Episode 2

Andrew, Cherie, Carlos and I gathered around the kitchen table over ice cream last week as we discussed the editing process of Cherie’s first movie, No Matter What, and a Kickstarter project I’m about to post. Expect to hear a lot more about both subjects in the future.

Remember to subscribe in iTunes.

The podcast has chapter marks, but here’s a quick rundown:

This podcast episode has a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license. Basically you can share and reuse this episode however you like, but all I ask in return is that you also share it and you Coffee and Celluloid by linking back to this page.

Related posts:

1. Film School – Triumphs and Failures [Podcast]
2. Objectified Q&A [New Podcast Series]
3. Jon Reiss Interview – Think Outside The Box Office [Podcast]

Remember UnderCover, that pig movie I was producing? The one where I said I would give you a play-by-play into the process of making but kind of slacked off a bit. Yeah, that one.

Well, it’s officially done. And it’s really funny.

This post is a little long and rambling, so I divided it into an explanation of what color timing is, the actual experience, and whether or not hiring a colorist and timing at a professional lab is worth it.

Why Color Time

The final step in the process of finishing your movie is to get it color timed. I had moved back to Miami while the film was still being edited, and later sound designed and mixed. I had done all that in film school, but what we never do (well, with a professional, anyway) is color time, so I was very excited to see the process.

Color timing serves two main purposes – making everything look consistent (and better) and adding a ‘look’ if needed.

Say you have a scene outside that’s about a minute and plays out in real time. Now in reality that scene probably took a couple of hours to film. In this span of “a minute,” the sun’s moved, lights moved, brightness changed, color temperature changed. So with color timing you go in and make sure all the colors are pretty consistent (so the orange on one character’s face is close to the orange on the reverse shot).

Like most things in film, a good job means no one notices anything. On the other hand, if you don’t even do the most basic of color timings, colors might change too much and it’ll take people out of the film, even if it’s on a subconscious level.

You can also punch up the blacks, adjust your levels, and just make the image ‘pop’ a little more in color timing.

The other power of timing is to add a ‘look.’ Think Tony Scott, Underworld, The Matrix or any other very stylized film. That look isn’t captured on set, it’s added in post. This, however, was not the case for what we needed to do with UnderCover. We just needed to punch things up and give it a polished look.

Color by Numbers

We ended up timing at Cineworks New Orleans. They’re just opening up a new facility there and we were their first movie. Bradley was our very cool colorist who timed the movie.

It was a long, 10 hour process to go through a 16 minute film shot by shot, but it was great to see Bradley work his magic. It was also fun to have a mini reunion with Iman and Julie (the director and DP).

Funny enough, that ‘look’ example I gave before was a pretty common lingo to explain what you want. Bradley would create a few options and then show them, and then time the rest of the scene based on what we pick. “You want more Ridley Scott or Michael Mann?”

It became clear we were in the technical world / delusional exhaustion when Bradley said color timing Canon 5D footage would be like color timing an H.264 file, and I thought that was really funny.

My friend Iran (previously seen on the documentary road trip) whom I stayed with, was working on Imagination Movers, which was filming in the same building, so he paid us a visit.

Once the entire film went through a first pass (watching the film again to see if there’s any adjustments to make is apparently called a second pass, and we didn’t have enough money for that) we still weren’t quiet there at that 100% finished mark. A few visual effects shots were missing and the equipment needed to merge them together is in Miami (they were still transitioning everything).

Luckily I was flying back the next day, and so was Bradley with our footage. Back in Florida, I went to Cineworks Miami to pick up the final HDCAM tape. It was a little weird to be there in person because Cineworks is where FSU sends all it’s film to be processed, but it was just always this mysterious place that we would send cans of film to, maybe with a few notes attached, and it would come back all digitized and on a hard drive.

We always wondered if they’d get an FSU shipment of film and think, “Oh shit, not this crap again.” We also wondered if they ever read our very detailed DP Addendum’s.

Anyways, the film was finally done, I got the HDCAM and DVDs, and then went straight to FedEx to overnight it to Sundance (fingers crossed).

By the way, there is such a thing as a stupid question and that’s, “What’s higher resolution, HDCAM or DVD.” I got such a dumb ass look from the people at Cineworks, all because Iman didn’t believe me and made me ask them. So FYI, HDCAM is way higher resolution and never ask this to a professional.

Is it Worth It?

So after the New Orleans timing (note: New Orleans is awesome) we grabbed some dinner and talked about how everything went, and inevitably the question came up on was it worth it?

Hiring Cineworks to color time the movie and export it to an HDCAM tape was by far the most expensive part of the production. In the end I thought it was totally worth it while I think Iman was a bit on the fence on if this was something we could have done ourselves.

Final Cut Studio comes with Color, it’s own color timing application. It’s actually a really, really powerful piece of software, and even colorists say it can do pretty much most of what we did on the more expensive DaVinci system used by Cineworks. So in that respect, yes, it is a really good point because the software we’d need is already standard on most of the computers at the Film School.

However, we’re not just paying for the software. Mostly we’re paying for Bradley and his expertise. What he did in a day would have taken at least a week to do just by messing around with everything and figuring it out. Plus, we’re paying for a color calibrated studio. The coloring suite had a huge color calibrated monitor, and we know that what we see there is what we’re going to get. Bradley is also there to ensure that the film meets legal broadcast standards (there are color limits that you have to meet in order to be broadcasted) and finally I don’t believe the Film School has enough computing power to handle real time color correction of RED Raw files.

So there’s all that extra gear in a professional environment that we’re paying for, but I feel Bradley is the most important cost. Yes, we might have gotten the same result with lots of time (still a big maybe) but there’s no way we would have met the Sundance deadline.

And we know that what we saw in the studio is what we’re going to get when it screens at a festival, and most importantly the film is finally 100% done!

No related posts.

I realize the moviccino adventures in the production of UnderCover has sort of died down. I have a few cool videos that I still need to post, but it’s mainly been an extremely sloooow editing process that’s been requiring a huge build up to a more exciting post. But this post isn’t it. This is just an update.

Here’s where things stand. Iman (the director) and I have been editing off and on since January. It’s kind of comical. One week I’ll be out of town, then I’ll come back and Iman will be gone. This project is definitely not a 4 month edit job, but it just kind of ended up that way because, you know, work expands to fill the allotted of time.

So we’ve been editing, working some magic, but now we’ve gotten to the point where we’ve done all the magic we can and the verdict is out on what works and what doesn’t. For all the things that don’t, we’re going back on set next week to do pick-ups – basically re-filming scenes that don’t work or filming new or rewritten scenes to clarify story and plot points that aren’t making sense (including going back to the pig farm).

This week, though, we showed a cut to the Associate Dean and basically he put into actions things that had been bothering me but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Bottom line was things weren’t working and they just needed to be cut. And by taking out some mediocre jokes it makes the better jokes even more better and stand out more.

So yesterday, the day after he saw the cut (which was the first time I had seen it in a few weeks), I went in armed with a hatchet and showed no mercy. The film was 21 minutes when I came in. 4 hours later it was down to 18 – and this is after we’ve been working on it since January. As Faulkner would say, you’ve got to “kill all your darlings.”

Related posts:

1. Post Editing Thoughts
2. The Picture is Locked…
3. Location, Location, Location

Just when I thought there would be a dry period of stories after I graduate¹, Thoth gives me a goldmine. I’ve been asked by a recent graduate to co-produce a short film she just received funding for.

This film (tentatively title Undercover) will be the largest production I’ve ever worked on. 26 page script, 8 days of production, RED camera, a budget. It’s sort of the equivalent of shooting an episode of The Office (minus Steve Carell and Jenna Fischer).

In the past it’s been hard to follow the filmmaking process when I’m working on 6 different movies, doing something different each week.

But this time I’m just producing, from pre-production all the way to post and exhibition. So fasten your seat belts, because it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Update: To add to the full process, I am now also the editor.

This post is an anchor post which will be updated with new adventures that are part of the Moviccino series:

Pre-Production

• Location, Location, Location [Location Scouting]
• Here Piggy, Piggy, Piggy [Location Scouting]
• Crew Call – The Cast Behind the Camera [Crew]
• Feels Like a Venti Day [Producing]

• In Production: Day 1 – Off to a Good Start
• I Was Kung Powed
• You Still Want to Do This?
• The Assistant Director
• Going for a Take

1. More on this soon ↩

Related posts:

1. Show No Mercy (in the Edit Room)
2. In Production: Day 1 – Off to a Good Start
3. The Filmmaking Process

I remember back when I interviewed to get into the Film School, I said I was interested in writing and directing because that’s where the story is shaped. The head interviewer added the editor to that list, though in a condescending way (I’d later learn that the guy is indeed a prick, and fortunately is gone).

But, he was right, and lately this has been coming back to mind, mainly during the editing of my thesis (my Gossip Girl-esque hyper-real one, not the documentary).

During the first cut screening the beginning was fantastic and exactly what I wanted (going back to why it’s important to see the end film in your head), while the end was a disaster. It just didn’t work. Partly this was due to some acting by a tough-to-cast mom role, but ultimately it’s my film and my doing. Going back to knowing what you want, the beginning was very clear in my head while the end was not, and thus, this happens.

Back in the edit room, we did what now makes perfect sense – match the tone of the two halves. What was once a lame, melodramatic torture scene is now an exaggerated awesomeness-taken-to-an-11 torture scene.

A total makeover with no tears involved.

Related posts:

1. Thoughts on Directing After Directing
2. No More Changes [Editing]
3. Feature Film Editing and Kickstarter [Podcast]

In a perfect film set world (real world), you shoot for the day, send the film to the lab that night to be processed, return the next day, shoot some more, and then during lunch (or beginning/end of the day), you watch what you shot the previous day. These are called dailies, because you do it everyday.

If you didn’t catch my tone, there’s an element of the Film School’s system that bothers me. There are many reasons to watch your footage everyday – to make sure it looks like you want, the film was processed successfully, equipment isn’t ruining shots, you’re getting all the coverage. It’s common sense to check what you’re shooting instead of being in the dark, especially when millions of dollars are riding on it. The idea is that if some thing’s wrong, it’s a lot easier and cheaper to re-shoot it when you’re on location with an entire crew instead of bringing everyone back.

However, at the Film School, things are a little different. First off, dailies aren’t possible, and I understand that. The film has to be shipped off to Miami and it’s usually sent in batches at the end of a show (instead of the end of each day), so there’s no way to check what you’ve shot until long after you’ve wrapped. About a week later, once the film has returned and the Assistant Editor has synced picture and sound, everyone that worked on that movie goes to the Film School theater and watches the ‘dailies’ – about an hour of raw, unedited footage.

Having everyone watch dailies isn’t normal practice, but from a a learning perspective, it’s useful to connect how the set was lit to how that comes out on film. It’s also handy to see how the editor assembles the footage.

So I’m understanding that we can’t see what we shot each day. What I don’t understand is why such extreme measures are taken to ensure we don’t see the footage before the official ‘dailies’ screening.

We’ve always been warned about not watching footage before the dailies screening (though never given a reason), but when it’s your film or you shot it, there’s a great personal investment involved and a lot of anxiety, wondering if those elaborate shots worked or if the film even exposed (of course it did).

The footage from the thesis I was cinematographer on returned. I went to the post-hallway to pull it up, but to my un-enjoyment the folder was locked. In fact, all the folders from the films that just returned were locked. This was never done before. I would very much like to know if the 91 set-ups look good, and that I didn’t sacrifice quality for quantity.

The official dailies screening is this Friday, about two weeks after we shot it. Like the title says, it’s dailies, not weeklies. Kind of ridiculous, right?

Photo by entro_py

Related posts:

1. Friday Night Dailies
2. I Didn’t Keep the Lens Cap On
3. Dailies and Director Cuts

Since I’ve been sound mixing for the past three days, with three more to go (a double show), I thought it would be appropriate to post some tips on getting the best audio possible from Christian Dwiggins, Master Engineer and owner of Engine Room Studios, a sound production facility.

Here they are, from Christian:

1. Good sound starts with good ears and a filmmaker who understands its importance.
2. Don’t make the mistake of having only one sound designer when you can have a team. Four ears are better than two, just as two brains are better than one.
3. The amount of money you spend on sound in pre-production will save you three times the amount of money in post. Most films don’t have the budget for ADR.
4. When looking for a sound designer, look for someone talented and hungry – someone fresh.
5. The best way to find a decent sound designer is at a sound engineer school, through blogs like this and referrals.
6. In production your sound person should be acutely aware of what’s going on in the environment. Hone in on all the sound. Someone whose present. A bad sound tech won’t notice an airplane who went by and end up costing you a fortune later on. Remember, good sound design starts at the source.
7. As a filmmaker it’s very important to find a designer who understands your process, your vision and how to work within your budget.
8. The sound department, whether it’s a single person or a whole group, is an integral part of your crew and should be treated as such.
9. Your choice in post can make the difference between sounding like a homemade film and sounding a blockbuster. It’s about talent, not about money.

If you’re in the LA area, here’s some more about Engine Room. Many thanks to them and Christian for these tips.

Engine Room Studios is a fresh and edgy, boutique-style full-service sound production facility that brings its down-to-earth vibe to the heart of Hollywood. Musicians, directors and producers alike feel at home with the talented and attentive team of engineers. E.R.S. gives their clients the personal attention that has become lost among the large post house conglomerates. “It’s not the gear that you use, it’s what’s between your ears,” says master engineer and owner Christian Dwiggins. And it’s also what goes into your ears – an experienced and talented team that gets exactly what needs to be done while giving the best audio production the industry has to offer.

Photo by mybloodyself.

Related posts:

1. Warning – Sound Mixing May Cause ADD
2. Lights, Camera, Action…and Marker, Slate, Sound…
3. The Perfect Storm

When you major in film, you sort of become the official video guy for the family, like editing stills and video your grandfather shot in Israel.

The good thing about an A/V clueless family is the most minor tasks, like making a cut, amazes them, so they’re pretty easy customers. Until they give you weird video files from their still camera.

It all started off well. I brought my grandfather’s photos and videos into Adobe Premiere, and began editing under his supervision. He used to do old-school 8mm editing, so an entire production package in a laptop blew him away.

The footage played back fine, though when I rendered it, it would play back a little choppy. I thought this was the computer being funny (real funny), so I continued editing. Yes, this is the point to shake your head.

Lesson: If the shit doesn’t work on a small scale, making it bigger and investing more time isn’t going to fix it.

You know where this is going. I finished the 20 minute long video, went to export, and guess what? Yeah, it was choppy.

I’ve finally fixed it. Five days later.

If you want all the technical juice, the video was some sort of MPEG Premiere didn’t like. I tried converting the original footage and relinking it to the stuff I edited, but no go. Just to see if something else would take it and I could re-edit it, I tried Final Cut and iMovie, but nothing. I’m kind of happy that didn’t work.

My solution? Export the video as Filmstrip. When I bring this back into Premiere, it still plays choppy. But when I render, boom. Smooth playing video. Export the audio, re-sync them, and yes, boom.

The final product. But I warn you, you will probably want those 20 minutes back.

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1. I Got the Greenlight
2. Green Production, ScriptSync, and Typography – Mid-Week Coffee Break
3. The Picture is Locked…

The storm has calmed. Last week really was the perfect storm, as my friend Justin and I described it¹. I had always heard stories of film schoolers getting loaded with a ton of work and scrambling to meet deadlines. I thought that was a myth. I was proven wrong.

As usual, a new draft of my thesis script was due.

And I sound mixed, the last step of my film. This meant finalizing the music, record some sound effects, and throw it all into the project before I went to the mixing room.

Then the delivery books for both of the films I produced were due. These are thick binders (as you can see above) that have all the releases, scripts, publicity material, backups, and any other paperwork relating to the production. It was a bit of a last minute scramble to find papers that were stored away for months.

And, for a little extra fun, Editor’s Notebooks were due for the film I edited. Plus some side projects like telling someone I can make a logo when I have no Illustrator experience and running two TV channels (I should probably write about that).

But this is all over now. F3s are done, thesis is nearly here and can finally get my full the majority of my attention².

1. I wanted to post the clip from The Office when Pam needs Michael to sign three forms that fall on the same day every few months, thus creating her perfect storm. Apparently this was not worthy enough for YouTube ↩
2. As well as this blog, with some Full Frame reviews to come. ↩

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1. Rain Machine, Perfect iTunes, Speed Racer – End-of-the-Week Coffee Break
2. Making it Sound Good
3. It’s Now Coffee, Celluloid, and the Tube

This is the home stretch – the last cycle of sound design. For eight days I’m back in the post hallway/cave, sound designing my own movie.

I appreciate the importance of sound. An audience can forgive bad images, but not bad sound. But for some reason, I find myself unable to focus for long periods of time, roaming the hall to find other burnt out classmates to waste time with. Fortunately, I’m not a bad influence. They feel the same way – it’s hard to focus on sound.

I don’t know if it’s because you have to listen to every potential piece of music and sound effect, as opposed to scrubbing through a video clip. Or the tasks being more tedious.

A lot of the process is finding the best sounding piece of dialogue (boom or lavalier mic) and filing in the dead space with background noise to keep a consistent noise floor. This is important to create realism and mask the cuts, but it’s not my first choice for fun.

All I can say is I’m glad there’s people like Richard Portman.

Photo by f1rwb DClik

Related posts:

1. Making it Sound Good
2. Lights, Camera, Action…and Marker, Slate, Sound…
3. A Bigger Beast