notes from the edit bay

This documentary was my BFA thesis film at Emerson College. The film details a moment in the life of Milo Matthews, a subway musician in Boston. He struggles with his past and his career, all while the city cracks down on subways musicians as a potential security threat in a post-9/11 world. We travel to his home and to visit his son in Seattle, getting a glimpse of the sacrifices that people make to pursue their dreams.

You can check out Milo on myspace.com/milomatthews and at lovelifemusic.com. He’s a great man and I’m forever thankful of how he opened up his life to me.

Also special thanks to Robert Kellough, who mixed the film but is absent from the credits.

Claude and I have been great friends since elementary school. I’ve been doing his reel for years and I’m always impressed with his work.

His reel is called a “speed reel” where all his scenes are chopped up and reorganized to create one sequence that jumps back and forth as the drama works best. This is different compared to Mike Terry’s reel which is a collection of independent scenes.

Clips from this reel are from Entourage, Criminal Minds, and the internet comedy series “Untitled Sketch Group”, available at FunnyOrDie.com. He’s soon to be featured on the upcoming film “The Ugly Truth” and in “Inside The Box”, a pilot for ABC.

Just a quick post over at excellent source of awesomeness Good Magazine who did an interview with inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil.  Check out this little nugget of information:

Solar power is, in fact, doubling every two years and has been for 20 years, and we are only eight doublings away from it meeting 100 percent of the world’s energy needs. And we have 10,000 times more sunlight than we need to do this. But we cannot simply implement a circa-2029 infrastructure today. We should use today’s technology aggressively to meet challenges such as clean energy.

This guy has been coming across my radar recently because of the upcoming film Transcendent Man.  He seems like a fascinating character and though I cannot offically endorse all his predictions, he does have a history of being dead-on correct and is a certifiable genius inventor.  And though the trailer clearly seems to be rooted in the let’s-rip-off-Errol-Morris school of documentary (albeit a style I love), I’m still really looking forward to seeing it.  Here’s the trailer:

Hey everyone.  First of all, a quick thanks to Bruce Sharpe, CEO of Singular Software.  His company made PluralEyes, the company I referenced in my previous Dear Production entry.  A few days ago posted my blog on his twitter feed.  That’s big for someone like me who is brand new to this web 2.0 linked economy.  He also recommended a good story about I Love Lucy and how the show really innovated multi-camera production.  You can find Bruce on twitter and on blogspot, and probably at NAB this week.  From his twitter feed:

Here’s the video I recommended about his company:
(I’m just learning how to embed video on WordPress)

Also thanks to Lindsey Rundell, my assistant editor amigo, currently working on .  She read my post and told me about Quickeys, a macros program which should make half of Avid Multi-Grouping easier.  The program allows you to program a series of keystrokes into one keystroke so that, in her words, “It does the F1-6 deal for you AND adds the Aux TC.”  It looks like it would be a great help, but nothing is a replacement for proper production techniques.  Thanks Lindsey!

I have been friends with J. Claude Deering, the writer/director of Untitled Sketch Group, since we were literally children.  Our families are great friends.  So literally, I jumped at the chance to work with him and our friends Chris Frontiero and Jared Swanson.  Turning Entourage on its head, USG is the story of a group of sketch comedians in Los Angeles who dream of success but find little of it.  I am the cinematographer of all four episodes and edited Episodes 2 and 3.

Untitled Sketch Group: Episode 1
A local LA sketch group get a meeting with a big agency.
Cinematography by Robert Grigsby Wilson.

Untitled Sketch Group: Episode 2
The gang pays a visit to Jonathan to make sure he’s doing them right…
Shot and Edited by Robert Grigsby Wilson.

Untitled Sketch Group: Episode 3
Chris tries to clean up the mess after his hit-and-run accident while Jared and Claude try unsuccessfully to brainstorm new sketch ideas.
Shot and Edited by Robert Grigsby Wilson.

Untitled Sketch Group: Episode 4
The guys from Untitled Sketch Group make a Boost Mobile ad.
Cinematography by Robert Grigsby Wilson.

The trailer I also edited for USG: