While shooting for six months, I had continually looked at computer edit systems.  Two people I knew wanted to edit the film.  One guy suggested that I may know how to edit, but I was not prepared for the endless filing and organization that editing involves.

However, the same problem came into play:  I would have to pay them.  In addition, I would have to go to their houses or offices to watch them edit.  There was no way I would do that.  I wanted access to the footage and wanted to be able to edit at anytime of the day or night.  So, then I looked even harder for a computer edit system we could afford.

 

As had happened time and time again, luck came our way.  More systems were popping up all the time and I particularly liked FINAL CUT PRO.  But it was so new; it was difficult to find people who had used it.  I relied on magazine ratings and articles.
I never used a Macintosh computer before.  Final Cut Pro works only on a Mac.  Some people advised me to stay away from the Mac.  Others (Mac Fanatics) said there is no other way to go.

 

Finally, in December 1999, we purchased a Mac G4 with 175 gigabytes and Final Cut Pro.  I put the new Edit Bay in the Props Room. 

 

As we continued to shoot the film, I slowly learned how to use the Mac and how to use FCP.
Editing with FCP is extremely easy.  My biggest problem was learning the Mac and figuring out the Preferences and all the endless terminology, (like ‘clips, projects, browsers, sequences, viewers, etc.).  I was a complete novice to the entire nonlinear computer lingo.

Once I got to editing, everything was pretty simple. I cut the film very quickly. But I realized the film was going to be about 145 minutes long so I began to make cuts in every scene. A lot of dialog had to go. Some of the actors were not too happy about that, but too fucking bad. As I watched the rough cut, I realized that many scenes were endless. The speeches went on forever and the actors talked very slow, with long pauses between every sentence. Don't get me wrong. I don't blame them. It is all my fault. But I had to cut, and cut I did. I was determined to cut only the least important stuff. I certainly didn't want to cut anything that would offend someone. I cut out a lot of entrances and exits. Everytime I tightened a scene, it got better.

 

No Regrets

 

I don’t have any regrets when it comes to editing the film myself.  Quite simply put, I love it!  Editing has always been my favorite part of filmmaking and now, with nonlinear editing, it’s even more fun.  
Even though there are frustrations with computers and their infinite little problems, I can say with total certainty that I would never want to edit on film again (of course if WORMWOOD doesn’t make some money, I may not have to make that choice anyway!!).

 

The worst part of using FCP is that it takes a ton of memory and disc space.  I used almost all the 175 gigabytes.  The machine was grinding to almost a halt.  I was pushing it to its limits. 

 

One bit of advice I would give everyone who edits on a computer: Always make back up after back up.  Make different kinds of back-ups.  Be paranoid that the computer gods will screw you up somehow.

 

Biggest nightmare story about computer editing:

 

I was basically done with the picture and dialogue edit.  The film clocked in at around 118 minutes.  I wasn’t totally done with the dialogue levels yet, but for some reason I decided to make a video copy of the film.  I copied the film over to my DVCAM VCR.  Therefore, I had a compete copy of the film on digital video.

Sony DSR-20 DVCAM VCR

The very next day when I went back into FCP to fix some of the dialogue, the WORMWOOD project would not open.  Nothing I did would open the project.  I went crazy for two weeks trying everything possible to call up the project.  It was a corrupted file and nothing would ever fix it.  I had no other back-ups except the DVCAM copy with the less than adequate audio.  But, at least I had a back up.

 

I deleted all the tons of video clips off the hard drives and captured the DVCAM copy onto the computer.  From there I began to fix the audio and started to work on the sound effects.

 

If I had not made that DVCAM copy the day before, I would have had to re-edit 85% of the film again and I would have probably gone insane!  So, again, I was lucky. Make back-up copies!!