cuy by cut 2nd edition...sample pdf

CUT CUT

CHANDLER

Editing Your Film or Video 2ND EDITION

M I C H A E L W I E S E P R O D U C T I O N S

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Contents

List of Tables2nd Edition Foreword1st Edition ForewordPreface: The Practical Alchemy of EditingAcknowledgmentsPermissionsIntroduction: Stepping Aboard and Navigating the Book

STAGE I SETTING UP AND ORGANIZING YOUR PROJECTIntroduction

Part One Starting Your ProjectIntroduction1. Decisions, Decisions: Getting Started on the Right Path through PostproductionAppendix AProject Checklist2. Video, Digital, and Film Basics: Terms, Concepts, and Practices

Part Two Organizing for EditingIntroduction3. Setting Up the Cutting Room: Workflows, Labeling Shots, and Other Cutting Room Common Tasks

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C U T B Y C U T C H A N D L E R

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Appendix BDIY Postproduction Schedule4. Preparing DailiesAppendix CStage One: Budget Form for Dailies

STAGE II EDITINGIntroduction

Part One How to Approach the FootageIntroduction5. To Cut or Not to Cut: Where to Cut and Why6. Everyday Editing Challenges7. From Animation to Reality: Editing Different Genres

Part Two Getting from First Cut to Final CutIntroduction8. Making the Cuts: Editing on a Digital System9. The Process: Getting from First Cut to Locked CutAppendix DTape and Tapeless Show Continuity FormAppendix E Film Show Continuity FormAppendix F Stage Two: Budget Form for Editing

STAGE III COMPLETING YOUR PROJECTIntroduction

Part One Sound, Music, and the MixIntroduction10. Designing Sound and Music11. Editing and Mixing Sound and MusicAppendix G ADR Cue SheetAppendix HStage Three: Budget Form for Sound, Music, and the Mix

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C O N T E N T S

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Part Two Finishing and DeliveringIntroduction12. Finishing on Tape, File, or the Web13. Finishing on Film and via DIAfterwordAppendix I Stage Three: Budget Form for Finishing

How to Find an Editing JobResourcesGlossaryBibliographyIndex

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List Of Tables 1.1. Coding and Measuring 1.2. Determine Your Finishing Format 1.3. Film and Video Formats: How Shows are Shot, Input, and Finished 2.1. Digital vs. Analog Video 2.2. Worldwide Tape and Television Signal Standards 2.3. Drop and Non-Drop Time Code 2.4. NTSC Frame Size, fps, and Scanning Types 2.5. Retrofitting a 16:9 to a 4:3 Aspect Ratio 3.1. Typical Postproduction Schedules 4.1. Reel Labeling Methods 4.2. TV Series and Multi-cam Show Labeling Methods 4.3. Daily Database from Telecine 4.4. Database File for Telecined Negative 4.5. How Data Typically Enters the Editing System 4.6. Telecined Negative Database File Entry 5.1. Smooth Cutting Angles 5.2. Mismatched Shots and How to Fix Them 5.3. Editing Styles: Classic vs. Modern 6.1. Parallel Action and Cross Cutting 6.2. Examples of Montage Types 6.3. Scenarios for Cutting Picture and Music 8.1. Insert and Overwrite Edits 8.2. Types of VFX 9.1. Three Methods to Play Out to Tape 9.2. Sample Change List10.1. Translating Story to Sound and Music10.2. Scene Beats, Sound, and the Wizard of Oz10.3. Types of SFX and Viewer Perception11.1. ADR Cue Sheet11.2. Sound Effects Mix Cue Sheet12.1. Disk Sides and Layers12.2. EDL vs. Project Files13.1. Fixes for Cutback Frames and Frame Re-use13.2. Sample Cutlist with Key Code

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Stage I

Setting Up and Organizing Your Project

“The buck stops in the cutting room.”

— Dede Allen, A.C.E.1, Bonnie & Clyde, Dog Day Afternoon, and Reds.

IntroductionStage I lays the foundation for every project. It is the critical stage where you set up and organize your show so it passes smoothly through the cutting room and emerges as a well-edited film or video. Part One informs you about the important editorial decisions you must make at the start of every project and helps you make them. In Part Two dailies arrive in the cutting room and you learn how to organize them and the cutting room for the next stage in the postproduction process: editing.

Stage I, as well as Stages II and III, contains a number of appendices which consist of charts and forms. You can photocopy them and use them on your projects or download them from www.joyoffilmediting.com by clicking on the Free tab.

1. A.C.E., American Cinema Editors, is an honorary society of editors who are voted into membership based on their professional achievements, dedication to the education of others, and commitment to the craft of editing. A.C.E. always follows their names on screen. A.C.E. hosts its own editing awards ceremony after every year for which winners receive a Golden Eddie award. It also runs an editing internship program.

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Part One

Starting your Project

IntroductionIn Part One you will find out how to make the critical decisions neces-sary to set up your project properly for editing. Chapter 1 provides you a thorough overview of the editorial process and supplies you with a checklist for setting down your decisions and do-it-yourself flowcharts for plotting your project’s path through postproduction. You can also download the checklist at www.joyoffilmediting.com by clicking on the Free tab.

Chapter 2 of Part One takes you on an introductory tour of the two types of cutting rooms — digital and film — to help you choose which system you’re going to edit on. After Part One you’ll be ready to step into the cutting room and learn how to prepare it for the task of editing in Part Two.

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CHAPTER 1

Decisions, DecisionsGetting Started on the Right Path through Postproduction

“A film is like a boat; it’s just waiting to be sunk.”

— Francois Truffaut, director

Overview

In order to stay afloat and on course, you must put your project on a proper path through postproduction. To do this, you need to make critical decisions right at the start: It’s best to know where you’re

going before you set out! Consequently, this chapter begins by sum-marizing the six phases of film and video projects. Next, a substantial section advises you on shooting correctly to achieve an efficient post-production process and create the best footage possible for editing. The chapter then lays down some key cutting room terms and acquaints you with how and why shows are measured and coded. This leads to the last part of the chapter which details the formats that projects shoot, edit and finish on. You’ll then be ready to determine your project’s format(s) in Appendix A, which follows the chapter.

Let’s begin!

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Be clear on what happens before and after editing“Ten years ago postproduction was at the end of the food chain. Now we are in production meetings.”

—Alicia Hirsch, VP of postproduction, Fox Television Studios

There are six phases to any film or video project. Understanding what goes on before and after editing will give you more insight into the film-making process and make you a better participant in the process. It will help you communicate more effectively with those whose work over-laps yours, primarily the script supervisor and cinematographer (from the production phase) and promo producer and publicist (from the dis-tribution phase). More importantly, current workflows are converging postproduction with production and even preproduction, especially in animated shows and those with lots of VFX (visual effects). The lines between filmmaking phases are less distinct today and will get even fuzzier in the future. The following list describes each phase.

Six Phases of Every Project

1. GREENLIGHT: Project is formally approved and acquires its financing. Once green-

lit, a.k.a. greenlighted, it moves into the development phase.

2. DEVELOPMENT: The script is set and director, producers, casting director, and

principal talent (actors) are hired.

3. PREPRODUCTION: Preparatory phase during which script and money are final-

ized, the rest of talent and crew hired, locations and schedules locked, and sets,

wardrobe, props, etc. created. On animated and VFX-driven films, previsualiza-

tion (previz) takes place in the cutting room or VFX house to plan and prepare for

the shoot.

4. PRODUCTION: Also referred to as “the shoot” or “principal photography,” this

phase sees primary filming take place on set and location and VFX created at the

lab or VFX house.

5. POSTPRODUCTION: Also referred to as editorial, editing, or simply, post, it’s

the final creative phase during which all picture and sound editing takes place,

music is composed and sound mixed, visual effects are finalized, and all other fin-

ishing work completed. It produces the final show for viewing on tape, file, disk,

and/or film.

6. DISTRIBUTION: Time when completed project goes to market (with a little or a

lot of marketing!) and its audience sees it.

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D E C I S I O N S , D E C I S I O N S

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Shoot Right for PostproductionToo many projects show up in the cutting room sadly compromised due to poor audio, lighting, or planning in general. Don’t let this hap-pen to your show. If you’re an independent or student filmmaker, you’ll probably be participating in all phases of your project and production will be a most critical phase. So when you’re on location or on the set, remember that after the wrap someone — you — will have to put the footage together. You serve the editor/yourself and the show by getting the critical shots, recording the important sounds, and keeping accurate logs and records during production. Shooting correctly also saves time, stress, and money in postproduction. Here’s how:

Maintain an Organized ShootA well-organized shoot sets the stage for a well organized editing room. During the shoot be sure to:

�� Keep accurate records, notes, camera logs, and sound logs.This gives the editor important information about the shots and assists the editing crew immensely in keeping track of the footage.��Maintain good communication with the crew.Good communication, particularly between director, script super-visor, camera, and sound recordist, means that the right shots are filmed and printed and editorial does not have to chase down the crew or the lab to get the anticipated shots.�� Stick to the shooting schedule as much as possible.This makes it easier to coordinate and schedule work in the cutting room.

Shoot Good Slates on Every TakeMark the slate clearly with:

�f Scene and take�fDate and location�fCamera designation (A, B, C, etc.)�fCamera roll and sound roll�fDirector and production name�fMOS (if shot has no recorded sound)Hold the slate squarely in frame and voice slate the take e.g. "Scene

57, Take 5” on a scripted show or “McDonald’s farm, 12/15” on a

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documentary piece. Then clap it if you’re shooting double system (sound and picture captured on separate mediums) before whisking it out of frame. Clearly slating each take consumes but a few seconds in the field and saves valuable time and temperaments in the cutting room.

Voice slating is essential because dialogue editors will need to find the original takes for the audio tracks used in the show. “We can’t see the slate,” explains dialogue editor Victoria Rose Sampson. “We locate takes by the voice slate.”

Cut in the CameraNOT! Don’t dictate where the editor should cut by ending shots or point-ing the camera away from the action too early. Always remember: The camera sets the pace of the shot, the editor sets the pace of the show. An inexperi-enced camera operator, believing static shots are boring, may push the zoom button as if playing a trombone. This frustrates the audience and the editor. The editor can set a fine rhythm with a lovely series of static shots and should not be limited by a hyperactive camera that zooms and pans without purpose and gathers no usable shots.

Get CoverageTo “cover” a scene means to shoot angles in addition to the master shot such as close-ups and two-shots. Directors usually plan coverage for every scene. Why? Because most scenes — when edited — don’t work when played all the way through in a master shot. Coverage adds needed pace and points of view and gives editors options for how to cut the show. Additionally, coverage serves as insurance in case the planned shot doesn’t work, e.g., a master shot drags or is repetitive in the mid-dle. By cutting to coverage, the editor can skip over the slow spot and cut back at a more vital point. Directors who don’t cover themselves usually regret it.

Hold and Repeat Action at the Start and End of TakesWhen shooting a new take, don’t just continue from where the last take left off; repeat dialogue and actions from take to take. Let’s say you’ve filmed a master shot of a dining room scene where nutty Uncle Ed sits

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down and tells a weird joke. When you film the medium shot of Uncle Ed, don’t start with his joking. Rather, have him sit down and begin jok-ing, repeating the action of the master. When you repeat action at the tail (end) of one angle and the head (beginning) of the next angle, the editor has the latitude to cut to any take at the best possible frame.

Hold the cameraBefore starting and after ending every shot, be it a static shot, a zoom, pan, or dolly, hold the camera still for five seconds. As with repeated action, these static seconds can make all the difference in the editor being able to cut to shots at the best moment. Additionally, these action handles allow for dissolves, wipes, and other effects that an editor may apply to transition between shots. Occasionally, holding the camera even solves an editing problem: For example, editors sometimes use the footage from when the camera was rolling before the director yelled “Action!” or after they said “Cut!”

Shoot Good ContinuityA good script supervisor, who keeps an eagle eye on continuity, is always an MVP on a film set. Make every effort to match pacing, actions, lighting, wardrobe, placement of props, hair, makeup, etc., from take to take. It’s a shame to force the editor to cut earlier or later than optimal due to a lack of continuity. We’ve all noticed the laughable mismatch between an interior and exterior shot of a traveling car moving at dif-ferent speeds and with different scenery in each shot. This continuity mismatch underscores why continuity is so important: Mismatches can take viewers out of your film, risking their distrust and disengagement, and lead to bad word-of-mouth. Here are four important components of achieving good continuity:

1) Shoot Cuttable AnglesShots that are similar in angle and focal length jar the audience when cut together. If jarring is what you want, shoot this way. Otherwise stick to the 30° rule: Vary the new camera angle at least 30° from the last and your angles should cut together “like butter.” (For more on cuttable angles, see the sections on smooth cutting angles and mismatches in Chapter 5.)

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2) Match EyelinesWhen a scene calls for cutting back and forth between shots of interacting characters, they need to be looking at each other, i.e., their eyelines must match. If shot incorrectly, their eyelines won’t match and the characters will not be looking in the right direction. This may confuse the audience and cause them to take an unintended meaning from the characters’ interaction.

POV and eyelineA common eyeline error occurs when making the Point of View (POV) shot. Let’s say you’re shooting a closeup of someone and their eyes (and possibly head) move left to right as they

look at something. When you cut to that something, you’re cutting to their POV. To match their eye and head movement, the POV shot must move the same direction, from left to right.

3) Match Screen DirectionIf a character or object moves left out of the frame, they need to enter the next shot from the right of the frame so they look like they’re mov-ing normally, from left to right. If exits and entrances don’t

match, your audience wastes time keeping up with the action instead of immersing themselves in your movie.

4) Don’t Cross the Line: Observe the 180° RuleCrossing the line (a.k.a. crossing the axis), is an extension of screen direction.

1.a Example of an eyeline match. Notice that in the boy’s close up, he maintains the cor-rect eyeline.

1.b Follow the floating balloon as it matches screen direction.

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ExampleA car is going down a street and you shoot two angles, one from each side of the street. Perfectly valid angles but if cut together, the car appears to be traveling in the opposite direction.

ReasonThere is an invisible line in every camera set up that bisects the scene horizontally at 180°.

The 180° Rule: How to observe itScenarioIf two people face each other, the 180° line runs across their heads. When editing, if you cut to the angle behind them, the person on the left now appears to jump to the right, disorienting your audience. Add another person and you add another 180° line.

The RuleWhen shooting, keep Person A on the left and Person B on the right by not moving the camera across the 180° line. When editing, don’t cut angles together that cause people to unintentionally jump sides in a scene.

1.c Crossing the line. Shoot the pawns from the correct cameras or they will appear to jump sides.

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ExampleCinematographers and their crews observe this rule daily when they shoot football games from one side of the field only. This way there is no chance to cut to the other side of the field and make the players appear to be running toward the wrong goal.

Get the angles you need without crossing the lineOf course there are many times when you want to shoot a lot of angles that cover both sides of the action. Here are several methods:

1. Establish a new 180° lineHave the characters move within the shot or move the camera within the shot to break the line and create a new one. As Dede Allen notes, director Robert Wise always anticipated his axis changes.

2. Shoot cutawaysCutaways diminish the disorientation, allowing the editor to cut away before cutting to the line-breaking angle. An overhead angle keeps the audience oriented and enables the editor to freely cut to any angle. Jumping the line disturbs the audience, especially in 3-D movies, which, by their nature, immerse viewers more deeply than 2-D movies.

3. Break the 180° rule deliberatelyIf you choose to ignore the rule, be aware that you are breaking it and be smart: Shoot some cutaways for insurance, just in case you don’t like the resulting cut. More frequently, due to the influence of modern-style cutting, filmmakers ignore the 180° line. (More about this in Chapter 5 To Cut or Not to Cut: Where to Cut and Why, during the discussion of traditional editing style vs. modern style.)

“Robert Wise would always plan his axis

change…there was always one key shot.

When you don’t get those shots, and you

just have somebody coming in without any

reason, then you have a scene where nobody

relates to anyone. Nobody is looking anybody

else in the eye, and it’s totally disorienting.

The audience might get thrown out of the

scene because it’s non-connective. Film is con-

nective; that’s what film is.”

(Emphasis added.)

— Dede Allen

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Getting the “Film Look” with a Digital Camera“We want the film look,” says the client or producer. Many budget-con-scious filmmakers, notably students, independents, documentarians, and television networks, use low cost digital video cameras but desire the film look. We’ve all seen the scratchy, old timey film look applied after the shoot and many of us have used software to produce a sup-posed film look. But what exactly is the film look and what’s the best way to get it when you shoot dig-itally? As an editor, how do you advise clients and producers?

As production and post over-lap more and more in the area of perfecting a show’s images, these questions continue to crop up. The topic has been coming up in Final Cut Pro and other digital system users groups for awhile and here’s the common wisdom: To get the film look, shoot for it — surprise — during the shoot! Below are a few tips on how to do this.

Film and digital cameras cap-ture images in two distinct ways. Film capture is a photochemical process which creates the grain (texture, fullness) and highlights we’re accustomed to seeing. Digital capture relies on electronic signals to produce non-grainy images that are cool, clean, and crisp and often described as harsh.

Digi-cam’s ability to cap-ture film-like shots is continually improving. So get the best digi-cam you can afford; either video camera or the new DSLR still cam-eras that can shoot videos. As of

1.d Millennium film camera. Photo courtesy of Panavision.

1.e HVX200 digital camera, Photo courtesy of Panasonic.

1.f EOS 7D HDSLR camera, Photo courtesy of Canon.

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this writing, however, the best HD camera does not approach the look of 16mm film, let alone 35mm. So, to achieve a film look, address the differences between the two mediums using these specific methods:

1. Shoot 24p as this format has the most film-like motion characteristics.

2. Be conscious of how you block the camera: Leave enough room for zooming and separate the camera from the set. If space is lack-ing, direct the talent to move forward; this is preferable to having them move sideways.

3. Set the proper depth of field (DOF). Since video has an infinite DOF and film has a shallow DOF, you need to narrow the DOF to approach film. Do this by using film-style lenses, zooming, adding a digital adapter, and changing the F-stop to widen the aperture.

4. Light film-style to avoid the cold video look. Go beyond “room lighting” and use key, fill, and backlighting in different scenes.

5. Adjust the white balance to mimic film’s photochemical color timing.

6. Pay attention to what the audience’s focal point will be with every setup. What will they notice first? Catch in their peripheral vision? Gravitate to next?

7. Finally, because sound is vital to viewers’ acceptance of visual images, record high quality audio to bolster your film-image look. Which neatly brings us to the last topic in this subject.

Record Location SoundOne misconception that many people in the film business have...is that if you want great sound in your movie you don’t really need to think about sound early on.

Randy Thom, C.A.S.1, sound designer and mixer, How to Train Your Dragon, The Incredibles, The Right Stuff, and Return of the Jedi.

To create the best-sounding film or video, start during preproduction. You want to anticipate how your show will sound, budget for sound, and record your desired audio during the shoot. This way you’ve got the sound you want for when your picture comes together audio-wise dur-ing sound editing in Stage III.

1. Cinema Audio Society, U.S. sound honorary society equivalent to A.C.E. for sound mixers and their associ-ates: sound editors, recordists, and technicians.

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Record clean tracksBe the sound editor’s best friend. Record clean tracks: no helicop-ters whirring overhead, no doors banging, no dolly squeaking, etc. Make sure all dialogue is crisp and clear so your audience won’t miss a word. Poor sound can only be corrected so much in postproduction — and usually at a cost — so do it right during production!

Get RT and WT on every location and set

RT, a.k.a. room tone, ambience, or presenceRecord a minute of RT — wordless, noise free background sound — for every scene. Sound editors need RT to smooth out scenes, especially dialogue scenes.

WT, a.k.a. wild track or wild soundRecord WT — non-sync, non-dialogue sound — on every outdoor loca-tion. Get the forest sound, the traffic sound…all the natural sounds. Record specific sounds that are crucial to how you want your project to sound. The sound editor can access thousands of sound effects but won’t have the mating sound of the ring-tailed lemur your show’s document-ing. Picking up such sounds later could be costly. Make a list beforehand of WT you need to record and add to the list when you’re on location.

Create a sound visionPart of realizing the vision of your film is conceiving what the viewer will hear. Think about the different scenes or parts of your show and how you want them to sound: light and sprightly, cheery with a sinister threat in the air, painful but upbeat, etc. You might start by imagin-ing each character or subject as an instrument or a theme: What would they sound like? What tune would they play? Next, envision how scenes or sections will sound as purely musical themes. The goal is to get an idea of the subtle and grand tones of your film and consider how sonics can support them.

1.g Fostex digital sound recorder, Photo courtesy of American Music & Sound.

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Last wordThere’s a belief in the film industry that you “Pay it up front during pro-duction or pay it downstream during post.” So, save yourself time and money by getting picture and sound right, right from the start. Shoot your footage correctly so that shots cut together the way you want and are logged and slated properly for maximum editorial efficiency.

Cutting Room Terms OverviewCutty, hissy, tubby; editing has a language of its own. This section lays down the basic editing, audio, and film terms in this section and add more as we go along. But first, some background: It’s helpful to know when and how the terms originated in the history of film editing so they make sense and are easier to remember.

A 10-frame History of Editing Tools or the Genesis of Cutting Room TermsIn the beginning — the 1900s — there was a light well for viewing film frames, a razor blade for cutting the film, and a cement splicer for gluing the cut frames together. Cutters, as editors were promptly called, propelled the film with their hands in order to see the footage move. In 1924 Iwan Serrurier invented a mechanical edit-ing device. The Moviola featured a hand crank for moving the footage and an elec-tric light. Before long it ran reels of picture and sound via electrified foot pedals and a magnetic sound head picked up the sound and amplified it through a built-in speaker.

Flash forward to the late 1960s and behold! The upright Moviola, with its two vertical reels, evolved into the flatbed, a table top machine with three or four reels running horizontally. And the flatbed became known as the KEM, the Steenbeck, or the flatbed Moviola according to its brand name.

1.h Moviola. Photo courtesy of Chris Senchack.

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The 1970s begat more for edi-tors: viable videotape editing machines. As tape was faster and cheaper, news shows and docu-mentary filmmakers jumped to it. Many independent filmmakers, corporate, and commercial edi-tors gravitated to it in the 1980s as did low budget TV shows. And thus was born the term linear. By the end of the ’80s a majority of TV shows cut on tape and the term nonlinear editor (NLE) arose.

Now all this time feature film editors, with a few exceptions, remained on film. They held out until the digital age dawned, bringing film and tape together in one machine in the early 1990s. By the decade’s end, news editors, TV editors, commercial editors, independent filmmakers, and feature editors were cutting on digital editing systems as were college students, prosumers, and home moviemakers.

And thus it came to pass with the millennium that the computer has made digital tech-nology available to all editors and almost all use it. Digital systems, along with the new editing terms they’ve brought forth, are ever changing with each new version, plug-in, add-on, download, and capability.

Moral: Change will prevail and ever yield to more change. And that is the state of the firmament in which we all dwelleth until kingdom come. Or the next evolution.

1.i Marking the cut point on a KEM. Photo courtesy of Chris Senchack.

1.j Ediflex, nonlinear tape editing system, which har-nessed 12 VHS decks to view and review cuts. Photo courtesy of Tony Schmitz.

1.k Making the cut on a digital editing system. Photo courtesy of Les Perkins.

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Editors’ Lingo: How Editors Call It and Do It“The cliché about sculpture, that the sculptor finds the statue which is waiting in the stone, applies equally to editing; the editor finds the film which is waiting hidden in the material.”

—Tom Priestly, editor and cinematographer, The Thomas Crown Affair, Deliverance, and Return of the Pink Panther.

General Cutting Room TermsAs editing has moved from being performed on film to being performed on video tape and then digital editing systems, new terms have been added and old terms have lived on. For instance, picture and sound — film terms — are freely mingled with audio and video — tape terms — into today’s digital domain. Also, while the days when editors used scissors to cut film are scores of years behind us, editing is still referred to as cutting and the editing room is still called the cutting room. As more and more movies are shot, edited, and projected digitally, perhaps in the future we’ll go to the theater to see not a film but a “digi.” But for now, film, video, and digital terms are freely intermixed in the cutting room and everywhere else. Here are the current general terms:

Picture editor, a.k.a. the editorEditor who puts the show together.

Sound editorEditor who perfects the show’s sound. Sound editors finesse the dia-logue, ambience, wild track, and narration and add sound effects among other duties.

DailiesFootage, usually shot the previous day, from the production crew that arrives daily in the cutting.

ShotCamera start to camera stop.

TakeA slated shot (which hopefully all shots have).

Edit (noun)A portion of a take or shot put into a show.

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cuy by cut 2nd edition...sample pdf

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