How does an editor keep fit and fuelled? - Day 7 of Editing Bite

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Editing Progress

  • Scenes cut: 17
  • Running Time: 22:09
  • Number of coffees I drink per day: 2 large black javas. Straight up.

We're at the halfway point of production and the timeline is starting to really fill up.

Since I started doing editing on set with The Drownsman, I realized very quickly that I needed to come up with ways to keep myself active. It's no secret that a job that involves endless hours of sitting is horrible for you in the long-term. A lot of people are saying sitting is the new smoking.

Even growing up I was never really active. Didn't play sports and my idea of an awesome time was playing videos games with friends rather than playing outside. But at this point in my life, with the work that I do, I have found a strong appreciation for a more active lifestyle.

And we're not talking about running marathons or power lifting at the gym for 2 hours a day. I simply promise myself to make time to respect my body and keep it in decent condition for while I am working on a film.

On Antisocial 2 in October I had the benefit of access to a giant yard to retreat to. There I could put in an hour jumping rope, running a few laps, pushups, pull ups and other body exercises. Simple.

For Bite I give myself at minimum 30 minutes in the morning for 3 days of the week to do a light bodybuilders routine. I'm now starting to alternate those morning routines with some yoga, too. On my off days, I fit in an hour-long hot yoga class to really stretch the body out and recenter my mind.

This extra time comes out of my breakfast (something I value a LOT) so I've gotten used to preparing quick meals to grab in the morning or make an energy-boosting shake with some frozen fruit, avocado, chia seeds and coconut milk.

If I keep to this routine, my body has energy to work throughout the day and I don't need nearly as much coffee to keep me going. If I don't, my body becomes sluggish my noon and it starts to affect my drive. It becomes a struggle to make it to the end of the day and still be editing with the fervour that I need.

All this means that this healthier, more positive editor will churn out more scenes in a day, and those scenes will be booming with creative, motivated cuts and not just be half-assed, cut-by-number scenes.

Do you have a desk job and find yourself sitting for many hours of the day? What do you do to keep active and feed your body?

Or maybe you're the opposite and have a physically-demanding job? What do you do in your off-time to keep yourself fit for a hard day's work?

Onward to Day 8.

Searching for the Ermahgerd Scene! - Day 6 of Editing Bite

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Searching for the Ermahgerd Scene! - Day 6 of Editing Bite

The second week of filming is an exciting time for me as the editor. Why? For two reasons:

1) By now production has gotten into it's stride and is working at full capacity(ish). My organization system has made its changes and now fits the production's needs, including the unexpected ones that pop up at the start.

2) This is usually when we see the appearance of the Ermahgerd Scene. That is a scene that the cast/crew are just DYING to see. A scene with a big special effect, a great dramatic performance between hero and villain, or a killer fight sequence.

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This guy is always an editor's BFF on set - Day 3 of Editing Bite

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All of that may look like gobbledy-guk to you but to an editor it is a mystical map leading the way to buried treasure (aka an awesomely edited film). In film terminology it is called a continuity log sheet.

But speaking about pirate analogies...did you know that there exists a music genre called Pirate Metal?! Because nobody told me before today. Somebody started cranking this at the start of the day and my life has been better ever since.

Back to continuity log sheets for a second...

There are many roles on a film set that most people are familiar with, unfortunately the script supervisor is not one of them. And on indie sets it is usually a job that goes unfilled because it's just not as important as a DoP or Boom Operator. Those who think that are wrong. So very, very wrong. The script supervisor is tasked with logging important details for each take of each scene. This serves two main purposes:

  • Helps maintain continuity in the final film (Is James Bond wearing the same suit when he arrives at the casino that we saw him wear earlier? Does Rick Grimes have the same amount of blood on his shirt in this scene from his zombie fight in the previous scene?)
  • Tells the editor the correct takes to use

If the director yells "Cut! Beautiful performance, Meryl! That was perfect!" the script supervisor labels that a "circle take" to indicate that the director loved it. If the shot was ruined or the director just didn't like it for any reason, then it gets labelled as "NG" or "No Good".

A lot of other information is included as well, like camera information and shot details, which help the editor know which footage is the best to work from and which to set aside.

This is why the script supervisor on this set gets a hug from me. Every. Day.

It takes a bit more time to go over these log sheets first before editing, but in the long-run it speeds up my work tremendously. Each of the clips in the FCP7 project file gets this meta information attached to it so I can quickly find the best takes as I work.

EDIT PROGRESS

  • Scenes cut: 7
  • Film duration: 10:35
  • Each of the scenes were uploaded privately to producers in Toronto so they can monitor progress