After 23 days of intense, fascinating, eye-opening work, my fall internship with Next New Networks has come to an end. At the beginning of all this I was a film kid, versed in the art of aesthetic and eloquent story arcs. Each shot had motivation, each decision by the director contributed to the overall message of the film. I worked in a medium of hours, not minutes. The little experience I had with television showed me a completely different perspective. In film, the chair means something. In TV, it's just a chair. That's the best way to describe it. TV is a medium of close ups, of action and of enhanced drama.
Never before had I been exposed to Internet TV. Sure, I watched videos on YouTube, but never did I attribute any method to the seeming madness. Nearly twelve weeks have elapsed and suddenly my knowledge has multiplied tenfold. As a mediated communication, Net TV differs from film and radio in all the same ways traditional television does. The chair is oftentimes still just a chair, but how that chair is shot, cut and broadcast to the rest of the world is wholly different. The Internet is unique in that a person can find a wealth of information from thousands of different sources without moving so much as five feet from their computer. But, in that same regard, the information has to be good, really good, or else a person won't spend more than two seconds looking at it. Information has to be delivered fast, clearly and with as few extraneous details as possible.
Next New Networks' programming epitomizes this concept. My work with various shows has shown me a proven formula. Videos usually run around five minutes and less is always, always more. I can't tell the number of times I was asked to make something shorter, after already cutting it down to a couple minutes. Such a neat package is unique to the internet. The people at NNN understand their audience, understand that there are a million other videos out there that offer the same information, understand the low attention span humanity has now become acquainted with. Their form of TV exploit it, giving people information fast and in short bursts, unlike other mediums that can often beat around the bush.
This is also a testament to the editing. A fast paced editing style in TV or film portrays a certain mood or dramatic pacing. It communicates anxiety or confusion, action and intensity. It's an aesthetic choice. In the business of the Internet, without fast-paced editing, you might as well label your video dead in the water. By having my hands deep into shows like Working Class Foodies and Your FX, I've learned the art of editing for the Internet. Working Class Foodies is a cooking show unlike any other, showing recipes at breakneck speeds with helpful text and dialogue, in addition to two grabbing personalities in Max and Rebecca Lando. They have created a show that caters entirely to the Internet. My success with them comes in part from my ability to analyze this formula and emulate it. People on the Internet don't have time to see someone dice an entire onion, just what to do with it after! WCF is the perfect example of editing for the Internet, for speed and interest rather than aesthetic. Only on the Internet could a show called 12 Second Cocktail (literally) be "aired" and be successful!
One thing I didn't mention too much in my blog was the actual communication, or lack thereof in some cases. Unlike with television and film, a fan can't directly interact with the creators behind their favorite program or movie. The Internet breaks the boundaries of creator and fan. Grace Randolph, an NNN producer and show host, has told me on a several occasions that interactive elements to a show are the key to success and failure. Fans like to feel like they can take part in something. This is why ARGs and mini games in shows like Fringe are so popular. Increasingly, people want to feel more connected to their TV, music and film. Blame the Internet and networks like Next New. Every show has an interactive component. For Beyond The Trailer, it's "One Sentence Movie Review". For The Reel Good Show, it's a question from the host Bobby. Backyard FX has a show dedicated entirely to fan-made effects and tutorials. The list goes on and on and on. Never had I been more aware of this connectivity until I joined Next New Networks. Just as they exploit the expectations of the audience, they exploit the connectivity of the Internet, allowing for real, literal communication to happen between fan and artist.
So what about me? Where do I fit into this master plan? What did I learn about myself? My internship only proved a point made clear from the moment I conceived a career in media: communication is key. (Ironic, no?) People's trust in me grew the more I acted comfortably in their presence. To prove this I only need to look at my experience with Bobby Miller. I was nervous, intimidated and shy around him. Same as with the Fast Lane Daily crew. I have worked with those guys the least in my 23 days at NNN. They know I can perform the work, but my lack of communication with them reflects directly on my abilities to accomplish the job. Compare that to my relationship with Grace, Rebecca or Erik. All three come to me, seemingly enthusiastic about my help in their projects. Sure, it's probably because they trust me and we developed a track record for success, but my level of communication with them plays a big part, too.
Coming back to Hofstra after a day of work in the city has only proven to me how ready I am to get out into the real world. Am I ready with buying a house? Buying a car? Paying my own utilities and rent? Maybe not, but my exposure to the industry, something every person harps on has shown me the ropes and how to be a better communicator at school. I have yet to work on any serious productions since this semester, but next semester when I have half year senior film, I do not doubt that the experience I gained working at a professional level twice a week will bleed into my experience as a student. What I've done, what I've worked with, that's the future of communication and media. It pains me to say it, but it's true. While other students are working away at post and rental houses, I've been opened up to a world of DIY indie filmmaking that transcends any that has been in the spotlight for the past decade. As Fred Seibert told me, "What's out there now isn't indie filmmaking. It hasn't been for years." What the people at Next New do and preach, that's where the real indie mindset is. Buy a camera and laptop and you can make the world love you. Just ask the director of Paranormal Activity. Spare yourself the $15,000,000 and the production company contract. That comes later. Much later.
Despite my enthusiasm towards Internet TV, it's not where my heart ultimately lies. Film is what made me fall in love with a career in communication and offers me a means of creative expression that's been a part of me my whole life. But working with Next New Networks, I have proven a lot to myself. I'm a hard worker, I do things to the best of my ability and confidence in myself and my work isn't a bad thing but a necessity. Labeling the Internet as a flimsy, substance-less medium is naive and ignorant. Nothing from the Internet will win an Oscar or an Emmy, but the work is still work, is still a learning experience. It is still a valuable means of communication, albeit not the most graceful at times.
The work ethic I established at Hofstra has propelled me high up the list of Next New interns. So high, in fact, that my request to return has been approved. The way Ryan put it, it was as much their idea as it was my own.
Walking through the door at Next New Netowkrs in September, I asked myself whether I would thrive or fail. Ryan's invitation for my return for the Spring 2010 semester was the best answer I could ask for.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
DAY 21 - Lies! All Lies!
...the actual rough cut shouldn't take much longer than a few hours. At least for the laying down of the process footage. Monday will be fun indeed!You may remember this excerpt from Friday's entry. (If not, refresh yourself.)
I lied. Completely. 100%. Any illusions I had about a short day of work, about finishing the cut in record time, about reveling in the free moments as an opportunity to upload video from my own personal camera, all of them, garbage. Okay, garbage is a little harsh, but I'm still amazed at how long it took me to cut together video for this upcoming episode. Once again, I am choosing to keep the subject of the video a secret (unless it's out already) but it certainly should not have taken a day's length to be put together.
To be fair, a great deal of my time was awarded to my little sister who asked for my assistance with a college paper. She wanted me to read through it, make corrections, give suggestions, etc and her being my sister, I could do nothing but try my hardest to give her the most thoughtful and helpful criticism. Suddenly, it was 11:30/12 pm and it was time to shoot Beyond The Trailer! I barely touched the footage that morning.
BTT had some bumps in it. A photo shoot was done the week before, so the lighting set up was changed completely. Certain lights we always use were replaced with large soft boxes which cast drastic shadows, at least too drastic for a YouTube talking head video. Erik Beck showed up in the nick of time and fixed a few things. To this day, after taking an entire course on Cinematography, uncertainties abound inside me when I approach a lighting setup. There's just something so nerve-wracking about it... With only two opens, the shoot went by in a flash and I could get back to working on the rough cut I barely started.
Looking back on it, an hour or so may have been left to my disposal as I vainly attempted to fix a few things, insert title cards and ponder music selection, but reservations prevented me from really taking a creative license with the video. Something about my process, about cutting to the audio rather than the images themselves delayed me. Which portions of the interview should I use? What would Rebecca consider the most important? Should I drop in clips of her saying XYZ while it's happening or of her saying it during the interview? How personal should the video be? (The Lando's shot the episode in Florida, where they are from, and had their Mom be guest chef, with father and grandparents interjecting on the sides. Hence the personal bit.) Burnt out as I was from the weekend and feeling the tension of finals week fast approaching, my tendency to take risks and my amount of enthusiasm was depleted. Hopefully this will not happen on Friday. I don't know what I'll be doing that day...
Not much else really happened on Monday. My "last day" is next week, but I'm hoping I can extend the working invitation out to May instead...
Sunday, December 6, 2009
DAY 20 - Looking Ahead
Twenty days at Next New Networks! What a fantastic experience this has all been! In due time, I plan on emailing Ryan asking when my official last day is and (drum roll) if I can continue into the Spring semester. Great efforts are being taken to keep my expectations low, but after hearing the swirl of compliments, I am met with difficulty. Coming in on Mondays to help Grace shoot would be a pleasure in the least, though the $20 train fare kicks the wallet pretty hard.
EDIT: Here's the Princess and the Frog video! I'm gratefully credited as "Director / DP"!
The Princess and The Frog Movie Review: Beyond The Trailer
The work on Monday was easy and familiar, with Friday jitters pervading all of my faculties. Unfortunately, the first couple hours of my day was occupied with mailing stickers and a button or magnet to people who responded to Working Class Foodies "Call to Action". Two hours. Between figuring how to export the address list to a Word template for labels and fighting with the printer to produce them correctly, I found a million reasons why I am glad to be in my field of choice. It's busy work, which I don't mind entirely, but no reward was taken from such a repetitious and oftentimes frustrating task. My partner in all this exhibited an air of cluelessness as well, making matters all the easier.
Thankfully the rest of the day was full of substance, and by substance I mean another WCF rough cut. Distractions in my personal life kept pulling me away from a narrow working mindset, but by the tie 6:00 pm rolled around, a majority of the video was logged and the actual rough cut shouldn't take much longer than a few hours. At least for the laying down of the process footage. Monday will be fun indeed!
I failed to mention in my last entry commentary on the compliments and advice Grace had offered me. In terms of pitching a show, I was opened up to this different world of "getting started". All through film school, students learn that in order to get your movie made, you either raise the money and do it yourself, or you shop your idea, script, rough cut, essentially "pitching" it to executives or men with suits and money in the hopes that your dreams are fulfilled. This business is impossible, it's tough, grueling and 90% of the time, people are left with a frown and shattered ambitions. They simply aren't good enough for the silver screen or the tube.
But wait! The Internet has come to save you from obstruction in this wash of communications! There is no guarantee your efforts will be seen by millions, but with an insurmountable amount of effort and determination, that goal is entirely more possible than if one went door to door in Hollywood or New York. As Grace explained the pitching process and how to create a good framework, model, outline, etc for a show or network at NNN, I was opened to this extreme possibility that it could actually happen. Armed with enough brains and creativity, I could have a show at Next New. I'm not saying this is my dream, that the end is definitely there or that it could even really happen, but the concept of starting out with something legitimate so early out of my schooling is nothing short of exciting.
This is all due to the nature of the Internet and its role in mediated communication. With websites like YouTube and Vimeo, there is no excuse why a person can't have their videos and ideas discovered and showcased to the entire world. Who knows who may be watching and what may potentially come of it. The very nature of broadcasting media has been changed, to the point where there is an overload of expressed creativity! How many people have used their YouTube video as a means of fame or success, even if it only lasts 15 minutes? How many people have manipulated it for the greater benefit of music, film, television, etc? After being preached to about the grueling gears of the LA film scene, the Internet scene draws so many irregularities it's hard to keep up. Granted, not everyone becomes famous overnight. As much as the potential is there, the failure is also present. Overloads of videos and personalities makes it hard to distinguish between one or the other and the true art becomes lost amongst the failed dance impersonations, video blogs, funny moments, muffled camera videos. ripped television shows, film clips and on and on and on. Suddenly, advertising becomes more crucial than ever. The very nature of it is changed when considering the internet. But that is an argument within itself, one I've seen both sides to and learn more about as I watch NNN thrive and grow across its YouTube channels.
Did any of that make sense? I hope so. My brain reeled at the thought of my own show, my own production, my own anything at the ripe age of 22. I don't care what I'm doing, as long as it's something I am happy. Keeping my work ethic handy, never forgetting the crucial elements of "making it" and "what it takes", I'll hopefully be ready for my in five short months.
EDIT: Here's the Princess and the Frog video! I'm gratefully credited as "Director / DP"!
The Princess and The Frog Movie Review: Beyond The Trailer
Monday, November 30, 2009
DAY 19 - The Princess and the Frog
So much happened Monday but I have no time to relay it all in detail. But I will, promise. In the meantime, watch the Your FX video.
UPDATE: Monday was Beyond The Trailer day, 1,000 times moreso than usual. Whether this was mentioned or not, Spencer and I were asked to accompany Grace to the Ziegfeld Theatre to shoot reviews for Disney's new 2-D animated film, The Princess And The Frog. These reviews make up the second portion of BTT, following the studio segments I shoot. The appeal in this is the chance to hear what regular, average people have to say, as opposed to sifting through countless reviews by stuffy newspaper critics who seek out themes, motifs, structure, and character arcs rather than personal enjoyment. And personally, I don't think this sort of show could exist anywhere but the Internet.
The Princess and the Frog is showing at the Ziegfeld and one other theatre in Los Angeles as part of a special two week engagement prior to its wide release on December 11. Smart move Disney, charging $30 and $50 per ticket! If you are going to risk going back to 2-D in an animation market busting at the seams with 3-D animation, you might as well milk it for all it could be worth! I'm getting side-tracked...
At the studio, Grace and I shot the opens as usual, key emphasis on Grace and I, since Spencer "hit heavy traffic" and decided it wasn't worth coming in. Running the prompter, the camera and paying attention to audio is something I had done before, but never for the entire set of opens. Do I mind? Not in the least! Gives me a greater sense of accomplishment and helps me broaden my abilities. There's something comforting in the fact that you can do one thing well enough to split the time with something completely different. I could probably run the camera and sound mix in my sleep now so running the prompter doesn't interfere at all with those now comfortable duties. Does that make sense? Some of the opens seemed rushed and short, but Grace seemed fine with what the results were, given the time and circumstances. This weekend doesn't have many huge releases, just mediocre, so she wasn't completely upset if one didn't come off as strong as it should. Once we rapped in the studio, Grace commandeered another intern named Rachel (who I had no idea was an intern) and we taxied our way up to 54th St. Then things got interesting...
We were shut down by Disney. Well, not shut down, more like a delay of game than a full on rescheduling. While setting up the camera and getting prepared for the onslaught of joyous children leaving the theatre, a man in a dark jacket with a police badge came outside and told us we couldn't shoot. "This is private property and it's against the law." he said with a gentle force. Grace whipped out the business cards and put on the charm as she explained her show and her intentions with it. "We are just a review show for Next New Networks. We won't force anyone to be on camera if we don't want to..." etc, etc. The man, whose name was Anthony, looked over the information and proposed that he would "call corporate" for clearance. Seriously. He seemed to be transferred from one person to another until he was put in contact with a high-up from Disney HQ in Los Angeles. How crazy is that? Minute after minute went by and we watched as the showing's audiences walked right past us, full of countless adorable children who would never get the chance to see themselves on YouTube. After about ten minutes of anxious waiting, Anthony came back and told us we had the go ahead to shoot, but it had to be at the next showing in three hours and he had to be present to make sure nothing was said against the 2-D film. I explain this all in such great detail because of the obvious: how many people can say they were "shut down" by Disney?
The next few hours were spent eating lunch at a nice nearby diner, returning to the studio by taxi, reshooting the open for Princess And The Frog (Grace thought the original open was "too snarky" and didn't want to give Disney any reason to force her to shut down the episode once it aired) and returned back to the Ziegfled for a 5:50 shoot, losing Rachel in the process. It was Grace and I, on the forefront, ready to shoot some children. Err, videotape some children. One after another explained with childish sensibilities how much they loved the movie and why, spurned on by Grace's encouraging "Wow, that's cool!" attitude. The sun long gone, the tungsten light coming from the classic overhang created a professional Hollywood mood and the background was always filled with children and parents. These elements, though seemingly unimportant, just made everything look better! The excitement was infectious and I sincerely thought I was a part of something big; the return of Disney 2-D! (Did I mention I spoke to the VP of Disney in the process? And by spoke I mean said a few nervous words.)
Now here is the fabulous part of the day. While eating lunch, I brought up to Grace an idea that was kicking around in my head. Next New has plenty of subjects covered except one integral one: video games. Being a gamer myself, I understand it's excessive popularity and there is a great amount of overlap between people who watch New Next programming and who play video games (or so I hope). Once my idea was in the open, Grace broke down exactly what I need to pitch a show, what numbers and information I have to present, who to present it to, the format, special interactive options, anything you could imagine. Saying I was appreciative of the information is an understatement. Planning for the show isn't at a high point, the idea is still in the fetus stages, but there is definitely potential for growth. This could be the break that I need, the start of a career. Stay down, hopes! Disappointment could come in from any angle...
Fabulous Part II: Grace sent an email to Ryan explaining the length of effort I put in on Monday. "The shoot wouldn't have happened without Brittany" were her exact words. And, once again, she quoted Ryan saying, "Everyone is fighting over Brittany." Could my ego get any bigger? Could I be asking for anything more? Fingers are crossed tight with the hope that I can extend this internship another semester. Every day the appeal is greater and greater. It's not Hollywood, it's not feature films but it's something and in this digital age, it's important. There's a lot I need to start pondering over the next couple weeks...
UPDATE: Monday was Beyond The Trailer day, 1,000 times moreso than usual. Whether this was mentioned or not, Spencer and I were asked to accompany Grace to the Ziegfeld Theatre to shoot reviews for Disney's new 2-D animated film, The Princess And The Frog. These reviews make up the second portion of BTT, following the studio segments I shoot. The appeal in this is the chance to hear what regular, average people have to say, as opposed to sifting through countless reviews by stuffy newspaper critics who seek out themes, motifs, structure, and character arcs rather than personal enjoyment. And personally, I don't think this sort of show could exist anywhere but the Internet.
The Princess and the Frog is showing at the Ziegfeld and one other theatre in Los Angeles as part of a special two week engagement prior to its wide release on December 11. Smart move Disney, charging $30 and $50 per ticket! If you are going to risk going back to 2-D in an animation market busting at the seams with 3-D animation, you might as well milk it for all it could be worth! I'm getting side-tracked...
At the studio, Grace and I shot the opens as usual, key emphasis on Grace and I, since Spencer "hit heavy traffic" and decided it wasn't worth coming in. Running the prompter, the camera and paying attention to audio is something I had done before, but never for the entire set of opens. Do I mind? Not in the least! Gives me a greater sense of accomplishment and helps me broaden my abilities. There's something comforting in the fact that you can do one thing well enough to split the time with something completely different. I could probably run the camera and sound mix in my sleep now so running the prompter doesn't interfere at all with those now comfortable duties. Does that make sense? Some of the opens seemed rushed and short, but Grace seemed fine with what the results were, given the time and circumstances. This weekend doesn't have many huge releases, just mediocre, so she wasn't completely upset if one didn't come off as strong as it should. Once we rapped in the studio, Grace commandeered another intern named Rachel (who I had no idea was an intern) and we taxied our way up to 54th St. Then things got interesting...
We were shut down by Disney. Well, not shut down, more like a delay of game than a full on rescheduling. While setting up the camera and getting prepared for the onslaught of joyous children leaving the theatre, a man in a dark jacket with a police badge came outside and told us we couldn't shoot. "This is private property and it's against the law." he said with a gentle force. Grace whipped out the business cards and put on the charm as she explained her show and her intentions with it. "We are just a review show for Next New Networks. We won't force anyone to be on camera if we don't want to..." etc, etc. The man, whose name was Anthony, looked over the information and proposed that he would "call corporate" for clearance. Seriously. He seemed to be transferred from one person to another until he was put in contact with a high-up from Disney HQ in Los Angeles. How crazy is that? Minute after minute went by and we watched as the showing's audiences walked right past us, full of countless adorable children who would never get the chance to see themselves on YouTube. After about ten minutes of anxious waiting, Anthony came back and told us we had the go ahead to shoot, but it had to be at the next showing in three hours and he had to be present to make sure nothing was said against the 2-D film. I explain this all in such great detail because of the obvious: how many people can say they were "shut down" by Disney?
The next few hours were spent eating lunch at a nice nearby diner, returning to the studio by taxi, reshooting the open for Princess And The Frog (Grace thought the original open was "too snarky" and didn't want to give Disney any reason to force her to shut down the episode once it aired) and returned back to the Ziegfled for a 5:50 shoot, losing Rachel in the process. It was Grace and I, on the forefront, ready to shoot some children. Err, videotape some children. One after another explained with childish sensibilities how much they loved the movie and why, spurned on by Grace's encouraging "Wow, that's cool!" attitude. The sun long gone, the tungsten light coming from the classic overhang created a professional Hollywood mood and the background was always filled with children and parents. These elements, though seemingly unimportant, just made everything look better! The excitement was infectious and I sincerely thought I was a part of something big; the return of Disney 2-D! (Did I mention I spoke to the VP of Disney in the process? And by spoke I mean said a few nervous words.)
Now here is the fabulous part of the day. While eating lunch, I brought up to Grace an idea that was kicking around in my head. Next New has plenty of subjects covered except one integral one: video games. Being a gamer myself, I understand it's excessive popularity and there is a great amount of overlap between people who watch New Next programming and who play video games (or so I hope). Once my idea was in the open, Grace broke down exactly what I need to pitch a show, what numbers and information I have to present, who to present it to, the format, special interactive options, anything you could imagine. Saying I was appreciative of the information is an understatement. Planning for the show isn't at a high point, the idea is still in the fetus stages, but there is definitely potential for growth. This could be the break that I need, the start of a career. Stay down, hopes! Disappointment could come in from any angle...
Fabulous Part II: Grace sent an email to Ryan explaining the length of effort I put in on Monday. "The shoot wouldn't have happened without Brittany" were her exact words. And, once again, she quoted Ryan saying, "Everyone is fighting over Brittany." Could my ego get any bigger? Could I be asking for anything more? Fingers are crossed tight with the hope that I can extend this internship another semester. Every day the appeal is greater and greater. It's not Hollywood, it's not feature films but it's something and in this digital age, it's important. There's a lot I need to start pondering over the next couple weeks...
Monday, November 23, 2009
DAY 18 - Montage!
I'm finally getting to this entry the night before Day 19 even begins. Actually, it's 2:05 am on Day 19. I'm going to go through this quickly, since I sadly have more work to complete before I begin to think of shutting my eyes for a night's sleep. Pardon the watered down, Spark Notes version.
Day 18 saw me doing some of the usual and some of the interesting. Beyond The Trailer went really well, without a hitch for the first time in a couple weeks. All the equipment worked fine and spirits were high. If I had a $1 for every Twilight joke we made...
Back in the day, when my editing equipment consisted of Windows Movie Maker (which to the non-editing crowd, is a simplistic piece of shit), much of my time was dedicated to cutting together clips from animated films or TV shows and timing it to music. "AMV" was the proper title. Monday was a continuation of what I had begun on Friday: creating the effects montage for the upcoming episode of Your FX. I had the chance to do the same thing my much younger self found pleasure in, but instead of movie clips, I was utilizing the hundreds of fan-submitted clips and putting them to a catchy, up-beat royalty-free music. The end result is quite the work of art, if I do say so myself. The process was easy for me and all the techniques I learned when a younger, more naive editor came to the forefront. Erik watched it and seemed pleased so I'm happy about that. Needless to say I'm anxiously awaiting it's completion.
Also shot the opening scene for the Thanksgiving episode of the Reel Good Show. Not my best work. Skipping a crucial step (actually listening to the audio being outputted), led to the tragic mistake of only one person's Lav mic being recorded. Upon finding this out, we had to shoot portions of the opening over again. Bad news for my tired arms and my "rep". Bobby just makes me nervous. I beat myself up about it for quite some time. But, despite my shoddy camerawork and sound mixing, the show turned out well and a tad more humorous than others have been. Not that other episodes aren't funny but this one is more...translatable humor? Tangible? Accessible? You know what I mean. Here's the episode:
Reel Good Show Thanksgiving Special
Day 18 saw me doing some of the usual and some of the interesting. Beyond The Trailer went really well, without a hitch for the first time in a couple weeks. All the equipment worked fine and spirits were high. If I had a $1 for every Twilight joke we made...
Back in the day, when my editing equipment consisted of Windows Movie Maker (which to the non-editing crowd, is a simplistic piece of shit), much of my time was dedicated to cutting together clips from animated films or TV shows and timing it to music. "AMV" was the proper title. Monday was a continuation of what I had begun on Friday: creating the effects montage for the upcoming episode of Your FX. I had the chance to do the same thing my much younger self found pleasure in, but instead of movie clips, I was utilizing the hundreds of fan-submitted clips and putting them to a catchy, up-beat royalty-free music. The end result is quite the work of art, if I do say so myself. The process was easy for me and all the techniques I learned when a younger, more naive editor came to the forefront. Erik watched it and seemed pleased so I'm happy about that. Needless to say I'm anxiously awaiting it's completion.
Also shot the opening scene for the Thanksgiving episode of the Reel Good Show. Not my best work. Skipping a crucial step (actually listening to the audio being outputted), led to the tragic mistake of only one person's Lav mic being recorded. Upon finding this out, we had to shoot portions of the opening over again. Bad news for my tired arms and my "rep". Bobby just makes me nervous. I beat myself up about it for quite some time. But, despite my shoddy camerawork and sound mixing, the show turned out well and a tad more humorous than others have been. Not that other episodes aren't funny but this one is more...translatable humor? Tangible? Accessible? You know what I mean. Here's the episode:
Reel Good Show Thanksgiving Special
Friday, November 20, 2009
DAY 17 - A Lost and Forgotten Day
Entry coming soon. In the meantime, enjoy an old photo of the office. Just pretend those back walls have lots of pictures on them.
EDIT: It seems I completely forgot to add to this. Much apologies. I imagine it wasn't too much out of the norm.
Monday, November 16, 2009
DAY 16 - Dropped HD
I dropped a hard drive (HD). I dropped a HD. Me, of all people. Two minutes before leaving the office for the day, as I was walking from my desk to Kathleen Grace's to give her the Working Class Foodies HD, in the span of time that was the fifteen steps from here to there, I dropped it. My legs froze in place, my eyes bulged out of my head as the heart stopped pumping blood. Picking it up, racing through my mind were thoughts of whether or not I should test it, check the files, make sure everything was okay and secure. But I had to get home, my train was leaving soon and if I didn't catch it, I would be stuck at Mineola station for an extra hour than necessary. With great care I walked the rest of the way to Kathleen's desk, craning my neck in all directions searching for judgmental eyes. Kathleen received the drive, I left and then proceeded to doubt myself the whole way home.
Why does any of this matter? For one, it matters because the entire day's and a week's worth of effort was contained on that drive. A whole episode could be corrupted or erased! And, as I mentioned in the last entry, this was a guest start episode so repeating it would not be so easy. Throw in the "Thanksgiving leftovers" theme and it's virtually unshootable a second time around.
Needless to say, all these thoughts ran through my mind on the long train ride home. You always hear of those unfortunate interns who trip on the wrong cord and the whole lighting rig collapses to the ground, the one who shredded the contract that took three weeks to process, the one who held a camera in the same hand as a bottle of Arnold Palmer Green Tea Lemonade that was open just enough. (No, scratch that last one. That actually did happen to me once.) Dropping that HD made me realize how fragile this industry is, especially this early in the going. People make mistakes, but when the magnitude of them reaches critical mass, that said person becomes expendable. A multitude of kids would kill to have my "job" who may even perform it better than I. For two seconds, I wasn't thinking, but that's really all it takes for a mistake like that. The rush of going home probably helped a little in my flurried behavior; I need to relax a tad. There is a deeper meaning to this somewhere. I'm groping for it, but the words won't coagulate. Just be more careful, be more aware of the situation I am in, be aware that it doesn't take much for them to pass over you.
Seconds prior to the event, Rebecca Lando and I were Google chatting and she told me, yet again, how great of a job I did. How ironic is it that I dropped the drive seconds later?! Maybe it's a sign from God, a sign that I should not get too cocky with myself, should not feel so laid back and secure. I'm still an intern. I'm still in college. I'm still nowhere in the industry, despite how well I may edit. A million other people out there edit too, better than I do. "Don't get ahead of yourself, kid." God whispered in my ear as the HD plummeted to the carpeted floor. Looking back on the happening, it's easy to make these associations. Perhaps I should take it as a warning, a crystallized moment when my entire time at Next New Networks could have been soiled. Lord, I hope Lando emails me back soon so I know it's okay...
"But Brittany! What about the other seven hours and 59 minutes of your day?" After completing the logging process, I began the rough cut for WCF 113. Staying conscious of the Theo Peck episode, I tried to edit more creatively, rather than simply lay down the process of the meal. I did that too, but sprinkled in interview segments and "witty banter" along the way. What I learned from this is that I should stick to the process first. After three hours, only 2/3 of the episode was dropped to the timeline and some portions were heavily flawed in their flow. Ambition overcame me. Overall, it was yet another good learning experience. I tried a different formula, experimented with it, and discovered that staying with what I know may have been the better option. As much as this industry is about huge mistakes that could ruin your career, the little ones that help it hold just as much authority.
Beyond The Trailer shoot went splendidly. Some good jokes were told by all and some major bashing of films and stars always makes things interesting. Below are links to the episodes from last week that I shot. Remember, I do the white background stuff, not the on-location shooting.
Friday, November 13, 2009
DAY 15 - Shifting Gears
After what seemed like a month of merely watching user-submitted videos and responding to fan requests and questions, this week I was back on track with the work that gave me such enthusiasm towards the internship in the past. Walking through the door on Friday mid-morning, I found Grace seated at the intern computer. "I need to shoot another open." she said in a calm fluster. Keeping in mind we had to wrap quickly, for she had more shooting to do on 42nd, I grabbed a camera and her, the other Friday intern, Michael, and I headed down to the studio. Diversions were few (redistribution of power, finding headphones for the camera, attaching the teleprompter without the mounting ring, something Ryan did all too easily and made me feel a little inadequate) and the Friday team rolled through an open for the film, Precious with time to spare. And no need for a blue screen this time!
Back upstairs in my usual chair in front of my usual computer, Ryan came over and told me how Rebecca from Working Class Foodies had the HD for me again. More footage? More rough cuts? More editing? Finally! Once again I had a chance to showcase my talents in something other than fan communication and website management. I accept my responsibilities as an intern, regardless of their description, but after a few weeks of watching other interns edit and assist in the studio, jealousy increasingly coursed through my veins. With haste I gathered directions and my iPod and hurried over to the location uptown.
Drive recovered, I began on what is turning out to be a very elongated and tiresome battle with Episode 113's footage. Perhaps battle isn't quite the word for it? Conversation, to some degree. Each clip is longer than normal, some reaching five minutes on the time counter. As always, the images are beautiful to observe, the Canon 5D Mark II prevailing as a suitable stand-in for the latest pro HD Panasonic, Sony, or JVC. This episode's premise is Thanksgiving leftovers (the humor in this is obvious) with guest cook Cathy Erway, creator of Not Eating Out In NY dot com and author of the wittily titled The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove. Equipped with a broken spatula, malfunctioning blenders and dull knives, she chops, boils and mixes her way to a...
Now did you really think I would give it away this time? Despite the slight monotony of logging, I deeply appreciate what it has done to my knowledge of Final Cut. Quick keys are the epitome of hasty editing. Without them, you're lost, just another kid who thinks he knows how to play around with software he or she downloaded from the Internet or BitTorrent. Not to be confused it with "haste makes waste", it's more along the lines of "haste makes people think you know what you are doing". One clip after another breeds in me a system I'll most likely hold onto for years down the road. The less than appetizing, humbling experience I had with the Theo Peck episode is finally revealing it's beneficial side effects. Viewing the posted video online, my immaturity as an editor blazed through like sunshine on a cloudless day. No, I should not take that one happening as the epitome of my skills, but it certainly saddened my perfectionist self. Equipped with the knowledge of how to edit together a guest cook episode, referencing Rebecca's cut as a guide map, I'll hopefully be able to create a suitable rough cut involving more than simply "process footage". While we are on the note of my failures...
This is, more or less, my cut. Seriously. There's maybe one or two things differently not counting the new footage at the beginning and the end, the music and the titles. But all the video, the process of the cooking: mine. Wow!
Working Class Foodies: Momofuko Bo Ssam
Back upstairs in my usual chair in front of my usual computer, Ryan came over and told me how Rebecca from Working Class Foodies had the HD for me again. More footage? More rough cuts? More editing? Finally! Once again I had a chance to showcase my talents in something other than fan communication and website management. I accept my responsibilities as an intern, regardless of their description, but after a few weeks of watching other interns edit and assist in the studio, jealousy increasingly coursed through my veins. With haste I gathered directions and my iPod and hurried over to the location uptown.
Drive recovered, I began on what is turning out to be a very elongated and tiresome battle with Episode 113's footage. Perhaps battle isn't quite the word for it? Conversation, to some degree. Each clip is longer than normal, some reaching five minutes on the time counter. As always, the images are beautiful to observe, the Canon 5D Mark II prevailing as a suitable stand-in for the latest pro HD Panasonic, Sony, or JVC. This episode's premise is Thanksgiving leftovers (the humor in this is obvious) with guest cook Cathy Erway, creator of Not Eating Out In NY dot com and author of the wittily titled The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove. Equipped with a broken spatula, malfunctioning blenders and dull knives, she chops, boils and mixes her way to a...
Now did you really think I would give it away this time? Despite the slight monotony of logging, I deeply appreciate what it has done to my knowledge of Final Cut. Quick keys are the epitome of hasty editing. Without them, you're lost, just another kid who thinks he knows how to play around with software he or she downloaded from the Internet or BitTorrent. Not to be confused it with "haste makes waste", it's more along the lines of "haste makes people think you know what you are doing". One clip after another breeds in me a system I'll most likely hold onto for years down the road. The less than appetizing, humbling experience I had with the Theo Peck episode is finally revealing it's beneficial side effects. Viewing the posted video online, my immaturity as an editor blazed through like sunshine on a cloudless day. No, I should not take that one happening as the epitome of my skills, but it certainly saddened my perfectionist self. Equipped with the knowledge of how to edit together a guest cook episode, referencing Rebecca's cut as a guide map, I'll hopefully be able to create a suitable rough cut involving more than simply "process footage". While we are on the note of my failures...
This is, more or less, my cut. Seriously. There's maybe one or two things differently not counting the new footage at the beginning and the end, the music and the titles. But all the video, the process of the cooking: mine. Wow!
Working Class Foodies: Momofuko Bo Ssam
Monday, November 9, 2009
DAY 14 - Fred. Seibert.
A quick run down of things I did on Monday:
Exclusive Interview w/ Director of 'Paranormal Activity,' Oren Peli
- Edited three tutorials for Your FX. Erik asked me to bring them down to two minutes or less, but I have a feeling he would have much preferred the less. The longest one ended up being 1 minute 45 seconds. I was able to spread that task throughout the day.
- Shot in the studio with Grace. Went alright, save her wearing a green shirt in front of the green screen. Thank God for blue screens! It was a quick fix.
- Met with Fred Seibert. My future has been changed forever.
- About five minutes before I needed to disappear to catch my train, Erik asked me to run a legitimate intern job. "I need you to get me a soldering iron." The very short version of the story: ran to the hardware store down 29th street, grabbed the iron, sped walked back to Next New, dropped it off, and then made it to Penn Station in 12 minutes with time to spare. Awesome.
Exclusive Interview w/ Director of 'Paranormal Activity,' Oren Peli
Friday, November 6, 2009
DAY 13 - How To Earn A Million
Just barely 10:15 am, the day at Next New Networks has just begun but in my procrastintion and side-tracking I doscovered a blog post written by Tim Shey on the NNN website. An episode of ThreadBanger entitled "Top Ten Halloween Costumes 2009", recieved over 1 million views in only one week! That's only seven days! The reason behind such a spike in audience members is credited to new features on both YouTube and iTunes, major video hubs on the net.
Why is this important? The Internet video, as a form of mediated communication, is so easily distributed and outsourced that this sort of thing can happen over night. This might sound more a testament to proper marketing, but it's also one to the nature of the video itself. Running at only 2 minutes and 40 seconds, it's a bite of information, unburdened by specifics and particulars, cut quick and smooth. From start to finish, the video is laden with pop culture and global politics homages, making the video excessively communicable to a wide audience that, unless they lived under a rock the last year, would easily pick up on the references. The style and structure of the video must be credited just as much as the marketing behind it. Without an effective product, there never would have been anything for YouTube and iTunes executives to go behind and in order to crete an effective product, it must appeal to the strengths and needs of the medium.
UPDATE: Now, onto what I did for the day. In the morning, Ryan asked if I wanted to help the Barely Political guys shoot some footage for a video centered around poking fun at Yankee fans. Sadly, I had to pass. My Boston heart would not have been able to handle standing in a crowd of Skankee fans cheering on their over-expensive, heartless team in the wake of a championship.
Next on the list was less painful. Tasked with finding a group of fan-made tutorials to present to Erik, I toiled away for hours going through the submissions folder, searching repeatedly for any video with "How To..." incorporated into the title. By the end of it all, I had amassed about seven or eight videos of varying quality and after showing them to Erik, was given a list of demands. Message this person to get more footage. Double-check to make sure we didn't use these already. Edit down this one. Monday I anticipate to be doing more of the editing down segment.
On October 24, the episode was chosen by YouTube’s editors for a full-day homepage editorial spotlight, along with the ThreadBanger channel page. The result was a two-day spike in traffic of over 330,000 views on the episode, and another 200,000 views to other episodes on the ThreadBanger channel.This, combined with a similar situation in the Podcast section of the iTunes store, made this simple episode of ThreadBanger the most watched video created by any Next New network. More imformation and pretty pie charts detailing the audience splits and percentages can be found HERE.
Why is this important? The Internet video, as a form of mediated communication, is so easily distributed and outsourced that this sort of thing can happen over night. This might sound more a testament to proper marketing, but it's also one to the nature of the video itself. Running at only 2 minutes and 40 seconds, it's a bite of information, unburdened by specifics and particulars, cut quick and smooth. From start to finish, the video is laden with pop culture and global politics homages, making the video excessively communicable to a wide audience that, unless they lived under a rock the last year, would easily pick up on the references. The style and structure of the video must be credited just as much as the marketing behind it. Without an effective product, there never would have been anything for YouTube and iTunes executives to go behind and in order to crete an effective product, it must appeal to the strengths and needs of the medium.
UPDATE: Now, onto what I did for the day. In the morning, Ryan asked if I wanted to help the Barely Political guys shoot some footage for a video centered around poking fun at Yankee fans. Sadly, I had to pass. My Boston heart would not have been able to handle standing in a crowd of Skankee fans cheering on their over-expensive, heartless team in the wake of a championship.
Next on the list was less painful. Tasked with finding a group of fan-made tutorials to present to Erik, I toiled away for hours going through the submissions folder, searching repeatedly for any video with "How To..." incorporated into the title. By the end of it all, I had amassed about seven or eight videos of varying quality and after showing them to Erik, was given a list of demands. Message this person to get more footage. Double-check to make sure we didn't use these already. Edit down this one. Monday I anticipate to be doing more of the editing down segment.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
DAY 12 - What Now?
Aware I am that feelings are irrelevant in these entries. The internship is almost halfway through and through the pages of typed entries I feel I have accomplished nothing in accordance with my Mission Statement. Internally, I am debating how much further I should go into this problem but for the sake of not sounding like a whiner, I won't. Onwards towards the usual.
Monday was a standard day at the office. With the Mogulween contest over, my duties were no longer restricted to watching submission video after submission video, a much welcome change. Spencer, the other intern on Mondays, came in asking a favor of me. For his other job (or internship) he had to write a review on a band, The Yeasayers, that he saw over the weekend. He recorded it on what I assume was the company camera and had no idea how to upload it. Me, being the nice girl I am, tried to help him, but the camera historically is unrecognizable by any Mac editing software. Myself and a few other people ran around in circles until the consensus was to just capture from a deck, not the camera itself. It's annoying how software/hardware often doesn't work. You'd think the more advanced something would get, the easier it is to be backwards compatible with the past. Why can't FCP, a top of the line editing software, recognize one 2006 or 2007 released Canon HV10?
Indy Mogul's YouTube inbox was exploding with messages. Ryan wanted me to go through it and respond when I could and/or if necessary. As may have been mentioned before, 90% of the time it's fans requesting certain builds or FX. I noted down a few specific requests that have been mentioned multiple times. Probably should have wrote down those who said them too...d'oh! Young kids make up a bigger part of the message senders and often I feel bad when I open a new one up just for the sake of lessening the "Total Messages in Inbox" number. These kids think they are talking to Erik, not some intern, yet here I am, ignoring them and their dreams of contact. The Internet is funny like that but that could have happened in other mediums too. Back in the day, it was letters to bigger companies requesting this, that and the other. Now it's email and embedded comment boxes. False hopes are engendered in both situations unless of course the person is adamant down the line.
Beyond The Trailer went well today, save for a major confusion on my part about which lavaliere was a receiver and which wasn't. Little things like that I miss all the time. Often I'm asking for help with things that have the most simple solutions. A beneficial end result is knowing all the little solutions to the problems but I can't help but feel dumb and inexperienced along the way, especially when you are constantly beckoning on those who have ten times as much work as you do. Moving on...
[I'm beginning to think I should start posting more of the videos I actually help on, like I did in the first entry. I'll get those links up soon.]
Last thing worth noting was a little out of the ordinary and interesting. Ryan Instant Messaged me asking for my assistance in researching for a new webcam for Indy Mogul. The Reel Good Show uses one for their live episodes. Seeing as I not too long ago scoured the Internet, comparing and contrasting consumer HD cameras for my own purchase, I knew all the necessary channels and places to look. Turns out that for Macs, only one webcam really does the trick well. Now that Macs have an iSight built into all their desktop and laptop computers, the need for a webcam is nearly nonexistent. Despite this, a few brands still carry models that have UVC compatible ("plug in and go" concept), Logitech almost exclusively. The work was tedious, but still a little fun. My Geek status allows me to take small enjoyment in looking at technology products for an hour or two straight.
Here are the winners for that competition I worked so long and hard on: Mogulween Winners!
And here's the video with the trailer I helped cut together: BFX Pumpkin King (starts at 3:54)
Monday was a standard day at the office. With the Mogulween contest over, my duties were no longer restricted to watching submission video after submission video, a much welcome change. Spencer, the other intern on Mondays, came in asking a favor of me. For his other job (or internship) he had to write a review on a band, The Yeasayers, that he saw over the weekend. He recorded it on what I assume was the company camera and had no idea how to upload it. Me, being the nice girl I am, tried to help him, but the camera historically is unrecognizable by any Mac editing software. Myself and a few other people ran around in circles until the consensus was to just capture from a deck, not the camera itself. It's annoying how software/hardware often doesn't work. You'd think the more advanced something would get, the easier it is to be backwards compatible with the past. Why can't FCP, a top of the line editing software, recognize one 2006 or 2007 released Canon HV10?
Indy Mogul's YouTube inbox was exploding with messages. Ryan wanted me to go through it and respond when I could and/or if necessary. As may have been mentioned before, 90% of the time it's fans requesting certain builds or FX. I noted down a few specific requests that have been mentioned multiple times. Probably should have wrote down those who said them too...d'oh! Young kids make up a bigger part of the message senders and often I feel bad when I open a new one up just for the sake of lessening the "Total Messages in Inbox" number. These kids think they are talking to Erik, not some intern, yet here I am, ignoring them and their dreams of contact. The Internet is funny like that but that could have happened in other mediums too. Back in the day, it was letters to bigger companies requesting this, that and the other. Now it's email and embedded comment boxes. False hopes are engendered in both situations unless of course the person is adamant down the line.
Beyond The Trailer went well today, save for a major confusion on my part about which lavaliere was a receiver and which wasn't. Little things like that I miss all the time. Often I'm asking for help with things that have the most simple solutions. A beneficial end result is knowing all the little solutions to the problems but I can't help but feel dumb and inexperienced along the way, especially when you are constantly beckoning on those who have ten times as much work as you do. Moving on...
[I'm beginning to think I should start posting more of the videos I actually help on, like I did in the first entry. I'll get those links up soon.]
Last thing worth noting was a little out of the ordinary and interesting. Ryan Instant Messaged me asking for my assistance in researching for a new webcam for Indy Mogul. The Reel Good Show uses one for their live episodes. Seeing as I not too long ago scoured the Internet, comparing and contrasting consumer HD cameras for my own purchase, I knew all the necessary channels and places to look. Turns out that for Macs, only one webcam really does the trick well. Now that Macs have an iSight built into all their desktop and laptop computers, the need for a webcam is nearly nonexistent. Despite this, a few brands still carry models that have UVC compatible ("plug in and go" concept), Logitech almost exclusively. The work was tedious, but still a little fun. My Geek status allows me to take small enjoyment in looking at technology products for an hour or two straight.
Here are the winners for that competition I worked so long and hard on: Mogulween Winners!
And here's the video with the trailer I helped cut together: BFX Pumpkin King (starts at 3:54)
Monday, October 26, 2009
DAY 11 - The Competition Pt. 3
My entire day was spent staring into the computer screen, following the familiar process of right click save, double-click downloaded video, watch, send to Trash or move to Mogulween Contest folder. Rinse, repeat times 100, easily. Some videos were really good, showcasing some skill among the pool. Some were very forgettable and cliche. Not much else to say regarding this since it's something I've been talking about for a couple weeks now. Grace was sick today so the break in the monotony that is shooting Beyond The Trailer didn't even happen. Once the contest is over, my work may branch off to other things but for now...
Worth noting, I'm NOT complaining. If this is my job, then I will do it to the best of my abilities.
The largest breach from the usual submission watching and YouTube account managing was when I was trying out the new tricks in Final Cut I learned from Erik on Friday. Motion blurs, image screens, fun key framing. For a first time, it my dummy titles didn't come out so bad, but the effects weren't rocket science either. Definitely good tricks to know and I'm glad I had a chance to test them out. My title graphics shall never be the same...
Worth noting, I'm NOT complaining. If this is my job, then I will do it to the best of my abilities.
The largest breach from the usual submission watching and YouTube account managing was when I was trying out the new tricks in Final Cut I learned from Erik on Friday. Motion blurs, image screens, fun key framing. For a first time, it my dummy titles didn't come out so bad, but the effects weren't rocket science either. Definitely good tricks to know and I'm glad I had a chance to test them out. My title graphics shall never be the same...
Friday, October 23, 2009
DAY 10 - Kings of Halloween
Sitting here at the office on Day 11 with Day 10 not even written up has me feeling a bit out of sorts. To prevent my brain from jumbling days up, I'm going to try to bang out this entry before the ball begins barreling down the hill that is Monday.
My alarm decided to take a day off on Friday so I woke up with the sun uncomfortably blaring in my eyes and the realization that it was almost 9:00 am! Not too incredibly late but it upset me all the same. After all was said and done I got into the office at about 11:30 am, just in time to be invited to lunch at the Shake Shack with Ryan Nugent, Justin Johnson (whose proper title is "Creative Services Lead" and who I made promos for at the beginning of this internship) and Daniel Delaney, the host of VendrTV. I learned that, according to Justin, I am the "superstar intern". Props for me. Things were definitely discussed at the luncheon that were fun to listen in on, details of which are foggy and unobtainable with all the office chatter buzzing in my brain. One detail I don't forget, though, was spotting Philip Seymour Hoffman. Yeah, this guy.
There was major confusion regarding the videos downloaded for the 60 Second Horror Short Contest. Apparently the other intern watching submissions, Tracey, downloaded many of the same videos I did, but didn't rename them or place them in the proper folders. Just downloaded, watched, and moved on. While Ryan and I were trying to figure out how to organize and make sense of it, I couldn't help but be eternally grateful for my anal desire for order and organization. Listen to your Mom and Dad, kids. Start young and clean your room because someday, all that "structure" leads to a grand work ethic. Anyway, silly life lessons aside, seeing my logically separated folders in comparison to the jumbled videos with abstract letter-and-number titles was a highlight of the day. In the end, Ryan just reasoned that he would talk to Tracey when she came in on Tuesday. (Why did I just relay all of that? As noted, my brain is jumbled.)
The meat and potatoes of my day came when Erik IMed me asking if I could cut together a trailer for the test film, "Kings of Halloween", that would be inserted into the Backyard FX episode airing on Monday. "Why of course!" I was sent a 20-25 second clip and asked to shrink it to ten seconds, using music and graphics to really entice the audience. After a short time I cut together what I could, running at almost exactly ten seconds with elementary graphics and a doctored music track taken from the Test Film itself. Erik watched it and laughed, seeming pleased by what I had done up to that point.
And then the "master" went to work. Erik reached into the computer and pulled our sound effects and composite explosions, added them to witty, keyframed titles and utilized some of his favorite motion effects to make the trailer pop with life and "gangsta" intensity. Watching it really did make me want to see the whole Test Film and I already had seen it twice before! Being able to look over his shoulder, throwing in my own opinions here and there, was, in laymen's terms, awesome and I learned a great deal from just that hour or so of observation. Final Cut Pro has a lot of tricks I have yet to find the bags of. (As much as I want to say it made me run home, open up my version of Final Cut and test them all out, my computer's processor would choke on the first attempt at a imported explosion from Det Films.) There's a greater lesson in all this, one that applies to the mission statement, but I can't really find it at the moment. Office chatter is blamed once again.
Elaborations may come? I feel like I say that too often and then never come back to the old entires. Seriously, I'm trying.
My alarm decided to take a day off on Friday so I woke up with the sun uncomfortably blaring in my eyes and the realization that it was almost 9:00 am! Not too incredibly late but it upset me all the same. After all was said and done I got into the office at about 11:30 am, just in time to be invited to lunch at the Shake Shack with Ryan Nugent, Justin Johnson (whose proper title is "Creative Services Lead" and who I made promos for at the beginning of this internship) and Daniel Delaney, the host of VendrTV. I learned that, according to Justin, I am the "superstar intern". Props for me. Things were definitely discussed at the luncheon that were fun to listen in on, details of which are foggy and unobtainable with all the office chatter buzzing in my brain. One detail I don't forget, though, was spotting Philip Seymour Hoffman. Yeah, this guy.
There was major confusion regarding the videos downloaded for the 60 Second Horror Short Contest. Apparently the other intern watching submissions, Tracey, downloaded many of the same videos I did, but didn't rename them or place them in the proper folders. Just downloaded, watched, and moved on. While Ryan and I were trying to figure out how to organize and make sense of it, I couldn't help but be eternally grateful for my anal desire for order and organization. Listen to your Mom and Dad, kids. Start young and clean your room because someday, all that "structure" leads to a grand work ethic. Anyway, silly life lessons aside, seeing my logically separated folders in comparison to the jumbled videos with abstract letter-and-number titles was a highlight of the day. In the end, Ryan just reasoned that he would talk to Tracey when she came in on Tuesday. (Why did I just relay all of that? As noted, my brain is jumbled.)
The meat and potatoes of my day came when Erik IMed me asking if I could cut together a trailer for the test film, "Kings of Halloween", that would be inserted into the Backyard FX episode airing on Monday. "Why of course!" I was sent a 20-25 second clip and asked to shrink it to ten seconds, using music and graphics to really entice the audience. After a short time I cut together what I could, running at almost exactly ten seconds with elementary graphics and a doctored music track taken from the Test Film itself. Erik watched it and laughed, seeming pleased by what I had done up to that point.
And then the "master" went to work. Erik reached into the computer and pulled our sound effects and composite explosions, added them to witty, keyframed titles and utilized some of his favorite motion effects to make the trailer pop with life and "gangsta" intensity. Watching it really did make me want to see the whole Test Film and I already had seen it twice before! Being able to look over his shoulder, throwing in my own opinions here and there, was, in laymen's terms, awesome and I learned a great deal from just that hour or so of observation. Final Cut Pro has a lot of tricks I have yet to find the bags of. (As much as I want to say it made me run home, open up my version of Final Cut and test them all out, my computer's processor would choke on the first attempt at a imported explosion from Det Films.) There's a greater lesson in all this, one that applies to the mission statement, but I can't really find it at the moment. Office chatter is blamed once again.
Elaborations may come? I feel like I say that too often and then never come back to the old entires. Seriously, I'm trying.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
DAY 9 - The Competition Pt. 2
The Internet is a crazy thing. Answers come within seconds of posing them. Help is around every corner and if not immediately presented with it, a directional arrow (or twelve) usually steer you down the correct path.
I played the role of immediate answers on Monday. Noticing a lack of submissions for their 60 Second Horror Video Contest, Indy Mogul posted a video online with details about the contest, acting as an additional reminder to the various mentions that had already taken place throughout October. Aside form the bone-headed comments from people pointing the finger at us for "advertising late" and from people who claim to have never heard of the contest until after watching the video, a slew of inquisitions sprouted up all over the video's YouTube page. "How do I submit my video?", "What if I'm only 18?", "Can it be animated?", "Can I re-cut a past film?", etc, etc. Being the able and willing intern that I am, I charged forward, answering as many as I possibly could. As I did, I couldn't help but realize a few things...
There is a lower third in the video with the website detailing all the contest rules and instructions. Plain as day, it says where to submit the video and that all videos should be submitted with "Mogulween Film Fest" in the title, along with title of the submission itself. PLAIN AS DAY. And yet, the majority of questions received ask where to submit the video. Half of the submissions that could be downloaded properly do not have the preferred file name. How do people miss these details? Can they not merely scroll down on the page to see the Official Rules and the answers to all their questions?
Granted, a large portion of the audience is much younger, still in middle school and granted, where to submit the videos should be highlighted "above the fold" not near the bottom of the page. (The "18 and over" rule is foggy, since it goes unmentioned that with a parent's permission, anyone underage is eligible. Those questions I take with satisfaction and diligence.) But the rest create confusion in me, bringing to mind stories and theories about how impatient we are as a people. Answers not in front of us are demanded without attempts to find them ourselves. But the frustrating part is the answers are there! Scroll down once or twice and it plainly says where to submit the video. Are people just that lazy? Do they skim that fast, missing crucial details and only seeing half the story? Jumping to conclusions and into a blind panic have become our forte.
Not to say that people panicked. Not to say all these questions were posed with innocent intentions. The world won't end because of this, but I'm unsettled by other's impatience, whether they mean to showcase it or not. One to talk, I am not. I'm guilty of the same crime! But why is the ever ominous question. There is definitely more that can be said on this topic, but for now the well of creative thought has run dry. (I may go back and edit later.)
Beyond the Trailer called upon my help once again. Shooting for that was a little rough. Grace didn't get a suitable amount of sleep, so usable takes came after countless tries and Spencer was late coming back from an interview so I had to monitor camera, sound, and run the tele-prompter. Personally, I didn't mind doing all three. Eventually he did come back, though, and we plowed through the material as best we could. (And Grace let it slip that Ryan told her I'm the "star intern". Hello confidence!)
And so was Day 9 at Next New...
I played the role of immediate answers on Monday. Noticing a lack of submissions for their 60 Second Horror Video Contest, Indy Mogul posted a video online with details about the contest, acting as an additional reminder to the various mentions that had already taken place throughout October. Aside form the bone-headed comments from people pointing the finger at us for "advertising late" and from people who claim to have never heard of the contest until after watching the video, a slew of inquisitions sprouted up all over the video's YouTube page. "How do I submit my video?", "What if I'm only 18?", "Can it be animated?", "Can I re-cut a past film?", etc, etc. Being the able and willing intern that I am, I charged forward, answering as many as I possibly could. As I did, I couldn't help but realize a few things...
There is a lower third in the video with the website detailing all the contest rules and instructions. Plain as day, it says where to submit the video and that all videos should be submitted with "Mogulween Film Fest" in the title, along with title of the submission itself. PLAIN AS DAY. And yet, the majority of questions received ask where to submit the video. Half of the submissions that could be downloaded properly do not have the preferred file name. How do people miss these details? Can they not merely scroll down on the page to see the Official Rules and the answers to all their questions?
Granted, a large portion of the audience is much younger, still in middle school and granted, where to submit the videos should be highlighted "above the fold" not near the bottom of the page. (The "18 and over" rule is foggy, since it goes unmentioned that with a parent's permission, anyone underage is eligible. Those questions I take with satisfaction and diligence.) But the rest create confusion in me, bringing to mind stories and theories about how impatient we are as a people. Answers not in front of us are demanded without attempts to find them ourselves. But the frustrating part is the answers are there! Scroll down once or twice and it plainly says where to submit the video. Are people just that lazy? Do they skim that fast, missing crucial details and only seeing half the story? Jumping to conclusions and into a blind panic have become our forte.
Not to say that people panicked. Not to say all these questions were posed with innocent intentions. The world won't end because of this, but I'm unsettled by other's impatience, whether they mean to showcase it or not. One to talk, I am not. I'm guilty of the same crime! But why is the ever ominous question. There is definitely more that can be said on this topic, but for now the well of creative thought has run dry. (I may go back and edit later.)
Beyond the Trailer called upon my help once again. Shooting for that was a little rough. Grace didn't get a suitable amount of sleep, so usable takes came after countless tries and Spencer was late coming back from an interview so I had to monitor camera, sound, and run the tele-prompter. Personally, I didn't mind doing all three. Eventually he did come back, though, and we plowed through the material as best we could. (And Grace let it slip that Ryan told her I'm the "star intern". Hello confidence!)
And so was Day 9 at Next New...
Saturday, October 17, 2009
DAY 8 - The Competition
My fourth Friday at Next New was probably my least exciting. The beginning of the day was spent checking the inbox of the Indy Mogul YouTube account. I went through and replied to a small handful of the hundreds that they have received over the last few months. Most of them are requests for certain costumes or special effects so a polite "Thanks for the suggestion! We'll consider it for the future!" is all that's required in a reply. I tried to make them a little more personal but it's hard when you know there's a slim to none chance their wishes will be granted. So is the business...
From 12:00 PM until 5:30 PM, I went into the "back room" of the website, so to speak, and watched video submissions for the One Minute Horror Short Contest and for Your FX. After the first couple hours it became monotonous work. There are only so many short action and horror videos made by 15-years-olds you can watch before they begin to blend together. I had to have watched around 75 to 100 videos, but the contest claimed only 12 of them (though a lot didn't upload properly so we couldn't watch them at all). One is leagues and bounds beyond the others in terms of quality but once again, so is the business...
(That said, some of these kids out there have a great grasp on such advanced programs as Adobe After Effects. It's a bit scary. May the inferiority complex begin...)
That was my day, though. Watching videos. Not exceptionally exciting but not boring either. Every day can't be action-packed. I was wondering how long it would take until those more intern-esque jobs came along.
From 12:00 PM until 5:30 PM, I went into the "back room" of the website, so to speak, and watched video submissions for the One Minute Horror Short Contest and for Your FX. After the first couple hours it became monotonous work. There are only so many short action and horror videos made by 15-years-olds you can watch before they begin to blend together. I had to have watched around 75 to 100 videos, but the contest claimed only 12 of them (though a lot didn't upload properly so we couldn't watch them at all). One is leagues and bounds beyond the others in terms of quality but once again, so is the business...
(That said, some of these kids out there have a great grasp on such advanced programs as Adobe After Effects. It's a bit scary. May the inferiority complex begin...)
That was my day, though. Watching videos. Not exceptionally exciting but not boring either. Every day can't be action-packed. I was wondering how long it would take until those more intern-esque jobs came along.
Monday, October 12, 2009
DAY 7 - Shorter!
The art of omission, the art of cutting down and eliminating excess fat and content is something I'm learning ever more about. My first act of the day was to take a 15 minute interview between Erik Beck and the director of Paranormal Activity and reduce it to three to five minutes. The story of that film is quite interesting within itself. Made on a budget of under $15,000 by a man who never picked up a video camera in his life, Paranormal Activity is the horror film sweeping the nation. It's been called one of the scariest films ever made, drawing its horror not from exuberant gore and special effect villains, but from what's not seen, what's invisible. It's a "imagination of the audience" kind of film, like Blair Witch Project. Actually, the formula is incredibly similar.
Anyway, unrestricted by video I was able to form questions and answers however I wanted, cutting out whole chunks without worrying about jumps. The cuts aren't perfect. When I listen through I can tell where I've made adjustments but that could be because I'm aware of it. Erik took a listen to it while I was shooting BTT and his only comments that I remember were, "Good. It could be shorter, though". Doesn't really instill too much confidence in me but, regardless I sent it to him and wasn't asked about it for the rest of the day.
Speaking of Beyond the Trailer, that was probably the highlight of my day. Nothing out of the ordinary happened but the comfort level was mind-blowing. Comfort with the process, with the Panosonic HVX, lights, sound equipment and just being able to walk around the room knowing what I'm doing and how to do it is a great feeling. (Though it may seem I harp on this a lot, for me it really is important.) I really enjoy working with Grace and every time we shoot these things it gets easier and easier. Jokes were told, laughs were shared, insights on film and Apple's imminent takeover of the world were rampant. Thank you, BTT, for making my day.
With that footage in the can and the Paranormal Activity interview "finished", I went back to Working Class Foodies footage and tried to put together more pieces of the rough cut. When I went to watch a previous episode to double-check on how title cards were done, I found this: Bratwurst with Theo Peck, my first rough cut episode. At first I was excited, but after watching it, discouragement hit me hard. My work had definitely established a process of the show, but Rebecca fit it all together in such a cohesive, engaging and entertaining manner, doing things I never would have thought of. Her vision for the episode and use of the footage worked so well! My discouragement is unsound: I'm not the director of these videos, merely a helper putting labels on the pieces and putting a few together. I never expected to be anything more, but watching the video made me realize I have much further to go as an editor. Or maybe these thoughts are all senseless worries? Probably. From now on I'll take it as a learning experience, not a blow to confidence. Sorry for the personal-esque ramblings.
By 3:00 pm I was without much to do. Strange, I know! Ryan put me to work answering messages on the Indy Mogul Youtube account and I rode that wave until 6:00 pm.
What did I learn today? When you think it's short enough, cut off another minute. Things are never too short for the Internet. People's attention spans are really that ADD. And, for what it is, it works. Get used to being the skeleton of the video. Other people will make it a whole, living breathing entity and may swap out a few bones in the process.
Anyway, unrestricted by video I was able to form questions and answers however I wanted, cutting out whole chunks without worrying about jumps. The cuts aren't perfect. When I listen through I can tell where I've made adjustments but that could be because I'm aware of it. Erik took a listen to it while I was shooting BTT and his only comments that I remember were, "Good. It could be shorter, though". Doesn't really instill too much confidence in me but, regardless I sent it to him and wasn't asked about it for the rest of the day.
Speaking of Beyond the Trailer, that was probably the highlight of my day. Nothing out of the ordinary happened but the comfort level was mind-blowing. Comfort with the process, with the Panosonic HVX, lights, sound equipment and just being able to walk around the room knowing what I'm doing and how to do it is a great feeling. (Though it may seem I harp on this a lot, for me it really is important.) I really enjoy working with Grace and every time we shoot these things it gets easier and easier. Jokes were told, laughs were shared, insights on film and Apple's imminent takeover of the world were rampant. Thank you, BTT, for making my day.
With that footage in the can and the Paranormal Activity interview "finished", I went back to Working Class Foodies footage and tried to put together more pieces of the rough cut. When I went to watch a previous episode to double-check on how title cards were done, I found this: Bratwurst with Theo Peck, my first rough cut episode. At first I was excited, but after watching it, discouragement hit me hard. My work had definitely established a process of the show, but Rebecca fit it all together in such a cohesive, engaging and entertaining manner, doing things I never would have thought of. Her vision for the episode and use of the footage worked so well! My discouragement is unsound: I'm not the director of these videos, merely a helper putting labels on the pieces and putting a few together. I never expected to be anything more, but watching the video made me realize I have much further to go as an editor. Or maybe these thoughts are all senseless worries? Probably. From now on I'll take it as a learning experience, not a blow to confidence. Sorry for the personal-esque ramblings.
By 3:00 pm I was without much to do. Strange, I know! Ryan put me to work answering messages on the Indy Mogul Youtube account and I rode that wave until 6:00 pm.
What did I learn today? When you think it's short enough, cut off another minute. Things are never too short for the Internet. People's attention spans are really that ADD. And, for what it is, it works. Get used to being the skeleton of the video. Other people will make it a whole, living breathing entity and may swap out a few bones in the process.
Friday, October 9, 2009
DAY 6 - Bo Ssam
Ryan Nugent (slight paraphrase): "It's good to know everyone's fightin' over you. Everyone who has worked with you has had good things to say."
Thursday afternoon I received an email from Rebecca Lando that went something like this:
As Rebecca promised, I walked into the office today and it was minutes before someone approached me with the familiar LaCie HD full of footage for the new episode. Bo Ssam, Scallion-Ginger sauce and Jalapeno-Garlic sauce. Logging took about four to five hours, broken up occasionally to deliver extraneous props and wardrobe to the studio that Erik had accumulated in his office over time. (Included were Jason masks, a tool belt, two toy pistols, a plastic Jack-O-Lantern bucket, a plastic cauldron bucket, a styrofoam cheese block hat, a lab suit, and various shirts of all shapes and sizes, a variety of things too comical to omit from this recount.) Rough cutting was difficult to begin, confused as I was as to where to start, but once the ball rolled it never stopped!
In a few hours I had the entire cooking segment of the show thrown down on my timeline. Total time of the rough cut: approximately 4 minutes 30 seconds. That's it! I can't help but wonder if maybe this rough cut is too finely done around the edges, but I have the weekend to mention it to Rebecca and all of Monday to play around with it if need be.
A theory as to why it's so short: As opposed to just blindly following the show list, I'm adopting the show's quick-paced style and trying to capture that in the edit from the start. I know that the episode's final cut will show a two second clip of dicing scallions as opposed to six or seven seconds. So, naturally, the clip I add will be closer to two or three seconds. Hence the insanely short rough cut...
Major point of interest. Ryan Nugent sent me a message asking to talk with me regarding my work with Rebecca and Working Class Foodies. When he finally approached me, he prefaced by saying that Hungry Nation is a network in it's infancy and that the company was really trying to get behind it and push it towards success. WCF is one of two shows it currently has, so any and all help that could be given to make it exponentially better was welcome. This is where I fall into play, Rebecca raved about my work so much that she asked Ryan and another woman at NNN if I could work exclusively as an intern for WCF. Exclusively.
I pondered this for a moment and my reaction to it was both surprising and mutual among myself and Ryan but was most surprising of all was that I vocalized it. When in these sorts of situations, I bite my tongue, choosing to help the team however I can and keeping my own desires out of the picture. But today, I plainly told Ryan that I would do anything they asked me to, for my purpose as an intern is to help Next New Networks however I can. That said, I didn't want an exclusive internship under Hungry Nation and Working Class Foodies to prohibit me from gaining additional experience from other jobs for other networks. For example, would I ever get to shoot another episode for Beyond The Trailer if I was spending my days putting together rough cuts? Obviously, I did not present this as bluntly as I am now but my sudden ability to articulate these thoughts left me a little awed. Seriously.
Ryan, bless his soul, felt the same way. (About my opinion, not my articulation.) He said he had hired myself and the other interns with the promise that we would work in a variety of different environments for a variety of shows and people. Restricting us to one project was taking away from the experience he and Next New promised to give. Hallelujah! Rebecca is an awesome, professional, personable and intelligent person to work with but I'm there to help her and Grace and Erik and Justin and any one of the other equally great individuals at my internship.
What did I learn today? Whether this is a legit rule to stick by has yet to be seen but, adopt the style of the show you are creating a rough cut for. It not only saves time, but makes you look better for knowing what your boss is hoping to see in the final product. (God I hope this is true!) The deceit of the Internet is strong. After watching the raw footage of WCF and contrasting what's actual true with what is said in interviews, a lot is inferred and a lot of stock is put into people simply believing what you are saying because you're on the screen and they, the viewer, is not.* Most importantly, stick up for what you believe in. You never know who might have your beliefs in mind.
*Probably should expand on this...maybe next time.
Thursday afternoon I received an email from Rebecca Lando that went something like this:
Wow! Great work on the episode. I was blown away that you got so much accomplished, and your rough cut was super helpful and really well put together. You are a fucking rock star.My pride did backflips after reading this email and my whole body may have as well were I athletic enough. It's not a feature film, it's not a big prime-time television show, but it's something that I did and did well enough to be referred to as "a fucking rock star". Swimming in a pool of Hofstra students, I am aware that my talents are slightly above average, but this email is something I'll carry with me as proof of it and a small inkling of an assurance that I can make out there in the big bad world once I finally graduate in May.
We're going to bring the drive by NNN Thursday night so it'll be there for you Friday AM with the footage for the Bo Ssam on it. I have a mtg at NNN Tuesday evening, so I'll just pick it back up then.
Thanks again for all your hard work. You're the best.
As Rebecca promised, I walked into the office today and it was minutes before someone approached me with the familiar LaCie HD full of footage for the new episode. Bo Ssam, Scallion-Ginger sauce and Jalapeno-Garlic sauce. Logging took about four to five hours, broken up occasionally to deliver extraneous props and wardrobe to the studio that Erik had accumulated in his office over time. (Included were Jason masks, a tool belt, two toy pistols, a plastic Jack-O-Lantern bucket, a plastic cauldron bucket, a styrofoam cheese block hat, a lab suit, and various shirts of all shapes and sizes, a variety of things too comical to omit from this recount.) Rough cutting was difficult to begin, confused as I was as to where to start, but once the ball rolled it never stopped!
In a few hours I had the entire cooking segment of the show thrown down on my timeline. Total time of the rough cut: approximately 4 minutes 30 seconds. That's it! I can't help but wonder if maybe this rough cut is too finely done around the edges, but I have the weekend to mention it to Rebecca and all of Monday to play around with it if need be.
A theory as to why it's so short: As opposed to just blindly following the show list, I'm adopting the show's quick-paced style and trying to capture that in the edit from the start. I know that the episode's final cut will show a two second clip of dicing scallions as opposed to six or seven seconds. So, naturally, the clip I add will be closer to two or three seconds. Hence the insanely short rough cut...
Major point of interest. Ryan Nugent sent me a message asking to talk with me regarding my work with Rebecca and Working Class Foodies. When he finally approached me, he prefaced by saying that Hungry Nation is a network in it's infancy and that the company was really trying to get behind it and push it towards success. WCF is one of two shows it currently has, so any and all help that could be given to make it exponentially better was welcome. This is where I fall into play, Rebecca raved about my work so much that she asked Ryan and another woman at NNN if I could work exclusively as an intern for WCF. Exclusively.
I pondered this for a moment and my reaction to it was both surprising and mutual among myself and Ryan but was most surprising of all was that I vocalized it. When in these sorts of situations, I bite my tongue, choosing to help the team however I can and keeping my own desires out of the picture. But today, I plainly told Ryan that I would do anything they asked me to, for my purpose as an intern is to help Next New Networks however I can. That said, I didn't want an exclusive internship under Hungry Nation and Working Class Foodies to prohibit me from gaining additional experience from other jobs for other networks. For example, would I ever get to shoot another episode for Beyond The Trailer if I was spending my days putting together rough cuts? Obviously, I did not present this as bluntly as I am now but my sudden ability to articulate these thoughts left me a little awed. Seriously.
Ryan, bless his soul, felt the same way. (About my opinion, not my articulation.) He said he had hired myself and the other interns with the promise that we would work in a variety of different environments for a variety of shows and people. Restricting us to one project was taking away from the experience he and Next New promised to give. Hallelujah! Rebecca is an awesome, professional, personable and intelligent person to work with but I'm there to help her and Grace and Erik and Justin and any one of the other equally great individuals at my internship.
What did I learn today? Whether this is a legit rule to stick by has yet to be seen but, adopt the style of the show you are creating a rough cut for. It not only saves time, but makes you look better for knowing what your boss is hoping to see in the final product. (God I hope this is true!) The deceit of the Internet is strong. After watching the raw footage of WCF and contrasting what's actual true with what is said in interviews, a lot is inferred and a lot of stock is put into people simply believing what you are saying because you're on the screen and they, the viewer, is not.* Most importantly, stick up for what you believe in. You never know who might have your beliefs in mind.
*Probably should expand on this...maybe next time.
Monday, October 5, 2009
DAY 5 - Working Class Rough Cut
I entered my internship with the expectation that I would spend the entire day working on the Working Class Foodies episode 107 logging/rough cut and I am pleased to say that that is exactly how events unfolded.
Logging has always been a big thing of mine. Whenever people ask me about it, I stress to no end it's importance. How are you supposed to be an effective editor if you have no idea what your clips are, what happens in them, where the good points are, etc? As an editor you should be able to quickly grab anything you need and from there the rest is easy. At first I felt weary at how long it took me to mark and name the 99 clips in my bin. Certain portions, such as six minute clips of sausage links being made and tied off, made me nervous but after a quick email to Rebecca Lando regarding how to handle it, I felt much more at ease.
I find that every time I sit in front of a computer and start to edit for the first time in a while (or do anything that has to do with filmmaking after having done nothing of the sort for a long period of time), important details such as specifying shot names, reading foot candles and lighting effectively escape me. (The latter two things are irrelevant but the first is very important when logging!) Thank God Rebecca made a mention of it in her email or I would have omitted them from my clip names entirely! Of course, I then when backwards and renamed all that I could... Okay, getting a little too technical here. When all you do in a day is edit, it's hard not to!
I guess my point is that hopefully all this constant exposure to working with editing and various shows in a real environment will help me retain some of these important details from one project to the next. I should not have the option of shutting my brain off to these things over the course of a summer, as if the details being blocked were dates and names of paintings or mathematic properties. Specifying shot types when logging footage is important and hopefully next time it won't take an unsuspecting email to remind me!
Throwing together a rough cut is a new thing for me. My style of editing is very...different. Before moving on I'm going to explain:
When you edit, standard procedure is to log clips, then create a rough cut to establish the sequence, create an assembly cut to get the flow and then fine tune the crap out of it until you are left with your "Final" cut. You start with large clips, then trim around the edges. Perfect cuts and transitions don't happen until after the rough cut. Transitions in general don't come until after a rough cut. Audio mixing comes after the final cut and so on and so forth... I may have a few details jumbled here and there...
When I edit, I skip the rough draft process and dive straight into my surgeonesque fine-tuning. Rough cuts just don't work for me. Once I have a vision for how a project will work out, I barrel through, creating that vision as best as possible on the first try. This is WRONG! But, I do it anyway.
So, when I was asked to make a rough cut, I took a breath, stepped back from myself and had to suddenly get into the mid set that said "Don't finesse!!" For a first time, I was incredibly impressed with myself! At around 1 PM, my last few clips were logged and I started dragging and dropping them into my timeline, following the shot list/recipe that was emailed to me. Keeping the style of the show in my mind, I paid careful attention to keep clips short, jump cuts abound, maintaining the process of cooking the meal as much as possible.
Aside: A cooking show in five minutes if VERY DIFFERENT than one that spans a half hour or longer! The pacing is incredibly fast and after watching previous episodes of the show countless times, the vision of the editing style is something I must become in tune to. It works because of how well each episode is paced, literally cutting out the excess fat that is usually overdubbed with useless dribble on a standard Food Network cooking show. For the market they are catering to, this unique shotgun approach keeps it interesting and easy for anyone to sit and watch, while at the same time containing all the information one could possibly need. (NEED is a key word.) That said, after watching hours of footage, things are definitely left out of the mix that may be important to the viewer, but that is where the editor comes in. I find editing for Net-television, more so than any other medium, is like compressing a novel for Sparknotes: keep the bare necessities of the bare necessities. Anything else can die on the cutting room floor. I can only begin to imagine how this will affect my editing for longer productions! Will it be positive or negative?
After that initial drag and drop session, I was left with seven plus minutes of video for what will eventually be a 4-5 minute short! This was without the intro, outro, etc. Beads of sweat started forming on my forehead. "I know rough cuts are generally long, but did I do this right? I'm not even done yet!" I thought to myself. I went back, cutting out and down what I could, hoping that that I could shave off at least a minute of my seemingly bloated rough cut!
Enter Erik Beck, "an actor, producer, filmmaker and master of low-budget special effects who co-founded Indy Mogul in 2007". He came over to check up on me in the wake of my small, hidden internal freak-out. I explained to him my newness to the concept of rough cut and that I was trying to cut down my seven minutes of footage to something more manageable for Rebecca. "Actually," he said (and I'm paraphrasing a little), "seven minutes is really good! Most of the rough cuts we get are at least twice what the intended length of the show is. So, if you're only 20% over, I don't see that being a problem."
What?! Seriously?! I was overjoyed! Ecstatic! I don't suck at my job! Alight with compliments and confidence, I was rearing to forge on, adding the visit to the marketplace clips to the beginning (though the footage was lacking), threw an intro in and logged two seconds of what ended up being an interview that could have really helped me from the start! I accomplished all this easily within ten minutes and could have done more were I not expected to drop the drive off uptown and, oh yeah, actually return to campus that day. No more did I feel burdened with my previous caution and I'm all the more glad for it!
Brittany the Editor was back!
Sidenote: Justin, the man who commissioned me to make Hungry Nation promos, came over and complimented my use of markers. When editing the interviews, I noted parts I thought might make interesting 15 second stories but marking them in FCP. He said that was a really good decision and showed I knew what I was doing. Score!
What did I learn today? My attention to detail and over-anal personality are both things I should embrace when editing and logging. Don't be scared to bring up small things you may be concerned about (I almost never told Erik about my rough cut woes) because if you express problems to the right people, they usually result in constructive criticism (or compliments in my case). Communication is key to this medium and having questions is in the job description for an intern! Sure, a stupid inquiry may come up, but at least an answer will prevent me from yielding stupid results. I can be stupid at so many other times in life and not have it affect my job prospects!
After getting a feel for my first WCF rough cut, I think I have more confidence to do another, this time having the experience of one under my belt and addressing anything I thought I was doing wrong the first time. Don't shamelessly cut out due to length, that's what assembly cuts are for!!! Don't not go with your gut and don't get overwhelmed; I did a little bit of both and it hurt me. I'm not expected to do everything perfect the first time. When I just captured the WCF "vision" and moved with it, everything worked out fine.
(I just hope Rebecca thinks so too!)
Logging has always been a big thing of mine. Whenever people ask me about it, I stress to no end it's importance. How are you supposed to be an effective editor if you have no idea what your clips are, what happens in them, where the good points are, etc? As an editor you should be able to quickly grab anything you need and from there the rest is easy. At first I felt weary at how long it took me to mark and name the 99 clips in my bin. Certain portions, such as six minute clips of sausage links being made and tied off, made me nervous but after a quick email to Rebecca Lando regarding how to handle it, I felt much more at ease.
I find that every time I sit in front of a computer and start to edit for the first time in a while (or do anything that has to do with filmmaking after having done nothing of the sort for a long period of time), important details such as specifying shot names, reading foot candles and lighting effectively escape me. (The latter two things are irrelevant but the first is very important when logging!) Thank God Rebecca made a mention of it in her email or I would have omitted them from my clip names entirely! Of course, I then when backwards and renamed all that I could... Okay, getting a little too technical here. When all you do in a day is edit, it's hard not to!
I guess my point is that hopefully all this constant exposure to working with editing and various shows in a real environment will help me retain some of these important details from one project to the next. I should not have the option of shutting my brain off to these things over the course of a summer, as if the details being blocked were dates and names of paintings or mathematic properties. Specifying shot types when logging footage is important and hopefully next time it won't take an unsuspecting email to remind me!
Throwing together a rough cut is a new thing for me. My style of editing is very...different. Before moving on I'm going to explain:
When you edit, standard procedure is to log clips, then create a rough cut to establish the sequence, create an assembly cut to get the flow and then fine tune the crap out of it until you are left with your "Final" cut. You start with large clips, then trim around the edges. Perfect cuts and transitions don't happen until after the rough cut. Transitions in general don't come until after a rough cut. Audio mixing comes after the final cut and so on and so forth... I may have a few details jumbled here and there...
When I edit, I skip the rough draft process and dive straight into my surgeonesque fine-tuning. Rough cuts just don't work for me. Once I have a vision for how a project will work out, I barrel through, creating that vision as best as possible on the first try. This is WRONG! But, I do it anyway.
So, when I was asked to make a rough cut, I took a breath, stepped back from myself and had to suddenly get into the mid set that said "Don't finesse!!" For a first time, I was incredibly impressed with myself! At around 1 PM, my last few clips were logged and I started dragging and dropping them into my timeline, following the shot list/recipe that was emailed to me. Keeping the style of the show in my mind, I paid careful attention to keep clips short, jump cuts abound, maintaining the process of cooking the meal as much as possible.
Aside: A cooking show in five minutes if VERY DIFFERENT than one that spans a half hour or longer! The pacing is incredibly fast and after watching previous episodes of the show countless times, the vision of the editing style is something I must become in tune to. It works because of how well each episode is paced, literally cutting out the excess fat that is usually overdubbed with useless dribble on a standard Food Network cooking show. For the market they are catering to, this unique shotgun approach keeps it interesting and easy for anyone to sit and watch, while at the same time containing all the information one could possibly need. (NEED is a key word.) That said, after watching hours of footage, things are definitely left out of the mix that may be important to the viewer, but that is where the editor comes in. I find editing for Net-television, more so than any other medium, is like compressing a novel for Sparknotes: keep the bare necessities of the bare necessities. Anything else can die on the cutting room floor. I can only begin to imagine how this will affect my editing for longer productions! Will it be positive or negative?
After that initial drag and drop session, I was left with seven plus minutes of video for what will eventually be a 4-5 minute short! This was without the intro, outro, etc. Beads of sweat started forming on my forehead. "I know rough cuts are generally long, but did I do this right? I'm not even done yet!" I thought to myself. I went back, cutting out and down what I could, hoping that that I could shave off at least a minute of my seemingly bloated rough cut!
Enter Erik Beck, "an actor, producer, filmmaker and master of low-budget special effects who co-founded Indy Mogul in 2007". He came over to check up on me in the wake of my small, hidden internal freak-out. I explained to him my newness to the concept of rough cut and that I was trying to cut down my seven minutes of footage to something more manageable for Rebecca. "Actually," he said (and I'm paraphrasing a little), "seven minutes is really good! Most of the rough cuts we get are at least twice what the intended length of the show is. So, if you're only 20% over, I don't see that being a problem."
What?! Seriously?! I was overjoyed! Ecstatic! I don't suck at my job! Alight with compliments and confidence, I was rearing to forge on, adding the visit to the marketplace clips to the beginning (though the footage was lacking), threw an intro in and logged two seconds of what ended up being an interview that could have really helped me from the start! I accomplished all this easily within ten minutes and could have done more were I not expected to drop the drive off uptown and, oh yeah, actually return to campus that day. No more did I feel burdened with my previous caution and I'm all the more glad for it!
Brittany the Editor was back!
Sidenote: Justin, the man who commissioned me to make Hungry Nation promos, came over and complimented my use of markers. When editing the interviews, I noted parts I thought might make interesting 15 second stories but marking them in FCP. He said that was a really good decision and showed I knew what I was doing. Score!
What did I learn today? My attention to detail and over-anal personality are both things I should embrace when editing and logging. Don't be scared to bring up small things you may be concerned about (I almost never told Erik about my rough cut woes) because if you express problems to the right people, they usually result in constructive criticism (or compliments in my case). Communication is key to this medium and having questions is in the job description for an intern! Sure, a stupid inquiry may come up, but at least an answer will prevent me from yielding stupid results. I can be stupid at so many other times in life and not have it affect my job prospects!
After getting a feel for my first WCF rough cut, I think I have more confidence to do another, this time having the experience of one under my belt and addressing anything I thought I was doing wrong the first time. Don't shamelessly cut out due to length, that's what assembly cuts are for!!! Don't not go with your gut and don't get overwhelmed; I did a little bit of both and it hurt me. I'm not expected to do everything perfect the first time. When I just captured the WCF "vision" and moved with it, everything worked out fine.
(I just hope Rebecca thinks so too!)
Friday, October 2, 2009
DAY 4 - The Run Around
Today, I'm going to try my best to keep a very up-to-date account of what is going on. This could fail, it could work splendidly but we'll see how it goes. I have arrived at the office, right on time and am ready to work! My brain has been in a dark place and I'm hoping that NNN will help loosen me up. For now, I'm heavily enjoying the useless chatter amongst the Fast Lane Daily team.
EDIT: The up-to-date account did not work so well. The day was a whirlwind to say the least. Where should I begin...
I began tweaking Hungry Nation promos when Erik, one of the head honchos of Indy Mogul struck up a conversation with me. He wanted to know what my specialties were, what I would like to do most at NNN and what I had been working on up to that point. Little did I know this was all a lead in for a new, what shall I call it, assignment? One of the shows on Hungry Nation, Working Class Foodies, was looking for a production intern as well as someone to help assemble rough cuts. That day, they were shooting in their usual location uptown on W 86th St and it wasn't long until I was en route to join them!
After a few wrong subway transfers and a couple wrong turns I found my way to the apartment of Rebecca Lando an NYU graduate with a passion not only for filmmaking but also cooking. For those of you out there who don't know WCF, the show is about two siblings, Rebecca and her brother Max, who seek out interesting recipes that can be made with a budget of just $8.00 per person. The show is still in it's infancy, with just a hand full of episodes, but it's quirky, fun, and the relationship between the siblings and the recurring cameos by their dog Humphrey make it fresh and entertaining. (The fact it is shot in beautiful 1080i with the dazzling Canon D6 Mark II by the great cinematographer D.A. Pennebaker's son, Kit, helps a little as well!)
Sadly, I arrived at the apartment at the most inopportune time: when the pork was cooking in the oven. Instead, Rebecca gave me the run down on the editing front and equipped me with everything I would ever want or need to know when the time came for me to sit down and assemble a rough cut for one of the episodes. (I shan't get into the technical descriptions.) I then had two choice: sit and wait for the video files to transfer to the Hardrive I would take back to the NNN office downtown or join Kit and Max as they went to a nearby farmer's market and Whole Foods to shoot the purchasing of ingredients for the next few episodes of the show. As easy and interesting as it was to talk to Rebecca, I decided to join the boys to get some idea of how things were done on the production end of the show if nothing else.
More or less what I ended up doing was follow them around, looking over Kit's shoulder from time to time to watch his shooting. I talked with them a little to get a better idea of how the show is organized but overall it was unexciting. Strange saying that, but perhaps I was just exhausted from the day. I'm sure that if I came to them while in the midst of shooting the cooking portion of the show, things would have been a lot more interesting. Maybe I'll talk more on the shopping later...
After about an hour or so I got back to the 86th St apartment and found the HD fully fitted for my editing pleasure. Then it was the long, confusing and frustrating journey back to Next New Networks, where I spent the last couple hours of my work day logging footage. I was glad to find that their system of logging was a lot less intense than others I had encountered in the past. I'm worried that I should have been able to accomplish more in the couple hours I had available to me, but taking my time and watching all the footage instead of lunging into a rough cut immediately makes a little more sense.
It's a little scary being thrown into this position so early. I've been given all the footage for a single episode and am trusted enough to assemble it into something Rebecca can finalize and then later air on the website. Obviously, if they didn't think I could do it, I wouldn't be writing about this internship, but the pressure it definitely there. Just keep telling yourself you know what you are doing. Once you get the "vision" you cut faster than anyone else you know. So I've never edited a cooking show before, there are six online for my viewing pleasure that I can draw from. To be honest, rough cuts have never been my thing either. My meticulous and perfectionist nature have always caused me to skip the rough step and go straight to finalization. Not to say once a scene is edited it's finished forever. If we were talking about writing a paper, I would just skip the outline and first draft step and go straight from idea to 2nd draft and beyond. Learning to do this will be a great thing for the future, though, and the confidence I get from it will without a doubt carry over to other things at Next New. Slowly, it's building, and I have this internship as much for that as I do for experience.
Wow! A little soul searching there, huh? Hopefully that's okay... That's a rap for the Day 4 entry. Day 5 is just around the corner...
EDIT: The up-to-date account did not work so well. The day was a whirlwind to say the least. Where should I begin...
I began tweaking Hungry Nation promos when Erik, one of the head honchos of Indy Mogul struck up a conversation with me. He wanted to know what my specialties were, what I would like to do most at NNN and what I had been working on up to that point. Little did I know this was all a lead in for a new, what shall I call it, assignment? One of the shows on Hungry Nation, Working Class Foodies, was looking for a production intern as well as someone to help assemble rough cuts. That day, they were shooting in their usual location uptown on W 86th St and it wasn't long until I was en route to join them!
After a few wrong subway transfers and a couple wrong turns I found my way to the apartment of Rebecca Lando an NYU graduate with a passion not only for filmmaking but also cooking. For those of you out there who don't know WCF, the show is about two siblings, Rebecca and her brother Max, who seek out interesting recipes that can be made with a budget of just $8.00 per person. The show is still in it's infancy, with just a hand full of episodes, but it's quirky, fun, and the relationship between the siblings and the recurring cameos by their dog Humphrey make it fresh and entertaining. (The fact it is shot in beautiful 1080i with the dazzling Canon D6 Mark II by the great cinematographer D.A. Pennebaker's son, Kit, helps a little as well!)
Sadly, I arrived at the apartment at the most inopportune time: when the pork was cooking in the oven. Instead, Rebecca gave me the run down on the editing front and equipped me with everything I would ever want or need to know when the time came for me to sit down and assemble a rough cut for one of the episodes. (I shan't get into the technical descriptions.) I then had two choice: sit and wait for the video files to transfer to the Hardrive I would take back to the NNN office downtown or join Kit and Max as they went to a nearby farmer's market and Whole Foods to shoot the purchasing of ingredients for the next few episodes of the show. As easy and interesting as it was to talk to Rebecca, I decided to join the boys to get some idea of how things were done on the production end of the show if nothing else.
More or less what I ended up doing was follow them around, looking over Kit's shoulder from time to time to watch his shooting. I talked with them a little to get a better idea of how the show is organized but overall it was unexciting. Strange saying that, but perhaps I was just exhausted from the day. I'm sure that if I came to them while in the midst of shooting the cooking portion of the show, things would have been a lot more interesting. Maybe I'll talk more on the shopping later...
After about an hour or so I got back to the 86th St apartment and found the HD fully fitted for my editing pleasure. Then it was the long, confusing and frustrating journey back to Next New Networks, where I spent the last couple hours of my work day logging footage. I was glad to find that their system of logging was a lot less intense than others I had encountered in the past. I'm worried that I should have been able to accomplish more in the couple hours I had available to me, but taking my time and watching all the footage instead of lunging into a rough cut immediately makes a little more sense.
It's a little scary being thrown into this position so early. I've been given all the footage for a single episode and am trusted enough to assemble it into something Rebecca can finalize and then later air on the website. Obviously, if they didn't think I could do it, I wouldn't be writing about this internship, but the pressure it definitely there. Just keep telling yourself you know what you are doing. Once you get the "vision" you cut faster than anyone else you know. So I've never edited a cooking show before, there are six online for my viewing pleasure that I can draw from. To be honest, rough cuts have never been my thing either. My meticulous and perfectionist nature have always caused me to skip the rough step and go straight to finalization. Not to say once a scene is edited it's finished forever. If we were talking about writing a paper, I would just skip the outline and first draft step and go straight from idea to 2nd draft and beyond. Learning to do this will be a great thing for the future, though, and the confidence I get from it will without a doubt carry over to other things at Next New. Slowly, it's building, and I have this internship as much for that as I do for experience.
Wow! A little soul searching there, huh? Hopefully that's okay... That's a rap for the Day 4 entry. Day 5 is just around the corner...
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
DAY 3 - Monday, 9/28/2009
The first entry about my Next New Networks Internship! For now I'll keep it short and sweet, providing simply what I did in an effort to not forget it down the road. Entries about my previous two-day week at NNN will follow.
- Entered the office and began working on Hungry Nation promos. It wasn't long until the Fast Lane Daily team called for my assistance in the studio. I slated for yet another one of their daily episodes. A higher level of comfort in me must be noted.
- Got back to working on those wonderful promos. Finished one on Alyson after massive tweaks on the previous two.
- At 1:30 PM, Grace, Spencer and myself headed down to the studio to shoot part of a new episode for Grace's show Beyond The Trailer. Every Monday I'm basically the director for these in-house mini-shoots, which, though they simply require me to turn on the lights, monitor the sound, and hit Record, is kind of a small honor so early in the going at Next New. Shooting for that went very well. Grace usually says all her lines in one shot, but this was more broken up so takes were shorter and easier to capture. What's the episode about? Zombies! Pretty cool. I definitely learned something about Hollywood's history with the Undead.
- After BTT, it was back to those damn promos! At the end of the day I had six...I think. Justin seemed happy with them, save the fact they all went over time so I had to flex my editing muscles and whittle footage down as much as possible. In the back of my mind I have this immense fear that I'm doing something wrong and failing Justin and this new network but I have to keep an even keel. How am I to impress people if I don't just do it to the best of my abilities? I will admit though, with the added color correction, the titles at the beginning and the end (in the proper font, mind you), and the main Hungry Nation graphic at the tail, they look pretty legit. Which means they will need another two hours at least of fine-tuning.
I believe that wraps it up for Day Three of my internship. More or less to come.
Oh! And here are links to the last episodes of Beyond The Trailer that I am credited as "DP/ Director" on. Awesome stuff!
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