Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/335006
41 JUL-AUG 14 / CINEMONTAGE "Animatte is such a simple tool and it is integrated with Media Composer, which is why editors like it so much," he adds. "It's an increasingly competitive landscape and the editor has to take on more than before. The tools are less expensive; now the metric is the time it takes to learn a tool." New editor Jeremy Weinstein (assistant credits include Teen Wolf, RoboCop, R.I.P.D.) agrees. "I get most of what I need to get done with the Animatte tool that comes with Avid," he says. "It's a powerful tool. I started using it a few years ago doing visual effects temp work. Recently, I did a short film where there was a split screen — an actor played both characters — and I used the Animatte tool to put them together frame by frame. Animatte works even more powerfully if you have a green screen you can key out. I get everything done video-wise with Animatte. "On the sound side, ever since Avid brought in the real-time audio suite tools, I've got stereo, reverb and other tools I use a little bit," Weinstein continues. "After Effects is a great tool but not everybody has to use it. We're lucky enough to have producers and directors who will say, 'If we can't do it in Avid, we'll hire someone from a visual effects company who specializes in it.' I like the way things are now." Peter S. Elliot, ACE (Iron Man 3, Think Like a Man, 2012), also doesn't use a lot of plug-ins. "Occasionally, I'll have an assistant do something in After Effects if the effect is one that can't be achieved in the Avid," he says. "I will use the Animatte function to remove blue or green screen and place a plate behind the actors to help envision what the shot will eventually look like. If the actors are shot separately — or one might be a little late to respond in a live shot — I'll do a split screen and change the sync on the elements to make things more efficient." He explains why he prefers not to do any effects outside of Avid. "Some editors will take things out of the Avid and into Photoshop or After Effects," Elliot says. "I try not to do that much, as it becomes more cumbersome to track things. Once you bring it out and then back in, it becomes a new piece of media and you have to track it in an exterior database. But if you do it in the Avid, you can nest the elements together and you're able to open up the nest and see what elements make up that effect." Elliot, who recently finished working on Think Like a Man Too, also uses some of Avid's embedded audio plug-ins. "There's an extensive suite of audio plug-ins in the Avid," he says. "The one I use quite frequently is called Adobe After Effects. Jeremy Weinstein. CineMontage_Jul-Aug_14-4.indd 41 6/18/14 5:53 PM