Viva Las Incabators

A friend recently told me that in film making you will spend roughly six hours in the editing room for every one hour of completed footage. Over the past two weeks I had the opportunity to test this theory, and found that it is extraordinarily optimistic. Last month Julie and I took our first vacation in five years to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and along the way we got about two hours of footage. Editing it down to a thirty minute movie took me at least twenty hours. Granted, I'm a film making novice with a computer not optimized for video editing. However, I prefer to convince myself that the reason it took so long was because I did such a damn fine job on it. I hope you enjoy the finished product.

Thank you for perfect typography

Even though this has been written about on several other blogs, I'd like to give kudos to Shadowplay Studio for creating one of the most typographically perfect opening sequences I've seen in a long time in Jason Reitman's comedy, Thank You for Smoking. With smooth transitions, vibrant colors, and fabulously executed type they cleverly weaved together a sequence rich with vintage iconography that nearly upstages the very movie it opens.

Another often talked about opening sequence that I'd like to throw in for good measure is that of David Fincher's thriller, Panic Room. This is a case where, for better or worse, the opening does indeed upstage the movie. If you haven't seen it, or just haven't seen it in a while, you should give it a viewing.