EDITOR'S NOTE
The Loss of a Legend
by Tomm Carroll
We interrupt this
television-themed issue with some sad news: legendary filmmaker Robert
Wise passed away in September at the age of 91. A versatile, genre-defying
director as well as an acclaimed editor, Wise's contributions to the
advancement and development of the art of filmmaking are innumerable
and have helped to elevate the level of both crafts. Needless to say,
he was the obvious choice for our cover subject.
Like so many others in this industry, I knew Bob Wise personally; during my tenure at the Directors Guild of America in the 1990s, he was actively involved with the guild's Special Projects department and chaired its oversight committee. He was always supportive of my work on the DGA Magazine and complimentary to everyone on the staff—basically a refreshingly down-to-earth man despite his undisputed stature among the pantheon of filmmaking giants.
In fact, it is my colleague and former co-worker Selise Eiseman—the DGA's erstwhile National Special Projects Officer, a film scholar and a longtime personal friend of Bob's—who pens the main tribute to her mentor in these pages. Other personalized remembrances of Wise are contributed by Editors Guild members: Thomas Stanford, the now-retired editor who worked for him on the classic West Side Story, and Jack Tucker, ACE, who was the inaugural recipient of the American Cinema Editors' Robert Wise Award for Promoting the Art and Craft of Film Editing and also interviewed him for Cinema-Editor magazine several years ago. As these pieces attest, the man may be gone, but his legend lives on.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled issue. The television season may be new, but the challenges and concerns impacting the editors working on the debut and returning shows are nonetheless familiar. Writer Debra Kaufman rounds up seven editors to talk about how technology, trends, budgets and schedules are affecting their jobs. Also, Geof Bartz, longtime documentary editor for HBO, discusses his devotion to storytelling and his goal of getting cable audiences involved in the films he cuts—in an interview with author Megan Cunningham, excerpted from her new book, The Art of the Documentary. On the music side, television is increasingly relying on music libraries and production companies—to the tune of a half-billion-dollar-a-year business. Writer Michael Kunkes interviews the main players in this high-scoring area of post-production music.
Elsewhere in this issue, the future, present and past of post-production is considered as Robin Rowe investigates the editing and groundbreaking visual effects work on the upcoming Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Kevin Lewis examines Edge Codes.com, a new Canadian documentary on the art of editing and Kunkes reports on the four-part "Cutting to the Chase" seminar on editors and their collaborators at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as well as the academy's presentation on the history of sound in early motion pictures.
And last but not least, for you tech-minded readers, member and regular contributor Ben Bardens presents a tutorial on using the remarkable 3-D Invigorator plug-in with After Effects, while member R.J. Kizer explains how the CBE Video Streamer and its companion VS-Link software can make an ADR editor's life a lot easier.
Hopefully, that's enough material to keep you busy until next issue and next year. And, as always, thanks for reading—for one whole year now!