10/30/22
Newletter143
The Crack of Dawn
Back in the pre-digital, analogue days, movie sound was edited on magnetic recording stock – just like a VHS tape, but with sprocket holes – and it took a whole crew of 6-10 people to accomplish it. We made three feature films this way: Evil Dead (1983), Thou Shalt Not Kill…Except (1985) and Evil Dead 2 (1986). Digital sound editing arrived by Lunatics: A Love Story (1992). Bruce Campbell was the supervising sound editor on all four films. So, to hire this crew of people to cut the sound on TSNKE, Bruce and I posted flyers in the film department at Wayne State University. We didn’t expect that any of these folks would know how to cut sound, but we’d teach them. Everybody who showed up immediately admitted that they had no idea how to cut sound, and we reassured all of them it wasn’t hard and we’d show them how. One fellow, however, when asked if he knew how to cut sound said, “Sure. No problem.” That was great. Bruce put him in an editing room, gave him a reel of sound effects and said, “Break these down.” Maybe fifteen minutes later the fellow said, “I’ve got to put money in the parking meter,” left, and never came back.
One of the sound editors was a gal named Wendy Stanzler who immediately picked up how to do it and was terrific. Wendy’s next gig was as the editor on Michael Moore’s Roger & Me (1989) – Michael used most of my crew from TSNKE – then she moved to Hollywood. Wendy put in her time in the trenches, cutting many unexceptional movies and TV shows, until 1998 when she was hired as one of two editors on Sex and the City. Wendy cut 43 episodes of the show, then directed one of the last episodes. In the following 20 years Wendy has become one of the biggest TV directors in Hollywood. She’s worked on 76 different shows (as per IMDb) and has to have at least 200 directing credits.
So, on that sound crew, you could be Wendy – who told the truth – or you could be that guy who lied, then went to put money in the meter and never came back. Maybe there’s even a moral here.
When Bruce and I edited and mixed the sound on Lunatics in 1990, it was by my understanding, the first feature film with a fully edited and mixed digital soundtrack. We worked at a place called Joseph Productions here in Detroit, who had just purchased a brand new, untested digital editing system from George Lucas – I swear to God – and he called and spoke to the owner, Sheldon Neuman, every day to see how the system was working, which was fine. Great. Digital sound editing is way better than analogue in every possible aspect. Digital picture editing is far more convenient, but I don’t know that it’s better. Convenience does not necessarily equal better. There is a Zen to sticking two pieces of film together with a piece of clear tape. I hear that one of the last hold outs still cutting on film is Steven Spielberg.
Because I looked up Paul Harvey, now I’m getting Paul Harvey videos on YouTube. He and I are not doing the same thing. Paul Harvey told true, flowery, shaggy dog tales “ . . . And that little dirty-faced boy turned out to be Elvis Presley.” I’m just telling tales.
And that’s the rest of the story.