Turner Talk

On November 3^rd at 8 o’clock, two editors and a compositor came to talk about their work on TNT as part of Turner Studios. The event was held in SCAD-Atlanta's DMC theater and a good crowd turned out for the event, if not for the food. The first editor was named Sean Polanski. His experience in the editing traced back 15 years and though it was not his first occupational choice, he became interested in the field and learned everything he could from books. Doug Walt was the next to introduce himself. He initially began editing in L.A. freelancing for Warner Brothers, Fox, and Universal. Travis Fast is the compositor of the group with a background in editing and color correction. The three began our discussion by explaining the ins and outs of editing at Turner.

Sean described his job as compiling footage to make a spot or promo following a the script written by a producer. This process usually begins with an editor sifting through the footage from the movie or series being promoted and making sub-clips or interesting bits of footage to be used in the promo. After the sub-clips are chosen, an editor takes the footage to the producer who will write a script based on an idea with the use of the sub-clips. After editing the piece together, based on the script, the piece is taken to the compositor. The compositor’s job is to use color-corrections and other tools to polish the spot and get it ready for final approval and syndication. This step is more vital than one might realize. Initially, all footage for TNT is shot on RED and Alexis Aeries cameras which captures a great deal of color information. These shots come out looking oversaturated in color because of that information and the compositor must bring the color out in each shot.

Imparting their specific "wisdom" the group opened to the floor for questioning. Through the Q&A they first proceeded talking about color and how not to push the camera when shooting. If a scene is not properly lit, no matter the camera, little quirks and grains and lines will show up when color-correcting. They also conceded that more coverage is better given that the footage is shot all digitally with an endless memory capacity for more takes. Doug then went into his experiences in L.A. stating that though there is a great bit of work to be done there, the industry puts you in a box; this refers to your position in production. If you get known for one position then you become stuck in that position. Doug also cited how often he gets asked if the best in the industry are in L.A. to which he clearly answered "no," there is just more industry in L.A.

Hope this give you a little insight into the inner workings at Turner and may help if you're interested in employment.