Q&A with Editor JETER RHODES

CHRIS WHITE: Jeter Rhodes…Editor for TAKEN IN…how did you and I first meet?

JETER RHODES: I believe my sister (Jennifer) first introduced us in the Year of Our Lord 19 and 87, when you were President of the Student Body at Irmo High School. I remember that you were already making films at that time, and I was making videos for fun. I also remember you suggesting making a film in the spirit of STAND BY ME with me and a few of my friend as the cast. We haven’t done that yet…have we?

CW: You edited (saved!) GOOD LIFE for me last fall. What was that like…editing a narrative-style short feature?

JR: Having edited mostly documentaries in the past few years, it was a refreshing challenge to work on a structured narrative motion picture. It was great working with you again…good practice for TAKEN IN.

CW: What did you think when you and I first reviewed the footage from TAKEN IN, after the shoot?

JR: I was amazed at the quality of the images Daniel McCord (cinematographer) had captured. He just keeps getting better! Also, I was pleased with the obvious depth of character the actors had accomplished with your direction. I was very concerned about the sound, though. It’d been well recorded, but I knew there was a lot of sound design work to do.

CW: What scenes seem to be working best at this point…what excites you the most about the film?

JR: At this point, all of the scenes work to further the story, which of course is the result of all the work we put into the project in post-production—after all the hard work you and your cast and crew had done in pre-production…and during principle photography. So, I feel confident that we’ve solved most of our early picture problems. I am most excited about how it is received by an audience of strangers.

CW: What were the biggest problems we had to overcome in the edit?

JR: After tightening up some of the inter-scene edits to smooth things out, the biggest challenge concerned audio mixing and fundamental sound design. Quality sound is difficult to achieve and generally takes more time to set right than editing the picture. I think that audiences are not very forgiving when there are sound problems.

CW: How would you define the role of a good film editor? What role should the director play during post-production…hands-on or hands-off?

JR: The most important quality of a good editor, editing mechanics aside, is the ability to understand the director’s vision, concepts, and ideas. The editor should be able to accomplish realized rough cuts of certain scenes when the Director is not present and when working with the Director, it is important to immediately incorporate any changes. Director and Editor must work together to make each shot in each scene move the story forward.

CW: So…what do we do next?!

JR: Let’s continue! When’s the next feature?

CINCO DE MAYO

Lunch with Tim Brosnan...then saw Josh McGill on Skype...and saw Daniel McCord, Madelaine Hoptry, Jeter Rhodes, and Emily White last at Dan's...where we all chatted with Jennifer Baxley on the phone.

REALLY ready for public screenings of our movie...

FIRST LOOK!

This is TAKEN IN.

Or at least, this is what it looks like on a Final Cut Pro timeline.

The picture edit is complete, and a DVD draft has been sent to Josh McGill in Dallas for scoring. A few people have seen the full locked-picture cut (Jeter and I...Emily, her brother Dan), and a couple have seen the very end of the film (Colin, Maddi and her roommate Alex, Tim).

There are a few problems. Most have to do with just how much exposition, or back story, we release to the audience. At present...there is almost none. Just...story happening. I wonder how much our audience needs to know, setup-wise, to commit to taking the ride with us. Most movies explain everything. And most of the time, they do a clever job at this.

Not sure if this film can stand up straight with as little as we're giving.

ALMOST DONE!

Picture is almost set for the film, thanks to the amazing efforts of editor Jeter Rhodes.

Next up? Sound editing...which should be helped by Josh McGill's original score.

EDIT LAIR

Jeter Rhodes editing the film. In my basement. (That's Ronnie Gunter, aka "Dillon," on screen.)

POST-PRODUCTION

Of all my talented TAKEN IN collaborators, I’ve known my editor the longest.

Jeter Rhodes and I met in the late 1980’s. He was making videos with Sammy Bean then…on a VHS camcorder. They were in middle school.

We reconnected as adults and he edited the documentary BRAGGING RITES: THE CAROLINA-CLEMSON RIVALRY for Jeff Sumerel and me. He’d graduated from The Citadel and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts since I’d seen him last. We became fast colleagues. And since that time we’ve worked on many smaller projects…most recently, GOOD LIFE.

Jeter and I have set up a Final Cut edit suite in my basement and are having a blast fitting all these gorgeous images together. Finally! We’re making a feature-length, narrative movie.

Jeter is a cinema genius. He thoroughly understands the language of film…how shots turn into scenes and scenes turn into movies. And he is always excited, full of ideas, ready to work. He’s a creative problem solver like few others.

Jeter daylights as a Weekend Editor for One Minute News.