Achievement Unlocked! - Day 12 of Editing Bite

Just look at that big, sexy timeline! As of yesterday we've passed the halfway point of our estimated film duration (The distributor has us aim for 83 minutes. That's their "magic number" for total runtime).

EDITING PROGRESS

• Scenes cut: 34
• Total runtime: 44:27
• Average number of hours spent on set each day: 14

44 minutes edited. And we're on Day 11 of production. By this rate the director will be watching his movie by Christmas.

Once this week finishes I'll be excited to pack up and bring my edit suite back home to set up and finish up a few projects on my plate from the year (Bite, Antisocial 2, and a myriad of commercial projects).

Plus rest. There will probably be some rest in there somewhere once the holidays hit.

Just wanted to share this achievement with you. I'm feeling pretty awesome by the progress made on this production. It sure is a helluva way to cap the year off.

Would you edit RAW if you could? - Day 11 of Editing Bite

Just the other day I was having a discussion with someone about online vs offline editing and which one we tend to do.

My editor friend was saying that he almost always goes for an offline workflow because of the obvious advantages (less processing required, smaller file sizes to deal with, etc.) plus saying there rarely is an actual NEED to edit with raw footage.

I tend to play devil's advocate a lot (that is, I like to argue and debate to make good conversation) so my argument was that if you COULD edit raw, then why wouldn't you? Less steps in the workflow, no need to create proxy files, no conform required in the end. Go straight to colour and vfx. Do not pass go.

Now that the debate is over and done with, I feel I have to be honest and admit that I've only edited straight through a project with raw footage once. Just once. And it was not all that it was cracked up to be.

So yes, even in a time when computers are beefier than ever (and increasing beefiness at breakneck speed each year) you CAN edit raw and do without creating proxy files...but to quote Chris Rock: "You CAN drive your car with your feet if you really wanted to, but it don't make it a good idea!"

Spending the extra time to transcode footage to ProRes is what we're all about when editing on location for Bite. See that screencap above showing the export queue in REDCINE-X? Yeah, that never ends. We aren't working with a REDRocket Card here so there's a computer running almost around the clock to squish the raw files down in to sizeable chunks that I can edit with.

Via a Videomaker.com article on the process of offline editing (http://bit.ly/1w6giIs)

And let's say I had an assistant editor working on this project. Would it be realistic for both of us to have copies of the raw footage here on set? And say that we could be turning scenes around next day for the director to watch and get giddy over? No. Freaking. Way.

Or if once we wrapped the director wanted to grab a copy of the project file and its assets so that he could look through the edit himself (which he does like to do)? That would mean another copy of the raw files that he would need as well as a pumped-up computer to work on.

So yes, I do have to admit that the extra steps for an offline workflow do make life easier in the long run.

I was inspired to write this today after also coming across this article on Videomaker about the offline process (http://bit.ly/1w6giIs).

What is my motivation in this scene? - Day 10 of Editing Bite

EDITING PROGRESS

• Scenes cut: 28
• Movie duration: 29:57
• Number of hours it takes to apply full creature prosthetic make-up to our actress: 8

Capping off week 2 on filming Bite here and the timeline is getting bigger and fuller each day.

I've been concentrating on mostly editing the really gruesome (read: freaking awesome!) scenes of the movie because that's what the director really wants to see. They're the most exciting and I like exciting people with what I do. Plus they are the scenes the director is most concerned with seeing to make sure they work.

These scenes (what I called the Ermahgerd scenes the other day) are inspiring for the director. They're inspiring for the crew when they get the opportunity to see them, or even just to know that they are coming together without actually watching them. If they see the director is happy with the edited scenes, then they know the production is working. Again, mirroring what I said the other day, this is about building the crew up as much as it is building the movie.

FINDING INSPIRATION

In order to start assembling one of these larger Ermahgerd scenes (in fact before production ever begins) there are some questions about the style and look of the film that we are trying to achieve. From that I start looking for some inspiration to use while editing.

One of the obvious choices to use as a reference is the ultimate creature-transformation horror film, David Cronenberg's The Fly. Before production started I rewatched it, paying close attention to specific scenes where tension is built as we see each stage of the metamorphosis occur. Ronald Sanders (who also edited A History of Violence, Coraline and Eastern Promises) did an incredible job editing this film and it's tagged in my library as one of my favourites of Cronenberg's films.

Watching it with the sound off helps to really focus on how the editor built the scene. Try it sometime with your favourite movie. You really can tell a lot just by the sequence of shots in a scene when you're not busy listening to it.

The other film that I chose is a film that is very, very close to my heart: Neil Marshall's The Descent. This is a phenomenal movie in my opinion. It has such a simple premise that if you saw it written down you would swear that it's been done 40 times before and would make for a pretty subpar story.

A caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators.

Sounds like nothing special, right? But that's what makes it so awesome. It IS a simple premise but it doesn't try to be more than that. It only tries to be amazing at delivering that story. Many films before have attempted a story similar to this but have failed for whatever reasons. This one knocks it out of the ballpark. It's creature horror boiled down to it's purest form. Jon Harris crafted some fine scenes (he also edited Snatch, 127 Hours and Kick-Ass) and when he aimed to build tension, he built it. When he wanted to instil anxiety in the viewer, he did it. When he wanted to show the progression of the lead character (as I write this I realize that this is also a transformation movie of sorts), you feel for her and root for her to make it out.

With one week remaining I'll be continuing to post updates to let you know how the edit is going. But also I am collecting a few materials to save and release for after we're wrapped.

Like the Merc Media Facebook page and check out some more behind-the-scenes glimpses into editing Bite.