Puzzling

Recently, my family and I have started to spend time putting together puzzles. We began with one that was 750 pieces, but have since then graduated to 1000 and 2000+ sized puzzles. In constructing these puzzles, it got me thinking about the editing process.

Traditionally, you begin a puzzle by putting together all the edge pieces. They're easy to find and, once connected, show you how large the completed puzzle will be. While my family is able to pick out most of these pieces shortly after opening the box, we always end up missing a few here and there. Likewise, when starting to edit a project, you need some sort of blueprint or groundwork to build upon. This can be in the form of a script, or even some written down ideas or pitches. But, like constructing a puzzle's frame, these editorial foundations may be incomplete, with stories and concepts often tweaked later down the line.

If upon my initial sifting of the puzzle pieces I'm unable to pick out all the edges, I tend to jump into filling in the middle, knowing that as I push forward, the sea of jagged shapes will reveal the smooth, stray ones I need. Editing also requires a lot of moving forward and back. You construct each scene on its own, but continue to keep the overall story and motivations of the characters in mind with every cut. If you ever feel that an actor's performance in a previous scene is inconsistent with how the later ones are playing out, you can always go back and adjust for a stronger edit, and in turn, a clearer and more solid film.

One of the puzzles my family and I completed

When the last piece is finally placed in the puzzle, you get a chance to sit back and marvel at your handiwork. You take a few pictures, talk about maybe framing it, and, inevitably, start thinking about buying another one to begin the process all over again. The thrill of crafting something out of the seemingly incongruent is what draws me to editing, puzzles, and even programming. You're given building blocks that look insignificant and useless on their own, but, when mixed together, make a product that would buckle if even one of them was out of place.

New Creations

It's that season again! Time to refresh my Editorial Reels. It's out with the old, and in with some fresh, new material.

My most recent addition is a short animatic that I helped cut and mix for my sister. She decided to create a storyboard sequence based off of one of the comics in her "Nickel a Day" series where she recounts funny incidents from her daily life. I won't spoil the story for you, but I will say it has to do with a certain colorful, natural beauty in the sky. It was a lot of fun getting back to editing again, working on making my cuts tighter and more seamless to move the story along. I'm hoping to cut more sequences in the future and do more collaborations to keep my skills up.

Hope you enjoy viewing these updated reels!

Anniversary

It's here! At last I have made it to one year with Pilot. I know in a previous post I said that I had started on June 15th, but, much to my amusement, only a few days after I posted that did I find out that my start date had been bumped up to June 9th. Funny how life works.

This past year can be summed up into one word: learning. Fresh out of college with some internships and a degree under my belt, I thought I was aware of and could take on anything the working world threw my way. Needless to say this was wishful thinking, and I was in for a whirlwind year that would mold my skills as an Assistant Editor and a team player.

From day one, I was given the task of mastering our company's post workflow and becoming aware of how to aid our freelance editors with any issues that might come up. Our company has two branches, one in Marina Del Rey and the other in New York, with the majority of the company at the latter. Being the only post person at our West Coast branch, I quickly learned that I couldn't be a passive player, turning to my post colleagues to save me when things got hairy. This became especially apparent the first time I ran into issues with a digital file delivery.

In the days after my mishap, I swore to myself to never have that happen again. As a result, whenever we got a new job from a client, I immediately read up on and studied their delivery specs, asking questions about any sections that were confusing to me, even creating checklists of all the elements that needed to be uploaded. With the addition of mapping out more hotkeys to speed along my editorial process, new jobs became less scary and more of a puzzle that just needed the proper time to find the solution. Final deliveries to clients are already stressful enough, and if I can avoid any added stress just by being prepared, I'll take it.

Even writing emails, of all things, is not as daunting. When I started out, I tended to be very wordy, sometimes even asking questions I already knew the answer to. After much trial and error, and looking at how my coworkers wrote to clients, I figured out how to be direct with my inquiries, even learning the polite way to correct clients if there was a misunderstanding. With so many emails being sent and received every day, quick and concise message are a godsend.

Finally, this job has coaxed me out of my comfort zone. I'm more on the quiet side, and working at the Marina Del Rey office has had me make phone calls to various companies to place orders or ask questions, as well as communicate with shoot crews and freelance editors that enter Pilot for the first time. It was a bit of work to push myself to do so, but I'm so glad I did and my confidence has grown because of it.

Thank you Pilot for an amazing year, and I look forward to what the future has in store.

Application

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a shoot for one of the promos Pilot is going to be editing. The Creative Director on the project suggested I come along to see what the company does for these shoots. So, on an early Friday morning in April, I made the trek over to set.

The interesting thing about this particular shoot was that we were filming in the same place that the series we were making the promos for was shooting. During the show's shoot downtime, the talent would come over to our set for us to interview them.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the promo and series sets were run just like the ones I had been on at Dodge. Everything from the call sheets, to the communication the crew members had with one another, nearly matched that of the student film shoots I had been on. While things did get a bit behind schedule, just as Chapman sets were wont to, everyone remained patient and cooperative, working to stay helpful and positive through it all.

It got me thinking of how well Dodge did in fact prepare its students for the real world of film production. While set could not compare to my preferred home of the editing suite, being there allowed me to experience the realization of the Producing team's plans, as well as the camaraderie of the camera team. Dodge drilled into us from day one the importance of teamwork, and remembering that creating films was a group effort.

Even though I ended up taking a post route versus a physical production one, it's comforting to know that my Alma Mater taught me well and gave me a rounded education that will continue to aid me in my field of work for years to come.

Movie Time!

Grab some popcorn and a comfy seat everyone! I am very happy to announce that all three of the films I edited last year as part of my Senior Thesis (Prism, Doppelganer, and For Jacob) are now available online for viewing. I am very proud of the teams I had the pleasure of working with, and I hope you enjoy the collective fruits of our labor.

Dan Warner is a desaturator, tasked with sapping beauty from the world in a future where color is used as energy. (Directed by Jackson Miller)

-SEMIFINALIST in the 42nd ANNUAL STUDENT ACADEMY AWARDS
-63rd ANNUAL MPSE GOLDEN REEL NOMINEE VERNA FEILDS AWARD
-SAG 2015 LA SHORTS SHOWCASE
-AUDIENCE AWARD for BEST SHORT NARRATIVE at PRESCOTT FILM FESTIVAL 2015
-JURY AWARD for BEST COLLEGE SHORT FILM at CINEQUEST FILM FESTIVAL 2016
-JURY AWARD for BEST SCI FI at LAGUNA FILM FESTIVAL 2015
-OFFICIAL SELECTION at HOLLYSHORTS FILM FESTIVAL 2015
-OFFICIAL SELECTION at SKYLINE INDIE FILM FESTIVAL 2015
-OFFICIAL SELECTION at LONESTAR FILM FESTIVAL 2015
-COLLEGIATE SHOWCASE at NEWPORT FILM FESTIVAL 2016
-2015 DMA AWARD for BEST VFX (DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS)
-Featured on Film Shortage 2016
-Featured on shortfil.ms 2016

A little girl’s relationship with her inattentive Father is changed for the better after an eerie and dangerous encounter at the neighborhood playground. (Directed by Carly Lambert)

-Los Angeles Cinefest's Official July Selection 2015
-29th Braunschweig International Film Festival Official Selection
-Official Selection Woman Up Independent Film Festival 2015
-Best Drama American Motion Picture Society Film Festival 2015
-Big House LA Entertainment Festival 2015

After his mother is arrested, a young man is forced to partake in a robbery in order to protect his little brother, Jacob. (Directed by MacMullin Freeman, password: jacob2015)

What's Up?

This past Saturday, February 27th, Prism was honored at the Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Awards, being nominated for the Verna Fields Award in Sound Editing for Student Film Makers. I continue to be amazed by my team and the audience reception to this short. While the journey may have been rough to make this film a reality, the response has made it all worth it.

Production on AOI has begun to slow down a bit due to having to make larger story tweaks, as well as scheduling conflicts between myself and my sister. We hope to be back at it though soon enough, steadily working to piece together this fun project!

Photo Cred: MPSE Website (www.mpse.org/golden-reel-awards)

A Look Back

I'm a bit late, but happy 2016! I didn't realize just how fast 2015 passed me by until I pieced together my annual "Second a Day" video. I always enjoy cutting it since I'm able to take a trip down memory lane and reflect upon the various events from the past year. To think, just a year ago I was finishing up my AVID Certification course and preparing for the conclusion of Senior Thesis!

Flash-forward to present day. Now 8 months into working at Pilot, I feel that I've finally hit my groove. Heading deliveries and running freelancers through orientation no longer overwhelms me like it once did. I've come to realize the importance of strong communication, as well as taking initiative when you see a need. My confidence in AVID and Final Cut has been strengthened, allowing me to become more efficient in my work through the discovery of new shortcuts.

I look forward to the opportunities 2016 presents, and trust that God will continue shape and challenge me each day. This year's "Second a Day" is going to be wild!

And the Days Go By

Time for some updates! Prism received the Grand Jury award for Best SciFi at the Laguna Film Festival, and was also screened this past weekend at the Lone Star Film Festival. It's been six months since the film debuted, and it is still going strong in the shorts circuit.

AOI Title (Art by Karina McBeth)

My sister and I have decided to combine episodes 1-3 of AOI for a stronger opening to the series. While this means that our premiere date will be have to be pushed back, it will allow us to thoroughly address the story issues that came up in Editorial. You can check out the introductory animation I cut for AOI here to get a feel for the style and tone of the webseries.

Piece by Piece

Photo Credit: Karina McBeth

My sister and I have recently started collaborating on a webseries called, AOI. At the moment, it is slated to consist of a series of 13 animatic "episodes," with my sister providing the storyboards, and me doing the editing and sound design.

After creating and tweaking a rough outline of the story, my sister began boarding Episode 1. Once she completed her first pass, she handed the storyboards over to me to start editing in AVID. As I went through the cut, I made Editorial suggestions to my sister, such as removing whole scenes and adding in beats to help move the story along. My sister is currently working on revisions for Episode 1 as well as the storyboards for Episode 2. I will continue to post updates about our progress as the months go on. If you want daily updates about AOI however, you can also check out my sister's blog.

This week I was also added to PILOT's official website. I've been with the company for a good few months now, and am greatly enjoying it there. I am thankful for the challenges that have come my way, being stretched in my skills as an Assistant Editor and learning to be more observant in my work. Be sure to check out the rest of the team on the website as well. They're a fun bunch who are a joy to work with each day.

The Trek

(Left to Right: Matthew Rebong, Jackson Miller, Richard Andrews, Amy McBeth)
Photo Cred: Jackson Miller

On Saturday, August 22nd, Prism premiered at the HollyShorts Film Festival in Hollywood. It was the first film festival I've ever gone to, and was quite exciting! Especially since I was going to support a film that I had been a part of. Alongside Prism, my team and I got to view a handful of other great shorts before we briefly talked about our film in front of the audience. We received a lot of compliments from viewers following the screening, with many intrigued that the short was entirely made by students.

Recently, I also found out that Doppelgänger is going to Germany to be part of the Braunschweig International Film Festival. I will be unable to attend, but my director will be going, and I look forward to hearing how it goes!

Warming Up

Excited to annouce more news about one of the shorts I had the delight of cutting. Doppelgänger is currently part of this month's Los Angeles CineFest official selection. You can help support the team by voting at: http://lacinefest.weebly.com/july.html for the Audience Award until August 18th. I will continue to follow up about each of the three films (Doppelgänger, For Jacob, and Prism) I worked on as I receive festival updates from their directors. Thrilled to see where they all go!

Festival Time

With the rush of thesis over comes the next step in the student film process -- the Festival circuit. Recently, I received word that Prism has begun to make its rounds, and has been accepted into the Screen Actors Guild Foundation LA Shorts Showcase, the Prescott Film Festival (going on now), and the HollyShorts Film Festival. The film has also caught the attention of the Academy and is now a Semifinalist for the Student Academy Awards. It's been quite surreal and exciting to see the response and watch the film take off. I am extremely proud of the team and am thrilled to see what these next months hold.

Blastoff

  

Hard to believe it's been almost a whole month since I finished up my last year at Chapman University. So much has been packed into these past few weeks as I've started to enter the workforce. I've traveled to New York, secured a full time position in Post Production, and received my first feature credit as Editorial Intern on Pixar's Inside Out. It's both exhilarating as well as scary to reflect on how quickly this all happened, but I look forward to what this next year of adult life brings. I've got much to learn, and I'm stoked for the growth I experience as an Assistant Editor as well as an employee. 3-2-1 let's go! 

Next Chapter

Last week, I completed my first job as a Freelance AVID Assistant Editor for 7ate9 Entertainment. Basically, whenever the studio has a new project they're putting together, they call upon their pool of assistant editors to come in and work until completion.

My first task included transcoding a variety of footage in Resolve. There were about 5-7 different cameras used, ranging from the RED CineX to GoPro. While it took a bit of time to get the exporting going, the real challenge came once I brought the media into AVID. I began by making folders for each of the spots, creating bins within each one of them with the names of the cameras that were utilized. With a structure laid out for myself, I was able to sort and move the footage around with ease.

The footage was often shot at a frame rate other than 23.976, ranging from 48 fps to 120 fps. Initially, I was terrified as to how I was going to sync it with the sound as it played back in slow motion. However, it was because of this fear that I was able to challenge myself to figure out how to troubleshoot the problem on my own. It had been a concept I remembered one of my Pixar mentors mentioning to me about how the job of the Assistant Editor is to find the answers versus constantly asking others for the solution. After much searching, I discovered that the motion effect editor would allow me to type in a new frame rate to convert my footage to. Soon enough, I had converted and synced all the footage just in time for the Editors to begin working.

On Monday, June 15th, I begin my first full time job as a Post Producer/Assistant Editor at Pilot, a company that creates promos for major television networks. I look forward to the new lessons I gain at Pilot, building upon those from 7ate9 and others.

Grand Finale

Link: Prism Facebook Page
Prism (2015) Copyright by Jackson Miller, David Reynolds, & Chris Purse

This past Thursday, May 14th, the third and final thesis film I edited this year premiered. It was the first VFX film I have ever cut, and I am pleased with how it eventually turned out. Our visual effects team did a great job at creating a believable world within the time they were given, and our audience seemed to appreciate their efforts. It was the film I spent the most time with this year, and served as the biggest learning curve in terms of communication and designing a workflow that accommodated both Editorial as well as the visual effects artists.

As this film enters the festival circuit, I am interested to see how it fares. I hope to stay in contact with the team I worked with, especially the director, as I feel given a story that we have more time to develop, we can create something even stronger. Working on this film was an experience I will truly never forget, and I am glad to have been given the opportunity to be a part of it.

A New Story

Yesterday, May 8th, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts premiered the second thesis I had the delight of editing. For Jacob was well received and I couldn't be more excited as to how far this short has come from its initial conception a year ago. My director was highly collaborative, willing to part with scenes and lines in post production for the sake of telling a more cohesive and focused story.

While there were a few bumps in terms of our final delivery for sound design and adjusting our aspect ratio, we screened without a hitch. The response was positive from the audience, with viewers noting the strong performances of our leads. It was a thrill to work on this film, and I look forward to the life For Jacob has in the festival circuit.

For Jacob (2015) Copyright by MacMullin Freeman

Premiering

This past Friday, April 17th, the first film out of three that I had the pleasure of editing this year premiered. Doppelgänger was a success and played well for our audience. I received some compliments from viewers commenting on how eerie the film was. I was worried as to how the short would be received as I had been with it for so long and wasn't sure if the scares in the film were landing. Sure enough though, there was an audible gasp throughout the theater during the reveal of our title character.

With the film completed, I am able to take a step back and reflect on the timeline of creating this short. Our director did an excellent job communicating with each department, inviting their perspectives and collaborating in a way that allowed for creative freedom on both ends. Seeing the final piece colored, with a sound mix, and score in a full theater was surreal, and I'm so very proud of our cast, crew, and director for bringing this psychological thriller to life.

Link: Doppelgänger Facebook Page

Doppelgänger (2015) film Copyright by Carly Lambert

The Pursuit

For the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to delve into some in-depth job hunting. Thanks to one of my mentors, I have a list of places that I've been scouring every day for updates on new jobs and opportunities. My goal has been to gain enough hours as an Assistant Editor to enter the Motion Picture Editors Guild, and hopefully find work in Animation Editorial as a result.

But that's getting ahead of myself. I still have to graduate after all!

So far, I've been able to talk to a Director of Post Production and an Editor about potential work and any advice they have for a budding editor. They've been so kind and I truly appreciate the honesty they've shown towards me, laying out the nature of the industry and instructing me on where would be good places to start out.

This Friday, I am going in for an interview for a post house that does trailers for feature films and documentaries. The reality of going in to talk about an actual position versus an internship is slowly starting to sink in. No longer am I going to be a student searching for experience, but an adult looking for a place to apply the knowledge I have in a professional setting.

This search can be a bit daunting at times, but I'm keeping my head up and praying God brings along a job that I can use to glorify Him.

Certified Fresh

For the past month, I've been attending my university's Interterm session where a semester long course is compressed into an intensive four weeks. This year, I decided to enroll in Avid Certification Prep, a course that would allow me to become an AVID Media Composer 8 Certified User.

The first half of the class focused on AVID's hotkeys and audio mixing features, with the second on visual effects and compositing. What was probably the most interesting aspect of the class for me was getting exposed to AVID's AMA linking, as I had never truly understood or used this feature. Basically, AMA linking allows someone to edit footage of a file type other than AVID's DNxHD codec without having to import it into AVID. One can simply point to the footage they wish to use on their drive, and voila, it appears as usable media in AVID. The downside is that AMA linking only works if the drive with the footage remains connected. Otherwise, the dreaded "Media Offline" title plasters itself on the screen. Also, cutting this "foreign" footage can put a strain on the system, causing frames to be dropped, and slow scrubbing. It could be useful if someone needed to quickly cut a short string of clips together, but a whole film this way would be painstaking and ill advised.

While taking the course, I was relieved to find that I was not as stressed or overwhelmed as I thought I'd be. Even though I was being fed a large amount of information, I realized that over the course of my time at Dodge College and at Pixar, I had come to discover the hidden gems AVID had to offer, either through cutting shorts or mentorship. I had been wanting to take AVID Certification for quite some time since I was a Freshman, but in hindsight, I'm actually glad that I waited until now to do so. Getting to first learn and see AVID's features be used in a practical way allowed me to gain an appreciation and understanding of why certain aspects were added to the software and how they were helpful to editors and their assistants. For instance, Markers were included to organize notes as well as indicate where a new scene begins.

Now officially certified, I want to go back through the books that I used for this class and try to determine why each feature was designed and how I can adapt them to my own workflow. The pursuit of learning never ends!