EDITOR'S NOTE
Looking Ahead, Staying Current and Recalling the Past
by Tomm Carroll
 Tomm Carroll |
Happy 2007! This new year is an important one for the Motion Picture Editors Guild, as it marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of our organizational ancestor, the Society of Motion Picture Film Editors––one of the first unions for post-production professionals in Holly-wood, in May 1937. The MAY-JUN 07 issue of Editors Guild Magazine will commemorate this milestone with a special edition.
But before I get too ahead of myself, more imminent is the perennial awards season, the campaign phase of which is already well underway. And the granddaddy of all industry honors, the Academy Awards, has been recognizing sound mixers and picture editors even longer than there were unions to represent them; sound editors didn’t get the nod until 1963.
I want to be the first congratulate the to-be-honored Guild members on their impending nominations––and wins––at not only the Oscars, but the American Cinema Editors (ACE), Cinema Audio Society (CAS), Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) and British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) annual awards as well. These good wishes might also seem a little premature, but our deadline for the next issue is before the first of these awards ceremonies, and the magazine likely won’t be received until after the Academy Awards telecast in February. So it’s now or….after the fact.
Okay, now that I’ve got the future out of the way, let’s concentrate on the present––and this issue. As we went to press, the “buzz” on the long-awaited musical adaptation Dreamgirls was considerable, and growing daily. Aside from the anticipation of the film version, the work is also notable as the latest collaboration between writer-director Bill Condon and his longtime editor Virginia Katz, ACE. For our cover story, Katz discusses the film, her career and her Condon collaborations with her good friend and fellow editor Rachel Igel, Guild Treasurer and a member of this magazine’s advisory committee. Igel also interviews Condon about his films and his special working relationship with Katz.
It was also two women editors––Susan Littenberg and Sabrina Plisco, ACE––who weaved the seamless visual effects into the latest big-screen take on the beloved children’s story, Charlotte’s Web, a combination of live action and photo-realistic animation. Writer Robin Rowe talks to the pair, as well as to additional editor Patrick Gallagher, about the technological challenges of shaping such an effects-laden film.
Ah, technology. It never stands still. In fact, it’s the ever-changing nature of post-production techniques, hardware and software that most concern film school attendees today, according to Nancy Richardson, ACE. To that end, Richardson, a Guild Board member and associate professor at UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film and Television, has created a course to provide her students with a real-life experience in post work. Debra Kaufman audits Richardson’s class and writes a report.
Speaking of classes, the Woodstock class of ’69, filmmaking section, held a reunion recently at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills. Amongst the alumni were several Guild members who shared occupational war stories of those three famous days of peace, love and music––and the putting together of the Oscar-winning documentary in its aftermath. Michael Kunkes chronicles their collective flashback.
Thanks for reading for another year.