Cut & Bleed

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity."

- Charlie Mingus, Jazz bassist and composer.

That describes the work I've been immersed for last three weeks as an editor for upcoming DVD documentary of an infamous rapper. (I'll tell all about it when the DVD hits the store next year.) I've endured with hours and hours of shaky cam footage that was not intended to be anything except for fun and turning it into a full-blown feature length DVD that is for fans consumption. Like Jay-Z rapped, I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man. And I'm getting paid good money to stuff my stockings.

Now that I've presented the rough cut after wading through all the footage and culling presentable and most importantly entertaining moments, I and my producer finally found a workable narrative structure that we can "exploit" and tell a cohesive story. Now that first hurdle is over, I'm taking well-deserved weekend break away from my computer, away from my desk, and away from my room to find some fresh air and fresh perspective when I go back to refinning the cut next week.

I'm finally planning to watch Hoop Dreams and catch up with some editing books, notably, The Eye is Quicker. Now, only if that check arrives next week, I would be in much better mood to go shop for a digital camera...