Editing, ethics and turning down work

I was recently involved in a discussion about editing and ethics. Not ethics in the sense of is it right or wrong to use sound bites out of context or is it right or wrong to rearrange content into a totally different meaning, we all know that’s common place in reality-show editing, but more of a question of when (or if) do you turn down an edit job due to the subject matter.

Blu-ray DVD creation for the masses

One of the more interesting tidbits to come out of the series of panels at the CineGear Expo came from Larry Jordan of Digital Production Buzz. He related the findings of Bruce Nazarian, president of the DVD Association, who has found a way to burn standard DVD-5 or DVD-9 discs with the current red laser technology using the H.264 codec to play in high def in Blu-ray players.

Welcome to my world…

Although Cine Gear 2008 took place 10 days ago, it’s worth adding a few notes to the video I produced for Studio Daily (and the article on “Dark Knight” in Studio Daily and on “State of Play” in Film & Video). If you’ve talked to anyone who’s been there, you know it was a brutal show: my car thermometer read 113 degrees when I left at 5 pm. It’s amazing anyone was there, but a fair number of people did tough it out.

ACE 2007 Equipment Survey Results

The American Cinema Editors recently posted their 2007 equipment survey results. Not surprisingly Final Cut Pro gained market share but Avid still holds the majority of the market. At least that’s the results of this survey of ACE union members. This would be a great survey to conduct out in the “real” world of editing and compare the results.

Recommend viewing: Walter Murch interview

Recently I pointed out MacVideo magazine as a great resource for all things video production and post-production on the Macintosh. I also mentioned a 5 part interview they have with Walter Murch on the history of editing. I finished watching that interview series the other day and it was one of the most informative and entertaining interviews I’ve seen with Murch.