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September 2017

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DEPARTMENT of the Avid to the limit," Sonnenfeld reports. "He uses all the tracks he can and EQs a lot. Pierre likes to be very hands on and does the music editing and a lot of Foley himself." Colorist Brian Boyd did the final color grading in Resolve, and Sonnenfeld and two assistants conformed in Resolve. "We onlined to 10-bit DPX files and converted everything to 23.98 during the conform," he says. "We used a Teranex to convert broadcast frame rates to 24p. We slowed the material that was shot at 25 [fps] to play at 24 so that we wouldn't get blended fields. We had to compensate for synch drift in the sound mix — we did a four percent slow down and pitch correct to match." Warrior Poets also made the DCPs for distribution. The Eagle Huntress premiered at Sundance 2016, as well as at the Toronto Film Festival, Rome International Film Festival, Karlovy Vary and on the Outdoor Screen at Telluride Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics acquired the film for domestic theatrical release last fall, and Celluloid Dreams picked it up for international distribution. GOOD TIME Filmmakers and brothers Josh and Benny Safdie re- turn to the big screen with Good Time, a crime thrill- er about family and fate starring Robert Pattinson, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Benny Safdie. DP Sean Price Williams captured New York City's urban grit as the story of a bank robbery gone wrong plays out in one unforgettable night. The Safdies' previous feature, Heaven Knows What, was shot on HD, the best choice for the subject matter and the amount of footage required, notes Benny Safdie. But they opted for 35mm 2-perf Techniscope for their new venture. "There's a misconception about how much more film costs unless you have a very low budget," he says. "Film adds more texture and depth to a picture and feels indestructible to me. And Kodak really did a lot to accommodate our wish to shoot on 35mm." Since there was no film lab to process the film in New York City at the time, the negative was dispatched to FotoKem in LA for processing and digital dailies with a simple one-light color grade. In New York, assistant editor Erin DeWitt downloaded the dailies for distribution to the filmmakers, syn- ched the footage and organized the files. Benny Safdie, who already wore multiple hats as co-director and actor, edited Good Time with Ronald Bronstein after production wrapped; Bronstein was no slacker in the chapeaux depart- ment either — he co-wrote the film with Josh Safdie. "We split the edit with each of us working toward our strengths: Ron on dialogue — and the scenes I was in — and me on action," says Safdie. "We cut on Adobe Premiere, which I've been learning for the last two years after using Final Cut Pro 7 before. Premiere is very tactile and speedy; it's really able to DALLAS — With Audible Static, Dallas-based Lucky Post editor Sai Selvarajan has created a tribute to analog audio. The charming 10-minute film, written, directed and edited by Selvarajan, tells the story of Thaddeus, a teen in 1996 who's determined to conquer his stutter and talk to the object of his affection, Sabrina. The final scene finds Thaddeus editing audio cassettes with scissors, then lining up an array of cassette players on his bed so that when he phones Sabrina, he can trigger the appropriate machine to elicit his pre-recorded — and stutter-less — responses to her likely questions. Selvarajan has made other short films, including the animated Sugarless Tea, which also deals with issues of identity. The inspiration for Audible Static came from his personal experiences growing up with a stutter. "I always wanted to make a film about stuttering but to portray it in a way that was universal," he says. "At the center, Audible Static is a love story. I started with the love story and then added the stutter as the antagonist. As someone who stut- ters, there was no limit to the depths I would go to try and hide it. So, instead of having a big ah-ha moment and having Thaddeus overcome his stutter, I wanted to show a real situation. I wanted to have Thaddeus try and cheat his fate." As a full-time commercial editor, Selvarajan finds that short films are perfect for his schedule. "I can work on them around my editing gigs, they keep me sharp and I'm constantly learning and getting better at my craft," he says. Selvarajan believes he's always been a filmmak- er at heart. "Even as a commercial editor, I try and tackle my edits from the point of view of a filmmak- er. I'm quite conditioned to tell a compelling story in a short amount of time. Also, in the last year, I've edited a few YETI short docs, so I feel comfortable setting up characters and pacing in that five to 10-minute range." It was important for Selvarajan to cast a person who stuttered as Thaddeus. "I didn't want to cast an actor and have him mimic a stutter," he ex- plains. "We pitched our project at a few stuttering support groups in the Dallas area and found our lead." Young Parker Baze is a marvel; his ability to channel Thaddeus gave Selvarajan confidence that he'd see the results he sought on screen. "I know from being in the cutting room that performance would make or break the final edit." DP Bongani Mlambo shot Audible Static on Arri Alexa with Cooke anamorphic primes and "the clas- sic Arri LUT," says Selvarajan. "We used [Blackmagic Design DaVinci] Resolve to transcode the dai- lies. We shot anamorphic, so we converted the files to 1920x1080, with black bars, to QuickTime LT." The editor used Adobe Premiere V11 to cut the picture "starting long and then whittling down" the content as he played with pacing and transi- tions. "The biggest challenge was taking off the di- recting hat and putting on the editing hat," he says. "Cutting your own film can be very harrowing. There were moments of crippling self-doubt and elation. It was a roller-coaster ride." Selvarajan notes that it's "a humbling experience to be entrenched in the story from concept to final LUCKY POST EDITS AUDIBLE STATIC Good Time Good Time Good was shot on 35mm film.

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