Michael Schwartz, an editor at Breathe Editing in New York, is a sucker for good causes, so he jumped at the opportunity to team up with supermodel and tsunami survivor Petra Nemcova to document the progress her charity Happy Hearts Fund has made over the past two years in the nations ravaged by the Asian tsunami of 2004. He was introduced to the former Sports Illustrated model through Dino Rinaldi, a friend of Breathe Editing Executive Producer Kenny Pedini.
“Here’s an opportunity to work with images from tsunami and earthquake affected Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan taken by a supermodel who survived the tsunami as she visits the projects her charity is funding. Coming from a background in journalism and history, and having a love for editing, how could I pass this up?” he told SHOOT recently.
He describes the documentary as a story about people overcoming tragedy and the efforts of the people at the Happy Hearts Fund, as well as a story of overcoming differences in language, religion, customs and politics to change the lives of children in trouble. Nemcova is the tour guide in the film, taking viewers from the building of schools in Indonesia to the mobile medical clinic or orphanage in Sri Lanka.
“She is also our tour guide in the edit room, appreciating the work and creativity and partnering on structure and focus,” explained Schwartz. “Yes she hangs out in the edit room and doesn’t sit in the back, she pulls up a chair and gets really into it. It’s really fun working with that passion. All I can say is the hours fly by.”
So far Schwartz has seen about five hours of film from two or three trips to Asia, which he used to edit the trailer for a post Grammy Awards fund-raising event. But Nemcova and friends are already documenting trips to Haiti and Kampuchea. Schwartz said he is hoping to get a half-hour film out next year. “But Petra is very ambitious so it could be sooner,” he said.
While he has worked on other documentaries–long pieces on Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck and Billy Joel for SonyBMG, and a couple of independent films–those projects were more narrow in scope, usually focusing on one story or situation.
“This film is a collection of situations loosely threaded together by the love of this amazing benefactor. Each project introduces us to a new situation with a story of its own structure and narrative,” Schwartz said.
The broader scope has not posed any challenges for Schwartz, but what has is the unpredictability of guerilla production. The films come in mostly on HDV DVDs but the occasional odd format is certainly a part of it. Essentially anyone with a free hand becomes the cameraman and as a result sound and lighting are a crapshoot, he explained.
Surprisingly, though, this has not taken anything away from the film. “The locations are exotic and remote with a lot of environmental sound and unfortunately they don’t have time to set up a proper set, it’s very improvised. But I find that this creates a different vibe for the film, very raw and sincere. There are no actors so the moments are very gentle and never rehearsed. We may lose some of what they come back with due to technical issues with sound or lighting but not enough to compromise the experience,” he said.
Since cutting spots is one of the most challenging forms of filmmaking, according to Schwartz, he says his commercial experience has certainly helped him in every aspect of working on this documentary for Nemcova.
“Unscripted dialogue is a passion of mine, I was taught that the storyboard is a taking off point, not necessarily the end all be all.
“When something happens on film that is unexpected, it is often the best and most real moment of the production,” Schwartz said. “To recognize that–or to go as far as to base a whole film on finding those unexpected moments–is the boldest and most gratifying form of editing in both commercials and documentaries.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More