#postproduction

I’m working on a new video right now and it should hopefully be done in the next 7 days. So hang tight.

This blog post is about my experience at Adobe MAX 2014. It features a lengthy bit about seeing GONE GIRL with the post-production team. Full disclosure: I was an Insider for Adobe, and they gave me a free ticket and hotel room to go to MAX and write about it.

If you don’t care about this stuff, feel free to skip this post. Your video desires will be sated soon.

GONE GIRL

My favorite Adobe event actually happened before the conference even began. On October 5th, there was a screening of GONE GIRL with Kirk Baxter (editor), Tyler Nelson (assistant editor), Peter Mavromates (post supervisor) and Jeff Brue (engineer).

#GoneGirl screening on the Fox lot Q&A panel with the post team @GongPostalShow@Adobe@AdobePremierepic.twitter.com/4WbVha6e7x

— DEMONica Daniel (@Monica_Edits)

October 6, 2014

BEGIN NERDY POST-PRODUCTION TALK
80% of this film was modified in After Effects in some way. Backgrounds, splits, reframing, minor adjustments, you name it. The one thing they never did? Add a fake “camera move” in post. All the camera movements were real camera moves, but smoothed out in Premiere & AE.

If you have Premiere Pro CC, you’ll notice the improved feature “Dynamic Link render and replace” which allows you to roundtrip to AE, render it out and replace the file in Premiere. This is much better than the older method, where we’d dynamic link and then quickly hit undo. Apparently this feature was pushed through b/c the GONE GIRL team needed it.

Fincher shot 500 hours of footage, a 200:1 shooting ratio. Jesus.

I was happy to discover that Baxter doesn’t seem to care which NLE he uses. When prompted about Premiere, he just said, “I’m the easiest person to please.” As long as the program works and doesn’t annoy him, he’ll cut with it. He first used Premiere on a Calvin Klein commercial from 2012 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbC7_GJhQgE).

Tyler Nelson gets my respect for some intense workflow problem-solving. He seems to be part of a trend where older editors use the NLE, while younger assistants have AfterEffects experience and handle basic compositing and splits. This keeps most things in-house and lets the post team move quickly through iterations. As I understand it, dude conformed the entirety of Social Network & Dragon Tattoo (edited on FCP7) in AfterEffects. I remember hearing this back in 2010 and thinking that was insane.

Fav#GoneGirl panel quote was from Tyler Nelson. Apparently Fincher once said to him “Make it perfect, then we’ll go from there.”

— Tony Zhou (@tonyszhou)

October 6, 2014

Everybody cuts out of the same offices in L.A., even while Fincher’s shooting in Missouri. They keep in touch with PIX. I’ve wanted to play with this software for years, but it costs a bundle and seems to be exclusive to major studios. Lame. Do you have any idea how much time I’d save doing corporate work if the client could just draw an arrow pointing to the problem?

I asked Baxter a question about the Gone Girl opening titles, which are cut quickly with very slow music underneath. Apparently Fincher gave him a fast song and said “let’s get through the credits fast.” So he did. Then Fincher replaced the fast song with a music cue by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross. The end result is fast cuts and slow music, two rhythms that don’t quite match, which Fincher apparently liked. I think dissonance is an underused tool, so yay dissonance.

END NERDY POST-PRODUCTION TALK

My elderly neighbor, my dentist and my cleaning lady all told me about the Gone Girl post production workflow in Premiere. Everyone knows.

— Worst Editor Ever (@worsteditorever)

October 6, 2014

If you want a similar Baxter interview, here’s one by the ACE:
http://moviola.com/inside-hollywood/editors-on-editing-kirk-baxter/
If you want a super nerdy explanation of the workflow: 
http://provideocoalition.com/pvcexclusive/story/behind-the-workflow-and-post-production-process-of-gone-girl

ADOBE MAX GENERAL VIBE

This conference is for nerds. Professional nerds. One of the only places where you could say “I make fonts” and people would get sexually aroused. A place where you make your own Threadless t-shirts (for free!) but some think the software “doesn’t give me the fine control I want.” A place where someone can demonstrate real-time updating of a project file and people cheer with their hearts and souls.

I am home.

Everyone’s getting creative with our #AdobeMAX chalk wall. pic.twitter.com/CBTUHG7bNC

— Adobe MAX (@adobemax)

October 6, 2014

There are lots of people here, from lots of places. I met photographers, illustrators, pattern designers, web designers, graphic designers, sound designers, filmmakers, editors, and a sculptor. People who make things, even if they are often intangible ones and zeros.

If you are a nerd, this place is for you.

ADOBE MAX KEYNOTES & PRESENTATIONS

They pulled out all the stops for this. It was like a U2 show onstage. I still have that catchy-ass song stuck in my head. If you want to watch them, they’re here: http://max.adobe.com/sessions/max-online/

My favorite announcements at MAX included:

–Adobe Premiere Clip, which is basically Premiere on an iPhone or iPad. I can start a project on the iPad and then move it onto the computer. But you know what I would really want? The ability to do the opposite. Start a project on the computer, then move it over to the iPad and use my fingers to play with it. Sometimes you don’t want all the tools at your disposal. Sometimes you just want to see what happens when you move one clip in front of the other one. Dear Adobe, trust me on this. It would be amazing.

–Adobe Color, which was previously Kuler (that color wheel on the internet). Now I can point my phone at things and automatically generate a color palette. I tested it on a Wong Kar-Wai film.

Yup, it works.

—All of the Sneaks, especially DeFog, Time of Day, and Project Animal. None of these are out yet (Animal is in beta: 
http://blogs.adobe.com/aftereffects/2014/10/weve-created-an-animal-2.html) but I would gladly use and play with all of these.

—Weird Al Yankovic. Never thought I would say this, but some of the most interesting information I gleaned from MAX was from this guy. It was fascinating to hear that even a rich musician has to contend with unpaid fees from his record label re: YouTube views. He also got free music videos from different websites by offering them exclusivity for a brief window. Huh.

—The part where everybody got a free Surface 3 Pro. Yes, it’s true. Microsoft gave everybody at the conference (all 5000+ attendees) a $1300 device.

ADOBE MAX SESSIONS

I like sessions that are just artists talking about stuff they’re good at. So my favorite sessions were hosted by

Bert Monroy, who makes hyper-realistic paintings in Illustrator & Photoshop (http://www.bertmonroy.com/)
Hydro74, who makes logos and designs in Illustrator (http://www.hydro74.com/)
Jason Levine, who does post-production sound with Audition (https://twitter.com/Beatlejase)

Battle of the Halfwits… Me vs. @hydro74at#AdobeMAX#BattleoftheHands.pic.twitter.com/sP4FwB9yJQ

— James White (@Signalnoise)

October 10, 2014

I also dig random workshops about stuff I don’t normally encounter

The Visual Thinking Revolution, about using pictures to communicate in meetings instead of Powerpoints with words
Type Camp Calligraphic Script Workshop, which was 3 hours of me writing with a calligraphic pen, failing and enjoying it immensely. I sent my mother my best work.

Mostly, I used MAX sessions as a way to learn software that I don’t normally use, in ways I don’t normally use it. Do I know if this will be practical? Beats me. Sometimes I just like to sit in a room and have no idea what’s going on. At 8 o’clock in the morning. Keeps me on my toes.

That’s a wrap! #AdobeMAX 2014 has officially come to an end. We’ll be seeing you next year, right?! pic.twitter.com/mAJOMRZv8k

— Adobe MAX (@adobemax)

October 9, 2014

And that’s it. That was MAX. I loved it, had a great time, met a bunch of people. My only request, Adobe? Next time: Bahamas. All sessions on the beach. Unlimited pina coladas. 2015.

Messing around with real cool arty pens at the TypeCamp lab @adobemax#adobeMaxcc@tonyszhoupic.twitter.com/u44VuNGyOR

— Sébastien Périer (@Yenaphe)

October 8, 2014