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.

When my daughter, Sarah, was really young, I took her to the pediatrician for a check-up. I’ve always enjoyed my interactions with Dr. Leland. He’s direct, to the point, and insightful. On this visit he said something that I’ll never forget. As he started to leave, he turned and looked at Sarah, who was around two years old and said “You’re doing a good job raising your dad, keep up the great work.” Ever since then, I’ve been on the lookout for what Sarah might be trying to teach me. Often it’s a tip on how to be a better parent. Sometimes it’s an idea about leadership, being present, forgiveness, or keeping an open heart. Until last weekend the lessons were never related to editing.

Last Sunday we decided to carve pumpkins. I have recently purchased a flip camera and we agreed to shoot the project and collaborate on a video. The process was a blast! I shot the video and we edited the piece together at the studio afterward. For me, the real enjoyment of editing comes from connection and collaboration. Collaborating with my daughter on a creative project is something I’ll never forget, and I intend to do it again, as often as I can.

My best work as an editor comes when I’m connected with my collaborators. I have Sarah to thank for the reminder. Here’s the video we created together.

If you know me, you know of my profound love of creating soups. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why I love soup making until I read a horoscope written by Rob Brezney. He suggests that soups are magical because “their value and beauty as a totality are more than the sum of their parts.” It dawned on me today that soup-making and editing are very similar in that regard. My job as an editor and soup-maker are to create something that’s better than the sum of it’s parts.

Making a great soup and editing a great story work the same for me. With a soup I start with the recipe. Then I change things around until they make sense. For example, last night’s lentil soup recipe looked good until I saw that it called for 8 cups of water. Water seemed boring so I substituted homemade chicken stock. Storytelling works the same way for me. I take the client’s ideas and make them better by ruthlessly discarding what isn’t working and adding elements that work better. Like a good soup, the result is a creation that’s greater than the sum of it’s parts.