Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1055354
EDITORS' ROUNDTABLE www.postmagazine.com 23 POST NOVEMBER 2018 What trends are you seeing in editing, with either technology/tools or in certain styles/techniques that producers/directors seem to be looking for now? Kathryn Himoff: "There seems to be a trend to work in Adobe Premiere on smaller budget projects. As far as an editorial style, I don't think there is any trend. What I do see is that because of schedule and budgets, a lot of filming is being done handheld in a kind of catch-as-catch-can way, which isn't necessarily a service to the end product and puts a lot of pressure on the editor to create something in post that has cohesiveness and captures the important character beats and story points." Danielle Sclafani: "Oftentimes people want to see the style of their campaign reflected in your body of work before they book you for a project. Knowing you can pull it off seems to be the most important component to people. But once you have the project, I'm seeing a wider range of deliverable asks than ever before. For the same project I'll have to build the standard asks of a longform, :60 and :30 spot, but also consider how it can work as a :06 and which piece of the story will be most effective in that format." Robin Burchill: "There's a lot of great use of sound these days, where the effects work rhyth- mically with the music track. CG effects are ev- erywhere. Good old-fashioned storytelling is still vibrant though — thankfully. The latest trend is to be ultra inclusive — every family is interracial, transgen- der people are thrown into the mix. It's easy to be cynical about it, but ultimately I think that trend is good, even if it's a little obvious. The more people see diversity reflected back to them, the more ac- cepting they'll be." What are some of the biggest editing challenges that you face today? KH: "Being responsible for delivering polished cuts from the first editorial assembly which have full sound design, temp score and source cues, and most of the VFX temped as well. I enjoy exploring all of these elements in the cutting room. This is a privilege, but the demand to get it all done while we are still exploring the storytelling can be a strug- gle in terms of time and can also rush the process, which may not allow fresh ideas to simmer." DS: "I think striking the right balance between the client ask and the best creative work will always be a challenge of my job. Additionally, rushed edit schedules can be challenging because it gives me, the director and the agency less time to really ex- plore the film to its fullest potential." RB: "Diminishing budgets, more and more com- petition, younger and less experienced producers and creatives." Have the demands placed on editors changed much over the years? KH: "Absolutely. The first three films I cut were 35mm and I edited on a Kem. We didn't add sound effects or music until the end of the director's cut and the same is true for VFX, which we marked with grease pencil and didn't take to the lab for experimentation until we were really clear on what we wanted. Also, I would receive between 30 to 60 minutes of dailies. Now I can receive as much as eight hours daily on a big shoot with multiple cam- eras. The big difference is that I watched dailies with the director and DP. I pretty much had the scenes cut in my head by the time I sat down to edit. I no longer watch the dailies with my director or DP and, in certain cases, I'm not sure if they watch the dailies at all except to review alternate takes with me in the cutting room." DS: "I've found that my clients see me as more of a creative partner now as well as their editor. I am so much more than a glorified button pusher, so I really enjoy the trust and process that comes with ost recently invited six editors working at various post produc- tion studios — or as freelancers — within the media & entertain- ment market to participate in our special Editors' Roundtable. This year, it's six dynamic women who made up our roundtable and discussed some of the craft's greatest challenges, the technologies available today that help make their jobs easier and about being women in a male-dominated field. In Part I of II, which ran in our October issue, we heard from Elizabeth V. Moore with Lucky Post, Debbie Berman at Marvel Studios and Heather Danosky at Bandit. Here, in Part II of our series, we speak with Kathryn Himoff, Uppercut's Danielle Sclafani and Bandit's Robin Burchill. P