Week 2, Korneliusz

As a sound person I didn’t have much to be worried about, I just kind of pointed the boom at sound sources, grabbed some additional swooshes, cracks and hits, and was done, the most memorable things were getting tangled in the wires and the pain in my arms. I think it wasn’t the most sound depended project in the world.

But I was also the editor, and that’s several intense hours with no breaks because there is no time to waste. And I love it! The more I get used to Avid the less annoying editing in it is, which is pretty much the case for everything ever. I begin to see why it’s the industry standard for cutting, although it’s not intuitive at first, in the long run it is very much effective. I don’t know why really but I really like editing, it’s extremely satisfying to finish a project, to click that render button and then watch the puzzle assemble itself, knowing the production process and then seeing the final thing is quite extraordinary. Pre-production and production is a lot of things happening at once, in theory it’s all orderly, in practice it really isn’t, so many things could go wrong. Post-productions brings a little of calm into the picture (as long as you haven’t angered the gods of technology recently), it’s just you, the computer, and 5 other people watching your every move.

The editing process in itself feels good, it feels like cooking at times. It’s not writing down the shopping list, it’s not buying the ingredients, it’s actually taking all those items and making something that can be enjoyed by you and others.

Looking back (a reflection from the future)

As I’m looking at all my past thoughts it’s fascinating how much I’d learnt during those weeks. Today I can clearly see how wrong I was about sound and not taking brakes during editing. Honestly it baffles me how did it make any sense in my mind at the time. Maybe the exercise wasn’t very sound heavy as far as concrete sounds go but it didn’t even pass my mind that ambience is important, it’s the very thing that adds immersion and I just casually forgot about it.

And oh dear I dread to think about the torture I put myself through with my editing process back then. I definitely should have taken breaks, at least one for lunch! It helps immensely with focus and revitalises in preparation for more work.

Sometimes film-making isn’t so much the final product but the process of how you get there. Maybe you’re the best editor to ever walk the Earth, but after 8+ hours with no breaks your final product probably won’t be what you wanted it to be.