It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Editing for Improv-Based Laughs
What do you get with three guys, one digital camcorder, and a $200 budget? If the guys are writers/actors/producers Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, and Glenn Howerton, you get the now legendary pilot for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the breakout comedy series entering its third season on the FX channel this summer. Despite its low-cost/low-tech origins, the pilot episode landed the trio a contract for producing season one in 2005. Since then, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has earned high critical acclaim on a relatively low budget and continues to build a cult-like fan base with its wildly offbeat humor. Based on its renewal record, the series now ranks as the most successful comedy on basic cable in recent years.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia follows the misadventures of four 20-something friends who run a working-class Irish pub in Philadelphia. The comedy is fast-paced, edgy, and often politically incorrect as it fearlessly finds humor in the most controversial subjects. The show's original creators - McElhenney, Day, and Howerton - are also the writers, actors, and executive producers. Comedy heavyweight Danny DeVito became a series regular in season two as the morally challenged father of Howerton's character. Kaitlin Olson rounds out the cast as the pub's romantically challenged barmaid.
The pilot was initially edited in Final Cut Pro by Josh Drisko, one of three editors who work on the series. Then it was re-shot and re-edited using a Media Composer XL system when FX picked up the series. "The producers decided to switch to Avid [systems] to take advantage of its time-saving features," says editor Robert Bramwell (Arrested Development, Providence), who also works on the show. "Once they saw the beauty of working with the Avid [system], there was no looking back."
To offline the series, the three editors and three assistants use four Macintosh-based Media Composer XL systems tied together with an Avid Unity MediaNetwork solution with 4 TB of shared storage. Bramwell relies heavily on the Media Composer systems' script-based editing feature, which he believes is essential for keeping the show on schedule, due to the actors' improvisational techniques. Ad-libbed lines can be easily typed in and matched to footage, enabling the editors to quickly locate selected takes among the unusually large amount of source material that is generated on-the-fly for each half-hour episode.
During the last season, Bramwell augmented this Avid setup with the latest version of Media Composer software on a desktop workstation to test the new ScriptSync feature, a next-generation script-based editing tool that uses phonetic speech indexing technology to automatically sync text with media. The ScriptSync capability offers newly automated features that offer even more time-saving shortcuts for editing the show. Bramwell was impressed with the results.
"I've always been a huge fan of the script-based editing tool in our older Meridien [hardware-based] systems. But with ScriptSync, Avid has taken script-based editing to a whole new level. It's fantastic. I will definitely stay with the new Media Composer software to finish Sunny and ask the rental vendors we use to upgrade to it for any future series I do as well," he says.
"With ScriptSync, Avid has taken script-based editing to a whole new level. It's fantastic."
- Robert Bramwell, Editor, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Synchronized for High-Speed Editing
To provide a realistic, cinema vérité look for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the film crew shoots the series with small Panasonic DVX100A cameras in standard-def Mini-DV format. Up to three cameras are used in any given scene. All the Mini-DV dailies are then transferred to DigiBeta masters, along with burn-ins of the audio and video timecodes. Although the Media Composer systems support the DigiBeta format, these master source reels are used to create DVCAM tapes to take advantage of lower-cost DVCAM decks. The DVCAM tapes are then digitized into the Media Composer XL systems at AVR 4m and offlined in standard definition.
Throughout the offline process, the editing team relies on the speed and simplicity of the script-based editing interface to meet the show's aggressive schedule, which calls for completing five shows in a six-week period. "The Avid system's script-based editing lets us sync dailies footage to the script so that all we have to do is click on a line of dialogue in the script in order to pull up the exact takes at that point in the performance," explains Bramwell. "It's the greatest invention I've ever seen for editing, and it's truly unique to Avid [systems]."
The first step in the script-based editing process is to import the script into one of the Avid editing workstations. The staff uses Final Draft scriptwriting software, which contains a special export function for Avid systems, so this step is automatic. (Other scriptwriting software may be easily used with Avid systems as well for scripts and transcripts.) Meanwhile all the dailies are digitized and logged as they come in. Then the assistant editors synchronize or 'mimic' all the dailies with the script in order to make each line of dialogue clickable. "The mimicking process is very easy to do, but it takes a little time," says Bramwell. "The new ScriptSync feature [on all latest shipping versions of Media Composer and Avid Symphony products] fully automates this process - enabling us to mimic a scene in just seconds."
"We shoot each scene with up to three cameras. With multicam, we can see all the camera angles simultaneously ... It's a huge time-saver."
- Robert Bramwell, Editor, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Simply Point and Click to View the Take
While each episode starts out with a written script, the actors often draw upon their improv background to change a scene on-the-fly and run with it. This results in a tremendous amount of raw footage and a significant media management challenge. In fact, the producers estimate that they shoot 50 to 70 minutes of media for every one minute that gets on the air - nearly three times that of most other scripted television shows. And unlike other television series that work with just one or two episodes at a time, the producers of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia shoot and edit five shows simultaneously - making media management even more of a challenge. Using the 4 TB of shared storage with the Avid Unity system, the editors can keep multiple shows online for quick and easy access to projects, while simultaneously sharing media for the most efficient workflow.
The script-based editing feature also helps keep the large amount of ad-libbed material organized and available for quick access. "We literally have to wade through hours of raw footage to find that one little nugget that makes a scene work," says Bramwell. "With this much material, Avid's script-based editing is the only way go. It makes it easy to keep track of all your media in a single window interface, and find the clip you need. Once the editing assistants log the footage and type in any ad-libbed lines, I can pull up all the takes that go with any line of dialogue by simply clicking on it."
As with most comedies, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is very pace driven. Each 22-minute episode requires about 400 cuts to maintain its high-velocity tempo and quick humor. Here, too, Bramwell credits the Avid system's unique script-based editing for enabling him to deliver a locked cut on time.
"Using the script-based editing interface, I can color-code individual takes. For instance, I can put green marks on the ones I like and then start building the show. When the director screens the rough cut, I can mark his favorite takes with another color. And I can do the same thing with the producers. So I can keep track of everything very easily. It helps make the offline process more efficient."Feature-Rich Editing Tools Save Time and Money
Bramwell also appreciates the time-saving benefits of the Media Composer system's real-time multicam feature, which enables him to group clips and play them back concurrently for the most streamlined editing. "We shoot each scene with up to three cameras," explains Bramwell. "With multicam, we can see all the camera angles simultaneously. This lets us quickly review our creative options and find the one that works the best. It's a huge time-saver."
While It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is not an effects-heavy show, Bramwell recently used the Media Composer system's built-in Effects palette for a scene in which Danny DeVito's character sees a vision of a woman in a toilet.
The effect came together quickly and seamlessly. "I keyed in the image of the woman using the high-end chroma key, and then added the toilet bowl outline around her using the AniMatte key cutter. The elements blended perfectly and the visual effect was amazingly realistic."
To minimize the show's production costs, the Media Composer systems also handle a significant amount of audio editing. All of the music and most of the sound effects are initially mixed in the Media Composer system before being sent via OMF files to a sound facility that uses Digidesign Pro Tools digital audio workstations for the final mix. Meanwhile each show is finished at 1:1 resolution in a linear online bay before being mastered to a DigiBeta SD format to meet the FX channel's broadcast requirements.
Producing a weekly television show demands a fast-paced editing team. According to Bramwell, the Media Composer system is a key accelerator in the process. "In my mind, there's no other way to edit," he says. "Script-based editing is the way to go, and Avid has the lock on it. It's fast, it's easy, and the new ScriptSync feature [in Media Composer software] makes it better than ever."
Season three of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia premieres on September 13 on the FX channel.