EDITOR'S NOTE
Final Cut D'oh!
by Tomm Carroll
 Tomm Carroll |
Who would’ve thought that a two-dimensional line drawing like Homer Simpson could be a nonlinear editor? Well, thanks to cartoonist Matt Groening and the folks at Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox––who provided us with a customized image of the schlubby yellow everyman––there he is, digitizing donuts on our cover.
Homer and the rest of his family are also now movie stars (though still in 2-D), nearly two decades after immediately taking the television medium by storm on the then-equally-fledging Fox network. Their first feature, the eagerly awaited The Simpsons Movie, opens at the end of July. Our writer Michael Kunkes, who did publicity for Klasky Csupo, The Simpsons’ (the series) first animation house back in the day, interviews the film’s editor John Carnochan––a veteran animation editor–– and his team, as well as supervising sound editor Gwendolyn Yates Little and her crew at Skywalker Sound, on how they transferred the residents of Springfield, USA, to Hollywood.
Another big summer movie with a built-in fan base, Transformers also had its start as an animated television series in the 1980s (and before that was a line of toys). Leave it to über-action director Michael Bay (with the added cache of executive producer Steven Spielberg, no less) to bring this tale of vehicles that can become monstrous warring robots into the hybrid live action/CGI realm. As writer Robin Rowe learns, this Megatronic task took an armada of three editors, three additional editors and three assistants over a year of post-production work to deliver this giant robot smackdown to theatres by the Fourth of July.
An often overlooked, but decidedly vital part of the post process are the colorists and telecine artists. In our recurring spotlight on the non-editing classifications in our membership, writer Debra Kaufman–– who edits a newsletter on digital intermediates––goes into the color correction suite to speak with colorists from Warner Bros., Universal, Level 3 and Westwind Media about their work, how they cope with the ever-changing technology and even the beginnings of the process in the bygone days of analogue.
Technology is changing quickly in the sound mixing realm as well. At a recent demonstration for Guild members in his home dubbing theatre, re-recording mixer John Ross extolled the virtues of the workflow created by the matching of the Euphonix System 5-MC controller with Nuendo 3 software. Kunkes takes a look at this advancement for digital audio workstations.
Another useful breakthrough––albeit not such a technological marvel––are the computer keyboard covers created by assistant editor Bruce Franklin. These covers not only protect the hardware but also serve as a facsimile of a Final Cut Pro or ProTools interface for easy practicing of keyboard commands. Editor Lawrence Maddox––who was one of the first beneficiaries of Franklin’s invention when they had to learn FCP pronto for a low-budget film on which they worked––relates the origins of this simple but inspired tool.
And, finally, as this is July, Apple’s much-anticipated (and over-hyped) iPhone is finally available––if there are still any left to be had. While the creation of audio-visual material designed for mobile phones and handheld devices is already underway, look for an increased escalation in––and awareness of––the production of straight-to-cell phone content now that Apple has introduced its 3.5-inch iPhone screen. Look also for an article on the development of such content in an upcoming issue of this magazine.