IN[FOCUS]

My entire approach to editing from the gut comes from Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central’s Colbert Report. During a speech at the 2006 White House Correspondent’s Dinner, Colbert stated:

“That’s where the truth lies, right down here in the gut. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your gut than you have in your head? You can look it up. Now, I know some of you are going to say, “I did look it up, and that’s not true.” That’s ’cause you looked it up in a book. Next time, look it up in your gut. I did. My gut tells me that’s how our nervous system works.”

And that’s where the truth lies in editing: edit for emotion, edit with passion, don’t use a formulaic approach and make every wedding video unique-edit with your gut! There is a rhythm to an edit that you feel deep inside, like a favorite piece of music, with a beginning, middle and end, and when the music, or video, is over, you feel the satisfaction of being taken on a journey. I feel that when I’m shooting I’m merely gathering the raw materials to assemble in the timeline and create something in the timeline that did not exist before. Editing is what makes the movie what it is.

I’ve recently found editing inspiration in the 2004 movie “The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing,” and I highly recommend this to anyone involved in creating wedding films. The movie shows us the power of editing, from the early days of Hollywood when editors were considered to be more like skilled technicians rather than artists, to the present day, and includes insightful comments from Steven Spielberg, Jodie Foster, Martin Scorsese and many others. The movie reminded me of the importance being precise in your edit and not staying on a particular shot for too long (or too short). Quentin Tarantino compared the work of an editor to that of a composer and a writer: in music the building block is the note, for a writer, it is the word, and for the editor you have the frame, and “two frames added, or two frames less, is the difference between a sour note and a sweet note, it’s the difference between clunky, clumsy crap, alright, and orgasmic rhythm.” “Pulp Fiction” is one of the reasons I make movies today-thank you Quentin!

“And editing is why people like movies,” said director Rob Cohen. “Because in the end, wouldn’t we like to edit our own lives? I think we would. I think everybody would like to take out the bad parts, take out the slow parts, and look deeper into the good parts.”

So place “The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing” on your Netflix instant queue, and then join me at the next IN[FOCUS] gathering near you!
Vlad

Vladimir Chaloupka

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As an avid DSLR video shooter I am often shooting under very low light which means a wide open aperture, or close to it, and a very shallow depth of field. Occasionally I venture outdoors and end up shooting at something like f16 or f22 and there have been times when I’ve noticed dark spots or blotches on my footage. If these spots appear on the same part of your video, in different shots and with different lenses, then you dust on your sensor! (Well, to quickly clarify, it’s not actually on your sensor but on a filter or glass cover over the sensor).

The first step in cleaning your sensor is to actually be able to visually identify how dirty the sensor is, and my favorite way to do this is with a sensor loupe from VisibleDust. With your choice of 5X or 7X magnification and built in LED illumination, it’s easy to spot the offending particles.

My next step (and this is something I do before each wedding I shoot) is to use an air blower such as this Giottos Rocket Air Blower.

I personally don’t like to use the compressed air blower canisters as there is a risk of spraying moisture into your camera (if you do use one, give it a short burst of air before beginning cleaning, and also make sure to keep the canister upright during cleaning). Dust is attracted to your sensor with static electricity, and one way to combat this is with this new Zeeion Blower from VisibleDust, which claims it’s unique compound reduces static charges.

The next step would be a dry cleaning method such as the Arctic Butterfly. Here is a manual with details on the cleaning process, but basically you gently clean with one uniform pass and then make sure to remove the brush and keep it away from the camera before turning on the spinning bristle cleaning function.

If your sensor is extremely dirty you may need to resort to a wet cleaning methods such as those offered by DustAid or Photographic Solutions. Here is a video from DustAid on cleaning the sensor of the Canon 5D Mark II.

For more information on sensor cleaning, I recommend two articles: one from Luminous Landscape and another one on the Thom Hogan website.

If you maintain yours differently, I would be interested to hear from you in the comments section below.

Happy cleaning!
Vlad

Vladimir Chaloupka

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Although it’s tough to beat Chris P. Jones when it comes to speeding up your editing workflow, I recently discovered a product that is saving me so much time and I can’t believe I’ve been using Final Cut Pro without it all these years! It is the ShuttlePRO v2 by Contour Design.

Vladimir Chaloupka

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