Vagine Regime: Queer Roller Derby

Hey everybody!  This site has actually been getting some decent traffic even though I haven't posted in quite some time.  I hope that means you are finding useful information and I hope to make some new informative posts in the future.

One reason I haven't been as active on this site is because I've been keeping very busy with work.  In addition to editing several episodes of the hit MTV series "Catfish: The TV Show," I have begun working on my very first feature!  It's a lifelong dream for me to work on a feature, so this is very exciting.  It's an independent documentary about an international collective of queer derby skaters known as "The Vagine Regime."  Check out our first trailer:




If you like it, please help spread the word about our little film! Thanks, Dan

Production Music Libraries

Where does the music come from in reality television?

Many of your favorite television music tracks come from popular libraries, such as the theme song from Curb Your Enthusiasm.  And much of the music from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, also including their theme song.

Production music libraries are a popular source of music for television for several reasons.  The chief advantage is that they are designed to be easy to license.  The production company pays a flat fee to use music from a particular production library, and for that fee they are allowed to use all of that music in perpetuity, anywhere around the world that the show may be broadcast, on any platform or format even if it hasn't been invented yet.  If you know anything about the nightmare of licensing music under these situations, you begin to see why using a production library is a good, no-hassle way to get music for your production.

Additionally, production music libraries are much cheaper than licensing commercial music or hiring a composer to write original music for your production.  This is particularly true if your company is making several shows and can cut an overall deal with one production library.

There are many libraries available for you to investigate before deciding which one is right for your project.

My personal favorite is the Extreme Music library.  This is a vast, vast library with every style and combination of styles you can imagine.  I love that it has a large collection of classical music, as I tend to use it whenever I can (it's good for comedy, action, drama, everything if you know what you're looking for...)  I love that they are constantly adding new stuff.  The website is very easy to navigate and search for different tracks by feel or description or instrument or keyword or whatever!  I've never had to struggle to find something in this library, and I always get exactly what I'm looking for after a little searching.  I would use the Director's Cut series to score a film, should I ever get the chance.

The library I've worked with the most as an editor is called iSpy.  This library has a lot more of what you would think of as typical reality music and I find is particularly suited for comedy and action, though it is used in all types of shows.

There are plenty of libraries out there, and here are some I have occasionally come across in my professional life:

Killer Tracks is a very popular library.
So is Vanacore
Lovecat Music has a lot of pop music with lyrics.  I used it on Plain Jane for the CW.
Combustible
Signature
APM
AH2
Discovery Music Source is used by all the Discovery family of networks, such as TLC and Discovery Science.
Audionetwork is a British company that is gaining footholds in the US.

The downside to using a production library is that none of the tracks will be truly unique to your show, and there is a risk that viewers will begin to recognize or even tire of the music.  I find this is generally a small risk, and one well worth taking.

EDIT:

Here are some more libraries I have worked with now, on MTV and other networks:
Beach Street Music
Black Toast Music
In The Groove
Jingle Punks
Pfilbryte - I particularly like this library for quirky and docu stuff
Pacifica
DL Music
AudioSparx - Easy licensing for independent filmmakers

Double premiere tonight!

Tonight I have two shows premiering...

"Danger By Design" has back to back episodes on Discovery Science at 9pm and 10pm...
Specifically I cut episodes five and six, which should air back to back on July 2nd.

Also tonight is the premiere of "Miss Advised" on Bravo at 10pm....
I specifically worked on episodes 4-8, which will begin airing July 9th.


Enjoy!

Well it's Emmy season, and now that I'm a member of the Academy, my opinion matters for a few months.  I've been receiving tons of packages for my consideration, including some pretty impressive items.

My favorite so far is the Food Network lunchbox, filled with DVDs...

The window for applications has ended already, but voting for nominations doesn't begin for another week, with the noms being announced five weeks later on July 17.  

A reflection of the landscape of television these days, I've been receiving about an even split of reality and scripted programming for my consideration.  For those who can't afford to mail screeners (or just want to go green), the Academy is offering online submission viewing as well.  Here's what I can consider right now...

From what I can tell, this is the widest competition for any genre.

Congrats to all the nonfiction Eddie Award Nominees!

BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY:

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Joe Bini & Maya Hawke 

Freedom RidersLewis Erskine & Aljernon Tunsil

George Harrison: Living in the Material WorldDavid Tedeschi

BEST EDITED REALITY SERIES:

Anthony Bourdain – No Reservations: “Haiti”Eric Lasby

 Beyond Scared Straight :”Chowchilla”Rob Goubeaux, A.C.E., Paul J. Coyne, A.C.E., Heather Abell, Audrey
Capotosta, Maura Corey, Jeremy Gantz & Molly Shock

Whale Wars: “Race to Save Lives”Eric Myerson, Pete Ritchie & Josh Crockett

See the full list of nominees here.

TV in the antenna age

While doing some holiday travel, I was pleasantly surprised by an classic television exhibit in Terminal 3 of SFO, Television in the Antenna Age.  Check it out if you're there!

 Although the exhibit was almost exclusively about scripted television and technology, I was happy to find this little shout out to Reality Television...

Reality Television:  Unscripted television featuring "ordinary" people dates to television's earliest years.  Allen Funt, the host and producer of radio show Candid Microphone, introduced Candid Camera on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 1948.  The premise involved presenting unsuspecting people with unusual or alarming situations and capturing their reactions with hidden cameras.  The pranks ranged from elaborate set-ups, sometimes involving the subject's friends or relatives, to simple reaction shots of pedestrians surprised by a talking mailbox, or an over-enthusiastic traffic cop.  Television viewers were captivated by the actions of people with whom they identified, and the program aired for more than fifty years.

What is an online editor?

Recently, I was invited to audit an online editing session for one of the shows I've worked on.  Online editing is one of the final steps before broadcast.  It takes place after picture lock and is a crucial time for the look and feel of a show.

It's important to understand that throughout the offline editing process, the footage that editors and story producers work from has been digitized into the editing system at a low resolution because that much high resolution footage would be prohibitive.  Once a show has gone through all its rounds of network notes, it's cut to time, and everybody is happy with it, the show is considered "picture locked."  This means just what it sounds like, that the picture will not be changing from here on out.  At this point, the footage is "up-rezed" (there's a million ways people spell that) which means that the source material is redigitized at full resolution, using only the clips that are in the sequence.  This means only exactly the footage that is actually in the show, usually with three-second "handles" on each end, just in case there are emergency issues during the online session.

During that process, an assitant editor will keep a video mixdown of the edit on one of the video layers to refer back to and make sure that all shots have remained the same as the editor intended.  This video mixdown track is also provided to the online editor to inform his work.

An online editing session is incredibly expensive, largely due to the skill of the online editor himself.  He is responsible for the look of the show, color timing and balancing, carefully executing blurs or resizing to address legal notes, formatting and sexifying graphics and fonts--basically anything visual about the show!  Usually the online editor takes a pass at the show on his own, adjusting color and contrast and using a set of timecoded notes to create blurs when necessary.  As you can see above, he is viewing the show in full  HD on a high rez flatscreen and often using a waveform monitor to assist in his decisions.  These careful adjustments can make a big difference in making a show feel sexier, warmer, colder, happier, sadder and on and on and on.  In this case, we were working on a show that is late in its second season, so the look and feel of this show is well known territory to our online editor.  Thus, his solo pass knocked out all the heavy lifting.

Once the online editor has made his pass, usually a producer from the show will watch with the online editor.  For my screening, I was joining the show's Supervising Editor, Line Producer and Post Supervisor.  They watch the show through, taking notes but not stopping.  This helps get a feel for the overall show for the first time in HD.  Then begins a very subjective notes process where individual shots are pored over and adjusted until everything is satisfactory to whoever is the highest-ranking individual in the room.

These changes are made and the show is prepped for final sound mix...