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 Workflow
and Weaving the Story:
"Ten More Good Years"
Includes a Shortlist of Tips for Documentary Editing
by Jennifer Falk
...Continued
from Previous Page
This conference footage created the perfect arc for the final
section of the film, integrating our characters with the impact
of the conference on their community. We watched it down numerous
times – adding new bytes, taking some bytes or smaller sections
out, trying to keep focus on what our objective and “motivation”
was. This is always the hardest part, since every byte and idea
seems so important. But a great lesson I learned was that the
viewer never knows and never misses what was left on the “editing
room floor”. This conference footage created the perfect arc for
the final section of the film, integrating our characters with
the impact of the conference on their community. We watched it
down numerous times – adding new bytes, taking some bytes or smaller
sections out, trying to keep focus on what our objective and “motivation”
was. This is always the hardest part, since every byte and idea
seems so important. But a great lesson I learned was that the
viewer never knows and never misses what was left on the “editing
room floor”.
Shortlist of Tips for Documentary Editing:
(1) View all your material.
(2) Create transcripts of tapes. This will be used
to create scripts.
(3) Find a beginning, middle, and end for your
story.
(4) Be aware of unexpected links while creating
your storyline.
(5) Don’t be “married to anything”. No one will
know what’s not in the final cut.
(6) Keep your story moving forward.
Once we had a first version of our story, I left Mike to start covering
the sound bytes. Once he had that done, he brought me in to give
it a polish and make sure our pacing was on track. Of course there
were screenings with friends and colleagues to get their opinions.
We had a finished piece for Mike’s screening, but that was not the
end of the project. Over the last year, “Ten More Good Years” was
screened in over five film festivals and broadcast on the Sundance
and Logo channels. I am extremely proud of the film and of the work
that we did. As with most projects, I learned a lot. Most importantly
is that each project has it’s own approach on what works best for
the editor, director and the story they are trying to tell. Our
approach though a little unorthodox was very effective.
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Check out this article in the December 2008 print edition of StudentFilmmakers
magazine, pages 6 and 8. Click here to get a copy of the December 2008 Edition,
so you can read and enjoy all of the excellent articles inside.
About the Author:
 As
both an On-line and Off-line Editor, Jennifer Falk has worked
for numerous clients including CBS (Upfront Presentation
2002-2006), ABC, Food Network (The Next Food Network Star
2007), A&E (Fathers & Sons in Hollywood, a two hour Biography
special), History (Deep Sea Detective series), The Travel
Channel, MTV, Comedy Central, Discovery Health (Supervising
Editor for the National Body Challenge 2004 series), ESPN
Classic Sports Network, Discovery/Animal Planet, and Sony Music.
To learn more about the documentary, Ten More Good Years,
go to www.10moregoodyears.com.
Jennifer’s website is www.jennruggedit.com.
Resources:
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