Friday, July 21, 2006

Tough Love: A Case for Editing

We're a few days away from unleashing this year's Machinima Fest site to the general public. I'm really excited as there's been a real swell to the amount of works we've seen. However, one of the great parts to the festival is that it also gathers the works we haven't seen. Last year's Best Picture nominee, The Adventures of Bill and John, was a fave of mine that I hadn't come across until its submission into the fest.

All this said, I see quite a few Machinima works in my travels. Scratch that, a LOT of Machinima works. For all the great works I've seen, I do have one criticism for about 90% of the works viewed: if you're the director/producer of your piece, get someone to do your editing for you.

Why? The majority of Machinima pieces I see about twice as long as they need to be. That's a general statement, and a bit unfair to some works. but directors tend to indulge in the thrill of having their vision come together and fear cutting up "their baby." It's hard for them to be objective to the overall film, particularly when they spent 3 days in WoW choregraphing that perfect crane shot (and with all those characters on the move!). However, with a good editor at your side, he/she will tell you whether or not that lovingly-produced shot helps the overall story. It's hard to let go, I know, but would you rather your audience see "all of your efforts" or a good story? The difference can mean people hitting the close box a minute into your film, or gaining a new fan.

Before my Inbox is spammed, I know firsthand how hard it is to recruit folks into your production. If getting an editor for your work isn't going to happen, be prepared to be totally unforgiving to your work in the editing process. I can't emphasize this enough (and lord knows I've overused my emphasis formatting quota in this post alone).

Ok, as this post is slipping dangerously close to a rant, let's balance it out with some pointers and links. These pointers are not editing tips per se (the internet is chock full with pages about editing definitions and features), but more top-level tips about editing in general.

  • Edit with the overall story in mind. It's easy to be persuaded by cool shots and angles, but you need to consider your Machinima as an overall work. If it feels disjointed and long, your audience will walk away completed unsatisified (and possibly have not even watched it to the end).

  • Don't be afraid to throw away. Reiterating myself here, but you need to be a relentless and honest editor when it comes to building a good story. About 2/3rds of all films are left on the editing room floor, and for good reason - it's quality over quantity. And remember, if you do have fave takes that don't have a place in the Machinima, you can always offer those up as outtakes to your fans (yet one more benefit of distributing online).

  • Pacing is critical. Pacing is an extremely important part of editing. If your audience feels out of sync with the Machinima, they will detach themselves from the story and begin studying your film for what it lacks - even if they can't put their finger on it. This is not to say that your film needs to have music video-like cutting, but keep your story moving so your audience is more interested in the next shot than the "how much more of this?"

  • Your audience is intelligent. You might feel inclined to show your film in very deliberate shots, but give your audience room to think. Not every scene needs to be spelled out, and your audience will warm up to your work if they feel you respect them.

  • Editing is an artform. Most folks think editing is just a process. Unfortnately, when you treat it as such, it shows. There's more to editing than just selecting shots and assembling them into a final work. Creativity in your editing will not only show your story, but also build emotion. Quick cuts over action scenes give feelings of chaos, long held shots can convey loneliness, etc. If you approach editing as another place to express yourself, the work benefit from it immensely.

  • Review with fresh eyes. Feedback to your work is key. If you're having a hard time "seeing" your Machinima because you've been slaving in front of Premiere/Vegas/VirtualDub for hours on end, recruit a preview audience to watch. And not someone who will give you praise out of the gate - someone whose opinion you respect and will be honest about your work. This leads to...

  • You are not your work. This might feel a bit outside a pointer about editing and sound all touchy-feely, but its pretty important when editing your Machinima. Being critical about your work in the editing stage is essential. Treat your Machinima as a work you've created and know that criticisms associated with it are about the Machinima, not you as a person. When I was a creative director, very often I had to coach artists that the feedback on the work is not about their skills as an artist/director/editor, but about the work itself. If you can get past that association, then you'll be able to move into improving the Machinima itself. A hard step for some, but once you can put these in context, it will help quite a bit.
Some links/books with more practical advice:
Someone long ago said that "filmmaking actually happens during the editing." I couldn't agree more. Bottom line: Pay attention to editing and your audience will thank you for it...and stick around to boot!


Update: bllius writes in the comments:

It would be nice, although this may be asking too much, to show some examples. Show us some long scenes (or poorly edited) and then the shorter scene (or the scene with better editing).

Good point - hard to make a case for anything that relies on visuals without something to point at. Unfortunately, we're focused on getting the 2006 fest site together at the moment, so finding examples to post is more than I have time for. However, I did neglect to mention the Wikipedia entry of film editing techniques which gets into the more practical side of editing. If anyone does have good editing examples, please post in the comments. If not, I'll try to follow up this post with a part II at a future date, showing examples.

posted by Paul at 11:26 AM

10 Comments:

Hugh "Nomad" Hancock said...

YES. YES. YES.

As someone who's been on the judging panel for 2 Machinima Film Festivals and a bunch of other fests now, I know that slow editing kills a film faster than just about anything else, and gods do a lot of Machinima pieces need a serious encounter with a pair of scissors. I know some of my earlier films would be twice as good twice as short.

And you need to cut out a lot, lot more out than you think. Case in point: on average, from a rough cut to a tight release edit, BloodSpell episodes lose an average of a minute and a half of footage.

That's a minute and a half from around 6-7 minutes, normally, which has already been trimmed down twice in the animatic and once in the script. And certainly in earlier episodes, we still cut too loose, even with Ross and I competing to see who could be the most ruthless editor of our work.

Please, please, please, get someone to edit your work. Hell, send your work to Strange Company, and we'll watch it through and have a hack at it in Final Cut (this is a serious offer - if you don't believe me, send me something). More editing=much better Machinima.

7/21/2006 04:58:05 PM  
Paul said...

Exactly, Hugh. I watch some of my earlier stuff (Machinima and otherwise) and have to look away in embarrassment as to how long it goes on (and on) for.

7/21/2006 05:15:38 PM  
bllius said...

It would be nice, although this may be asking too much, to show some examples.
Show us some long scenes (or poorly edited) and then the shorter scene (or the scene with better editing).

7/21/2006 08:35:13 PM  
Alex said...

Seconded, thirded. Cut that stuff down!

7/22/2006 03:08:42 AM  
todnyc said...

Though I like the idea of working with a seperate editor, some of us rely heavily on post production work, whether its in executing camera moves, cropping a shot, or adjusting color/lighting.

I think a machinima director does himself a great deal of disservice by ceding so much control to a seperate person. I am all for workshopping a piece with others, familiar directors, actors involved with the production, or reviewers I have found previously helpful.

But, my shots are not complete after I have recorded them, they are often not built until the editing phase. Again we're lucky that no film is done when its initially released, I think Directors would be better off accepting some feedback and be more willing to re-work a film.

I think your suggested work model is better suited for traditional film, and though I don't disagree with many of your other main points, I think a machinima director is only enhanced as his fluency in the technical aspects of editing become second nature and shouldn't rely on another set of eyes to chime in so early on in executing his/her vision. I for one would find it stifling.

7/22/2006 05:42:44 PM  
Booklad said...

An excellent post, Paul. Much needed advice for the entire machinima community. I especially appreciate the notion of looking at your film objectively. This is part of the "craft" of filmmaking that is often forgotten. And films are sloppy and long because of it.

Hugh's offer of editing help is incredibly generous. What a mensch.

Todd points out that while the principles of good editing are important, you may not need another person to do it for you. I've been doing all kinds of collaboration this year and it's not easy. It may be the case that the individual machinima filmmaker will do better to edit their own films, while the more collaborative filmmaker might work with a seperate editor. Personal choice and work style comes in to play here, I think.

But encouraging us to get our editing shit together is right on. I hope you'll do some more ran..uh...suggestive posts in the future

-gToon

7/22/2006 08:10:29 PM  
Mu Nansen said...

The post is right-on.

Outside editing is certainly technically difficult (Fraps files are HUGE) but always worth a shot. If you can't cut-out your favorite, hardest-fought shot, you need the help.

I took a quick glance at some of the links, though, and can't say I'm a fan. Too many rules. Too many "Never.."s and "Always"s. There are guidelines that exist, but no rules. There are some good ideas for guidelines in the links, so they should be presented as such.

Worth a read, though, I guess. Just be forewarned to not take it as gospel. The only real rule that should be adhered to is to follow one's instincts, and practice is the best way to develop those instincts. Practice and observation.

If you watch the best movies over and over, you can become so well-tuned to their visual rhythm that you can transfer that rhythm to other works just by feel. If you're editing only on rules and guidelines you're not gonna be very good. You've gotta be able to feel it.

7/23/2006 01:14:15 AM  
Executor VI said...

Absolutely agree with Mu's statement "you gotta feel it". That's definitely what it all comes down to for editing - it's not about mathematical timings, or you gotta do this here and there, but it just has to feel right, it's gotta flow and it's gotta tell the story.

In machinima, editing your own film makes sense because the machinimator has already edited the movie in his head before he even shot it, and as todnyc mentions, some shots are just pieces that you plan to put together later in post. But, such is also the case with live action directors. :P

But the difference is that in traditional film where the editor and director live and sleep in the same room, it is easy to share each other's vision and communicate. In machinima, where the two are most likely in separate parts of the world, it clearly doesn't work as well. Or at all.

But that doesn't mean you should rule out a separate editor - far from it. My suggestion for machinimators is to go ahead and create your edit, and then with an open mind, hand that over to an experienced editor for a second pass.

Good editors are concerned mostly about the flow and pacing of the piece, they don't exist just to do the technical work. 9 times out of 10 they will catch something that you never thought of.

You become so obsessed with the creation of your film that you wouldn't even consider editing your film out of sequence or moving a scene from the middle of your film to the beginning.

But a good editor can look at the whole film from a fresh, editor's perspective and tell you straight on, what would make this film better, even if it means mangling your original vision.

Editing and sound are two things that filmmakers of any genre always underestimate. It's hard to believe with some of the stuff out there, but many times it can make a bad film good or a good film bad.

7/24/2006 07:58:31 PM  
Paul said...

Sure, my statement of finding someone else to edit your work, is just about Mu said - objectivity.

Still, I can understand why a filmmaker (traditional or Machinimator - to me, there's little difference here) would want to edit their own work. They have a vision of how the final piece should flow - a vision that often comes together during the production itself. And I'd be the world's biggest hypocrite if I didn't agree with this as some level, as I in fact edited my Breen vid (though music vids tend to be different beasts).

My suggestion comes solely from screening a number of Machinima works, wherein the initial idea/story behind the piece was great, but the editing was the weakest part. And sometimes that external eye is all it would need.

I don't expect every Machinimator to yield control over to an editor (even if they did have the access). I just believe that editing is the make-or-break part of filmmaking - and inexperienced directors often underestimate this.

7/24/2006 11:47:31 PM  
Tess said...

The script for my current project is already pretty tight, so I have a sneaking suspicion that editing is going to be very painful for me. I don't care if entire chunks of art I created get cut out. That's not a big deal. But my words -- they're hard to give up!

7/26/2006 06:19:50 PM  

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