LOS ANGELES—From C&I Films comes our latest short film “From DC, I Love You,” which is part of our anthology “To the Cities that I Love.” The series chronicles relationships and how they come to an end, with each short film taking place in a different city around the world.
The film was edited and mixed in Los Angeles, with color grading and the score completed in Los Angeles, and media management in New York City, all supported by DaVinci Resolve Studio, Blackmagic Cloud and several Blackmagic Cloud Store Mini network storage solutions.
DaVinci Resolve Studio version 18 is a game changer for us with collaboration getting so much stronger, and the Blackmagic Proxy Generator is like a secret weapon for us. We instantly make proxies and quickly get them online, making it efficient and precise down to the megabyte.
More Timelines
While editing “From DC, I Love You,” the 2D and 3D titles feature really helped. Being able to put in a title or a scratch title (and look nice without having to know motion graphics, as our motion graphics animation team is often tied down) all from the edit page is big for us. With more tools moved to the edit page, my workflow is more streamlined. For example, I don’t have to jump to the color page while editing; I just use the adjustment clip feature, and it’s applied to the clip and everything below it on the timeline.
We had several types of footage on this project; editing different footage on the same timeline and having DaVinci Resolve Studio seamlessly go from H.264 to ARRI, etc. was a huge help. The fact we can now make more timelines and tab through them is insanely impactful. When we open a DaVinci Resolve Studio project, it could have 20-50 timelines, so the tab timelines are everything to us.
While the bulk of the editing was done in DaVinci Resolve Studio’s edit page using the DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard, the cut page was also used in conjunction with the DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor for the film’s trailers, promos, and social media.
Automatic Trim Tools
One of the biggest things we use on the cut page is the dual timelines and automatic trim tools. With the cut page, you can throw your footage down on the timeline and quickly make an edit that is polished and looks great. You can also sync the multicam footage, which is huge for us when we want to cut something in short order. The cut page has a learning curve, but once you become proficient in it, you save so much time on shorter content and quick turnaround deliverables.
I always knew DaVinci Resolve Studio was synonymous with color, but once I saw it could edit and the timelines looked similar to the linear-based editing I know and love, I made the jump. Now, DaVinci Resolve Studio can do everything at once. I don’t have to change to a different program for audio, color or visual effects. It’s that powerful.
For additional information, contact Blackmagic Design at 408-954-0500 or visit
www.blackmagicdesign.com.
