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MillimeterEditing Multiple Personalities
Jul 13, 2010 12:00 PM, By Nick Lofting, Editor, Sasha
Cutting together Canon EOS 5D Mark II footage for a quirky personal study.
Nick Lofting
Director Brett Froomer of @radical.media is well-known for his work for brands like Citgo, the US Army, Kodak, Prudential, and PDFA. He has also directed five personal studies, the latest of which, titled Sasha, tells the intriguing story of a little girl in Scotland who has two very different personalities.
Once I began going through the interviews on Apple Final Cut Pro and giving the 4 hours of B-roll footage a look, I couldn't believe that this wasn't shot on film. Froomer shot using the Canon EOS 5D Mark II for Sasha with Canon L Series lenses and the Sound Devices 744T portable 4-track recorder. Back when this was made, the software update was not available so the footage and sound ran at 30fps.
Once the interviews were synced, all the clips were converted to Apple ProRes 422 24fps. After gathering all of the perspectives from each interview, I came across two lines that helped me really understand and create Sasha's story. Her father talks about Sasha's contradicting personalities— as if there were a constant battle between the two sides of this curiously engaging girl. This conflict goes even deeper when Froomer asks Sasha to introduce herself. Again, she introduces herself in two different styles and with two different personalities. It surprised me how effortlessly, and with no influence from anyone else, Sasha was able to be two opposite people.
Froomer had shot quite a lot of footage from both of Sasha's worlds: her military, dress-as-a-boy world, as well as her newer feminine side, a petite and adorable girl. Again and again I was amazed by how the HD looked, particularly in lower-light situations. A strong sense of realism was created by the fact that everything was shot in natural light. I also had three camera angles to work with in all of the interviews which allowed me to cut to a fresh angle of Sasha each time I came back to her synced lines. Having so many options of her and her family kept the cut fresh, interesting, and never repetitive.
Not having a script, Froomer and I let the story come out organically and once we found the track, Regina Spektor's "Fidelity," it seemed to tell itself through the music. Sasha's and the track's personality came together in a magically free-spirited way.
Unusually, there was no online for this project. I exported the QuickTime and sent the footage to Eric Rosen at Lightpress in Seattle for color correction. Mark Meyuhas at Lime Studios in Santa Monica, Calif., did the mix.
The original version had a device that Froomer uses on all his Personal Projects: a framed board leaning against a tree and reading: "Sasha Lily, Angus, Scotland." Later, we changed the ending to create a spec spot for Laura Ashley stores. This spot was honored in the Spec category at this year's Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) show, and was a finalist in the same category at the 2010 Association of Independent Creative Editors (AICE) Awards Show.
Nick Lofting is an award-winning English editor known for cutting spots, music videos, and long-form content marked by his quirky sense of humor, unique style, unerring creative eye, and natural storytelling ability. Lofting has collaborated closely with top directors and agencies to amass an impressive portfolio of advertising spots, short films, and music videos. He has been short-listed for a Cannes Lions Award and earned Best in the London Film Festival for the poignant musically driven short film Jane Lloyd. Lofting began his career at Saatchi & Saatchi London, before moving stateside to work at chrome, then Union Editorial. Lofting joined jumP in 2010.
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