A lot of topics I've posted lately have dealt with a music video I directed and there's a snag I've encountered with the editing and my role in the whole thing. I've been directing my own stuff for a few years but I'm starting to branch out, so it's a good opportunity. Here's the 1st act:
-I got hired to direct the video and it was gonna be a low/no budget video as the band is unsigned. Most of my fee went to the DP as it was a last minute replacement, so a lot of favors were being asked, etc. Unlike many horror stories I've heard around here, the band actually pulled through and we got through the shoot and the footage turned out great. I'm jazzed.
-Literally the next morning after the shoot, I got incredibly sick and was only getting worse. I normally edit stuff myself but I tried to hire an editor in the Bay but the only good guy I encountered who could do it for free (since the hiring money was spent) and had talent lives roughly an hour away.
-Since I couldn't make it out there often, he came up with the idea that we'd do our own versions and then combine them into a master cut using the best of both. It sounded like a good idea and as I was getting better, I started editing more and was getting my groove back.
-While he was still working on his version, I showed my mostly-finished version to the main band member, my liasion, since I was pretty happy w/ it. The whole group ended up watching it and they really liked it. Barring a few minor things, they didn't want anything changed much. It still wasn't fully done but it set up my dilemma.
-The editor showed me his version and it was okay, but very different. I wasn't happy with certain parts of my own video and he had good ideas in his version for the same places in my problem areas. He wants to start working on the master version combining both versions but I really don't wanna create some Frankenstein monster version that'd change the whole video. There's a few ideas of his I think could work in the final cut of the video that I'd wanna edit in but that gears up my dilemma.
-My deal w/ the editor was that he'd be unpaid but would get to use it for demo reel purposes and get an editor's credit along with myself. When the official video is released, I said okay to an "editor's cut" he could post on his myspace but only after the final version is up. However, he put his version up on his myspace page and infered it was the official version.
-I wanna fire him for that but because of the nature of it all, I'm not sure what to do. He's talented and all but there's only a few parts of his video I wanna use for the final cut since I think he got the tone wrong for the video. I don't want to be thought of as a director who fired an unpaid editor and took some of his editing ideas but keeping him on could be a liability since he tried posting it (he took it down when I found out and called) and don't want anymore stupid stuff happening. Looking back, I shouldn't've hired the guy since I did get better in time for my deadline but I don't know what to do.
I know this is long but any thoughts?
-I got hired to direct the video and it was gonna be a low/no budget video as the band is unsigned. Most of my fee went to the DP as it was a last minute replacement, so a lot of favors were being asked, etc. Unlike many horror stories I've heard around here, the band actually pulled through and we got through the shoot and the footage turned out great. I'm jazzed.
-Literally the next morning after the shoot, I got incredibly sick and was only getting worse. I normally edit stuff myself but I tried to hire an editor in the Bay but the only good guy I encountered who could do it for free (since the hiring money was spent) and had talent lives roughly an hour away.
-Since I couldn't make it out there often, he came up with the idea that we'd do our own versions and then combine them into a master cut using the best of both. It sounded like a good idea and as I was getting better, I started editing more and was getting my groove back.
-While he was still working on his version, I showed my mostly-finished version to the main band member, my liasion, since I was pretty happy w/ it. The whole group ended up watching it and they really liked it. Barring a few minor things, they didn't want anything changed much. It still wasn't fully done but it set up my dilemma.
-The editor showed me his version and it was okay, but very different. I wasn't happy with certain parts of my own video and he had good ideas in his version for the same places in my problem areas. He wants to start working on the master version combining both versions but I really don't wanna create some Frankenstein monster version that'd change the whole video. There's a few ideas of his I think could work in the final cut of the video that I'd wanna edit in but that gears up my dilemma.
-My deal w/ the editor was that he'd be unpaid but would get to use it for demo reel purposes and get an editor's credit along with myself. When the official video is released, I said okay to an "editor's cut" he could post on his myspace but only after the final version is up. However, he put his version up on his myspace page and infered it was the official version.
-I wanna fire him for that but because of the nature of it all, I'm not sure what to do. He's talented and all but there's only a few parts of his video I wanna use for the final cut since I think he got the tone wrong for the video. I don't want to be thought of as a director who fired an unpaid editor and took some of his editing ideas but keeping him on could be a liability since he tried posting it (he took it down when I found out and called) and don't want anymore stupid stuff happening. Looking back, I shouldn't've hired the guy since I did get better in time for my deadline but I don't know what to do.
I know this is long but any thoughts?
