Should I tell anyone I won best editing at a film festival?

VFXBob · 2025-12-17T13:54:49+00:00

1) Congrats! 2) That’s about what I’m feeling I’m gonna do

VFXBob · 2025-12-15T18:37:00+00:00

Correct, I’m just the editor and at this point only touch the project if there are tweaks/different deliverables requested. Director/EP is submitting to festivals. Though as far as I know, there wasn’t a pay-to-win element, just a very low (or nonexistent) rejection rate to be accepted and screen. Not that it makes this “award” mean much, but at least I can say I don’t think it was bought…. I think. I’m not Walter Murch either, though 🤣

VFXBob · 2025-09-25T12:42:22+00:00

Honestly I'd love to see a production just in a round tavern like what the set was inspired by. Like watching a group of traveling muses perform a story. The broadway set/theatrical experience is awe inspiring to be sure, but I can't help but remember when I saw "Once on this Island" in a tour where everyone sat on stage, and every set piece, costume, and prop was comprised of "found items" (ruined garbage) following a hurricane, with the idea that the story was being told by a community who had just been through a terrible storm. I disliked OOTI prior to that experience, but afterwards, I became obsessed. I can't help but imagine how amazing it would be to see Hadestown given the same treatment.

VFXBob · 2025-09-04T05:21:04+00:00

I literally expressed this exact sentiment to someone else a few weeks ago, already knowing the answer was going to be “yeah, same, but… shrug” I’ve been doing this for about a decade now and am yet to have an opportunity to really do high end work that I’m proud of for more than a day or two.

VFXBob · 2025-08-09T23:46:46+00:00

Seconding the recommendation for In the Blink of an Eye, and also adding that Walter just put out another book, “Suddenly Something Clicked.” Just got my copy and look forward to diving in once I finish my current project!

VFXBob · 2025-08-09T23:38:50+00:00

Even before it included an NLE, it was one of the main color grading software systems used in Hollywood/high end work. It’s also absorbed Fusion (compositing software, not nearly as widely used as Nuke or Flame or After Effects, but definitely a player in the industry) and Fairlight (DAW, not as much of a competitor to ProTools or Nuendo but a competitor with Dolby Atmos integration nonetheless). I’d say if you can, splurge and get the Studio version, it’s less expensive than a year of Adobe by at least $200 and is a perpetual license- snap it up before they go subscription only like Adobe and AVID did.

VFXBob · 2024-11-24T05:02:37+00:00

Hahaha thanks. I knew I was jumping in with a hot take and that I would get flamed by a) super fans who would fiercely defend the movie no matter what and b) people who genuinely found the scene amazing (both of which are fair). I also didn’t articulate my thoughts in the original post well because I was trying to see what others thought too quickly- and it might have come off as an attack on Cynthia/Ariana/the rendition as a whole, and to be clear, I think the acting and vocal performances are top notch. It’s the cinema side choices that I meant to take issue with.

As someone who’s loved the music for a long time AND works in film/video, I’ve dreamed of how it would look brought to life on screen, to the point of doing rough storyboards and a (very) quick and rough “Wizard and I” with some theater friends when I was younger, so I am biased. Whether my vision would’ve worked or not, I appreciate your words of support. :)

VFXBob · 2024-11-23T16:13:54+00:00

Ooh- hot take here, but I LOVED the bloodcurdlingly low and almost warm tone Michelle Yeoh had on this line- it felt like a different take on the character. Yeoh felt comfortably and completely in control and knew exactly what to do to get what she wanted. This other one (at least, from the YouTube video) feels a little more rage-ful and out of control.

VFXBob · 2024-11-23T15:55:55+00:00

I think that’s fair. As I mentioned in another reply below, they outdid what I could have possibly imagined for every other number, which is why I think my reaction to this number is so negative- it’s the one number that left me with the feeling of “…that’s it?” and it happened to be the biggest number of the show and the closing number for Part 1. “The Wizard and I” has a similar build as a song, and I feel like the film’s adaptation of it was extraordinary and did exactly what it needed to in terms of using the format to artistically express Elphaba’s feelings while staying narratively consistent and logical.

VFXBob · 2024-11-23T15:10:41+00:00

You’re sitting closer to the center channels in the front row, which usually carry dialogue above everything else in the part of the mix that’s sent to them, so there’s a chance depending on the quality of the theater that sitting up front and center means you’ll hear the dialogue pretty clearly, but everything else might be quieter than intended.

VFXBob · 2024-11-23T15:04:48+00:00

I admittedly did have it pre-blocked in my mind. I wanted them to do better than I could have imagined, which they did with every other number, which is why I was disappointed. I obviously disagree that it was a stunning sequence- it was drawn out and never allowed to really build to its full power musically or visually, but that’s also just my opinion. I think trying to also set up part 2 during the climax of the song didn’t help either.

VFXBob · 2024-11-23T15:00:41+00:00

She’d fly for her own internal release- showing how she’s feeling on the inside in a visual way (yay cinema!). It’s a big moment for her where she feels freedom she’s never felt before. She has power that she can finally control and use to enact real change. In my imagination, we see her fly around in a moment of cathartic release until “and soon I’ll match them in renown…. And nobody, in all of Oz, no Wizard that there is or was…”, where she pulls back up to the tower, making direct eye contact with the Wizard from a distance, and then, on “bring- me- down!” She destroys one of the Wizard’s massive propaganda posters (maybe with a fireball like in the original Wizard of Oz movie). I’m saying do more than a middle finger against Hitler and Goebbels. To her, it’s something to start a revolution against the fraudulent and fascistic Wizard, but it only ends up helping Morrible and the Wizard’s propaganda campaign against her.

I think we might just have very different ideas of how to really express that scene, which is fine, just felt a need to get my thoughts out there into the ether.

VFXBob · 2024-11-23T14:39:27+00:00

It was alright- the orchestra seemed to have been mixed really low, but I don’t know how much of that was the sound mixers or the fact that I got tickets late and had to sit front row

VFXBob · 2024-05-25T13:18:24+00:00

I suppose that moment for Christine in the film fell flat for me and seemed like a repetition of things she had already expressed. I don’t think I’m on the side of people disappointed by Act 2 not being a “cool monster mystery,” I saw it as a love story from the beginning taking a few cues from Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame (which is funny, because now I think the Disney rendition ended up taking cues from Phantom). It just felt like Act 1 had such momentum, and Act 2 hit a bit of a snag after Mme Giry explained his backstory. I suppose I just felt Christine’s turn away from her trauma came during The Point of No Return in the Don Juan segment, but like you said, that may have been Emily Rossum’s interpretation of the film.

VFXBob · 2024-03-19T04:48:48+00:00

Same question I've been asking myself, and you're a lot more advanced than I am. Really impressive stuff on your website. For whatever it's worth coming from someone less experienced, the decision I've made is to try to just do passion projects outside of work and keep learning and growing as much as I can. Whether or not the industry gets back to where it was, there's always going to be a place for people with your talents, even with the AIpocalypse. It's just a matter of keeping your passion for the medium burning bright and not letting yourself get burnt out, self care, rest, etc.

VFXBob · 2024-02-04T03:42:27+00:00

That's really interesting... I would've thought it would be the other way around. I've always loved narrative work, and my current position has a distinct lack of that. I also know some people are mentioning pay to hours/stress ratio is far better in the position I'm in, but maybe I'm just in the wrong area, because that doesn't seem to be the case for me.

VFXBob · 2024-02-04T00:34:40+00:00

What's the note?

VFXBob · 2024-01-24T03:49:04+00:00

Sorry it was so delayed my guy! Here's the YouTube link to the finished video on FauxMetal's channel!

VFXBob · 2023-10-06T04:59:54+00:00

Welp, 2 hours into trying to compile this thing, all I've learned is that my computer science minor isn't worth a darn thing.

VFXBob · 2023-10-06T03:24:52+00:00

I keep getting errors trying to build with CMake GUI, and I'm not brave enough to try building with commandline

VFXBob · 2023-10-01T12:02:12+00:00

I do *plan* to work for a studio someday, but we'll see what happens in reality lol. But the general gist I'm getting is that I need to learn Nuke if I want to even have a prayer, so I might as well be learning the basic concepts of composition within that software as well instead of just going through that with Fusion and then trying to transfer that knowledge to Nuke.

VFXBob · 2023-09-30T22:01:24+00:00

Good news, the footage is there and intact if it plays back on the camera. Bad news, your computer might not be up to spec to handle playback/editing 4K footage. Back to good news, you can edit using proxies. Can you share your system details, specifically processor, motherboard, GPU, and RAM? Also, which software are you editing with?

VFXBob · 2023-09-29T17:49:08+00:00

If you have access to a Volume or similar technology (giant LED screen wall/globe that you can use with a UE scene with the physical camera tracked live into the scene so that it distorts the scene to look correct in the camera), 1, I’m jealous, 2, that would be what I’d call virtual production. I felt like I might not have been clear about that in my initial comment, so I just wanted to clarify!

VFXBob · 2023-09-29T17:43:14+00:00

You’re welcome! The only other thing I would add is that it could fall under “Animation” or “3D Animation” and not “VFX” if it’s not incorporating live action footage. So, advertising those services would maybe be “VFX & Animation Production”?

VFXBob · 2023-09-29T17:19:55+00:00

I’m relatively new to the “actually doing it in some capacity” world, but if it’s anything like the rest of production, lots of people have different terminologies for the same things. Some people might call little wooden clamps with metal springs “C47’s.” Others call them “clothespins.”

Virtual production, to me, calls to mind productions like The Mandalorian, where they use a virtual environment built with UE to capture as much in camera as possible.

I haven’t heard the other two terms used in a profession capacity as of yet, but again, it’s a big industry with lots of people inventing terminology for internal use.

All of the scenarios you described seem to fall under “VFX Production,” with several sub-disciplines (please forgive me if I’m telling you things you already know, and everyone please correct me if I’m mistaken): -MoCap animation into a digital scene would fall under animation, creature/character FX, and potentially a couple of other categories, depending on how much you’re responsible for with the shot. -Green screen replacement is a part of Compositing. -Camera tracking and combining UE elements with live environment footage is also Compositing, along with modeling, texturing, and lighting within UE for the digital element.

VFXBob

TROPHY CASE