Faced with a tight editing schedule, editor Sabrina Plisco, ACE expanded the editorial team to include co-editor David Beatty, and assistant editors Jared Zalman and Paul Alderman. By establishing a collaborative editorial environment based on Avid Artist Suite and Avid shared storage systems at EPS-Cineworks in Studio City, Calif., the team was able to collaborate effectively both among themselves and with director Uli Edel, who was on location in Houdini’s birthplace, Budapest, during the 45-day shoot.
The team relied on Avid Media Composer, (part of the Avid Artist Suite). According to Plisco, Media Composer’s data management capabilities were critical to the success of this collaborative workflow.
Plisco and her team had to create a longer version of the miniseries for the international market, changing the sound, music and cutting style, while adding an additional 16 minutes of footage and visual effects that were then scored, mixed and conformed.
“I rely on Avid to offer the technical savvy needed to survive the challenge of complicated shows such as Houdini,” said Plisco. “In our industry we never know what obstacles will be thrown at us on any given day. It’s nice to know that I don’t have to worry about my equipment and software, but instead can spend my energy on the creative side of my job as an editor.”