production professionals in Los Angeles and New York, I knew it wasn't just a new idea, it was necessary." Learn more about the remarkable event, enjoy the work of some remarkable artists, and perhaps think more broadly about what it means to be creative.
Kylee Wall
Metadata & The Future of Filmmaking
Dave Stump, ASC has worked as a DP, effects cinematographer and VFX supervisor on dozens of films including Quantum of Solace, X-men The Bourne Identity, Star Trek: First Contact, Batman Forever and many more. He chairs the ASC subcommittees on Cameras, and Metadata, and in 2000, was part of a team that received a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for hand-development of advanced camera data capture systems. Although this interview was first published in 2008, we've found that the ideas explored here are becoming more relevant by the day. Join Creative COW Editor-in-Chief Tim Wilson and COW Leader and camera expert Gary Adcock for this compelling look at the future of filmmaking.
Dave Stump, ASC
What Comes After Landing that Big Editing Job?
Sitting in on a meeting of The Editors' Lounge can be informative to say the least, and advance your career with wise words and not only been-there-done-that-information, but a real melting pot of new information and strategy. Join in for point-by-point discussion of what to do next after landing your big editing job.
The Editors' Lounge
NAB NLEs 2016: The Revolution? No Revolutions!
While the emphasis on "revolutionary" product releases at the annual NAB Show makes for splashy demos, they can sometimes get in the way of what customers really want: improvements to the product that they already have, just making them work better. Lo and behold, that's what we got in 2016! Rock-solid releases long on increased performance, stability, and interoperability. Useful releases? THAT's revolutionary! Join Creative COW's Tim Wilson for a closer look at NLE software in particular, and the ways in which developers are delivering on the promise of truly meaningful releases.
The Women in Post PR List: No More #AllMalePanels
Did you know the #allmalepanel is such a common phenomenon that a UN organization is urging its employees (and 8,500 member organizations like Coca-Cola and Cisco) to stop participating in them? As we enter NAB 2016, Kylee Peña is looking at balancing the scales with more women on the panels.
Apple FCPX Debates
Apple FCPX and the Making Of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Rather than a story about editing software, this is a story about Apple Final Cut Pro X from a filmmaker's perspective: specifically, how keeping as much VFX and audio temp work as possible inside FCPX during production helped allow Glenn Ficarra and John Requa to open up new options and saved weeks of production time in the making of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, the new wartime comedy starring Tina Fey.
Blackmagic Design Teranex Mini: 4K Monitoring & So Much More
When Blackmagic asked broadcast engineer, systems designer, and all-around straight shooter Bob Zelin to take a look at the new Teranex Mini line, he told them no. Converter stories are too boring. Just one problem, though: his clients couldn't see pictures out of their SDI gear going into HDMI inputs of consumer 4K TVs. BMD promised that one of the Minis would do the trick, and it did -- but Bob was pleasantly surprised to find even more than he was looking for! Find out why he calls the Teranex Mini lineup a no-brainer, and what it might be able to do for you. Read more...
Bob Zelin
Checksums, Speed, and Acceptable Risk
Do you hang out under a tree during a lightning storm? Do you perform a checksum every time you copy important files from one place to another? If you don't have an equally strong opinion about both these questions, it's time to learn about checksums: how they work, how much you can trust them, and how this technical task can save a creative person from certain doom.
Editing Star Wars: The Force Awakens
On Star Wars: The Force Awakens brings the latest collaboration of Mary Jo Markey, ACE and Maryann Brandon, ACE​ once again collaborated with J.J. Abrams, following their previous successes with him on pictures including Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness, Mission Impossible III, Super 8, and the TV series Alias. Here, they tell us about putting together this new instant classic.
A Tale of Two Mockingjays: The Hunger Games Epic Finale(s)
Deciding to adapt the 'Hunger Games' finale, 'Mockingjay', as two films opened up remarkable storytelling possibilities for director Francis Lawrence, and editors Alan Bell ACE and Mark Yoshikawa ACE. We spoke with the editors about the technologies, workflows, and collaborative processes that enabled them to so richly explore the nuances of power, pain, and the lifelong toll that war takes even on the victors.
How Are You? No, really. Creativity & Mental Health
In an industry where mental health is hard to come by, Creative COW Associate Editor Kylee Peña reminds us how important it is to ask ourselves, and our peers, "How are you? No, really. How ARE you?" Kylee also offers some suggestions for helping ourselves be honest with the answers, as we also move toward a future that allows us to be more creative, more productive, AND more sane.
Positivity: Editor Jesse Averna on Evolving Your Career
Five-time Emmy-award winning editor Jesse Averna has been a lifelong fan of filmmaking, a love reflected in his ambition to move into directing. Jesse shares insight about evolving his career, including the importance of being a positive force in your post community.
Editors on Editing, Emmys, and Everything Else
The Emmy Award-nominated editors of Amazon's Transparent and Lifetime's Project Runway All-Stars (Cate Haight ACE, and Emmy-winner Mary DeChambres, respectively) sit down with Creative COW Associate Editor Kylee Wall for a wide-open conversation on getting started in Hollywood, getting ahead, and, most important, staying sane. Anything you want to know about editing in the real world? You'll find it right here.
Fitness in Post
Fitness & Editing Hollywood Blockbusters with Alan Bell, ACE
Alan Edward Bell's distinguished list of feature editing credits ranges from cult favorites like The Green Mile and (500) Days of Summer to blockbusters including the final three Hunger Games pictures and The Amazing Spider-man. A member of ACE and AMPAS (and Creative COW of course), he joins Fitness in Post's Zack Arnold for a wide-ranging conversation on editing, exercise, nutrition, finances, and whether this crazy job is worth the pain. Spoiler alert: Yes, but you'll be intrigued to hear Alan's reasons why.
Alan E. Bell
Finding Your First Job (Or Your Next One)
It's something we're all asked all the time: how do I get the first real job in the industry? It's almost always a question coming out of a young, wide-eyed, innocent looking baby deer of a human being who is graduating from university very soon and for the first time realizes that they're going to have crushing student debt AND no actual plan to get from here to Oscar-worthy filmmaker.
Editing Yourself: An Agency Editor Tells Her Fitness Story
When agency editor Katie Toomey found herself in a rut physically and mentally, she knew she had to make some changes to her life to be successful in the long term. With determination and support, she spent five years changing her lifestyle, incorporating more activity and better eating habits her busy post production schedule, losing 80 pounds in the process.
Cutting Grand Budapest Hotel:Oscar-Nom Editor Barney Pilling
Oscar-nominated editor Barney Pilling discusses balancing a distinct visual style, using driving performances, and managing visual effects on Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel.
Fitness in Post Revisits Sexism in Post
"Sexism in Post" by Kylee Wall, one of our most-talked about recent stories, will lead to an NAB 2015 panel, and here, a podcast interview by Zack Arnold for Fitness in Post.
Misery Loves Comedy: Comedian Kevin Pollak Cuts His Docu
Comedian and actor Kevin Pollak talks about directing and editing his documentary "Misery Loves Comedy", a film that explores the darker side of comedians. After three software lessons from editor (and renowned VFX supervisor) Rob Legato and ten months at the console, Pollak has some new insight about the cross-over between stand-up comedy and editing.
Exodus: Gods and Kings -- Grading Ridley Scott's 3D Epic
Director Ridley Scott's latest epic 'Exodus: Gods and Kings' takes a gritty approach to a biblical story, and colorist Stephen Nakamura helped expand the realistic look by working closely with Scott and DP Dariusz Wolski ASC, and by grading the film in DaVinci Resolve 11 using new tools to help push the 3D grade while preserving highlights.
The Art of Being Industrious: Dody Dorn ACE on Cutting Fury
Oscar-nominated film editor Dody Dorn is best known for her work on films like 'Memento' and 'End of Watch', with her latest film 'Fury' involving 16 Avids across two continents. Working her way up from switchboard operator, Dody brings decades of experience to the edit, with a personal advocacy for taking career risks and accepting any opportunity.
Unbroken: Editing Angelina Jolie's War Drama
Editors William Goldenberg and Tim Squyres discuss the process of co-editing Unbroken, the Angelina Jolie directed war drama, including constructing challenging sequences, working with an actor-director, and knowing when a scene feels right.
Editor Bryan Capri Talks Cutting Lifetime TV Movies
Editor Bryan Capri's shift from editing corporate training videos and independent films to crafting TV movies for SyFy and Lifetime was no accident: hard work and a positive attitude were everything as he found himself cutting films and designing workflows for major networks.
TV & Movie Appreciation
Editor William Goldenberg on Crafting The Imitation Game
Oscar-winning film editor William Goldenberg has cut his fair share of tension, including Zero Dark Thirty and Argo. On The Imitation Game, he crafts the story of Alan Turing's race to crack the Engima code, sharing his creative approach to constructing a scene and working with high-level directors.
Arson Dogs: Editing a Web Series
One of the most complicated projects yet undertaken by Creative COW Contributing Editor Kylee Wall: an unscripted web series called Arson Dogs, which featured massive multi-clips, 8 dog handlers, 3 trainers, and a whole lot of very enthusiastic dogs. Adding to the complexity: because it was for the web, Kylee had to come up with her own structure and pacing for the show itself, as well as the individual episodes, and still turn it around in a very tight timeframe.
The Drive to Create: The Drive: PAC-12 Football
The 25-year career of 16-time Emmy winner Jim Jorden began with NFL Films, and included 7 years creating programs for NASCAR before returning to football. Along the way, he has led the production of 69 new series on 20 networks, winning Emmys for his work as a cameraman, an editor, and an executive producer. He brings every bit of that experience to bear on "The Drive: PAC-12 Football," now in its second season. It's the first show to cover an entire season, week by week, combining the classically cinematic approach Jim took to his work for NFL Films, and the all-access approach he pioneered with his work on Hard Knocks. You won't want to miss this remarkable look at full-contact TV production.
Gone Girl: Editing a Hollywood Feature with Adobe Premiere
David Fincher's "Gone Girl" is the latest in a series of critically acclaimed films from the director, but it's the first studio feature edited with Adobe Premiere Pro, with a complex post production workflow that includes 6K acquisition and over 200 visual effects completed in house with the help of Dynamic Link and After Effects.
Saturday Night Live's Film Unit: Making TV Fast
Saturday Night Live's film unit produces a pre-taped segment for every live show, with nearly all of production and post happening within a 48 hour period. Director of Photography Alex Buono and editor Adam Epstein rely heavily on communication, improvisational filmmaking skills and the flexibility of their toolset -- including Adobe Creative Cloud -- to hit their deadlines and bring film spots to air each Saturday night.
The Many Colors of A Modern Family
Sometimes it might seem that colorists are all about stylized treatments and extreme color correction, but Aidan Stanford's work on season five of Modern Family is all about maintaining realism and hiding all the tricks in the background. Making the jump from film color timing into digital hasn't been easy, but Aidan has found a way to utilize his film skills in the digital world, turning around episodes in a day using his favorite tools in DaVinci Resolve.
Distributing Creativity: The Growth of Cloud-based Workflows
The cloud can mean a lot of things, and in some cases, it can mean nearly nothing. This can make it hard to even know what we're talking about. The "real" parts are getting more real all the time, though, for everything from collaboration to computation. Creative COW Contributing Editor Kylee Wall has been looking into the ways that the cloud in its many meanings is already transforming TV & film production today, and she has some ideas about where things might be going from here.
Stereo 3D Post Perfection for Russian War Epic Stalingrad
The film Stalingrad is an epic look at the battle that turned the tide of World War II, and already the highest-grossing film in Russian history. It is also the first Russian film to be shot and produced for IMAX 3D, which posed some new challenges for the filmmakers, specially in post. Stalingrad opens Feb. 28 for an exclusive engagement in IMAX 3D theaters, and here's your chance to take a closer look at its making.
Story Stuff Is Story Stuff
Insights for becoming a better writer easily make the transition to the editing world. Kylee Wall gleans from the masters - Vonnegut, Elmore Leonard, Palahniuk - and highlights simple ways to finesse your storytelling abilities.
Women In Post Join Forces
Women in Post is a new HPA (Hollywood Post Alliance) committee formed by and for a decidedly minority group in the world of film/TV high technology. After three meetings -- two of them successful round table discussions, featuring accomplished women in the industry -- the group is expanding its plans to offer networking, mentoring and camaraderie and more.
Debra Kaufman
Covert Affairs and Suits with Online Editor Scott Freeman
Scott Freeman figured out how to use Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve in an innovative way to dramatically speed up media matching in the online editing process for USA Network's dramas, "Suits" and "Covert Affairs." He describes how he round-trips between the Avid Symphony and the DaVinci Resolve and why he wants every other online editor to learn his trick.
Scott Freeman
Workflow: Industry Pros Face the Challenges
With the rise of 4K, the film/TV industry faces a new set of challenges in acquisition, post production, distribution, media management and storage. Many executives remember all too well how the often-painful adoption of HD created upheavals in the production and post chain, and now, only a few years later, the ante is being upped to 4K.
Sony Imageworks Takes Us On The Yellow Brick Road to OZ
Sony Imageworks provided over 1,100 digital visual effects shots to Oz the Great and Powerful, a movie which explains how a small time magician became the great Wizard of Oz. Featured are two all-digital characters, the 18-inch China Girl and Finley, the wise-cracking monkey with wings, as well as a host of other digital creatures from river fairies to flying baboons. In addition, Imageworks provided environments from the Kansas Circus to Emerald City and effects work that include the magic of evil and good witches and Oz himself.
These Amazing Shadows: An Editor's Journey
An editor's journey through the films that made America (or, how I stopped worrying and learned to love the B-Roll). These Amazing Shadows, an 88-minute documentary, tells the history and importance of the National Film Registry and cameos some of history's most treasured films as it reveals how early films shaped and revealed a changing nation and why we most need to preserve them for posterity.
Doug Blush
Building a Modern Professional Editing Room
In this Creative COW magazine article Bob Zelin discusses what it takes to build a professional, modern, nonlinear editing machine room. Bob covers storage, monitors, scopes, audio mixers, routing, power, cables and more.
Adorama TV
Audio and Sound
Broadcasting and Mobile
Documentary and Indies
Film History and Restoration
High Frame Rate Cinema
Previz and Storyboarding
TV Programming
Women In Production
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