Columns Archives - Page 6 of 40 -

The Long Journey to Overnight Success

June 7, 2019

I don’t remember exactly how I fell in love with storytelling. Perhaps it was because I was read to as a child — a lot. Editing is a different story. I first touched an Avid in 1999 as a summer intern in the creative services department at McDonald’s (yes, that one), and was hooked. I returned to Ball State University and would spend nights in the college editing bays, cutting anything I could, powered by Cherry Coke and Hostess frosted honey buns. […]

Beth Stiller on Los Angeles Lakers Road Telecasts

June 7, 2019

Beth Stiller is not a professional basketball player. She isn’t known for shooting from the three-point line or for scoring fast-break points. In fact, she prefers surfing to basketball. But, for about eight years in the late 1990s and 2000s, Stiller found herself on the road with the Los Angeles Lakers. […]

Who Were the True Auteurs in Post-Production? Ask the Monitor Man

June 7, 2019

George Larkin offers a startling premise in the book Post-Production and the Invisible Revolution of Filmmaking: From the Silent Era to Synchronized Sound, one that may delight some readers while offending others. He states the fact that post-production work is critical to all filmmaking but takes that fact further, stressing that post is the major driver of film creation, eclipsing all else. […]

Mary Lee Parisi on ‘Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy’

May 2, 2019

When colorist Mary Lee Parisi sits down with a show for the first time, she often focuses on the picture alone. “When you first get the tape, you kind of shuttle through to get an idea of what it’s about,” she says. […]

Gregg Barbanell on ‘Breaking Bad’

April 1, 2019

Like most Foley artists, Gregg Barbanell, MPSE, aims for his work to go undetected by audiences. After all, footsteps should sound like they are emanating from the shoes of the actor who appears on screen, not the Foley artist behind-the-scenes, right? […]

The Editor Strikes Back:
Cutting Remarks from the Cutting Room

February 28, 2019

With Movers and Shakers: The Monster Makers, long-time editor Tariq Anwar somehow manages to take time away from the bench to write an amusing book about his 30-year career in the film and television industries. The tone is sardonic, the writing straightforward, the many line drawings humorous. […]

Jeannette Browning on ‘The Milagro Beanfield War’

March 4, 2019

From early in her career in the film business, Jeannette Browning recognized that she was something of a rarity. “I was really interested in dubbing, but I realized that there were no female dubbing mixers,” she says. […]

A ‘Stagecoach’ Ride to a Film Career

December 19, 2018

In 1966, there were worse places to grow up than Iowa. My hometown, Marion, was a ten-minute bus ride from Cedar Rapids with its department stores, book and record shops, and three movie houses. […]

Christine Culler on ‘Minority Report’

January 7, 2019

While working at 20th Century Fox in the early 1990s, story analyst Christine Culler was assigned a steady diet of romantic comedies and children’s books. Then, in 1995, a different sort of project came across her desk: ‘Minority Report,’ a futuristic suspense film, heavy on action and low on meet-cutes. […]

When the Film Industry Joined the Gig Economy

February 15, 2019

Virtually every working editor understands that the job is defined as labor as well as creation, craft and, sometimes, art. The Motion Picture Editors Guild ensures that this labor is recognized with credits, respected within the industry and compensated fairly, and ensures that members are not abused by employers nor left destitute in old age. […]