The Editor - Unions - What They Give Us (Another Look)
February 27, 2009
Waaaay back in August (well, that’s way back in Internet time, even faster than dog years) I wrote a post about unions, and why I like them. The gist of the article was this: though there are certainly excesses, what the entertainment unions like IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees, which represents most of the below-the-line types in the film industry in the U.S.) do for us is to create a larger power with the people who are signing our checks than we could ever have separately. Part of this has to do with forcing employers to respect our non-work times and part of it has to do with forcing them to provide for our health insurance in a country where our government does not.
But there’s more, and I’ll get to that in just a minute. But first, an aside.
Yesterday, I got in the mail a ballot for my vote on the new Editors Guild contract, with provisions in it that are so controversial that the board felt the need to attach a two-page letter describing why they feel it is important to vote yes, despite a change in the way health benefits are offered, a New Media clause that is good but not as forward-thinking as some might have liked, and a very small pay increase. The leadership admits that they weren’t able to get everything they wanted but that, in the present economic meltdown, they feel that this is a realistic deal. By far, one of the most interesting parts of the cover letter, however, is the phrase that “there is no dynamic in the workplace that goes unmirrored on the Board,” meaning that they represent people who work a lot as well as people who are struggling horribly. Just like the rest of us. Regardless of my opinion of the contract (I’m voting for it, by the way, but I still think it leaves way too much future revenue on the table) this letter backs up what I said in my last post about unions — it’s about providing a singular voice to a group of people who are very unsingular.
But, now let’s get back on track.
One complaint that’s always voiced about unions is that they make it difficult to create films — what with grips refusing to adjust lights, and other people refusing to move furniture. “Everybody should be able to do everything on a set,” I hear. And, while it may be impossible on micro-budget films to separate many of these tasks among different people, most of these tasks remain anyway. One of the most difficult things for my students at USC to wrap their minds around is how to collaborate effectively. It’s easy to talk with an editor, when you are the editor as well the director. It’s easy when you’re the d.p. and the costume designer and the production designer and the sound recordist, etc. etc. etc. But, at a certain point, it means that you’re not going to be able to work with your actors as quickly or effectively if you don’t have someone to run to the hardware store to get that black-out paper that you need for your lighting. It pays to have someone to be mic-ing up your actor, while someone else is lighting, while the director is actually helping to refine the performances. And that means that people are going to have to learn to collaborate.
But the system breaks down is the person who is doing the lighting turns around to look for the person who has been asked to help him/her and finds that the person has been sent off to bring a prop table onto the set. The lighting then takes way longer. Or if the person who is doing props is asked to help run cables for the lighting, then when the actor wants to rehearse with the actual scalpel that he/she will be using in the set — that actor is going to have to sit colling his/her heels.
So, division of labor is a good thing in general, for nearly all films — but it is one of the first things that goes out the window when the budget crunch comes along. It also means that there are lots of times when someone who really hasn’t been trained to hang lights is asked to do that — because “we don’t have anyone else to do it.” The end result — they hang the lights wrong, something falls and who knows what happens with that. I like to describe this situation with a triangle:
I like to tell the producers or directors who I work with that “I can give you two points of this triangle. Which one do you want to give up?” It puts it in stark perspective — asking to do something cheaply is going to affect either how well or how fast you do it. If you want me to run cables, while working props — you either do without the right prop, or give me extra non-shooting time to do both.
Unions, it occurs to me, help to drum that point home (as well as all of the other things that they do). They help reinforce the idea that no one person is a Master of All Trades and that there are tradeoffs to treating them as if they are. Unions educate, as well as protect.
=========================
Another thing that the Editors Guild does is provide a place where we can learn from each other and to that end, they publish a fantastic magazine. Years ago, Steve Cohen, of Splice Here, took the magazine’s professionalism up several notches and I began writing a column in which I interviewed editors in depth about scenes from movies that they had just cut (archives of that series — The View From The Cutting Room Ceiling — can be found on my old website).
The latest issue will be available up at the Editors Guild website very very soon and includes an article by me, in which I interview Jason Steward, the editor of the new film WORLD’S GREATEST DAD, who I had the great fortune of meeting up at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. We talk about the increasing number of tasks that an editor is required to do in today’s modern editing room, a subject which I also covered in this blog post called “Does The Editor Have A Future?”
Jason is incredibly articulate and very very interesting. I’d recommend surfing over there and hunting for the article very soon. It appears in the March/April 2009 issue.
Tags: Film Blog, Movie, Actor, Hollywood, Movie Blog
The Casting Director - Chicago Casting Update
February 26, 2009
I am in Chicago casting a $500,000 budget film. I arrived two weeks ago and it has been 14-hour days, every day and I am exhausted. I have no assistant and I have had to quickly learn the talent pool that I have to choose from in Chicago.
The film is “Polish Bar,” and while I would love to tell you who is in the cast, I am a bit superstitious and feel that if I put it in writing, the stars won’t show up or the deals won’t close. I want the actors in front of the camera filming, and then I will tell you.
Needless to say, I am very happy with the cast. Working on this job has been a labor of love. Scheduling the actors, flying them in from LA and NYC, making sure the deals are closed, coordinating all of the information, scheduling auditions (with no assistant – we can’t afford it), working out of the production office which is 20 minutes from the audition space, navigating the closed roads due to construction, taking the bus from my apartment to anywhere I need to go (no car rental – we can’t afford it), ordering in and eating Chinese 3 nights in a row (I feel ill), not shaving for 5 days and sleeping badly, but ultimately – and I truly mean this – ultimately loving the people I am working with and making the best film that we can make.
I have been working on this film since October, and seeing the Director’s eyes light up at the camera test because he was so excited about his actors, let’s me know that I am doing my job. I got a late night text last night from him, thanking me for my work and letting me know that he appreciated the work put into the film. It means a lot to me when someone does this, I don’t need a big pay day (although that would be nice) I think the respect and camaraderie has always been more valuable to me and when it works, it really can be an experience that bonds you to your director and hopefully keeps him coming back to you for more films.
I am booked on a 6:15am flight from O’Hare tomorrow. When I arrive, I have auditions for another film and then I will go home, pass out and sleep for 2 days…I can’t wait, but I will miss the gang and think of them a lot. Oh yeah, I forgot, I still have to cast a few of the roles, but they don’t start in week 1, so maybe I’ll be back…
Tags: Film, Movie Theatre, Movie Blog, Television,
The Showrunner - Wish me Luck
February 26, 2009
Early October was a real bad time for showbizzle. We missed our launch by three weeks. The website sucked — full of bugs, terrible navigability. We were uploading four original videos a day that no one was watching. They were, like us, watching the Obama campaign and the …
Tags: Movie, Film Industry, Film, Hollywood, Film Blog
The Hollywood Career Coach - WHAT’S THE FIRST SHOT?
February 25, 2009
EXT - DAY - NYC STREET
One of my first great jobs in NY was as an apprentice
editor. I was hired to “schlep” dailies from the lab to
the office, then off for coding, then back for syncing,
then out for telecine and off to sixth avenue and 2 drops
for the network pouches (ABC and CBS) to the west coast.
In the morning I’d pick up the transferred mag stripe from
the transfer house for syncing, but I digress.
I was fortunate to overhear a fascinating conversation one
day between the assistant editor I worked for and her
mentor, the picture editor on the film.
GUARDIAN ANGEL?
He had edited this incredibly complex sequence. It was a
wonderfully choreographed confrontation between a gang of
subway thugs and a fictional version of the Guardian
Angels, a group of kids from the Bronx led by Curtis Sliwa
, who put on red berets and did their best to combat crime
in their neighborhood. (Mostly the Bronx, but I saw them
in Manhattan occasionally.)
Anyhow. The editor had created this incredible sequence. A
gang of do-gooders meets a gang of bad guys in the
labyrinth of tunnels known as the New York City subway
system.
(This scene was later recreated in Michael Jackson’s “Beat
it” video. Minus the choreographed dancing.)
WHAT’S THE SECRET?
So. The assistant said to the editor. “This scene is so
amazing. It’s got shape, and drama and it builds
incredibly and keeps the suspense up and the ends
incredibly.” She obviously noticed something spectacular
working in how the scene achieved it’s magic, from an
editorial point of view.
Finally she asked him, “How did you plan that sequence so
that it would build so well and have so much structure and
flow?”
He was silent for a minute taking it all in, thinking
about how to answer her question. He was appreciative of
her feedback and compliment, and truly wanting to answer
her question in meaningful way.
WELL, UMM . . .
Finally, as if exasperated with himself for not having
anything more profound to say, he said “Well, I don’t know
that I planned any of that stuff you’re seeing.
I just looked at all the footage and asked myself ‘What’s
the first shot? What’s my entrance into the scene from all
the footage I have?’ And once I have that one shot placed
in the sequence, I ask myself ‘What’s the next shot’ and
so on from there.”
Even I, just back from my third trip to the lab for the
day, knew there WAS something profound about this
exchange.
GOT STRUCTURE?
He did have a wonderful innate sense of structure and
pacing and storytelling, but it wasn’t where he started.
He started with the first shot and built from there. Saw
what was being created and responded to the needs of the
scene one shot at a time. After stringing together a few
shots a rhythm was created. A vibe was felt. Forward
motion was created.
LISTEN TO THE FOOTAGE
Another editor I worked for said as we sat down before
huge mess of dailies. “The footage tells us how to tell
the story. Once shooting is over we have to tell the story
the footage wants us to tell, not necessarily the one the
director thinks he shot, or the writer might have
visualized would create the final scene.”
It was a creation in progress, being laid out one shot at
a time, its’ total gestalt being drawn in front of his
eyes.
One tiny decision at a time. One shot at a time.
Structure and pacing yes. But decisions made one shot at a
time.
ACTION
And so it is with our careers which are visioned and
dreamed and planned all our lives but implemented one step
at a time.
One shot. One phone call. One meeting. One sentence at a
time.
Tags: Movie, Filmmaker, Filmmaking, Actor, Film Industry
The Script Reader - The Blog in Which I Brag About Getting to go to the Oscars
February 24, 2009
I got to go to the Oscars. It was fun.
The best part of the night, aside from watching the my date’s stuff in the show, and aside from sitting next to Alfred Maysles, was the dessert that was served at the governor’s ball. it was a box that opened …
Tags: Oscars, , Movie Bloggers, Movie Theatre, Filmmaker
The Business Affairs Assistant - Coming down from an Oscars high
February 24, 2009
Is anyone else coming down from an Oscars high but me? This is the second year in a row I’ve felt it. I totally eat up all the platitudes expressed at the Oscars: we are fighting to do work that lives up to the greatest films of all time, what …
Tags: Movie Theatre, Television, Filmmaker, Movie, Movie
The Standby Painter - Indiana Jones and the Clones
February 23, 2009
Today, let’s time travel to the days of yore and bad filmmaking at its best. Here are the last emailed questions from my curious any mysterious friend concerning the incredible (as in ridiculously unbelievable) film, Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold:
Renee, … you said the QUATERMAIN LA shooting …
Tags: Film Blog, Oscars, Movie Blog, Hollywood, Movie
The British Film Director - Using Final Draft CollaboWriter
February 23, 2009
Since most of my resent day-to-day work has been writing with writing partners, I’ve been using Final Draft’s ‘CollaboWriter’ function. What a genius idea! With this tool, and the use of skype, you can co-write a screenplay with anyone in the world!!! It really is truly marvelous!
I’ve been using …
Tags: Filmmaker, Television, Film, Film Blog, Hollywood
The Reality TV Producer - REALITY TV?
February 21, 2009
I wanted to share something with you - and apart from it just being interesting to me, I think it might say something about Reality TV as a genre.
So, mid conversation yesterday my other-half was describing the trials and tribulations a friend of our’s is experiencing in her career. Then …
Tags: Filmmaking, , Oscars, Film Blog, Movie
The Independent Filmmaker - Anatomy of a Shot
February 20, 2009
The Script
INT. SUBWAY STATION PLATFORM - MORNING
The last passengers are boarding the train. The doors chime and we see JEAN, 41, holding a cup of coffee and clutching a folded paper beneath her arm, standing on the edge of the platform looking rather disconsolate. The doors close and the train pulls away from the platform. Jean looks down at the rails, looks along the track, pauses then steps back from the edge.
The Intention
This film is about a woman, Jean, who is isolated in her own world to the point where she sees no options. That world, during the course of this film, is slowly chipped away at by a complete stranger, Heather.
My first shot, shot A, is about establishing Jean, her emotional state and her world. It is the shot when we are most intimately with her.
The Shot list
A - E/C/U Jean
B - Wide through train doors
C - Medium c/u of Jean through train window, also punch in for e/c/u
D - c/u Jean feet at ledge, train leaving
E - Jean pov of track - a bag blows
F - c/u Jean, train departs
G - e/c/u Jean, train departs (punch in from shot F)
H - wide, behind Jean, train departs
I - c/u of Jean, slow push in
J - C/U Jean, slightly from side moves to…
K - … head on c/u Jean
L - overhead wide of women for geography
M - c/u Jean, to Heather out of focus
You’ll notice that all of these shots happen before Heather enters. This was decided because the film is about Jean, not Heather. And what gives weight to the entire film are the moments Jean spends with herself before a word is ever spoken. Nowhere else in this simple film is there nearly as much coverage.
The Overhead
(Heather, red, starts running up the stairs and lands next to Jean, blue. Train moves from left to right.)
The Storyboard
Art Department
Our color palette for Jean and, as this is her film, for her world was grey, silver, green and blue. The major art department choice really was location selection. Beyond that there were subtle tweaks here and there to enhance the environment.
If you look over Jean’s left shoulder you will see some blue and silver columns. Those columns normally have very busy print ads on them that are primarily colored red. My production designer found blue and silver fabric that she used to wrap the columns. That brought us back to our color scheme, created additional reflections for the lighting department to play with (check out those bonus hot spots we got out of the bargain!) and simplified the background to keep our focus on the talent.
(By the way, this is a still taken from a still camera, not a screen grab.)
Wardrobe Specs
Although you can’t see it terribly well in this shot, Jean’s wardrobe was professional and conservative, falling within the color palette of the film. The film is meant to take place on the East Coast in Fall. She is wearing a navy suit with a light blue turtle neck, a trench coat, Burberry purse, brown leather shoes, a watch and simple pearl earrings.
Hair & Make Up
A touch I love that the Make Up and Hairstylist suggested, that Jean’s hair be nicely done but with one piece that just doesn’t sit right. To illustrate that while she’s trying to fit in a certain world it’s just not quite working for her. You’ll see that piece here on her forehead just above her left eye.
The Lens
We chose a lens that would keep Jean in focus and throw everything else out - which pretty much mimics her emotional state at this moment.
The Lighting
For this you’ll have to look at the moving shot below rather than the still. The lighting evolves in this shot. It starts out quite dark and becomes much brighter as the shot progresses. This was important to tell the story of the train passing, to tell the emotional journey of Jean in the film and also to give us a visually interesting open. At this point I imagine we’ll fade up from black onto this shot as our open.
The Camera Move
On set we decided to add another layer to this shot. We began on an extreme close up (as in the above storyboard) but pulled out to a frame similar to the still above. Thank goodness I had a DP that made the suggestion even though it required more work and an amazing grip team that was able to jerry-rig slider for us in no time.
It made sense to have this shot evolve because we’re moving with Jean from a state of complete isolation to something less so. This shot opened up some room for that possibility. We did not just add the move because it was cool. I personally have a real disdain for unjustified tricky shots. (Though fortunately, it did end up being quite beautiful.)
The Performance
Lily Knight, who played Jean, is amazing and the best thing I did to contribute to a good performance in this case was casting well and responding to what she was giving me. But the key to the performance in this particular shot was keeping it appropriate to the frame size. Technically, eyeline was also a question.
Shot A
So here it is. (Sorry I can’t post a clip here unless I put it on youtube so here’s a link for now.)
This shot is raw from the camera, compressed so I could upload it here. No color timing has happened and obviously no edit points have been chosen nor has any sound been added. All of those things will change the perception of this shot dramatically but here’s what we have so far. This is the worst this shot will ever look or feel because it is not finished. (Thank you, my amazing DP, for not being a baby about me posting this.)
What you are seeing is the wind and lights from the train passing by. If you can imagine all the wonderful screeches and squeaks that go along with that you should have a good idea of where I’m heading with this.
http://web.me.com/jjenred5/Site/TOUCH_Shot_A.html
In the end, will anyone other than you and my crew know any of this when they watch the film? Nope. And they shouldn’t either. Because if I’ve done my job well the audience will just watch, and hopefully feel, the story and the characters.
Tags: Movie Blog, Television, Movie Bloggers, Movie Theatre, Director
