Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546034
48 C I N E M O N T A G E out there won't like this answer, but I like to have ScriptSync done before I watch dailies. That is not always possible, but Andy's so good that 99% of the time he makes it happen. And if he needs more time, I will start my day a bit later. It's worth it for my process. I watch all the dailies in shooting order using a bin, and while I watch, I add regular locators to the clips for reactions I want to save, and I'll take written notes in my line script. After watching each take, I'll stop to look at the Avid ScriptSync file to see how it's organized. Was all of the improv tran- scribed individually? Should it be grouped? Is that monologue broken up enough? Do I want to reorder any lines or change any colors? Are there any other actions I want marked? I think it's really important for me to dive into ScriptSync in detail early on, be- cause it's the tool I use most throughout the process. I need to understand exactly how it's organized and make sure it makes sense to my brain. Because of this, I know I can rely on it when someone is in the room with me. When I actually start cutting, I use the Avid script to move around footage quickly. It's really helpful to re-compare performances and locate specific improvs. I pretty much go through all the footage a complete second time using the script. CineMontage: How do you handle alts and improv? Connelly: Every scene is different. I have specif ic strategies, but there's no hard-and-fast rule for doing it. You really have to think about how best to organize the Avid script based on the structure of the individual scene and the specific jokes. My first strategy is color coding: I use blue. I've actually found that many people use blue! I color the script marks or areas that have improv so they stand out as not part of the original dialogue. Another strategy I like is grouping ALT lines by character. So if you have one character responding to a line differently across multiple takes and in mul- tiple ways, I'll put all those options under a single character heading so you can see all the variations in one spot. Especially for end-of-scene buttons, I'll group all the lines by character rather than transcribing each take in spoken order. I often mix and match these ending improvs to create a whole new joke, so I need to find all those lines quickly. It's hard to find specific lines if you have to read each take one by one in the order they were transcribed. CineMontage: And when things really go off the rails? Connelly: Then I'll group things by gen- eral subject matter. There was a scene when Andy and I were working on "Gaslit" where the characters went off on wild tangents about different foods, but they always talk- ed about the same types of food. So what we ended up doing was every time they talked about ice cream, here's a mark; every time they talked about spaghetti, here's a mark. I'll also create visual section breaks by using dashes to make lines across the page. If you have tons and tons of improv everywhere, it's easy to get lost and not know where to find things. These visual section breaks keep me from getting lost in the script itself. This is also why I like to have the script early on, so that I'm very familiar with how it's organized. CineMontage: Is there a way to notate flubs or the director's preferred take? Connelly: So not only do I use blue for improv, but I'll use other colors to notate those types of things, such as red for flubs. And then when I'm with a showrunner and we go through the takes, I'll color their se- lects yellow. It's quicker than writing down all the preferred take numbers, and it's easy to find their selects again when revisiting a scene. You can use colors to indicate when it's the AD or script supervisor reading an off- camera line, or to differentiate speed variations. CineMontage: Can you search the script for a specific word? Connelly: Yes! You can use the Find tool to search the scripts for specific words, which is incredibly helpful when needing to replace audio in a scene. And as much as I'd like to think I will remember where to find every single improv that was ever done, I'm just not going to months later. So the script lets you quickly go back, read through everything, and find whatever you are looking for. It's also invaluable when cutting in foreign languages. I've never actually got- ten dailies with subtitles. When you have scenes that really stick to the original dia- logue, you can script them by just following the order of who is talking, without needing someone who speaks the language. When there was a lot of improv in a foreign lan- guage, like on "Mo," we hired an additional assistant editor, Zaineb Abdul-Nabi, who speaks Arabic. Andy would script all the En- glish, color-code the sections in Arabic, and then hand the script off to her. The process worked perfectly. CineMontage: For an assistant editor new to ScriptSync, what advice do you have? Elliott: ScriptSync isn't a hard tool to use, though it can be very tedious and frustrating at first. The end benefits make it worth the effort. With practice, it gets easier, and you'll get much quicker. CineMontage: Fundamentally, there is no shortcut to ingesting the material ourselves. Whether it's markers, ScriptSync, pen and paper, or whatever we use creatively, that's our conduit into our creative process. Connelly: Exactly. It does take time, but all of the tools we use — making select reels, sub-clipping, handwritten notes, locators — take a lot of time. We need to be very familiar with our footage, so for me, the time spent doing ScriptSync is time very well spent. And the time that ScriptSync saves later on in the process is remarkable. My philosophy on editing as a whole is that the editor's cut is like building a house: you need a very strong foundation, which re- quires us to spend time preparing to build! ■ This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Edited and compiled by Kristin Marguerite Doidge. Ivan Victor, ACE, is a member of MPEG's Publications Committee. TECH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37