Editing for Character, Working With Paul Greengrass, and Watching Movies from the Third Row
Original Article By Bryant Frazer

- — -

The big-budget thriller is enjoying something of a renaissance lately — lots of people are excited by blockbuster action pictures like Transformers and Live Free or Die Hard, but the arrival of a newer, grittier James Bond last year in Casino Royale was a development that was greeted with critical and public acclaim alike. And while the trilogy of Jason Bourne movies that began with 2002’s The Bourne Identity (and which arguably influenced the new direction of the Bond franchise) has been popular from square one, the series outdid itself with the release last month of The Bourne Ultimatum. A huge portion of the credit for that is borne on the shoulders of director Paul Greengrass, whose penchant for documentary-style camerawork gives his films a nerve-racking tension, but it’s film editor Christopher Rouse who has to keep up with the imagery, finding the narrative links that will hold all the footage together.

Rouse is no stranger to action cinema — he worked on The Bourne Supremacy in 2002, and followed that up with demanding co-editing gigs on The Italian Job, with director F. Gary Gray, and Paycheck, with director John Woo, in 2003. But he really hit it off with Paul Greengrass, with whom he has cut two Bourne films as well as United 93 — the latter scored him an Oscar nomination (with Clare Douglas and Richard Pearson). F&V caught up with him by telephone as he was preparing to leave Los Angeles for London, where he would prep for work on his next project with Greengrass. Watch a video clip, below, to get a feel for the Greengrass/Rouse approach to action.

- — -

Read the entire interview on StudioDaily.com website

This is a video I made for a recent client. They are in the process of raising funds for this Islamic education initiative. Check out their website: http://www.almishkatinstitute.com

Some reflections:

• I took up this project a little over a month ago as a means of helping out this group of people whom I consider my friends and brothers and sisters in Islam. It was also a means for me to at the same time leave a job which wasn’t in line with my goals and passions.
• Taking lessons I’ve learned in filming, lighting, and editing from my past projects were all applied here and it came through real well. Considering that the Young Muslims promo video took me about six months to complete, being able to do this promo video in less than 1 month is a vast improvement.

Lessons to Share:

• Set Deadlines – When we start the production stage of the project, the was to get any and all filming done within a two week period. When you have tight schedule (which you will in any client job) Keep your schedule flexible to meet the clients needs. Some of the interviews were during the day on a work week. Others were in the evening at the masjid, some were early morning on the weekend.
• Have discipline – Post Production/Editing had a two week deadline. This meant all capturing, editing, sound sampling, research, and syncing had to be systematized to an efficient work flow, and I needed to be on top of myself in regards to distractions. Some days during editing I spent 18 hrs just editing and going through the footage to get what I needed, other days it was just 4-5 hrs. How much sleep I had the night before was directly propotional to how much work I was able to get done. Being is good physical shape helps your endurance. In the last stretch I spent close to 40 hrs straight editing.
• Following the 80/20 Principal – 20% of your time and effort will get you 80% there. Once you’re 80% there, GO! You’ll never get things perfect. Just make sure that you put your best-top 20% into what you’ve done.