Assistant Editors

Assistant editors are the unsung heroes of the post-production world. While the editor puts together the film and gets a lot of the credit for the film's final creation, their job would be a lot more difficult without the work of an assistant editor. Assistant editors are integral to the post-production process.

To be an assistant editor one must know a great deal about the editing system that is being used. Most post-production houses use Avid as their editing system. The AE must know the ins and outs of the editing program and know technical knowledge as well in order to maintain the system. Most day to day duties involve ingesting film, labeling footage, looking through selects, creating rushes, and other behind the scenes steps that help to make the editor's job run more smoothly. Organization is key when it comes to this job. You must figure out a system to stay organized and stick to it, or the project will be absolutely confusing. The job is less than glamorous, often because this is considered grunt work, compared to being the editor and cutting together the film. However, it is an integral part of the editing process. As assistant editors progress the opportunity for editing gigs becomes more and more likely to occur.

One day I want to work as an editor. After I graduate I plan on finding a job working as an assistant editor and getting my foot in the door. Only time and patience will land me where I want.

End-of-semester Reflection

As the semester comes to a close, I have a lot to think about and a lot to reflect upon; mainly, the new-found appreciation I have for the field of film production. Before this class, I can confidently say that I already knew much more about the industry than the vast majority of my friends. I've always had an appreciation for the film industry and for those who work in it, but not to this level.

Last year, I took an intro to field production course, and I certainly learned a lot from it, but my overall opinion of film production was not at all affected through the experience. Fiction Field Production 1--through the semester-long project we had to complete--taught me a whole lot more about the industry than I ever would have thought possible.

What was so different about this class was the fact that, for the first time since I've gotten to this school, we were assigned a legitimate project that really put everyone's skills to the test. The project was simple (or so I thought): make a film that's based off a news story. The story can cover any topic and can be from any time period. Everyone in the class brought in a story, we voted on the two we liked best, and then we split ourselves into two groups.

With two groups of seven students, everyone was able to have their own crew position, instead of having everyone split the work evenly like in the intro class. The most exciting part was that we, for the most part, chose the group and position we would stick with for the entirety of the semester. As one who has never been particularly fond of preproduction work, I was ecstatic to be able to step aside and let someone else take care of it.

Now, while this was an especially exciting part of the project for me, it was also one of the more nerve-wracking aspects of the process. While it was no longer my responsibility to write, schedule, direct, or shoot the film (I was given the position of editor), it also meant that a whole lot of things were out of my control. Sure, I could give my input on whatever I wanted--and it was often well-regarded--but for the most part, the final decision on most things was not mine.

My point is that while it's nice to not have to bother myself with certain aspects of the project, it also meant that I had to have faith in my fellow group members. As one who tends to take control in a group setting, this was something I had to quickly learn to get over. From the very start, I had to constantly remind myself not to intervene in others' work and to trust them more than I usually would have in the past.

With everyone working on their own portion of the film, a whole lot more effort could be put into each aspect of the project, as opposed to when everyone had to split their efforts amongst everything. With every student putting forth a whole new level of effort into their work than I've ever seen before, I was able to really watch and admire everyone's talent while also taking the time to appreciate the amount of work they were each completing.

Yes, my job as editor had a lot of work that came with it as well, but to truly be able to see the amount of work that goes into the entire process of a film's production and the high level of skill that's required to make a quality product is unbelievable. I used to think we simply weren't using the proper equipment to make a good film, but it turns out that what it really takes is a group of talented students who are willing to put forth the effort. Duh.

Thank you, Arturo Sinclair, for a brand-new experience and for passing your knowledge onto all of us.

Here's the Facebook event for the screening this upcoming Saturday!

Editing film with a deadline

As of now, I have been awake for almost twenty-four straight hours, about ten of which have been spent editing my group's short film, "Cracked". After having been up editing until about 3 or 4AM for the past four days, I've decided tonight was the night when sleep was simply not an option. Tonight's cutoff time was about 5AM. This wasn't due to being kicked out of the library or to my roommate yelling at me to turn off the light. It was due to the fact that most of us working on the film's picture-locked draft tonight reached the point where no good could come out of continuing our work. The last 4 days have been some of the most taxing and fulfilling days of my life, and since I'm running on little to no sleep due to the deadline I've been given to have this film finished by, I figured now is the best time to give you my honest opinion of editing with a deadline.

It's difficult.
Editing is difficult. There's no question about it. It takes a lot of time, patience, and skill. Sometimes, none of these are available. Having approximately four days to edit a seemingly twenty-minute, picture-locked copy so that our sound designer can have ample time to make our project sound as professional as possible, time is simply not of the essence. It's unfortunate, but it's the hand I've been dealt, nonetheless.

Patience is not one of my virtues. That's a fact. If something isn't working the way I want it to, I've been known to begin cursing out my laptop at a reasonable volume right in the middle of the library. The problem with this is the fact that, in order to edit something just right, an editor needs patience so that he doesn't accidentally scare everyone sitting within a fifty-foot radius of him. Very few things ever fit together perfectly with ease in the editing process. It's important to remember that.

Clearly, one needs to have some level of skill in order to be good at his job. Now, I'm not saying that I'm a bad editor. I like to think that I have some level of talent. The fact is, though, I'm still learning new things everyday. Just tonight, actually, I must have learned at least three new editing techniques from my fellow group members that I had no idea were available to me. These three or so new techniques I learned are certainly going to come in handy sometime soon down the road, but I really wish I knew them a few months ago. It just goes to show that an editor is never done learning.

It's stressful.
Four days. Really? Four days to edit an entire twenty-minute short film. That's all I was given. The deadline I was given was set for a very good reason. We need to have the film's audio mastered by someone who truly knows what they're doing, but seriously? In order for a person to provide you with his best work, you better give him the necessary time to do so. The more rushed an editor is, and the less sleep he has, the more difficulty he's going to have in turning in a quality project.

The most stressful part about the whole thing is that, despite the little time film editors are often given, the entire project still comes down to you. It's basically like the last five seconds of a basketball game. Your team as retrieved the ball. They've gotten it down the court. They've set you up with a perfect shot. It's now up to you. You can either score the game-winning point, or you can miss the shot and your team's effort was all for nothing. An editor can either be the hero or the complete screw-up on a film crew.

It's bullshit.
No matter how well the preproduction and production of a film go, the editors always seem to get screwed over. You'd think the editor would be given as much time as they needed to make the final product their best possible work, but no. Editors always seem to have the shortest deadline out of anyone on the entire production crew.

Sure, being the editor has its perks. The most evident one is the fact that I had to do little to no work up to this point in the project process. What could I do? There was nothing for me to edit. Another major advantage would have been--if we hadn't needed someone to work audio for our first two shoots--that I wouldn't have been required to go to the actual shoots. That could have easily been more time to relax or to edit what we had already shot (which I was luckily given for our group's final shoot on Sunday).

Despite how fair it really is that I have to run off little to no sleep for a mere four days, instead of having work the entire semester, I still attempt to put the idea in my head that the whole thing is bullshit. Don't ask me why. I'm just tired.

It's totally worth it.
At the end of the day, and at the end of the whole process, editing is truly one of the most rewarding positions in the entire crew, especially with such a short deadline. To be able to look back and say, "Wow. I did all that in four days?", is all the reward I need. To have the privilege to be able to see the entire progress from a script, to a shoot, to a cluster of files, to a beautiful film is an absolutely indescribable feeling. The editor is the final puzzle piece to a film, and it's an honor to be that final piece.