ASE E-NEWS
EDITION #022
August 2011
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Greetings Editing Colleagues,
It may be cold outside, but dang things are hot on the ASE social calendar! This past month has been wonderfully active with events in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney. Check out the write-ups below.
There has also been fantastic contributions from Members forwarding articles and interviews. Greatly appreciated. All great reading whilst waiting for that render to finish up.
The ASE is most excited to announce EFILM as a new Gold Sponsor! The will hold the naming rights for Best Editing in a Commercial at this year’s ASE Editing Awards. EFILM are a state of the art Post Production facility for filmmakers and commercial clients, based in Sydney and Melbourne. Take a moment to check out their very impressive facilities www.efilm.com.au
Also the ASE was proud to recently sponsor the Sydney Film School’s award for Best Editor. The recipient of this year’s award went to Angela Williams. Congratulations Angela and we hope you enjoy your ASE Membership prize.
Entries are now open for the 2011 ASE Awards and Accreditation. Check out the website for details …www.screeneditors.com
Remember, it really is a matter of "what can you do for your Guild?” Please let us know what you'd like to contribute or make available to share.
Let's find great comfort in supporting each other.
Regards,
Jason Ballantine ASE
ASE President
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Victorian Update
What can I say but July as a blast of activity! A Sundowner, the Offspring and Red Hill events (please see articles below) and a ASE presentation on the craft of editing at the MIFF Accelerator sidebar. I would like to thank the participants of the panels for agreeing to being a part of spreading the joy of editing and the Vic committee who gave up their time to make sure these events run smoothly. It’s been a fascinating month.
I’m going to take time to thank Melbourne International Film Festival Selena Tan, Mark Woods and Michelle Carey for their willingness to have the ASE be apart of the festival. A huge thank you to Ken Sallows ASE, Luke Doolan and Andy Canny who took time out of their day to be a part of the MIFF Accelerator panel. Andy for taking time out of his edit to be there, Luke who was an Accelerator participant to jump the table to be a panelist and bring examples of pre-visualisations for a Singapore Airlines commercial and animation as well as the Animal Kingdom edits and Ken Sallows for bringing his knowledge, humility and the opening sequence to the Ben Lee documentary. The participants got a lot out of the panel.
Thank you to the Victorian membership who responded to the call to form an editing Subcommittee to cut the filmed events for the web. If you haven’t volunteered and find you have some time please don’t hesitate to contact vicoffice@screeneditors.com and we’ll happily take you up on the offer.
It doesn’t stop there folks. I’m stoked to announce Aussie expat Kate Williams, editor of The Eye of the Storm, has agreed to do a talk on Fred Schepisi’s film with assistant Shaun Smith on Monday the 15th of August from 7 pm at Cinema 2 at the VCA. There will be another chance with Kate to introduce you to her editing adventures in New York before we launch into the creative and technical aspects of The Eye of the Storm. So make sure you find the time to come and hear how she plies her magic.
There are more events in the pipeline so check the website every couple of weeks as we have some cool stuff in the ether. If you have an event you would like to see happen let us know and we’ll work at making it happen. Look forward to seeing you at the Kate Williams talk on the 15th.
Cindy Clarkson
Victorian ASE Chair
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ASE Meet the Assistants Forum (NSW)
(From L to R) ASE Members enjoy a lively two-hour discussion
The "Meet the Assistants' forum was held at AFTRS on Monday the 1st August. With a select panel of Assistant Editors, Henry Karjalainen, Basia Ozerski, Kento Watanabe, Daniel Lê, Matthew Ozerski, Elise Butt and chaired by Christine Cheung, it was a great evening for the Editing community to partake in a conversation about issues that we all face such as the various and ever-changing role an assistant editors plays, working conditions, negotiating contracts, and whatever else the audience wanted to talk about!
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Mary Stephen Editing Master Class, MIFF 2011
By Cindy Clarkson
For two and a half hours Mary Stephen talked about editing and her collaboration with French new wave director Eric Rohmer. She met Rohmer in the seventies when she travelled from Canada to Paris to do her masters in film.
Being the 70s all the film courses where dealing with the semantics of directors meaning in imagery. The only person teaching any form of practical filmmaking was Eric Rohmer who at that time using his current production budget. Mary was about to start shooting her own film so she went to his office to get a copy and was promptly told to go away by his secretary. She returned to her flat to have the telephone ring with Eric on the other end telling her to return. It began a life long friendship and working relationship.
…Click Here to continue reading
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In the Cutting Room: Oranges and Sunshine with Dany Cooper ASE
Interview by Karen Fleming
Actress Emily Watson as Margaret Humphries in “Oranges and Sunshine”
Oranges and Sunshine is the stunning debut feature of London based director Jim Loach. A British/Australian co-production set in both countries; the film was produced by Camilla Bray of 16 Films and the Award-winning producers of The Kings Speech, filmed by Denson Baker ASC and edited by Dany Cooper ASE.
As the son of Ken Loach, Jim has quite a film legacy to follow. How did you find working with him?
Jim was always incredibly polite, respectful and very funny. We got on brilliantly, we had the same ideas, same thoughts, he listened if I did not agree, and I listened back. A very good collaboration was had between us. It was a really terrific experience.
You went to London for the beginning of filming. How did the process of shooting and editing in two countries work?
We shot Nottingham first in November and transferred and synced the dailies at Deluxe London, roughly, no code etc, just so we could all get a sense of what had been done. Then when the shoot started in Adelaide in February, for 3 weeks, we put all the neg, (super 35) through Deluxe Sydney and transferred to DNx 36. There was quite a gap during the two shoots so I had 2 weeks at the end of December to do a rough assembly for Jim as a guide to use when shooting the Australian material.
…Click Here to continue reading
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Time for the Aussie Oscars?
Article by Leon Burgher
As an Australian Film Institute member of some ten year's standing, it has been a sad lament of mine that the institute's annual screenings of features, docos and shorts rarely attract more than 10% capacity of the cinemas in which they are shown. Seeing Australian productions on the big screen was, after all, my selfish reason for joining the AFI, and later, becoming a professional member. We all know the Australian general public believes our films are 'poison' but why do so few of our screen practitioners take an active interest in the very films they make?
…Click Here to continue reading
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Red Hill
By Cindy Clarkson
(From left to right) Kelly Sheeran, Dmitri Golovko, Cindy Clarkson, Patrick Hughes and Ben Joss (snapped by Sasha Dylan Bell)
Play Ennio Morricone spaghetti western music while reading this…
Imagine a crossroad disappearing into the heat haze scuffed boots stop in the foreground. After several seconds the boots move a little grinding loose gravel under heel. Go straight you travel the road you are on. Turning left or right results in a shift of consequence. Standing at the crossroad was Patrick Hughes. He’d been making commercials for seven years since graduating from VCA and been trying to get a gig as a feature director. No one was going to give him a feature till he had gone out and made one like Greg Mclean (Wolf Creek) or Clayton Jacobson (Kenny). So Patrick set himself a goal write, produce, direct, edit a genre feature and get it in Sundance or Berlin.
…Click Here to continue reading
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My Year With Peter Weir and Lee Smith
- Watching the Masters work and helping a bit - By ASE Member Bin Li
Clockwise: Bin Li, Lee Smith, friend and Peter Weir
One of the best years of my life was spent working on The Way Back. The project took me to four continents and I flew over 100,000km around the world. But the most rewarding experience was watching the two masters at work…
…Click Here to continue reading
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Experiences In Editing
…with Brian Kavanagh ASE
ASE Member Brian Kavanagh ASE
One of my favourite film stories concerns a visiting Hollywood actress (renowned for cosmetic enhancement) while filming in Australia, retired to her caravan for the lunch break. When called later by the First AD to continue filming the same scene, she appeared in a totally different wardrobe. The AD suggested this lack of continuity was a problem only to be asked by the ‘star’, “Don’t you people know about editing?” Well we do.
…Click Here to continue reading
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Meet the Members
…with David Jones
ASE Member David Jones
David Jones has been working in postproduction since 1985.
After cutting his teeth as a videotape operator/assistant editor, David graduated to editing corporate, commercial and music videos before moving to Channel 9 in Sydney where he worked on current affairs and sports. A move across Artarmon to the ABC saw David editing a broad range of ABC output, but specializing in drama. Since leaving the ABC to work freelance he has worked in all corners of Australia as well as New Zealand and the UK. David's credits include series such as Coronation Street, Ocean Star, Parallax, Time Trackers, Castaway and Neighbours.
I knew I wanted to work in post when… Who said I wanted to? I’m just doing this while waiting for my Liquor Licence to be approved, but it’s been 26 years now!
My first break in the industry came when… I was naïve enough to accept a job editing a drama series that no one else wanted to touch with a bargepole, but they promised me free pizza. The series was a short-lived flop but I was hooked on drama and what I learned was invaluable in laying the foundations for editing ABC's award-winning medical drama series, 'G.P.', where I spent 5 years working with a 'Who's Who' of Australian directors.
The thing I love most about editing is… The pizza. And Ctrl-Z of course.
The best tip I’ve got for aspiring editors is... Learn the rules.... then, more importantly, learn how and when to break them. Also, if you ever find yourself working with me, please note that I like Capricciosa pizza.
If I wasn’t in post-production I’d be… Sane.. and a Sports Photographer.
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Meet your Committee
…with ASE WA Committee Member David Fosdick
WA Committee Member David Fosdick in his solar powered flying machine.
A little background on my career…started with the ABC in Melbourne in 1970 as a neg cutter then progressed to the dizzying heights of film editing assistant, resigned from the ABC in 1973 and went bush in WA for 7 years. Re-started my editing career in Perth in 1980 with a small production company Film Centre Pty Ltd then finally saw the light and went freelance in 1985. Have since worked on shows such as Who Do You Think You Are? Diving School and Ship To Shore
I knew I wanted to work in post when… In the early 70s I had a brief stint neg-matching film sequences for the ABC’s soapie “Bellbird” – this was fairly tedious work (does anyone remember neg-matching?) whereas a couple of doors down from me all the real fun was being had by the editor and assistant. Here you could cut the film, try out different ideas and if you made a mistake just sticky tape it back together again – magic – non-linear editing before it went digital. I would return to my hot splicer and bottle of film cement and dream of one day having as much fun.
My first break in the industry came when… as a teenager fresh out of high school I rang the ABC in Melbourne and asked for a job and they said “Yes”
The thing I love most about editing is…the way that the preconceived notions about a documentary project can morph into something unexpected. Every project is an adventure where you can lose yourself in the “reality” you are constructing - every film has a heart and discovering and exposing that heart is always an exciting and rewarding experience.
The best tip I’ve got for aspiring editors is... don’t get sucked into the role of logging and digitizing hoping you will learn about editing – it’s got nothing to do with editing and everything to do with managing data and wrangling computers. Find an editor who will mentor you, edit as many low or no budget projects as you can so long as you will be credited as “the editor” – build up your list of credits, this then will be your foot in the door with producers who would otherwise have considered you only capable of logging and digitizing.
If I wasn’t in post-production I’d be…spending more time defying gravity in my solar powered flying machine.
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Meet our Sponsors
…with Digistor
Digistor Managing Director Andrew Mooney
The ASE is most pleased to welcome Digistor as a new Sponsor of our Guild and editing community.
Digistor is simply the best Post Production equipment and software supplier in Australia. They are the total solutions specialists, offering pipeline design, install and support from media creation, to management, to storage and delivery. Quoting Andrew ... "anything at all to do with media".
The company's Founder and Managing Director (... and super nice guy) Andrew Mooney started dealings 21 years ago. Head Office is now located in Sydney's Artarmon, with offices in Melbourne and Brisbane. His deft 27 staff cover all areas of their Clients' requirements with sales guidance and strategy, technical support and training.
Their core market is high end Post Production, from broadcast to graphics, to online web-streaming, from films to television and even 3D gaming.
Digistor had an impressive stand at SMPTE this month (see photo below), with strong Editor interest in AVID products. Andrew said the demand was a direct result of the uncertainty in Apple's recent Final Cut Pro X release. He said the free seminars were extremely well attended, particularly with those interested to know the direction of Post Production in the near future.
An appropriate time to mention Digistor's special for those considering moving from FCP to AVID's Media Composer.
Other popular products lay with Autodesk (such as Maya, Smoke, Flame and Lustre) to which Digistor is Australia's only full-line reseller. Matrox and AJA are also popular supporting products for cheaper AVID MC setups requiring I/O.
In rounding up, Andrew offered one very pertinent tip for us all ... the importance of back ups! We all fall victim to a wayward computer. Nothing can give you more confidence than having reliable storage and a knowledge of asset management, especially in a shared environment. Seek their guidance to a range of solutions at all price points. Digistor also have brilliant cost effective technical support for total peace of mind. Please take a moment to check out our Sponsors website ... they sure have some nice toys.www.digistor.com.au
All enquiries can be directed to enquiries@digistor.com.au or phone 1800 643 789. Tell them you're a member of the ASE!
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Sponsors News
Checkout ASE sponsors, AVID at the Warner Brothers convention in the US.
http://apps.avid.com/Media-Composer-LA-Event/?intcmp=AV-HP-S2
Upcoming AFTRS Courses:
Creative Art of Editing
http://www.openprogram.aftrs.edu.au/course/e518
This workshop seeks to go beyond the intuition mantra to reveal the thought processes behind an editor’s work. It examines how editing can dramatically influence an audience’s emotional response and how it can change the meaning of a story. Participants will focus on the creative contribution in editing, with discussions on the historical development of editing styles.
SAT 13 AUG / 9.30AM – 5PM / Tutor: Bill Russo / $220 ($198 industry discount)
Drama Editing Workshop
http://www.openprogram.aftrs.edu.au/course/e516
This practical course is designed to introduce participants to the art of editing Drama. Participants will have had the opportunity to work on editing exercises that contain various elements of drama, commonly encountered on film projects, edit a series of drama sequences, be given mentored feedback on their interpretation of the rushes and be introduced to the procedural aspects of organising their project for editing drama.
SAT 17 - MON 19 SEP / 9.30AM - 5PM / Tutor: Bill Russo / $550 ($495 industry discount)
Final Cut Pro The Basics (V7) - Weekend Intensive
http://www.openprogram.aftrs.edu.au/course/E545
This course covers everything needed to get started including capturing material, editing, trimming, adding dissolves and effects, working in the timeline window, mixing audio, managing projects and media. With a hands-on approach, participants will work with several styles of footage and produce a video for output.
SAT 24 - SUN 25 SEP / 9AM - 5PM / Tutor: Paul Healy / $660 ($594 industry discount)
Editing with Avid Media Composer v5.5
http://www.openprogram.aftrs.edu.au/course/E513
This four session introductory course covers everything you need to get started with this surprisingly powerful application, Avid Media Composer v5.5. Learn how to organise your material, get it into the timeline, trimming, adding dissolves, creating titles, working with segments in the timeline, mixing audio, saving your work and managing your project effectively.
MON 10 - THU 13 OCT / 6- 9.30PM / Tutor: David Forsyth /$595 ($535 industry discount)
Avid for Final Cut Pro Editors
http://www.openprogram.aftrs.edu.au/course/E547
This one-day course is designed for intermediate to advanced Final Cut Pro editors wanting to broaden their skill set to include Avid Media Composer. In this intense ‘bridging course’ editors who are already familiar with Final Cut pro can quickly learn Media Composer 5.5 and thereby expand their knowledge base and flexibility.
SAT 5 NOV / 9AM - 5PM / Tutor: David Forsyth / $320 ($288 industry and early bird discount)
Avid Media Composer 5.5 – Advanced Techniques
This two-day (or four night) course is designed for the experienced Avid Media Composer editor. It is assumed that the participant has been using the system for at least one year and will cover such topics as, Advanced trimming, timeline settings; Advanced Toolsets and workspaces; Linking settings; Using audio plugins; Effects nesting and layering; Multilayer effect templates; Intraframe editing; Animatte effects; Timewarp motion effects; Colour correction, and; Advanced Marquee title tool.
Please note, this is not a course for beginners or casual users of Avid Media Composer. The topics are quite in-depth and require at least a solid year's prior experience using the Avid Media Composer system.
SAT 19 – SUN 20 NOV / 9AM - 5PM / Tutor: David Forsyth / $595 ($536 industry and early bird discount)
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Membership Benefits
***Members receive discounts to the Sydney and Melbourne film festivals, which are both coming up soon so check their websites for details.
***Palace Cinemas in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney are now offering ASE members $13.50 entry to any film, any session (not including festivals or special events) upon presentation of membership cards.
***Did you know ASE members get concession rate at Popcorn Taxi events? We do! So just remember to show your ASE members card.
***Online Membership Payment:
There’s never been an easier way to join or re-new your membership to the ASE!
You are now able to pay online with your credit card. If you would like to join the
guild or renew, follow the link for Online Application Form:
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Quote Of The Month
“The difference between making Jaws (1975) 31 years ago and War of the Worlds (2005) is that today, anything I can imagine, I can realize on film. Then, when my mechanical shark was being repaired and I had to shoot something, I had to make the water scary. I relied on the audience`s imagination, aided by where I put the camera. Today, it would be a digital shark. It would cost a hell of a lot more, but never break down. As a result, I probably would have used it four times as much, which would have made the film four times less scary. Jaws is scary because of what you don`t see, not because of what you do. We need to bring the audience back into partnership with storytelling.”
Steven Spielberg (Director: Jaws, Saving private Ryan, Munich)
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Until next time
The ASE Committee