Meet Patricia Kathryn Mooney, a editor based in California, United States and a member of the StudentFilmmakers Filmmakers Network. See Patricia’s Network profile to connect.
From Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaking to Pocket Productions to Revolutions
In interviews, I like to let the interviewee answer the question, and then, I will wait an additional pause to see if they will go on. [You want to pause anyway and not “step” over the sound bite.] Sometimes this “uneasy silence” yields just one more great sound bite that I might not have gotten, if I’d gone immediately on to the next question. ~ Patricia Kathryn Mooney
Patricia Kathryn Mooney is a producer, editor, partner and the CFO/COO at Crystal Pyramid Inc. She became involved in video production after meeting her husband, Mark Schulze, in 1982. Schulze had started his company, Crystal Pyramid Productions, in 1981. Mooney shares, “Mark taught me everything he knew about video production, camera operation, sound mixing and editing. My first lessons of editing were on those gargantuan linear ¾” machines, and if you were deeply into a 30-minute show and discovered a mistake at minute one, guess what? You had to either start all over, or bite the bullet and go down one generation in resolution. Thus, my interest in editing waned.”
“With the advent of nonlinear editing, I jumped back into editing and have been loving it ever since,” says Mooney. “Editing is one of the main things I do, but I wear other hats: camera operator, sound technician, producer, and office manager. I also do social networking, marketing, public relations, and am basically the helmswoman on the ‘Starship Enterprise.’”
When asked about producing, Mooney replies, “One of my favorite jobs is producing. Sometimes this entails the interview of a local or national celebrity. I’ve had a chance to meet and talk to Hilary Swank, Hillary Clinton, Lucy Liu, Topher Grace, and Charlize Theron, among others. There’s no doubt that video production is among the most difficult jobs out there, but when you love your work, it shows. And it is very rewarding.”
StudentFilmmakers Magazine: Tell us about your newest projects.
Patricia Kathryn Mooney: The latest is, “The Invisible Ones: Homeless Combat Veterans,” a 43-minute award-winning documentary that answers the questions of how and why there are nearly a quarter of a million homeless veterans who are sleeping on the streets and under the highway overpasses of the USA. I also love posting what I call “Pocket Productions.” I document funny or entertaining moments in time on my small camera. They are like sketches, in comparison to professional productions, but how often do you have a three-person crew and equipment at your disposal? I am about to begin editing a documentary about my family of eight, focusing on the death of my father.
SFM: Where do you find inspiration?
Patricia Kathryn Mooney: In everyday, so-called “mundane” occasions. In the emotion, passion and inspiration of others. In how I feel when I experience someone or something.
SFM: What is your favorite camera, tool, piece of equipment, or piece of gear?
Patricia Kathryn Mooney: The Adobe Creative Suite for editing.
SFM: What was the biggest or most unique challenge you experienced while working on the set or in the studio?
Patricia Kathryn Mooney: While working as a Sound Technician with a crew from London aboard the USS Stennis aircraft carrier a hundred miles out to sea, we were on the flight deck collecting video and sound bites from the talent, whose name was Ashley Hames. My challenge was to work the mixer and try to hear the interview while bundled like a Pillsbury dough boy in a beefy flight deck garment that was so padded that I could barely see the mixer at my belt-line. Plus, at one point, Ashley muted his transmitter so I had a period of panic wondering what the heck had just happened to the sound. Plus, there was loads of interference because of the radar we were standing below.
SFM: And the solution for this challenge?
Patricia Kathryn Mooney: I communicated with the crew [screaming over the sound of landing F-18’s] that I had lost sound on Ashley. I was soon able to discover that he’d muted the transmitter, and after I switched him back on, we were back in business. I told him to keep his hands out of his pockets. I also told the producer that the sound was not going to be stellar out on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, and he definitely understood.
SFM: Your thoughts on the 3D revolution or revival?
Patricia Kathryn Mooney: Over the course of three decades in “the business,” I have seen a few “revolutions.” My husband and partner, Mark Schulze, invented the helmet cam for use in the mountain bike videos we produced back in the 1980’s. Now there is a “helmet cam revolution”. I guess what I’m saying here is that every moment we have lived in the video production industry has been part of one large ongoing revolution. Here’s what’s happened in my lifetime alone: We went from black and white to color. We went from linear editing to non-linear editing [Big!] We’ve traipsed from format to format… We went from VHS, Beta and Betacam SP to digital tape. We’ve gone from film and videotape to memory disks. We’ve gone from standard definition to high definition. 3D is really one more advancement in a long line of advancements. There will be life beyond 3D, you can count on that.
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