FourStarCinema
Well-known member
Last night, I had the special honor of attending a meeting with Academy Award winning film editor Walter Murch in Los Angeles as part of the LA Final Cut Pro User Group, as he spent the evening discussing using Final Cut Pro to edit Sam Mendes' new film "Jarhead". Mr. Murch was very generous, answering everyone's questions about using FCP to edit a Hollywood film, speaking frankly about the advantages and disadvantages of using FCP. He showed us some clips of the film (it was a thrill watching an unfinished Quicktime of Jarhead) and discussed in-depth the technical process as well as the creative process of feature film editing.
The highlight of the presentation was when he showed us a clip where the soldiers in Jarhead were in a movie theater watching Apocalypse Now, and what it was like to re-visit that scene so many years later (if you don't know, he won an Academy Award for editing Apocalypse Now), and having it play so differently in Jarhead. The soldiers were watching it to get themselves pumped up and ready for combat. It was "one of the most appalling and appealing things of making [Jarhead]. Appalling because they showed this film to the soldiers. I was horrified, but I didn't want somebody else to do it." When asked if he saw something he would change in the original editing of Apocalypse Now, he answered "Not to sound immodest, but no".
He went on to discuss other things about the film:
--Jarhead was a 75 day shoot
--He cut dailies at Lucasfilm in San Fransisco
--They used 7 Final Cut Pro workstations
--Sound Editing was done at Lucasfilm
--Jarhead contains over 400 VFX shots
--The initial rough cut was 2:45, which had to be edited down to 2:03 (by comparison, the rough cut of Cold Mountain was 5:30)
--420,000 feet of film was shot
--The film started shooting in December '04, ready to be released 11 months later
--He was still editing 11 days ago
--The music in the film is 40% pop music and 60% original score by Thomas Newman
--Murch recommends not adding music at all into your film until your edits are complete. If you add them too soon, it's like "underage sex. Very awkward." If you add music after editing the footage is complete "expect miraculous things".
Finally, the question everyone wanted to know: Why use Final Cut Pro?
"The adventure. To me, Final Cut Pro is comfortable, like playing a piano".
If anyone is interested, check out www.lafcpug.org, as they will have a DVD available soon of the entire evening.
The highlight of the presentation was when he showed us a clip where the soldiers in Jarhead were in a movie theater watching Apocalypse Now, and what it was like to re-visit that scene so many years later (if you don't know, he won an Academy Award for editing Apocalypse Now), and having it play so differently in Jarhead. The soldiers were watching it to get themselves pumped up and ready for combat. It was "one of the most appalling and appealing things of making [Jarhead]. Appalling because they showed this film to the soldiers. I was horrified, but I didn't want somebody else to do it." When asked if he saw something he would change in the original editing of Apocalypse Now, he answered "Not to sound immodest, but no".
He went on to discuss other things about the film:
--Jarhead was a 75 day shoot
--He cut dailies at Lucasfilm in San Fransisco
--They used 7 Final Cut Pro workstations
--Sound Editing was done at Lucasfilm
--Jarhead contains over 400 VFX shots
--The initial rough cut was 2:45, which had to be edited down to 2:03 (by comparison, the rough cut of Cold Mountain was 5:30)
--420,000 feet of film was shot
--The film started shooting in December '04, ready to be released 11 months later
--He was still editing 11 days ago
--The music in the film is 40% pop music and 60% original score by Thomas Newman
--Murch recommends not adding music at all into your film until your edits are complete. If you add them too soon, it's like "underage sex. Very awkward." If you add music after editing the footage is complete "expect miraculous things".
Finally, the question everyone wanted to know: Why use Final Cut Pro?
"The adventure. To me, Final Cut Pro is comfortable, like playing a piano".
If anyone is interested, check out www.lafcpug.org, as they will have a DVD available soon of the entire evening.
