Editors Guild by Mel Lambert

After welcoming comments from Greenfield and Arnold––“this post community is our lifeblood,” Greenfield offered––Avid’s technical marketing specialist Matt Feury encouraged editors Jonathan Alberts and Alan E. Bell, A.C.E., to candidly share their experiences. Alberts, who cut the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning Like Crazy, recalled that back in 2001 he started using Final Cut Pro on independent features.“It was the producer’s choice,” he said.“But I’m now using Media Composer 5.0x,” working with three editors and two assistants using Unity networks and Nitris DX components. Alberts also edits HBO’s successful series Hung.

“I started using Media Composer during the early 1990s at Castle Rock,” recalled Bell, who worked most recently on 500 Days of Summer, Water for Elephants and the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man. The editor soon became frustrated with Media Composer, he commented, “because Avid wasn’t listening” to our comments. The system’s pricing structure was also cause for concern, so Bell switched to Final Cut Pro and used it to cut 500 Days of Summer.

“Back then, you couldn’t make a living in the indie word with Avid,” Bell said, explaining that the industry norm was to buy the hardware and rent it back to the project. “Producers wanted more for less, and the ability to work faster,” he emphasized. But for The Amazing Spider-Man, Bell returned to Media Composer with Unity storage while working with a team of five picture editors. read more...