EDITOR PRAVEEN KL INTERVIEW

I didn’t assist anyone but Balu Mahendra Sir thought me a lot. In fact I unlearned a lot. He teaches only those whom he really likes. It’s tough for him to start teaching someone. Vetrimaaran, Madha Yaanai Koottam’s director Vikram Sugumaran and I were among the chosen few. He took personal interest in us.

I worked casually with my uncles on weekends, in that era too. I started off as an analog editor and I have seen the transitions in technology. It was good training for me and every editor should pass through that grind.

With tapes and other analog technologies, it took a lot of time and edits were totally linear. With digital, it has become totally non-linear.

Digital has totally changed the job of an editor. Our extent of work has increased and we are involved in many processes. The time load has increased.
 

As an editor, am always ready to work with many shot options. But work load has really increased.

Right from the time we hear a film’s script, we start thinking about the edits. That’s how it happened for Chennai 28 and since then this pattern has stuck on. All directors ask for reference before going for shoots. Such planning and reference videos are always good.
 

Directors are in fact happy when we show them reference videos before shoots. That’s why we are in demand I guess (laughs)

Avid is used predominantly, FCP isn’t used that much while other tools like Aftereffects and Photoshop are also used. 

It depends on the project. Sometimes, a part of the edits happen at our studio and at the production house’s setup too.

I prefer untrained assistants as we can mould them. It’s ‘free to learn’ in my set-up. They can make mistakes once or twice, but not for the third time. Each of my assistants has his own responsibilities, and that way they also feel happy. They don’t complain doing extra hours. They manage many films and since two of us are involved, we are able to do some QC control and manage all our films. 

My assistants work on everything. I ask them to do one version of the songs, fights, trailer etc. and then I ask them to sit with me when I do the final version. I explain to them why I made some corrections. But only sometimes do I get the time to teach them personally. They can learn a lot when they sit with me and this is my belief. But some directors aren’t comfortable with this approach as they feel time is getting wasted. 

I like Sreekar Prasad and Anthony’s patterns a lot. Anthony is a trend setter, from his Kaakha Kaakha days. And I’ve been observing Sreekar since his 90s days.  

Obviously Venkat Prabhu and also Vasantha Balan

More films are being made nowadays and hence there are a lot more opportunities. More employment is being generated as more people are working. It is a pretty decent scene out here.
 

But the pay needs to be slightly improved. The digital era has increased the workload and newcomers take more time to consolidate their standing. They need more time to learn. They need to be patient. They shouldn’t be half-baked. They should be prepared to go through the drill and learn different aspects of film making in various films.

When it comes to equipment and software, we have access to them all. When we compare the quality of edits we are around 50 to 60% of the standards that are seen in Hollywood.
 

An editor is like a co-director there – he oversees sound, VFX, mixing, RR etc. They get time and get paid a lot. They work only on 2 films at a time. Time is money and more the time spent, more the quality.

Even in Bollywood, Dhoom 3’s copy was ready by Diwali and the film was planned for a Christmas release. Then all manner of corrections and test screenings can be done.

Here it’s not like that. Here producers feel it is not possible even if we are ready to push hard.

But we are planning to work on the Venkat Prabhu - Suriya project in a very professional manner. Let’s see.

I wish to join Venkat as his assistant. I have been asking him since Saroja and now I guess I’ve to threaten him that I wouldn’t edit his film. (laughs)