The Importance of
Being In On Every PlayAn Interview with Post Production Supervisor Hal Harrison
by Linda Dove
Hal Harrison is post production VP of the Television Group at Paramount Pictures where he oversees nearly two dozen shows, including 'Frasier', 'Sister Sister' and 'J.A.G.'. He talked to the Newsletter about several of his concerns in the world of TV, including the growing danger of editors being seen as mere "machine operators" and assistants as "digitizers".
"In television the executive producer is a writer. Nine times out of ten his background is scripting. Once a guy said, 'I hate cutting on film because it takes too long for my changes.' I said, 'The key is to hire someone whose work you don't have to change a lot.You know, that's called experience. You find someone with a great deal of experience whose work you know.' That's changed. I've known some great directors that really would seek out people. 'I saw this film that this individual cut and I want them to work for me. It was wonderfully done.' Then, five or six years ago, it became 'What machines do you know?' We never called the Moviola an 'editing machine.' What's been happening is someone will come to me and say, 'I've got this great person who really knows the machine.' And I think, what a weird take on a craft! You never hear, 'I've got a great DP. He really knows how to work the camera.'
Working faster and faster
"I noticed there's a program out for writers and their 'writing machines.' It tells them when they're drifting from the point, or this character needs to be resolved this way. So I guess what we should be looking for [in a writer] is somebody who is really computer literate, who can really work a writing machine. You know, to get those scripts out faster. It's the same thing. We're losing sight of the fact that the idea behind them [computerized editing systems] was simply to allow us to look at alternative takes and other stuff faster. The ability to make a bad cut quickly really isn't a virtue.
"It seems like every time we have an advancement we think it's going to be a time-saver and it turns out to be just the opposite. When rock and roll dubbing came in we thought we'd get done in half the time but in truth it increased the amount of time necessary to dub a show because you could stop and stop and stop, and put more in and layer it accordingly. Non-linear editing gives you the ability to be very dynamic and to be able to make these great decisions [snaps fingers] like that. You go down to the editing rooms now, you hear snapping fingers. 'Right there, that's it. Back up! Three frames!'
"Two things have been happening. At the same time that we're inventing machines that go faster and faster, we're shooting more and more film. I was reminded that John Ford printed thirty-nine thousand feet of dailies on 'The Grapes of Wrath'. Now it was probably pretty damn easy to cut that show. Probably went pretty fast. And I think it was the fact that he knew what he wanted when he shot it. He knew what he wanted when he had it written. He knew what he wanted when he set out the costumers and the production designers and said this is what it's going to look like. Now all these decisions are deferred and deferred and deferred until they get down to the editing room. I think that's why they shoot so much film.
This curious word: digitizer
"I'm finding that there's this curious word leaking into television now. It's starting with the sitcoms and pretty soon it will take over the world: "digitizer". What the hell is that? Apparently it's somebody who works a few days a week and digitizes your machine, puts the dailies in and goes away. 'We all know that's all an assistant editor really does anymore, the assistant just feeds the machine', so I hear over and over. This is being practiced all over town with sitcoms. Can single camera work be far behind? And that's my main concern.
"In television we find ourselves having to hire more and more supervisors for movies. To me, if you're doing a TV movie or a feature, the post production supervisor is the editor. Many times it's the assistant editor who's coordinating all these things. That's really what the job is. More and more I'm finding, in the electronic age, that I'm having to go to civilians, if you will, non-editors to supervise editors. It's a curious growth business. They're used to talking to people, I guess. Used to scheduling things, used to making sure the actor gets to looping. All the things that an assistant did on a one-event show, like a movie of the week. I've had to start hiring people who have done this. So many TV editors, or TV assistants, have not done this. That's changed a lot.
Assistants will get stuck as digitizers
"Where do you get editors if you don't have assistants? And where do you get editors that know post production if they didn't have to learn it as an assistant? If the worth of an assistant is being determined by the fact that they really know the machine, they will get stuck as a digitizer. Of course you really should know the machine, just as any crafts-person should know his tools, but he should never be defined by them.
The skills an assistant needs
"Diplomatic skills, I'd say, are right up on the top. Scheduling; doing it enough times so that you know when you make your first schedule exactly where it's going to fall apart and anticipating so that you glide smoothly into your second schedule. Special effects, there are a great many assistants who don't know that area. In television, as an assistant it's hard, many times, to get out and broaden your horizons, but you have to do it. You've got to find time to get out there and learn this other stuff. There are an awful lot of people out there who really know that machine. I just wish they'd go beyond that.
The need for assistant workstations
"I'm tired of the assistant's job being done at the laboratory. That really is what has happened.
"You need an assistant's electronic workstation. You didn't sync dailies on a Moviola. You didn't sync them on a Kem. You did them with a synchronizer and a grease pencil. There's just something about putting dailies together yourself, writing down what lab roll it was on and what camera roll it was on, sound roll numbers. An assistant working on a show, synching that material, is aware of where that material is going to go, and realizes that from that point on, he can either build problems into the editorial system or eliminate them. A sloppy job done there is going to show up tenfold at the on-line.
Looking for work
"I'm fortunate here at Paramount. Paul Haggar began attracting and retaining top people, many years before I came on the scene. We try to see all qualified people who are in the job market. I've met some wonderful editors who took the time to call and make an appointment. We've all looked for work. No crime in that.
Is there enough work?
"This business has really exploded. It's wonderful. We've got thirty some projects now. There's a shortage right now of editors and good assistants. We are doing projects for networks and off-network markets. Certainly if you're going for a smaller off-network market, you can't spend all that money. That's not necessarily a bad thing. If you can't afford a great deal of money for an editor, then what do you do? You find some promising young editor or an assistant who's ready to move up.
"One of our great strengths here is the flexibility that good assistants give us on our own shows. We're able to move them up into an editing situation ina pinch. That's always the great thing about a studio. I've got a wealth of wonderful people, both young people and grizzled old professionals.
It's extremely flexible. Our first priority is to move people up that are here, we know their work, we know their dedication, and their diplomatic skills. And they in turn know the players. Continuity is a wonderful thing in a studio. And it's a golden thing in television. You can't have these wrenching changes in how your show looks. And there's the assistant. The assistant has been in the room when the producers are there working with the editor, knows their likes and dislikes, knows how the show works, knows the pacing, the timing, the tempo. What a wonderful thing to be able in a pinch, to turn to this kid, and say, 'Hey, help us out.'
Learning, and loving, the craft
"This is a business built on mentoring and apprenticeships. I don't think it's the amount of years, it's the amount of experience.
"When I was an assistant, the thing I loved most about assisting was, like when I was a catcher in baseball, I was in on every play. You knew what was going on. You don't if you're digitizing. I feel sorry for those who are put in that position. We, as employers, must see that this mentoring from editor to assistant continues, or one day we will turn around and find only highly trained machine operators, when what we need is a good editor."
