Focus on Editing: Jay Ankeney

Jay Ankeney is a free-lance editor and post production consultant based in Los Angeles. Write him at 220 39th St. (upper), Manhattan Beach, CA 90266.

Editing the Generation Gap

by Jay Ankeney, 5.28.2008

It is the duty of every generation to create its own sense of style, just to make sure the footsteps they are following in are headed down their own signature path. more

State of the Edit Report: What’s Ahead for 2008

by Jay Ankeney, 4.14.2008

The second annual State of the Edit Report asked edit system manufacturers who are exhibiting at NAB to comment on where editing is today, and where post production is headed in general. more

What Editors Want in 2008

by Jay Ankeney, 2.20.2008

Every year our annual Editor Roundup asks digicutters in various facets of our craft where they would like post-production technology to go and what would make their editing life more creative. As usual, this year’s harvest reaped a bountiful crop. more

Post-Production Codecs

by Jay Ankeney, 12.05.2007

One of the greatest gifts editors received during the year past is a second compression codec designed specifically for post production. By bringing out ProRes 422 as part of its Final Cut Studio 2 software suite, Apple has presented us with their own ability to squeeze uncompressed HD down to SD file sizes, three years after Avid introduced DNxHD in 2004. more

2007 Emmy Award Winning Editors

by Jay Ankeney, 10.17.2007

Fortunately, the members of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences did see this $40 million, five-hour production, because on Sept. 8 at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, the five editors who cut this magnificent post-production tour de force took home golden statuettes in recognition of their achievement. more

The Mystery of Mastering

by Jay Ankeney, 8.22.2007

With high-definition screens becoming commonplace in home theaters, and everyone migrating to digital reception whether they want to or not, the signature “look” of TV shows is becoming as important as the auteur visual concepts traditionally heralded by feature film makers. more

Rookies Score Big at Super Bowl XLI

by Jay Ankeney, 4.16.2007

The ads of Super Bowl XLI were the gift that kept on giving. more

What Editors Wish For in The New Year

by Jay Ankeney, 1.24.2007

The beginning of a new year is a time to look forward. So for this year's "Editor's Wish List," I was able to harvest some terrific suggestions from a variety of innovative post pros about what they would like someone to come up with to make their post-production workflow easier. more

Tapeless: From the Field To the Edit Suite

by Jay Ankeney, 9.20.2006

We've all wanted to go tapeless ever since the CMX-600 dangled that tantalizing possibility before our editing eyes in 1971. more

The Power and Speed of Laptop Editing Increases

by Jay Ankeney, 6.28.2006

Do you remember the early days of mobile video editing? more

Post Production Thrives At NAB2006

by Jay Ankeney, 5.24.2006

As HD production was seen as a mainstay at NAB2006, the challenge of wrestling with it in post took center stage. more

The Impact of iNEWS

Instinct in the Real World

by Jay Ankeney, 11.23.2005

Starting this month, editors will be presented with the most radical evolution in editing user interfaces since GUIs began to replace timecode-based EDLs back in the 1980s. more

Editing at the Emmy Level

by Jay Ankeney, 10.19.2005

"Editing is starting to become recognized as the true art form that it is," 2005 Emmy winner Michael Berenbaum reflects. "When dealing with modern digital edit systems, it has become far less a technical skill and much more a huge contribution to the craft of storytelling." more

Avid Rolls Out Native HDV Editing

by Jay Ankeney, 9.21.2005

Earlier this month at IBC, Avid announced new versions of software that will enable editing HDV in its native format. more

HDV Infiltrates Regular Television Production

by Jay Ankeney, 8.17.2005

They said it couldn't be done, but now that the long GOP recording format called HDV has found its way into the hands of real-world editors and production folk, it is starting to prove that a lot of the early skeptics were wrong. more

Tackling HDV Editing: At the Starting Gate

by Jay Ankeney, 7.20.2005

HDV was one of the hits of NAB2005. Now, as the dust is starting to settle, trying to survey the spectrum of how major editing manufacturers are tackling the challenge of posting that long-GOP (group of pictures) format is almost as daunting as squeezing a massive high-definition recording onto a tiny DV tape. more

The View from the Horizon

by Jay Ankeney, 6.22.2005

It was 20 years ago today... more

In Praise of Unsung Editors

by Jay Ankeney, 4.18.2005

This is a story about the most unsung editors working their magic at an innovative company called 2G Digital Post just outside of Los Angeles. It is also about a remarkable post-production entrepreneur who had the vision to re-think a process the stodgy old studios were making a hash of, and figure out a way to do it right. more

The Goal of Post at Super Bowl XXXIX

by Jay Ankeney, 3.28.2005

Increasingly, it's the video elements only tangentially relevant to passing the pigskin that are becoming the hits of the show. more

The Editors' Wish List

by Jay Ankeney, 2.16.2005

It's almost spring, a time when many a post pro's thoughts turn to "editor's dreams" -- speculation on innovations they would like the industry to conjure up to improve all our digicutting lives. more