The Radio Cut…

The holidays are over…my previous jobs are done…so now I FINALLY begin the editing process.

I have been prepping for a while. Looking at the footage, organizing the bins, importing temp music. Speaking of temp music, we found a composer that we all like (two time Emmy winner) and he put almost all him previous music online for me to download. It is good stuff…I am really glad we are going with him. My producer also provided THE ALAMO soundtrack, and I found other sources online from the other composer we were considering.

I also went thru my sound effects library and pulled out some preliminary sound effects I think I will need.

And my producer also provided me with Temp VO…he has a great voice, and a talent for dramatic speech. Saves me having to do it. I’ve done enough temp VO in my time to know that no matter how often I do it…I stink. Well, not all the time, but most of the time.

While the re-creations aren’t scheduled to start shooting until mid-January, I begin the edit process now, with what is called the “radio cut.”

The radio cut is simply laying out the narration, host standups and interview bytes in order so that you can get a rough estimate of the show timing. Music hasn’t been cut in, nor the re-creations, so it will be off…generally shorter than when music and recreations are cut in, as I add space for dramatic effect. Here is an example of what the timeline looks like. As you can see, the only video present is interview bytes, or text placeholders. But soon I will be adding music, adding B-roll and re-creations and still images and begin to “flesh it out.”

It is very interesting working from the home…feels…odd.