November 04, 2011
My mentor once told me that you haven’t started editing until it hurts. It took me a while to understand the concept, but it makes sense.
Let’s say you are producing a one-hour documentary program for TV. You most likely shoot fifty, sixty, sometimes a hundred times more footage than you will end up using for the show. Nonetheless, you review all the interview comments and the b-roll footage, select and reselect, shuffle and re-shuffle over and over again. If you were on location, you may remember the challenges of getting certain shots; you are attached to them. The people you interviewed gave you great comments, and you want to include them all. The short sequence you cut together works great, but when you look at the flow of the entire show, it just doesn’t fit…
“Cut!”
After all, you only have one hour to tell the story. It’s a daunting task for sure.
Horizon produced a history documentary, Birth of a Colony: North Carolina, which recently premiered on PBS. It was a three-year effort by Horizon, UNC-TV, and everyone involved in the production. It’s hard covering the earliest history of North Carolina. There are many theories – and sometimes conflicting accounts – of what happened, and very few images exist. And what I mentioned about editing…
All these factors made the production even more difficult.
My involvement in the show was limited, but I saw my colleagues scratching their heads in pain – literally. But seeing the finished program on TV, and hearing from viewers that they are proud of living in the state with such a great history, made it all worthwhile.
If you have seen the show, share your thoughts with us. We love to hear from you!
