Some edits are very tough to accomplish – the creative goal is pretty much there, but the way to it is not always so cut and dry. There are a lot of factors for me, but many times it’s simply the sheer number of edits combined with sorting through hours of footage to find the perfect shot for the cut. Other times, it’s the emotional toll the creative process can take. Sometimes it’s a combination of the two.
Without fail, there is always a point in these edits where I’m wondering if I even know what I’m doing, and if maybe I should give it up and become a farmer or something. But I’ll push through because I know that the end product will be something I’m proud of and will hopefully impact others the way it impacted me. Here are a few of my favorite labors of love:
THE CANVAS
I edited everything in Final Cut Pro (including the opening color streaks) using up to 36 layers for some of the custom wipes and transitions I created. I was pretty obsessed with the movie ‘Tron’ at the time, so my music choices were heavily influenced. I also drew inspiration from this very cool promo by FiatUSA. Their transitions are absolutely mind-boggling and I figured if I could pull off even a fraction, I’d be in good shape. Nothing new under the sun, right?:
A STILL SMALL VOICE
Over 50,000 stills were shot for this 90 second stop motion promo for The Cove in Asheville, NC. I whittled it down to about 1,000 before handing portions over to our graphics department for 3D treatment. This piece was custom scored, so I created a click track to edit by. I went with a 5/4 meter to give an unsettled leading or pulling feel to enhance the message. I patterned the rhythm in the style of this song from the movie ‘Once’:
B. REITH – ANTIDOTE
This was one of those ‘lots of content combined with heavy emotion’ one-two punches. The bathtub scene was surprisingly difficult to cut. In a weird way, I began to feel as if I was drowning the character in this vignette. Something strange happens when you put together a series of shots and watch them over and over again. I’m pretty sure it’s a form of brainwashing. No, actually I’m sure it is.
