Fits and Starts

The life of an indie filmmaker is one of fits and starts:  you have a flash of inspiration; you carefully and lovingly coax that spark into a fully formed idea; you motivate your friends and colleagues to join you in making this dream a reality; you toil through the process of production and post production; you do the dance of the press and film festival circuit and then...

Well then, your real life slaps you in the face.  Stuff happens. You get buried under the avalanche of your daily life. You need to pay your bills - do your taxes - find paying work - chauffeur your kids to baseball practice.

You know - real life.  And not that it's all awful - it's not, it's just really time consuming - which leaves almost no time for flashes of inspiration to spark in your brain.

So, while I've been doing lots of work this past year, sadly none of it has involved directing my next short film.  What has been going on is my usual assortment of editing corporate videos, documentaries, local commercials and various odds and ends - a typical freelancers bounty and one that I'm grateful to have in these tough times.

 
Recently, I completed editing, sound mixing and doing graphic work for the Goldman Environmental Prize videos.  These videos will introduce and tell the stories of this year's recipients of the prize that is awarded to everyday folks who do extraordinary things to protect their local environment.  Each year we also re-edit the stories together into a half-hour show which airs on PBS called The New Environmentalists.  It's always a pleasure to work on something that highlights such inspirational and compelling people, and we've been fortunate to have won a regional Emmy Award for this show twice in the last couple of years.

I'd love to show you the videos for this year, but you'll just have to wait until their names are officially revealed.  I can tell you that one of the stories was very interesting to do as it revolved around an issue that got major worldwide attention recently.  I was in the unique position of knowing about some of the elements of this story just a week or so before it exploded in the press.

On an entirely different note, I had a very troubling experience as an editor recently.  As a freelancer who works from home, I am sometimes put in a peculiar position of having strangers in my house.  Most of the people I work with I've known for a long time and consider them friends as much as clients, but with more and work coming through Craig's List and other online sources, this is now not always the case.
So, I was in the position of working with a new client when he decided that he wanted to come over to finish up work on a demo video we were doing for a new piece of software.  Nice enough guy, so no problem.  We finish up that video and he mentions he wants to do a small thing and edit some footage that he took of his family around his house that will be included in a little "happy face" video to open up some meeting.  Easy enough - I do these sorts of things all the time.  Nice guy, nice family - no worries.  We finish the videos, he pays promptly - says the videos worked great, everyone loved them, he'll be sure to be back on any new projects that come through.

Months later, I get a rather strange call from one of his colleagues at the company he works for.  So, I call him back and he says "I just wanted to let you know if you hadn't heard from John (not his real name) lately, that unfortunately he's been out of the office for a while."  He continues, "Actually at this moment we're not sure if he's coming back."  He sounds really uncomfortable and I can tell he's sitting on some bad news.  I'm expecting him to say that John has some terminal disease and how awful it is.

Then he says, "We wanted to let you know before you heard it on the news..."  I'm thinking, wha?

"John killed his wife."

My head spins.  I can't believe what I'm hearing.  All I can think about is this guy in my edit suite, in my house, watching video of his kids - laughing and playing outside the home where this guy will soon kill their mother.

Ugh.

It's hard for me not to question my judgement on people.  How can you know - how can you really know what someone else is thinking.  What inner demons they are fighting with.

You just never know.

On happier news, I'm pleased to announce that a film I did some editing work on last year just had it's premiere at the Atlanta Film Festival.  Without a Net tells the story of four kids from the drug controlled slums of Rio de Janeiro, who become involved with a local circus.  It's really a great story and I'm so glad that my friend Kelly Richardson has completed her project and is making the festival rounds.  Check it out if you get the chance.



Speaking of women-produced filmmaking, I also recently funded this cool looking film noir project on Kickstarter called the Lilith Necklace by Melanie Killingsworth.  It's always nice to have the opportunity to help others see their visions fulfilled.  I figure, "Hey if I can't get my project rolling right now, might as well help someone else get theirs off the ground."

As for Enter the Dark, it is still going strong, with upcoming festival screenings in Chicago, Toronto and even all the way up there in Saskatoon.  It's now running on its own momentum, as festival directors are now contacting me and sometimes even waving the entree fee!  This is the advantage of a film that has already screened in many festivals and won a few awards.  Once a film starts getting some buzz, it creates a life of its own.  Starting the buzz is always the hard part.

Which brings me back to my starting point - fits and starts.  I've struggled through a couple of ideas, but I think I've settled on a nice, tasty little moment of darkness to work on next.  I don't want to give away too much of the piece yet, but it is inspired by very real events in my lifetime.

And also this famous image:

If I can pull this off successfully then perhaps bigger things are on the horizon.   But for now, I'll take things slowly.

One step at a time.

Rhinos' Flight

When I'm not scaring myself silly with new story ideas or ranting about media wackiness, I actually have a real job (sort of) as video editor.

Outside magazine recently posted a short film "Rhinos' Flight" I edited for the series "The New Environmentalists." Check out the story of Raoul du Toit, working to save the last of Africa's black rhinos. To see the whole six-part series, narrated by Robert Redford, check your local PBS listings.

The Hubris of Apple

I woke up last week to a brand new world.  The business I had grown and nurtured for more than a decade was changed overnight.  Steve Jobs decided that I no longer mattered.

I've been editing for most of my life.  I started out on a CMX 3600, cutting videos on BetaSP and D2 tape.  Actually, strike that... I really started out splicing Super8 film in my bedroom, then moved on to VHS tape to tape assemble editing, then 16mm Steenbecks, then came the CMX 3600.  From there I jumped into the futuristic world of "non-linear" computer-based editing.  First on Avid, then to a Media 100 and finally to Apple's Final Cut Pro.

I've been cutting primarily on Final Cut for the last decade, which makes it my longest running platform so far.  Since I started off editing with film, the concepts of film editing always made the most sense to me - things like having clips in bins and sequences running from left to right, and multiple tracks stacked on each other.  These were things first introduced by Avid, and then carried on by every editing program thereafter.  My jumps from Avid to Media100 to Final Cut were never really huge ones as all had common elements that they borrowed from each other and that ultimately led back to the days of film editing.

But now, Steve Jobs has decreed that all this shall end.  He is determined to drag editors kicking and screaming into the future that he has decided is best for all of us.  With the advent of Final Cut Pro X, he has obliterated many of the useful ways that we go about our business of editing.  And he could care less how we feel about it.

This actually goes against the very reason that Final Cut was so good to begin with. After I had made the switch to Apple's editing tool around 2000, I kept encouraging others to follow - whether they were familiar with Avid, or Media100 made no difference.  The strength of Final Cut to me, was the fact that you could use the tool in many different ways.  In other words, if you liked traditional 3-point editing performed in source and record windows like an Avid, Final Cut could do that.  Or, if you preferred making edit decisions in the timeline, like a Media100, Final Cut could do that too.  If you were a keyboard guy and liked to control the software through keyboard commands - no problem.  Prefer to mouse-around and drag things - no problem there either.  In fact, for most functions, there were usually two or three ways to do the same thing.  Whenever I watched another editor use the software I always learned something new because the toolset was so rich, it seemed almost like an entirely different animal, depending on who was operating it.

Apple's approach was obvious - learn from other successful programs what works well, and instead of dictating one way to do things, offer as many as possible, ultimately allowing the editor to determine how they should work.

But Apple is a very different company today than it was back in 2000.  Back then, they were still known as Apple Computer - and they actually cared about their higher-end customer base.  The decision for Apple to enter the video editing market themselves made perfect sense.  Most editing platforms ran not only on Macs, but on suped-up high-end Mac systems with two monitors, fast drives and lots of RAM.  They needed the fastest processors and the biggest chassis to handle additional PCI cards to run everything.  This high-end market was always on the bleeding edge of technology, constantly upgrading, always searching for faster, bigger better.  Not only that, but it was a very prestigious, and sexy market - one that could drive customers to see Apple as a player in all things media-related.

So, it made perfect sense for Apple to want to play in this market not just on the hardware side, but on the software side, and use Final Cut to continue to drive hardware revenue.  They did very well in this market - expanding into DVD production, sound editing, motion graphics, color correction and bundling it all into a new product called Final Cut Studio.  They were kicking Avid's ass and climbing up the ladder of credibility - eventually edging into the ultimate territory of Avid's domain - motion picture editing.  It seemed they were about to own the whole market... and then a funny thing happened.

They no longer wanted it.  Just when it seemed Avid was dead, Apple took their foot off the pedal.  They let up.  They stopped upgrading their software.   They started doing random things like buying up Shake (a market leading software compositing tool used by folks like ILM), releasing one version and then abandoning it completely.  They stopped attending NAB (the National Association of Broadcasters convention) and then even stranger, stopped attending MacWorld.  They changed their name to just Apple.  No Computer.  A change was coming.

To put it simply, Apple is no longer a computer company.  They are a mobile device company.  They are a media-absorption company. They sell iPads, and iPhones and Apps, and Clouds and IOs.  They barely continue to upgrade their desktop Macs (the workhorse of video-editing).  The strategy of pandering to the technological vanguard of content creators no longer fits with their business model.  They don't want to sell high-end $1000 software to drive hardware sales, they want to sell a million downloads of a $2.99 app.

I get all this - I really do.  It makes perfect sense.  They no longer need me.

But did Steve really have to completely thumb his nose at the business I've built over the last ten years, using his software and his computers?

How am I supposed to tell my clients that, "I'm sorry, I can't open up that project we did last year - Final Cut Pro X can't read it."  Or, "No, I can't send an OMF file to the audio post house to work on your sound mix, Final Cut Pro X can't do that."  Or, "Gee, I'd love to be able to read in that list you generated from your rough-cut edit you did on your Avid, but Final Cut Pro X can no longer import an EDL."

Now look - I understand that it's really just version 1 of a brand new piece of software.  And I know that they'll work out some of the bugs, and add back some of the functionality.  And I know that 3rd party developers are already scrambling to full in the holes where Apple no longer cares.

But let's really call it what it is - iMovie X.  A glitzy, cool new piece of software to edit fun videos for web and social media.  It is in no way a professional tool that I can use with my existing clients, and not something I can use to edit feature films, or broadcast documentaries.

So, like a scorned lover, I must wait.  Wait and see if Steve ever decides to play with me again - to bless me with the pure light of his affections.

I'll give it a year.  I'll continue to run Final Cut Pro 7.0.3 on my existing system.  Continue to bill my clients on an edit suite that fulfills their needs and mine.  I'll check out and download Adobe and Avid's latest products and figure out which will better suite my needs.  Maybe, just maybe, Steve will come to his senses and like the New Coke fiasco, or the Apple Cube, this will all just be a blip in product development stupidity history, and some day soon, shiny new Final Cut Pro 8 will be made available.

If not, I'll soldier along just fine.  In the end, the toolset is never what matters most.  It's always been and will always be about telling a story in an effective and compelling way.

But damn Steve - did you really need to be such a dick about it?

Miro Digital Arts - Shameless Plug Time

Well, now that the new year has rolled around it's time to roll up the sleeves and actually get back to work.  And speaking of work - I recently took a little time to spruce up the website for my editing business.

As you may know, while I quite enjoy rambling on this blog, and making short films, those things in no way actually pay the bills.  My real work is as an editor, and to be honest, work has slowed these past few years - hence the need to update the website and actually start (gasp) marketing myself.

So, here's my blatant marketing pitch:

When you have a moment, please check out my new website.  There you will see some of the work I do, and some of the projects I have recently completed.  I believe the work speaks for itself - documentary work that has aired on PBS's American Masters; corporate work for major companies such as Cisco, Old Navy and Skype; and independent films that have garnered multiple awards and have screened at festivals worldwide.

So if you, or anyone you know needs help editing a video, or has questions on how to finish their documentary, or how to get their indie film on Netflix, please drop by my website:
www.mirodigitalarts.com


Ok - now back to your regularly scheduled rambling...

Disobedience is Good - Two thoughts to live by

When I was growing up, I was taught to pay attention to rules; to ask before you do something; to try your best at what you do before you finish it; and these simple rules helped me to succeed in school, and I assumed they would lead to success in life.

Boy, was I ever wrong.

In the dog-eat-dog reality of the grown-up world, those who succeed are rarely those who wait for permission, or who do the most thorough job.  The winners are more often those who seize the moment, take action and get things done.

In the last couple of years, as I've tried to make a course correction in my own life and strive to make a name for myself as a filmmaker, I've had to fight against some of my ingrained tendencies in order to succeed.  Through this process I discovered two thoughts to live by that have helped me immeasurably:


1) Ask for forgiveness, not permission.

 As children, we are constantly reminded to follow the rules, ask before you do something - look to those in power for confirmation.  We look to our parents, teachers, coaches and later, our bosses asking them, "Is it okay if I do this?"  While this is good behavior as a child, it is not useful as an adult.

As an adult, this puts you at the whim of incompetent bosses, and arcane rules.  Yes, obviously you shouldn't break the law, but short of that, everything else is up for negotiation.  If you wait around and ask for permission to do something, the stock answer is almost always NO.  You will need to get around many NOs to succeed in what you want to do, whether that's make a movie, start a business, or plan a vacation.  Why place more phantom NOs in your way? You're a grown-up now - make a reasoned decision and take action.  If someone doesn't like it, ask for forgiveness after the fact.  More often, however you won't even have to ask for forgiveness as your actions will have proved that you were right.


2) Ready, Fire, Aim!

This was a huge one for me to overcome.  I am a natural perfectionist, which is what makes me a good editor.  I am paid to notice an edit that's 2 frames off, or a logo that should be eight pixels to the left.  However, as someone who is now trying to get my own projects done, this tendency can be crippling.

My natural tendency is to want everything to be perfect before I can accept it and send it out into the world - whether that's a movie, a business idea, or even a blog-post.  The problem with this however, is that those who get things done are rewarded more than those who do it better, but who take too long. The lesson for me is that good enough is good enough!

I spent many years coming up with ideas for movies, web sites and products and never finished a single one of them.  I would always be crushed under the weight of my own expectations - if it wasn't perfect, it wasn't worth doing.  I never wanted to hand in B- work, when I knew I could do an A.  But, you know what I realized?  The world gets by on B- work.  Heck, most people can barely do C level work, anything more than that looks like friggin genius level!

What Ready Fire, Aim! taught me is to do a good-enough job, get it done, get it out there, and make course corrections on the fly.  This is how the world really works.  Ever wonder why it seems you're always Beta testing software that you have bought?  That's because you ARE!  The software developer is fine-tuning their product with your help - yup, Ready, Fire, Aim!

When I made Enter the Dark, my main priority was to actually finally finish something.  I had to let go of a lot of things in order to do that.  One of them was my fear of rejection and putting something out there that wasn't perfect.  What I learned however, is that the process of completing this project, of making the movie, submitting to festivals, getting reviews, making connections, is WAY more important than having a finished perfect movie.  Enter the Dark is not perfect - far from it.  If I were to grade it, I'd probably give it a B.  But you know what, it's done, it's out there and I learned tons from the experience.  And people seem to like it.

Warts and all.

(p.s. - I'm going to post this blogpost without spell-checking it... so there!)

The Overactive Editor

One of my pet peeves of modern filmmaking is the overabundance of "coverage" shot for a given scene.

Coverage! coverage! coverage! is the rallying cry for too many directors.  If the story of a scene can be covered with one camera angle, then certainly it must be better if it was shot with 4 or 6 or 10!

And of course once all that film has been burned (or more likely, digital media has been filled up), and the expense of all those camera setups and re-lights (not to mention the assistant editor's time to capture and log all those takes) has been added to the budget, the editor sure as hell better use all those shots - whether it suits the story or not.

Thank goodness we have Walter Murch to remind us what's important:

• An overactive editor, who changes shots too frequently, is like a tour guide who can't stop pointing things out: "And up there we have the Sistine Ceiling, and over here we have the Mona Lisa, and, by the way, look at these floor tiles..." If you are on a tour, you do want the guide to point things out for you, of course, but some of the time you just want to walk around and see what you see.  If the guide - that is to say, the editor - doesn't have the confidence to let people themselves occasionally choose what they want to look at, or to leave things to their imagination, then he is pursuing a goal (complete control) that in the end is self-defeating. People will eventually feel constrained and then resentful from the constant pressure of his hand on the backs of their necks.

Walter Murch,  In The Blink of An Eye

My mantra while editing is that I should always have a reason for making every single cut.  Every time you destroy the fabric of temporal and spatial continuity in a scene to make a cut, you better have a good reason for it.  Just switching to another camera angle because you have one available is not good enough.  Plus, you're giving me a dang headache - so knock it off!