September 13, 2005

• Ok, I'm finally going to start blogging again! The director's cut is finally done and I'm focusing my energies on the visual FX stuff. Will post more up of the visual effects stuff as time goes by. We had a delay of time as we moved into a new editing office, which is definitely much bigger and nicer than the last one.
  

  
  

  This is the new editing bay that we have set up in Marina Del Ray. From this picture and the picture below, the bay is split up into 2 different section, on the left is the editor and on the right is mine (with the poster of 'The Crow'!) Yeah, I'm a big fan of The Crow (Bai Ling was the evil villianess) but I swear to god I didn't choose her because of the movie, I had every absolute faith she was prepared, ready and perfect for the role of Michelle. Anyway, the editor basically edits the footage (duh!) and sends over the footage to me on the other computer. Most of the time, I just take a look at what's going from his computer but at many times we have to work on 2 seperate machines. For example, if the producer wanted a clip for such and such, the editor will send the footage over to me for selection and I will cut it up myself for the producer. But on many other cases, I am simply working with the concept designers and visual effects people on that computer. Approving designs and monitoring consistency as well as checking details is pretty much what I do. So, like my editor, I pretty much strain my eyes every day. I'll be wearing glasses pretty soon. The director's cut session is pretty much broken up into 2 main sessions. As you can see at the couch, I have my laptop there. We will first edit each scene the way I envisioned it in my head. Once that is done, the movie is played on the plasma screen at the couch, where I see how my cuts come together as a whole. Usually, changes need to be made on every scene to ensure that the timing and flow of the movie is correct. You can't have quick cuts in one scene and long dolly shots in another (unless there's motivation of course). Should I jump back quickly into the character B? Or should I omit this scene out because it is just dragging the movie too long? Does cutting this scene take the story away? Thousands of questions answered everytime i decide to cut a shot or a take away.

  
  

  The next phase is of course, the reshoots phase. Once I have decided that I like the movie the way it is, I figure out how I can make the story flow better. This is where I have to submit my reshoots list to the producer who will decide whether or not we reshoot certain scenes. If I felt like the story wasn't clear enough because we didn't cut to a coverage shot and if it doesn't exist, the producer will then schedule reshoots. All in all, I have a list of 13 shots to reshoot. So that means calling actors or even stand-ins at times. That would be the producer's call. The producer is currently editing his cut at the moment. The producer's cut ends up in the theatres and distribution, NOT the director's cut. Maybe the film is successful will video distribution consider the director's cut. You don't see director's cut on the screens much at all! Unless it's on the contract. So that's a peek at the editing office. I'm probably going to be blogging more regularly. Apologies for being out of the loop. But the director's cut is done and I'm off to umm....SLEEP!

  • 9:53 pm
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