2013 Sundance Doc Lab - pt.3: A Working Vacation

I was invited to attend this years Sundance Documentary Edit and Story Lab as an assistant editor. Each assistant is assigned to one of the five feature-length documentaries that have been invited to participate in the lab. Each project consists of its director(s) and editor. This is Part Three in my Sundance Labs re-cap. Part One. Part Two.

Once the lab gets going, each day is jam packed with work. 

Breakfast is served every morning at 8 AM. Our first morning there I didn't read the coffee signage closely and mistakenly poured myself decaf. Always read the signs when you're at the lab.

The first full day of the lab we screen cuts. The selected projects arrive at different stages in their editing process. Some are further along than others. But they are each at the lab for the same purpose: To get fresh eyes on their work and be in an environment that allows them to be sharply focused for a week. 

Post screening discussion

Following each screening we have a group discussion in the screening room lobby. Everyone from other fellows to advisors to even assistant editors are encouraged to provide reactions - not solutions, but reactions toward the story or how the film moved them or confused them. The only ones discouraged from speaking are the filmmakers who just had their work screened. They listen and take notes and absorb the comments & reactions. These discussions lay the foundation for the work they'll do the rest of their week.

Once the screenings wrap, the following days are divided between editing in our trailers and viewing presentations given by the advisors. Advisors at the labs are editors and directors invited to spend the week mentoring fellows through their edits. The advisors work just as hard as anyone else on the mountain. Not only are they responsible for their individual presentations, they also meet each day to discuss each team's progress.

Throughout the week, advisors visit the trailers. They are more than sounding boards for the fellows. They are active participants in the progression of a film's edit. They are coaches. Sometimes a team might screen an alternate cut or a few scenes they made changes to. Sometimes advisors take on a more hands-on role, working directly with a team's footage or their note cards.

The discussions that result in the trailers are frank but respectful. Everyone is on the same team. Spit-balling ideas is encouraged as you don't want to miss out on a good idea because you were too timid to say something. That said - as an assistant, I feel you have to walk a fine line between commenting and knowing when to shut up. You have to feel out the room and be keenly aware when it's best to listen and when it's okay to toss some thought bubble in the middle of a discussion. 

Occasionally I was given the opportunity to man the controls so the editor could focus on creative decisions rather than button pushing. I never felt stressed or nervous when I was in the hot seat so much as I was much more alert. It was actually fun to have four or five or six brilliant filmmakers yelling at the back of your head. It eventually became a running gag between one of the advisors and myself ("Okay, can you read my mind yet, Dave?").

While the week is a mix of small epiphanies and mounting pressure, each team presents no more than fifteen minutes of their changes at the end of the week. Again - the goal is not to lock picture on five projects by the end of the week. The goal is to fundamentally explore your story from the inside-out, making new discoveries and possibly approaching your project with a new philosophy along the way.