Online editing is the last stage of the editing process where the video and film footage is recaptured and conformed at the highest resolution possible, usually uncompressed or in a near-lossless codec such as Apple ProRes. This is usually done on a very fast Mac tower with high speed storage such as Xsan. The current online system at Marni Productions (which is where The Audio Visual Plumber is located) utilizes an 8 core MacPro with a Kona 3 capture card and 14TB Xsan shared storage. I have been online editing in one form or another since I started working at Teton Gravity Research in 2003, but it didn’t become a regular part of TGR’s workflow until about 2005. Through the online process, I learned color correction first using Final Cut’s built-in tools, and then Apple Color. I also use tools from Magic Bullet including Colorista and Looks, depending on the project.
During the online process, the goal is to recapture footage at the highest resolution possible, and usually this means that SD video such as older stock footage or smaller formats like helmet cameras will need to be upconverted to HD. For this process I use a variety of tools from hardware upconverters built-in to the decks and capture cards, to software solutions such as Magic Bullet Instant HD Advanced.
For audio sweetening (also known as mixing or mastering), I currently use Final Cut Pro’s built-in audio tools along with outboard metering equipment and a few software filters that I have collected and tweaked over the years. I am currently in the process of switching over to Logic Pro to achieve greater control over my mixes and to facilitate 5.1 audio mixing.
Depending on your project, I may be able to do these things on your Final Cut system. But usually, to achieve the best results and fastest turnaround, I recommend online editing your project at Marni Productions. This allows your project the use of the fastest online editing suite in Jackson Hole, which in many cases will produce a superior product for less money (because it takes less time) than trying to do the online yourself. The average editing system typically doesn’t have the best video and audio monitors – those things are expensive! Onlining your project at Marni Productions with The Audio Visual Plumber at the helm will produce the highest quality images and sound that your project is capable of.
Some cool projects I’ve worked on:
2008
Cable to the Sky – Horizon Pictures, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
Credits: Audio Sweetening
“Cable to the Sky is about the 2 year process of replacing the 40 year old Tram at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. I was brought in to do a super quick audio pass on the feature which was under a tight deadline. Using various filters and techniques I perfected over the last year, I did the quickest high quality audio sweetening I had ever done. Producer Peter Pilafian, who is best known as the Director of Photography for documentaries such as Riding Giants and Dogtown and Z-Boys, liked the audio enough to invite me back to record interviews and sweeten the mix for an 8 minute version that played at the Tram unveiling in December.”
Available for sale in shops around Jackson Hole Watch the Trailer
Under The Influence – Teton Gravity Research
Credits: Color Grading, Audio Sweetening, Online Editing, Additional Cinematography – Super8 and 16mm
“This film had the widest variety of media sources that TGR had ever utilized to that point. A shortened list: Tyler mount Super 16mm, Regular 16mm, Viosport Helmet Cameras, P2HD, Super 8mm and RED One. The RED footage from the Grand Targhee spring jib shoot didn’t look anything like the Super 16 shot that day. So it was a unique challenge to grade the RED footage to look like the surrounding film shots, but also retain aspects of its “look” that differentiate it from the 16mm film. The RED camera system has an incredible amount of potential, but I also learned that film can still do amazing things and that this iteration of RED still doesn’t feel like a replacement, but more of a compliment, at least in the realm of 16mm. Ironically, I think RED compares better to 35mm because of 35mm’s smaller grain structure (it has 4 times the surface area of Super 16). 16mm is more contrasty and pops in a way that 35mm and RED cannot. Under the Influence also continues the blue-skewed color grade that we started in Lost and Found.”
Buy the film View clips on TGRtv Main film page
The Great Ride Open, Season 2 – Fuel TV, Red Bull, One-Eyed Bird
Credits: Color Grading, Audio Sweetening, Online Editing, DVD authoring
“Season 2 was awesome to say the least. Doing the second season of a TV show with all the same producers, crew and cast made this one of the easiest productions I’ve worked on. Season 2 built on all the cool stuff we established with Season 1, and took the riders to even better spots than last year. This was the first project that was edited and onlined on the Apple Final Cut Pro/Xsan system I built for Marni Productions in the Spring of 2008. It was also the first time I used Apple Color for color grading. Since there were a lot of long lens shots in windy conditions, we made extensive use of the SmoothCam feature, which was added to Final Cut from the Shake application.”
Watch Seasons 1 and 2 on Hulu.com Get additional clips on Fuel.tv
Out There – Teton Gravity Research
Credits: Color Grading, Audio Sweetening, Online Editing
“One of the biggest challenges on Out There was integrating footage from the Galapagos islands that was regular 16mm with a bad one-light telecine to PAL miniDV. No small feat for a 16×9 HD movie with an extremely tight turnaround – there was no time to get it retransferred. The resulting Galapagos segment in the film has a very unique look to say the least, and I think it really adds to the otherworldly feel that many people associate with the Galapagos islands. When we premiered the film outdoors at the Knotty Pine in Victor, Idaho, soundman extradinare Jeff Lord told me that it was one of the best audio for video mixes he had ever heard. I am humbled and thanks Jeff for the compliment.”
Buy the film View clips on TGRtv Main film page
2007
Lost and Found – Teton Gravity Research
Credits: Color Grading, Audio Sweetening, Online Editing, Additional Cinematography – 16mm
“Lost and Found represents the first time that we applied a “look” to a TGR movie. All of TGR’s film to HD transfers are color corrected on a shot-by-shot basis by the telecinist, so each shot is correct in and of itself. The goal of previous movie color grades was to make it look like all the shots matched each other, even if they were shot in different locations at different times of day with different cameras or film stocks. But with Lost and Found, we decided to skew everything toward blue, creating a cooler feeling that really represented the cold, low-snow year we were having in Jackson – thus the name Lost and Found.”
Buy the film View clips on TGRtv Main film page
White Book, The Movie – Recco, Teton Gravity Research, Marni Productions
Credits: Color Grading, Audio Sweetening, Online Editing, Additional Cinematography – 16mm
View the film White Book in pdf Recco.com
The Great Ride Open, Season 1 – Fuel TV, Red Bull, Teton Gravity Research
Credits: Color Grading, Audio Sweetening, Online Editing
“The Great Ride Open was a very cool project in which we took 4 Red Bull freestyle motocross athletes all around the American Southwest for 2 weeks of freeriding, allowing them to just get away from the competition circuit for a little while. Getting 6 episodes out of only 2 weeks was a challenge and the cameras never really stopped the whole time. The athletes have since said that The Great Ride Open was the most fun they had all year, making the prospect of a second season a slam dunk.”
Watch Seasons 1 and 2 on Hulu.com Get additional clips on Fuel.tv
2006
Anomaly – Teton Gravity Research
Credits: Color Grading, Audio Sweetening, Online Editing
Buy the film View clips on TGRtv Main film page
The Big One – Teton Gravity Research, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
Credits: Color Grading, Audio Sweetening, Online Editing
“The Big One is a retrospective of TGR’s 10 years in Jackson Hole. The online was interesting since all the old films were mastered to different formats and we even dug up some old miniDV and Hi-8 from the first few years of TGR. The visual quality of TGR’s films has really changed over the years, so instead of re-correcting the images from the old films to make them look new, we decided to leave all the vintage stuff as is. This also created a challenge for us because at this point we were posting everything in HD. So for this film, we decided to post and online in SD, the last time TGR would do so. Only one of the featured movies in The Big One was done in 16:9 and none of them were HD. But all the interviews were done in 16:9 HD. So instead of cropping the old films to fill a 16:9 frame, we decided to letterbox the HD interviews and master in 4:3 SD, thus retaining the framing and resolution of the older films.”
Buy the film View the Trailer Main film page
Shack Therapy – Teton Gravity Research
Credits: Color Grading, Audio Sweetening, Online Editing
Untracked, Season 3 – Fuel TV, Teton Gravity Research
Credits: (for about half the episodes) Color Grading, Audio Sweetening, Online Editing