Building Bridges Between Crafts

by Stephanie Argy

Early in my career as a journalist, I stumbled across what to me was a surprising turf battle between cinematographers and visual effects artists. The conflict was over the look of the image — traditionally, cinematographers have controlled the final colors and contrast by setting the parameters of the answer print. But as visual effects artists acquired more tools to manipulate those same attributes, some cinematographers felt that they — and their images — were under attack.

Ever since, I've felt that part of my responsibility as a journalist is to help smooth gaps like these between different crafts, and to point out that whatever differences may exist between them, far more ties them together. I recently listened in on a conversation between a film editor and a camera assistant — two people who ordinarily would have little reason to talk or even meet. Yet when they did sit down together, they were surprised to discover how much alike their thoughts on filmmaking were. (As just one example, both thought that it sometimes seems as though the more cameras used to cover a scene, the less useful the resulting film.)

There has always been an invisible wall between production and post-production. But in an era in which technology is changing so quickly, interaction between the two becomes increasingly important. A decade ago, post-production embarked on a technological revolution, the likes of which few creative people have ever experienced. During that time, as editors and mixers led the way into the digital age, production remained mostly unchanged. But today, the same forces that have rocked the editing world are moving onto the set, as digital cameras and hard disk recorders become commonplace.

Meanwhile, today's editors and mixers face even more changes. For example, increasingly inexpensive tools make it possible for the picture editing crew to finish some multi-layered effects in the editing room. But if that's the case, the editor takes on even more responsibilities and becomes not only a de facto visual effects supervisor, but, in a limited way, a cinematographer and production designer, controlling the look of the image and putting new objects into the scene.

Knowledge and craft are not pieces of land to be staked out and defended. We all need to share what we know, and to learn as much as possible from people who do other jobs. No one knows it all. While it may be time-consuming and inconvenient to reach out to people in other departments, the rewards for doing so are much greater than the effort.

I hope the Guild Magazine can contribute to this cross-pollination by including articles written not only by our own members, but also by people whose expertise lies in other areas. In this issue, visual effects supervisor Michael Fink offers suggestions on ways to improve the interaction between his department and the editing room, and sound pioneer Ioan Allen, an engineer by background, talks to sound editor and mixer Leslie Shatz. We also debut a new column by Ben Bardens, a member of the Screen Cartoonists local, who shares his knowledge of Adobe After Effects, an animation tool that can introduce some exciting new capabilities to film and video editing.

Once again, I would like to thank all of our contributors for taking the time to write for us. Without their help, this Magazine could not exist.