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ASSISTING IN THE 21st CENTURY |
The
Assistant Editor's
New Challenges
by Todd Busch
Film has been the star of motion pictures for over a hundred years, but it is quickly becoming nothing but a supporting cast member. Digital technology has come of age, changing the way we do our jobs and the way we interface with each other. In the cutting room, work is still commonly divided between film assistants and non-linear assistants. Each job calls for different duties and skills as a production evolves. Matching the backgrounds and personalities of the people involved with the skills needed to get the job done can be a challenge in itself.
A few months back, I attended an Editors Guild seminar. Some of the comments made by members of the panel of working editors, assistants, and post-production people prompted me to start thinking about how we are adjusting to our changing work environment. One of the editors felt that assistants who knew film had a deeper understanding of the underlying functions of the cutting room than digital assistants. The second editor concurred, adding an anecdote about a digital assistant who was placed in charge of on-lining their movie for a preview. Apparently the on-line was not finished in time and they missed the preview. The editor came to the conclusion that had the work been supervised by a film assistant, he or she would have found a way to make it happen.
The fact of the matter is that assistants who learned their trade on film probably started working prior to the existence of Avid and Lightworks, which means they have been in the business longer and have a larger body of work behind them. Experience is the key rather than an intrinsic knowledge of film. Digital assistants learn their trade from the same people that film assistants do: the editors and other assistants they work with.
The problem today is that the opportunities to learn are fast disappearing. Digital workstations make it easier for the editor to work with large amounts of material, but they also increase the workload of the assistant. Technology evolves quickly and in most cutting rooms it is the assistant who is expected to keep up with it. But digital and film assistants are so busy getting their jobs done that they don't have time to cross over and learn new skills. As the cutting room staff is slowly whittled down to one or two people, this lack of opportunity will only get worse. How will young assistants assimilate the conduct that editors, directors and producers expect of them in the cutting room? I have heard Guild members ponder where the next generation of editors will come from, but a more immediate question is who will be assisting the editors of today in just a few years.
At an Editors Guild meeting focused on technology and its effect on the future of the Guild, an editor expressed his fear of an imminent "all-in-one-box" editing system-a machine with the ability to do everything in post-production from picture cutting to sound mixing. A seasoned editor attending the meeting stated, "I've been cutting on that system for years." The room fell silent as the editor stated simply, "I cut on a Moviola - on film." The attendees could only smile. The technology of our work has changed, but for the most part, the objectives we use it for have not.
Perfs may now be bits, but the essence of our job hasn't changed: how to turn disparate pieces of material into a coherent story and how to collaborate effectively with people in support of our ultimate master-the film itself. Our profession, even as it is reinvented daily, exists because of the discipline, hard work, and creativity of people. It is important that our membership, in picture or sound, on film or digital workstations, express a patient willingness to teach and, in turn, learn from each other. Unless we find the time to share what we know and the humility to admit what we don't, we'll stagnate and the technological revolution that we've found ourselves in will pass us by.
Todd Busch is a Guild Board Member.
He can be reached via email.
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Reprinted from
The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter
Vol. 21, No. 1 - Jan/Feb 2000
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