Unconventional Wisdom

Writing articles and shooting quality video for travel vignettes while away on a media junket is no easy task. There are interviews, lighting, audio, battery power, tape stock, consent and release forms and permissions to worry about. There are time constraints, weather issues and traveling print journalists to work around. There's finding enough time to shoot, take notes, blog, email and have a wee bit of time for myself to actually enjoy the experience. It's hard work and anybody who has traveled with me knows the weight of my gear. So, in saying that, I've arrived at my favorite part of the entire craziness - the editing process!

The editing process is my 'cool down' period. It's when I sit back, relax and revel in letting the hard work dailies fall into place. All this week and next I'm knee deep in digitizing raw footage, tracking down sound effects, locating music and assembling footage. The workflow is relatively seamless from editing, mixing, sweetening and rendering the finish product; this is my favorite part of the entire process. And especially after weeks of pounding the pavement in crowded cities, I can finally sit back in complete silence and let the creative juices flow. If something was missed while shooting, well there's no way I can go back and reshoot so I live with the coverage I get.

It truly is a ying-yang world; part frenzy and part calm - one can't exist without the other. I subscribe to Post Magazine and read about the rigors of the major motion picture industry and indie film world. Directors/producers/writers live and breath every element of this intense post and pre-production craziness for many many months. How do they do it? How does a celebrity director like Paul Verhoeven and Quentin Tarantino do it over and over and over again putting their lives on a shelf until the work is done? My work is a passion that results in some of the most satisfying visual experiences I've ever had but to maintain this pace takes a toll and I really can't imagine how the cinema world does it.