Screen Magazine - Index

Screen Magazine - Screen Magazine: Vol. 29, Issue 14 - Index

(Editorial) Knights Of The Round Table
Seven Editors From Five Companies Throw Down About Industry Trends,
Cool Tools And The Summer In General Compiled by Amy Wilschke
It’s not easy getting a group of
busy editors to come together for a
roundtable discussion about the postproduction
industry – especially when
editors want to chime in from the
coasts. But SCREEN managed to put
together a virual roundtable of sorts for
its July post issue. Here in this discussion,
we have Nathan Petty from Spy Post
(San Francisco), Frank Effron and Jay
Nelson from Cut+Run (New York/LA/
London), Liz Tate and Jim Annerino
from Hootenanny (Chicago), Jeff
Ferruzzo from Outside Editorial (New
York) and Scott Rankin from Northern
Lights Edit (New York). Take it away,
editors!
SCREEN: What are some of the latest
trends in post-production that you are
noticing today?
Nathan Petty/
Spy Post: One
major trend
that I’ve seen
over the last
year or two is
the ad agency
playing a
much more
hands-on role
in the post
process. More
and more jobs are being cut in-house,
art directors are designing in After
Effects and creative directors are
editing in Final Cut.
Working for a boutique shop, we’ve
had to adapt to this trend to stay
competitive by making ourselves
available as a to-go editorial shop.
We’re now not only bidding against
other editorial shops, but we’re also
up against the very people who
concepted and directed the spots. I
truly believe the best work is still being
cut by editorial shops. There’s a lot
to be said for the art of film narrative
and grammar, and I think a seasoned
editor, who is once removed from the
job as an outsider looking in, brings a
lot of creativity and alternate views to
a project.
Frank Effron/Cut+Run: Editing in the
nude is really catching on.
Liz Tate/ Hootenanny: The days of
the giant post house are behind us.
With the economy the way it is, we
see agencies gravitating toward the
boutique houses who can give them
better attention and better creative
without breaking the bank.
Jeff Ferruzzo/Outside Editorial: Lately we
have been working a ton with the
Red camera. I’ve worked on three
campaigns for Old Navy over the past
year, all of which were shot with Red.
The most recent, shot by Paul Cameron,
I cut with the 2K proxies in Final Cut.
I also cut a PSA for the Coalition for
the Homeless. The footage was pretty
stunning and given the limited budget,
the Red Camera was ideal. We’ve
also just received dailies for the latest
Jaguar work – some of which was shot
on Red in the South of France.
Scott Rankin/Northern Lights: I think the
biggest trend of the past few years is
the speed at which technologies and
workflows have been changing. The
changeover to HD delivery and the
proliferation of editing and finishing
solutions at the prosumer level has
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dramatically changed the landscape.
Jay Nelson/Cut+Run: The most important
shift I see occurring is file-based editing
and transfer. The emerging techniques
are speeding up the process from
dailies to edit to transfer and then
to online/effects. People have been
speculating and talking about it for
years, and it’s finally before us. The shift
is as significant as the shift from linear
to non-linear editing, and it foretells
a time where we begin to eliminate
the numbers and enhance the fluidity
of our creative process. It’s the most
exciting time in editing in the last 17
years.
Jim Annerino/Hootenanny: These days,
budgets seem to be shrinking while
the work is getting more complex. With
the mixing of different formats and
the introduction of data sources like
Red, every job needs unique attention
to workflow in order to get the job
done correctly and in a cost-effective
manner. I believe we will be seeing
more and more file-based acquisitions
and less film. In order to help streamline
the post process, it seems that facilities
either try to offer everything from start
to finish or specialize in one area.
What new gear/software has come out
recently that you’ve been getting good
use out of or, alternatively, what is coming
out next that you’re excited about?
Effron: “Guitar Hero,” “Grand Theft Auto
4”, 3G iPhone [and the] Red Camera
[are] all good. [The] 10-in-1 universal
remote is the most useful.
Tate: We’ve seen a lot of interest in
the Red camera, with both directors
and agencies wanting to experiment
with it. We just finished a job using
both 16mm and Red footage which
looked beautiful. It’s a great option for
documentary-style footage and, with