The Sensation of Sight: Sophisticated Storytelling on a Modest Budget
Fresh from his Academy Award nominated turn as Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck, actor David Strathairn stars in another contemplative story - this time set in a small New Hampshire town. The Sensation of Sight follows the emotional journey of high-school English teacher Finn (played by Strathairn), who experiences a tragedy in the classroom that propels him into a mid-life crisis. He quits his job, distances himself from his family, and starts selling encyclopedias door to door. "He bumps into all of these characters who are also trying to find meaning in their life, just trying to get through from one day to another," explains editor Mario Ontal. "I think this journey will really resonate with a broad audience because people will identify with the struggles of these characters and embrace the film's hopeful resolution."
Shot on 35mm film, The Sensation of Sight is the first film from production company either/or films based in Munsonville, N.H. Founded by Buzz McLaughlin, executive producer of the film, and Aaron Wiederspahn, the film's writer and director, the independent film company's goal is to create films that challenge, provoke, and inspire audiences with stories of hope, redemption, and healing. The offbeat drama is set to premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival in September 2006.
"For low-budget productions, an Avid Mojo with [Avid] Xpress Pro can really help. It's like having a smaller satellite of a full Avid."
- Mario Ontal, Editor, The Sensation of Sight
Professional Tools
While the film was produced on an indie's modest budget, the producers were eager to assemble a seasoned crew that could create a professional-quality film suitable for the industry's top film festivals and distributors. Strathairn, who is also a producer on the film, recommended Ontal for the editing job. The two men knew each other from working together on several of director John Sayles's projects. Ontal was an assistant editor on Silver City, Sunshine State, and Lone Star.
Professional post tools were also a top requirement for the film. Ontal and assistant editor Chris Campbell used a Macintosh-based Film Composer XL system and Avid Xpress Pro software on a Macintosh laptop with Avid Mojo hardware. While the producers had originally considered using Final Cut Pro to cut the film, Ontal insisted on using Avid systems. "Avid is still the standard, especially for features," says Ontal, citing the Avid systems' comprehensive and stable tools for feature film editing. "Yes, you can use another system, but at what cost to you and your process? How much time and productivity are you really getting out of your editing system?"
Ontal finds the film editing features of the Avid systems essential for handling sophisticated EDL and filmout work in a foolproof and convenient way. In addition to Avid system features such as Matchframe and Toggle Source Record to Timeline, Ontal found the product reliability indispensable. "Just being up there [in New Hampshire] alone, I wanted a stable system," he says about the four-month period that he spent cutting the film in a rural location away from support services. "The software is so easy to maintain. Up in the sticks with a very short schedule, we needed to have zero downtime, and we never had any."
"Avid is still the standard [editing system], especially for features."
- Mario Ontal, Editor, The Sensation of Sight
Comprehensive, Flexible Workflows
The Film Composer system was provided by New York-based East Coast Digital and supplemented by Ontal's own Avid Xpress Pro software on a Macintosh G4 laptop, which he shared with Campbell. "Very few low-budget films can provide two systems. But for low-budget productions, an Avid Mojo with [Avid] Xpress Pro can really help. It's like having a smaller satellite of a full Avid," says Ontal. The Avid Xpress Pro system also offers seamless interoperability with the full range of Avid products, providing filmmakers with flexible, top-quality options for every stage of the editing and finishing process.
DVCAM dailies were digitized at 14:1 into the Film Composer system, which was used by Ontal for the creative cutting, while Campbell used the Avid Xpress Pro software primarily for logging and correcting dailies data and for turning over files to the sound team or for screenings.
The dual-system setup was especially useful toward the end of production when Ontal was called in as the second unit director - a first for him. He explains, "Everyone figured I knew the footage as well as anyone and probably had a better idea of what we still needed. We took establishing shots of locations and general shots of the town to use as transitions. For about a day and a half I also shot David walking around town pulling his cart [full of encyclopedias]. We ended up using a lot of it."
However, this last-minute shooting took Ontal out of the editing suite for several days, and he found himself under some time pressure to produce the first assembly. "That's when the [Avid] Mojo really came in handy," says Ontal. "We were trying to catch up with all the dailies and put the assembly together. [Using the Avid Xpress Pro with Avid Mojo] Chris had deck control, so he could do all the prepping and handling of dailies while I was editing. Then all of his dailies bins could be digitized [on the Film Composer] when I was at lunch or on break."
It's All in the Script
Ontal has used Avid editing and shared-storage systems for years, including an Avid Unity MediaNetwork solution on Sayles's films and an Avid Media Composer Adrenaline system at the 2005 Sundance Filmmaker Lab, where he was one of the editors. Still, he continues to explore system capabilities that he has never tried before, such as the Script Integration feature, which he used on The Sensation of Sight - in part to help support the collaboration between him and Wiederspahn, a first-time director. "I wanted to be able to show him the movie as it was scripted and shot before we started moving things around," explains Ontal.
He adds, "I loved script integration. Especially when we had several scenes with two people sitting together, and the camera would swing and tilt from one character to another. There was no coverage. These were long scenes - five or six minutes each with no cuts - and we'd have several takes just going back and forth between the two characters. The different takes never landed on the same character at the same line. Script integration was perfect for this. I would just put markers on each take where each line would fall. Every time I'd need a certain line, I could click on a marker and go straight to that frame. It was really great to use when you wanted to check on a different take. It really saved time. It's something I am definitely going to use more often."
Avid Xpress Pro: Everything You Need
After post production wrapped in New Hampshire, the Film Composer system was returned to New York, and Ontal took his laptop, equipped with Avid Xpress Pro software and the Avid Mojo hardware, with him to Los Angeles, where the final sound mix and digital intermediate work were completed.
"As soon as we locked picture, I had a set of tapes output to DVCAM and took the project files with me to L.A. with [Avid] Xpress Pro. We were able to save a week of rental costs [on the Film Composer system]. At the same time I could do the work on my own time once I got to L.A. I could be at home and just outputting files. It was nice and convenient," he says.
While in Los Angeles, Ontal used the portable Avid editing setup for outputting assembly lists, EDLs, and OMFs, and handling other last-minute changes during the film's finishing stage. Because the Avid Xpress Pro software offers the same KeyKode tracking and progressive timecode capabilities as the Film Composer system, Ontal was assured of reliable, frame-accurate results. In addition, the Avid Mojo hardware offered compact, portable I/O capabilities to work with professional decks and cameras. "[Avid] Xpress Pro with [Avid] Mojo was all I needed," he explains about the final stages of post. "If I needed to output to tape or re-capture anything from tape, then I had [Avid] Mojo for that. Having Avid Xpress Pro with Mojo, I felt like my back was covered for whatever might come up."
North Hollywood-based sound house AnEFX handled the film's sound work using Digidesign Pro Tools systems. The easy exchange of data between the digital picture editing and sound editing systems also supported an efficient and cost-effective post workflow.
Focus on Filmmaking
At the end of the project, even the producers took notice of the Avid systems. Says McLaughlin, "You can't work like we work [producing a top-quality film on a modest budget] unless you have reliable equipment. If there are technical problems, it's just pure frustration, and the meter doesn't stop ticking in terms of dollars spent. You have real confidence in the equipment when it works well for weeks and weeks on end, and the [Avid systems] worked great." And that gave the filmmakers more time to focus on the artistic aspects of creating the introspective drama, which in addition to Strathairn, stars Jane Adams, Ann Cusack, Ian Somerhalder, and Joseph Mazzello.
Having already attracted the attention of a premier film festival, The Sensation of Sight will likely be in theaters in the not-too-distant future. With a wide release, the film will not only deliver its inspiring message to audiences, but to independent filmmakers everywhere.
* CREDIT: Ron Wyman, courtesy of either/or films