Digital Video - September 2007 - (Page 4)

PRE-ROLL BY DAVID E. WILLIAMS CONFESSIONS OF AN ASPIRING EDITOR s a film production student at San Francisco State University (class of ‘89), I learned to cut picture first on Super 8 and then 16mm, using guillotinetype splicers and rolls of sticky tape. Editing was a mechanical craft that—technically speaking—had changed little since cinema arose in the late 19th century. A few forward-thinking folk in my class soon started cutting their film-shot projects on 3/4” video—a notion I openly scoffed at with the most condescending tone possible. How could one possibly edit in a linear manner? To change your mind, A above: My beloved splicer. you’d have to go back and recut an entire sequence? No thanks. My brain was permanently set to “random,” as in access to my material and creativity. Besides, I actually enjoyed spending late nights in my editing “suite” at the Film Arts Foundation, hunched over a hot Steenbeck, sifting through trim bins and logging my every frame via an arcane system of my own design. Just a few years later, SFSU’s Department of Cinema brought in early desktop NLE programs. Their mechanical editing equipment—a motley collection of sync blocks, rewinds, split reels and thousands of plastic cores—was soon banished to the bowels of some dank basement. Well, except for the well-used splicer seen here, which mysteriously came into my possession before graduation and now serves as a relic from my long-ago filmmaking Stone Age. Following hot on the heels of his in-depth review of Media Composer 2.7 in the August issue, DV contributor Frank Capria’s overview comparison of Adobe, Apple and Avid NLE suites in this issue (“Cutter’s Way,” page 38) served to remind me of my humble-yet-hopeful days as an aspiring editor. For a brief second, my brain flashed to the pathetic Napoleon Dynamite nerd who dreams of a time machine that can take him back to his youthful glory days. In my case, however, a highend workstation running any of the multi-capable cutting systems available today would suffice—temporal displacement not required. The role of the editor has dramatically transformed along with the technology, a point discussed by Los Angeles Final Cut Pro User Group founder and president Michael Horton in this issue’s Q&A (“Post Modern,” page 30). Some ambitious editors now claim responsibility for not only picture and sound but also frame-rate manipulation, image stabilization, rough compositing, titling, color correction and audio mixing—virtually compressing the entire post process into a single workspace. “Yeah, that’s nuts isn’t it?” Horton remarks. While the situation may be nuts, I’m sure not a single editor on the planet—save such celluloid devotees as expert cutter Michael Kahn and documentarian Frederick Wiseman— would have it any other way. ■ w w w. d v. c o m GROUP PUBLISHER DOUG KRAINMAN dkrainman@nbmedia.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DAVID E. WILLIAMS MANAGING EDITOR TERENCE KEEGAN dwilliams@nbmedia.com tkeegan@nbmedia.com cclapp@nbmedia.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR CRISTINA CLAPP SENIOR ART DIRECTOR NICOLE COBBAN ncobban@nbmedia.com ART DIRECTOR ANNMARIE LASCALA PRODUCTION MANAGER FRED VEGA fvega@nbmedia.com ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER ARIEL STEINBERG CONTRIBUTING EDITORS FRANK CAPRIA, MARK CHRISTIANSEN, THOMAS A. CROWELL, ROBERT M. GOODMAN, JOHN JACKMAN, NELS JOHNSON, DAVE KAPOOR, RALPH LABARGE, CHRIS MEYER, TRISH MEYER, JAY ROSE, STEFAN SARGENT, TIM SASSOON, BEN WAGGONER, DAVID O. WEISSMAN, ADAM WILT SENIOR FINANCIAL ANALYST STEVE VIOLA sviola@nbmedia.com MARKETING DIRECTOR COLIN ZINK czink@nbmedia.com ADVERTISING AND EXHIBIT SALES ALL INQUIRIES 650-238-0324 DV EXPO TODD CUSUMANO tcusumano@nbmedia.com EAST COAST SALES GARY L. RHODES sedorusa@optonline.net WEST COAST SALES MANAGER PETE SEMBLER psembler@nbmedia.com CLASSIFIED AD SALES ANESHA KOVALSKY akovalsky@nbmedia.com NATIONAL SALES MANAGER, NEWBAY MEDIA WEB PRODUCTS TOBY SALI tsali@nbmedia.com CIRCULATION GROUP DIRECTOR OF CIRCULATION DENISE ROBBINS CIRCULATION MANAGER ANNETTE GOLLOP CIRCULATION MARKETING MANAGER ANNE DROBISH SUBSCRIPTIONS TELEPHONE: (ADDRESS CHANGES, CUSTOMER SERVICE) A.M. 888-266-5828 (USA ONLY, 8:30 978-667-0352 (OUTISDE THE US) FAX: 978-671-0460 WEB: MYDVMAG.COM -5 P.M. EST) E-MAIL: NEWBAY@COMPUTERFULFILLMENT.COM ADDRESS: DV, P.O. 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Williams Editor, dwilliams@nbmedia.com 4 DV SEPTEMBER 2007 WWW.DV.COM http://www.dv.com http://MyDVMag.com http://www.dv.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Digital Video - September 2007

Contents News AG-HPX500 HD Camcorder First Look: Color V8000HD 8" LCD Monitor Shoulder Mount System Instant Expert Close-Ups Fest Cercuit Q&A Flight Plan Cutter's Way Imagination in Action Motion Graphics Production Diary

Digital Video - September 2007

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