EDITOR'S NOTE
On the Plus Side, New York Gets a Post Show
by Tomm Carroll
I love Autumn
in New York (the season and the city, not the film of the same name).
It’s my favorite time of year to be in Manhattan. So it was
especially enjoyable to have attended the inaugural NAB Post+ trade
show there in November.
Personal preference aside, the three-day show at the Jacob Javits Convention Center was of obvious interest to our member- and readership. Not only is it a smaller, more manageable show to navigate compared to the NAB mega-show held every April in Las Vegas, but it is devoted solely to post-production issues, technology and products. Also, the daily keynote addresses were all delivered by picture editors––arguably the top of the post-production heap. Notably, those keynotes were given by three of the Editors Guild’s more prominent members: Chris Willingham, Thelma Schoon-maker, ACE, and Tim Squyres.
In this issue, our New York-based tech writer Adam Wisniewski reports
on those sessions, as well as a demo of Avid’s Symphony Nitris,
and presents an overview of the show floor’s exhibitors. NAB
Post+ looks to become a Fall fixture on the New York trade show schedule,
with 2006 dates in late October already announced.
Speaking of NAB, it was at that venerable show over two decades ago
that attendees were shocked by a glimpse of the future: Nonlinear
Editing (NLE). At NAB 1984, that nascent technology first reared its
head publicly when George Lucas––fresh off completing
the first Star Wars Trilogy––introduced one of the NLE
prototypes, the EditDroid. Author and former Guild member and Lucasfilm
insider Michael Rubin chronicles those heady years in his new book,
Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution, and writer Michael
Kunkes talks to Rubin about those early days of digital dreams.
Back to the present––and the cover. By the time you receive this magazine, Steven Spielberg’s much-anticipated new film, Munich, will be in theatres. Definitely the least Spielbergian example of the prolific director’s work, Munich is the 20th film on which he collaborated with his longtime editor, Michael Kahn, ACE. In fact, 2006 marks 30 years that the two filmmakers have been working together.
As a recognition and celebration of that auspicious anniversary,
Editors Guild Magazine presents an exclusive interview (by Kunkes
again) with the normally press-shy Kahn, who discusses the new movie,
his working relationship with Spielberg and his penchant for cutting
on film.
Documentary directory Ric Burns is another advocate of editors who
cut on film––even if just as a learning process. His regular
editor Li-Shin Yu talks about her collaboration with Burns and her
preference for cutting documentaries over narrative films in a profile
by Kevin Lewis.
Next issue, in honor of Women’s History Month in March, we’ll examine the contributions of three legendary female editors: Anne Bauchens (the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Editing) Margaret Booth and Barbara McLean. In keeping with the historical theme, we’ll also take a look back at the long line of sound and picture editing winners at the Academy Awards––as a prelude to this year’s Oscar ceremonies. Until then, have a happy new year and thanks for reading.