What I'm Working On: Iron & Wine - "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" Music Video

When I was in New York in September, I met with the amazing people at Dig For Fire.  I've admired their work for years, from the fantastic live in-store performances they shoot at Other Music to an awesome Band Of Horses video and now to their relationship with Spotify.  I have been wanting to work for them for a long time.  Finally I had the chance. They had just gone into the studio with Iron & Wine to film the re-recording of his classic tune "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" for the new Twilight: Breaking Dawn soundtrack.  To add to it, Marketa Irglova from The Swell Season came in to sing harmony on the the track.  They asked if I thought I could cut the video in the two weeks I was in town.  I said ABSOLUTELY!

Currenlty, Wordpress.com doesn't support VH1 embeds.  So if you wanna see it there here it is. The VH1 link has over 70,000 views already!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIHaNh3jRXg]

File-Based Basics (c/o Splice Here)

The ever-brilliant Splice Here blog (soon to be Splice Now) by Steve Cohen lays out the perfect list of questions that every production should answer before they shoot one frame.  If you or someone on your production team can't answer this question before you start shooting, STOP! and get it answered.  Not knowing the answer can get you in to trouble.  Original link: File-Based Basics « Splice Here.

1. Production Which camera(s) are you using? Which audio recorder? What kinds of files are you creating? What frame rate, sample rate, timecode rate, raster size are you recording?
2. Dailies Who’s doing them? What do you need for editing, review and conforming? Who syncs and how will they do it? Who backs up and when? How are drives being moved around; where are they stored?
3. Editing What system will you use? What kind of drives/raid? How will you output cut material for review? What are you turning over to sound and music?
4. Conforming Will you roll your own or have a post house do it? How do you handle visual effects created in your editing room? And those created by the vfx team? What kinds of files will you use for color correction? And for television, a crucial question — when do you convert to HD?

Thanks Steve!

Amy K. Harmon Reel 2009

Her Private Practice Scenes:[vimeo 4751713]

Her Complete Reel: [vimeo 4737204]

Amy Harmon is a friend of mine and a great actress. She was recently featured in "Private Practice" and the pilot "Inside The Box", both for ABC, and in the Brimmer Street Theater Company's original production of "<3". Get more information on that at brimmerstreet.org

Her reel is a fairly standard edit I do, employing simple dips to black between scenes and sometimes employing an occasional re-edit to focus the scene on my client.

What I'm Working On: Michael Grant Terry - Reel 2009

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/4139233] This is a reel I edited for Michael Grant Terry. It showcases some of the editing work I put into a typical reel job. Here, each of his scenes have been edited to refocus the drama on his character. I have been cutting Mike's reels for years now and have seen him grow from an unknown to a common face on television and in commercials. Currently you can see Mike on FOX's Bones as Wendell Bray.  He just emailed me today to say that he'll be on tomorrow night's episode, Wednesday, April 15th at 8pm on FOX, and the season finale, which he believes will air May 14th.  Congrats Mikey!

What I'm Working On: Brimmer Street Theater Company - "Severance"

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/3612808] A montage that played on a loop at an art show fundraiser for the theater company.

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/4139461]

A promotional reel used by the theater company for marketing and publicity.

These are two promotional films I cut for The Brimmer Street Theater Company's original work "Severance," which premiered in Los Angeles in 2007. The play is based on the premise that the human head lives for ninety seconds after the moment of separation, and in that final moment the mind continues to remember, ponder, and regret.

"For those who feel that theater has grown stale or predictable, here's something different...a coup de theatre." ~Terry Morgan, Variety