The Hurt Locker

Circular REM cycles

The "french" is just there merely for how you pronounce it.

I love IWaV

Mark does not suffer fools at all (I've gotten reamed out a few times by him in my day) and so when he offers praise, it fucking means something.  I'll give him a call and mention I know you.

When people ask me where I learned to edit, I say, "Mark Raudonis."

I interned at Bunim-Murray in the summer of 2000 and he, for whatever reason, saw something in me and let me apprentice (for lack of a better term) under him that summer.  He let me cut bumps and teases (as an INTERN, mind you) recommended books and movies, ripped my student films to shreds, let me work on my own projects after hours, and basically poured as much info as he could cram in my brain.  I have been lucky to call him a mentor, boss, and friend. 

I say all this as a preface to the larger point that he's one of the sharpest dudes out there in the world of post.  He switched all of BMP over to a FCP/XSAN company in 2004 when it was unheard of back then.  He did it because he was smart enough to see the advantages of it when the rest of the industry was still AVID.  Apple even filmed a commercial promoting FCP with him and aired it in all of their stores through 2005 (the video for which I can't find).  I rarely say trust everything a single person says, but Mark knows his shit, and you should all heed what he says.

As an editor, I jsut want to say I love a good one'er.  I don't want it for every shot, but one of my most favorite shots EVER is the slow push on Pacino's face before he pops the Turk and the Cop in Godfather.  Had there been a cutaway, it would have cut out the drama significantly.

A good editor knows when NOT to cutaway, just as much when to cutaway.  And if a scene is best told in one take, then a good editor would be first to say.

Wow, y'all aint about to let that go, huh?

I'm curious as to what misinformation there was out there.  My reactions are based on what I've experienced first hand with it.

Hmmm.

I've been going to Comic Con since 1993 and I still advocate for it.  I could envision doing a SDCC themed discussion about its importance and relevance or lack there of with some other DiF'ers.

Great article here regarding the talking points of apologists.

http://www.selfreliantfilm.com/2011/06/ … -thoughts/

I also want to make a distinction that sounds kinda dickish, but is oh so true and kinda needs to be said.  When I and others say hat FCPx doesn't support what professionals use, things like that FAQ get circulated as some sort of defense.  Thing is, professional doesn't mean that you get 1000 bucks to cut a wedding video on your own,  or 500 bucks to cut a local commercial.  Professional means you are one editor of a few in both the offline and online process, you have multiple assists loading, transcoding, and logging your footage, as well as Junior Editors who string footage out for you.  You need all of hese things because you are cutting something that is going to air on a television or in a theater.  You need that because you have to send it out to color corrector who's whole job it is is to make sure that colors are both vibrant and also legal and pass QC.  You need it because your audio has to be mixed by someone who works off of Pro Tools and makes sure that someone in the distant background isn't screaming "fuck," because S&P will sure as shit throw it bak at you.  You need a legion of people helping you edit because THAT'S what professional means.  Not that your video gets 200k hits on youtube or is featured on Web Soup, or that your marketing video for your father's Tool and Die company has "Rock You Like a Hurricane," on the soundtrack.  It's also not, as fun as it was to make it, your short film.  It's not you by yourself at two in the morning at the comfort of your own home on your own system, desk adorned with gummy worms and, ironically enough, diet Mountain Dew.  I've done all of the above, btw.  It's an awesome way to learn and to fill time between gigs or as impassioned side projects that may bear fruit one day. But it isn't the Pro environment Jeff and I are talking about.

Pro means 12 hour days in a bay that you share with the night shift, internal notes, network notes, Unity or SAN logins, Unity or San crashes, last minute weekend shifts, mad dash lock sessions, having to fire your friend that you recommended because he just can't cut fast enough, begging friends to come on last minute, and finally seeing it air in a theater or on a TV network.  That environment demands everything Jeff mentions above.

Well, let's kick it back to you guys.  List the Prime DiF'ers and your favorite 2nd stringers (like moi) and what you want to hear them talk about for an hour or 90 minutes or whatever.