Re: The "tape is dead" thread
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Avid-L2/message/87081;_ylc=X3oDMTJzZHR2bWI1BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE1BGdycElkAzE1NDg2NTIxBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNjA3MzI4OQRtc2dJZAM4NzA4MQRzZWMDZG1zZwRzbGsDdm1zZwRzdGltZQMxMjkyNzUwNzk5>
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> But Murch also said it doesn't work as well digitally because a
> computer can't reproduce every frame at high speed (refresh) so
> its not exactly like a KEM or flatbed.
>
In early days, many film-experienced Editors would slow down enough to
"spool down" to wherever they were working precisely because speeding
film can trigger new thoughts, occasionally bizarre thoughts - but it is
the THOUGHTS of Editors that make for filmic greatness.
I wanted to make two points about NLE: one is this idea of being just
like a film room.
It isn't. Just labelling folders as Bins isn't going to do it.
To be clear, I don't miss film, I never want to cut on film again, BUT
these things I miss:- I miss being able to look at a shot in the can and
instantly see if I have taken anything out of it or if it is still
completely intact. I miss that I can have my Assistant physically remove
every shot I have used, leaving only those not used.
I miss having an Assistant!
I also miss the greatest sync-lock ever; when I want to work on a scene
within a reel, I run down to it, cleanly break the reel at that point
and then my Assistant takes the scenes from the right and puts it on the
shelf. In my NLE I got bins, I got tracks but where is my SHELF???
(when I'm done messing around I just say "run this down in the
synchroniser and join the rest of the reel on")
NOW THE OTHER THING I thought worth mentioning for the youngsters is
another way, a different way to work.
That is; because of the way we can organise things in multiple bins with
subclips and such (I don't) there is a subtle effect on how the Editor
thinks. There is a temptation to work according to the material, rather
than the story.
A bit hard to explain but it is the difference between asking "what
shall I do with this close up?" and asking instead "at this part of the
story I want a close up, what have I got?" The second question makes you
more a collaborator, less a "chopper".
Great Directors want Great Editors to say things to them like "I'd
really like a shot of the finger on the trigger here" or "we definitely
need a wide shot to see him escape" or "we want a tight shot of him
clawing at the glass as the car sinks". All true examples BTW.
Another way, if you cannot read a script and mark it with your cuts
before anything is shot then you might still become Great but it will be
harder.
I remember seeing one of the Great Editors cutting a scene. He had cut
in slugs (pieces of opaque film) at various places. I asked what they
were there for, he said "that's her close up" I asked why didn't he cut
in the proper shot and he said "they haven't shot it yet, won't be shot
until next week".
Now THAT'S what I'm talking about.
john
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