MY FIRST CRACK AT iMOVIE

Hi, guys. 

As some of you already know, I traveled to England this past summer with my friend and frequent collaborator, Charlie Gumbiner, in order to conduct research for a documentary film project that I'm supposed to direct later this year. 

It was an absolutely fascinating trip and I tried to capture as much of it as I possibly could with my trusty Lumix DMC-LX3 digital camera.  Panasonic hooked me up with this particular model a couple of years ago, hoping that, if word got around that I was an avid user, it might give their marketing push a much-needed shot in the arm.  (OK, I'm kidding.  Tobin coerced me into buying it, but that's a story for another blog.) 

Anyway, since we're planning to return to England in late-March for some follow-up meetings, it was suggested that we take some of my footage from 2008 and try to assemble a teaser of sorts for the presentation.  Since I'm not an editor, I tried very hard to find one, who would be willing to do the work for us in the limited amount of time we have left.  Alas, everyone we spoke to was unavailable. 

Now, as I said, I'm not an editor.  However, I did do some off-line editing back in film school and have spent a significant amount of time sitting next to online editors while working on a number of projects in the years since.  Furthermore, I knew iMovie came with the MacBook Pro I bought last year.  (Come to think of it, Tobin actually coerced me into buying that, too.)  So, to make a long story short, while holed up in a Houston hotel room for much of the day today, I decided to take a crack at editing the teaser myself. 

And... well...

My efforts reminded me yet again as to why I have such a profound respect for editors.  Editing truly is an art form in and of itself.  It quickly became very clear to me that my teaser would leave a lot to be desired.  Many of my clips were too short, I had trouble syncing my picture with the temp music I selected, jittery camerawork was a recurring problem, etc.  If I'd only known last summer that I'd be trying to turn my footage into a decent teaser nine months later, I would have done so many things differently.

That said, I was impressed at how much even a beginner like me could accomplish in a matter of several hours.  In fact, it was a wonderful, fulfilling, and, dare I say, empowering experience.  There were no executives, no representatives, no bullshit lunches, no nothing. 

And, for the first time in a very long time, I felt like a filmmaker again. 

In case some of you might be interested, I've included my first crack at iMovie below.  Obviously, I still have a great deal to learn as I graduate to Final Cut Pro, but, at the end of the day, I think it's still pretty amazing what one can do with a digital camera and basic editing software.  What a fascinating, technological world we live in.  As filmmakers, we really don't have any excuses not to make films anymore. 

-Dax

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy1hidbgxKE