I recently wrapped up two weeks at Screenscape Studios in Des Moines, Iowa. Screenscape is a bright star in midwest post-production. Their work is uber-solid. You could relocate this company and it would be competitive in any other market. Screenscape Studios has been in business for 23 years and has successfully withstood the decline of the full service post-house. The staff is both excellent and fun to work with. I always look forward to working a gig at Screenscape.

As a side note, their producer staff is centered around the excellence of three producers named Sarah. This is is the second time in my career that I’ve encountered same-named staff members. The first… three Jasons in the new media department of the now defunct Pathway Productions.

I’ve read The Sun off and on for too many years to count. One of my favorite parts of the magazine is Sy Safransky’s Notebook, short notes about whatever crosses Sy’s mind. After reading it for all these years, I feel like I already know Sy, it’s almost like we’re friends, or could be if our paths crossed. This selection is a good example of the writing that resonates in me:

YES, WE’RE IN A RECESSION. But sooner or later each of us will lose something more important than our savings or our job. Will we have the resilience to deal with sudden illness or injury? With the death of a loved one? With any of the innumerable misfortunes life may have in store? I remind myself that every experience can be a teaching if I’m willing to see it that way; that suffering, too, can be a teaching. In fact, suffering usually gets the teacher-of-the-year award because I always sit up and pay attention when I’m in physical pain or when my heart has been broken or when I witness the anguish of someone I love. To honor the teaching doesn’t mean welcoming suffering with open arms, or looking for the silver lining of a tragedy with the kind of relentless optimism that denies painful feelings. I remind myself that blessings in disguise remain disguised until they’re good and ready to reveal themselves — and even then, the blessing might simply be that a particular setback has taught me to live more fully in the present, or deepened my compassion for others going through a similar difficulty, or underscored the paradox that we’re ultimately alone and inextricably bound to one another.

Through the miracle of social media, I recently got reintroduced to an old colleague from my WFYI days. He introduced me to a creative team that needed a trailer for a documentary on The Nutcracker. They had the video and needed an editor. The piece turned out great! I hope you enjoy it as much as I loved putting together. By the way, the documentary is still seeking funding. If you’ve always wanted to fund a documentary on The Nutcracker, I’ll hook you up!

I just finished a project that was shot using the Phantom high-speed camera. It captured some wonderful slow motion water shots that nicely show how the product works.

Scott Simmons at EditBlog has a great article on edit suite etiquette for facilities operators and freelance editors.  It cover’s a lot of great ideas on best practices, including the two biggies.

• Never remap a keyboard that someone else has setup.

• If you have to change the Final Cut Pro capture scratch folders then please put those back at the end of your session.

He also covers how to make dupe detection work while using footage shot on the Canon 5D and 7D.

That means you have to add a reel name in FCP. This can be accomplished by bringing up the Reel column in your FCP bin. I’ve got into the habit of copy and pasting the name of the 5D/7D file into the Reel column as it will be a unique name:

Oliver Peters has posted a nice list of films that editors might enjoy.

With Oscar time approaching and movie-going, as well as, movie-giving a holiday tradition for many families, I decided to post a list of some films that are fun for editors to watch. These aren’t all Oscar-contenders, although there’s plenty of bling in this list. They are presented in no particular order, so I hope you enjoy.

My Netflix que just got longer. Here’s a link to the list.

When we cannot bear to be alone, it means we do not properly value the only companion we will have from birth to death – ourselves.

Eda LeShan

This is the last of my personal commandments. It’s another ‘anti-resentment’ tool to keep in your back pocket.

10. If you see the problem, you own the problem.

Here’s how it works for me: I notice a problem and immediately look around for someone who SHOULD be fixing it. Then I blame them for the problem as well as judge them for being useless!

On the other hand, if I see a problem and then take ownership, I can avoid the whole cranky phase and jump right into action. Owning the problem eliminates any resentment or blaming by keeping the ball squarely in my court.

I wish I had edited this.