Herb Bennett

Documentary filmmaker Herbert Bennett started his editing career as a news cutter at age 20 in San Francisco.After eight years in broadcasting he went on to found Metropolis Editorial, a film and video post house along the city's historic waterfront.Now residing in Austin, Texas, Bennett is at a point in his life where he is ready to get back to the pure art of editing and filmmaking, and he is using Avid Xpress DV v3.5 software on a Macintosh system as his palette.

DV from Start to Finish

Over the years, Metropolis' collaboration with innovative digital filmmakers gave Bennett the opportunity to explore DV as a start to finish production model.
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By the time Metropolis closed in September 2001 and integrated its services with San Francisco's Video Arts, Bennett was able to help more than forty films get finished.
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Upon arriving in Austin two years ago, Bennett discovered that the Texas town was very DV friendly.
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"There are many small independent film companies, all adopting the DV standard for features and docs," says Bennett.
...
Bennett and his production collaborator - writer/producer Nora Cadena - are now in full swing with a series of projects all created using DV technologies.
...
Bennett and Cadena have two films in production that Bennett plans to edit on Avid Xpress DV v3.5 software.
...
Bennett himself is directing, shooting and editing a second work called "Texas Tango" - about Texas musician Glover Gill.
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Bennett is excited about the fact that he can pick up his DV camera and visit his subjects at the drop of a hat.This spur-of-the-moment production mentality translates to the post-production process as well, with the help of Avid Xpress DV software.Says Bennett, "Now I have access to a professional tool to cut this project with a budget appropriate to the subject."
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Bennett explains the reasons for his long history with Avid: "I love their products.
...
Avid Xpress DV v3.5 software impressed Bennett as having some important advanced capabilities at an incredibly reasonable price."One of my favorite things about Avid Xpress DV is the color correction capabilities.I make money by onlining films and as a Symphony colorist, so I was very impressed to see those color wheels in Avid Xpress DV. Having a feature set that is so similar to the Symphony, at this price point, is pretty mind-blowing," says Bennett."Another thing I really like is the toolset.I'm really big on custom configurations.I take advantage of every possible customizable feature that Avid has to offer, like the custom keyboard, which Avid practically invented."

The ease of interoperability among Avid editing systems is perhaps the most important reason to edit on Avid Xpress DV, according to Bennett.

Herb Bennett - Editor, Metropolis Editorial
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Bennett: 'People come to us with a variety of formats and often sound becomes the major issue and really needs sweetened up which is very time and money consuming.'
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Bennett: 'Don't sell your rights to a website - they often require global rights for five years, and you have no opportunity to go in and enhance number of hits or control your film.'

The "Post-Production" panel featured Tommy Pallotta (Producer, Waking Life), Esther Robinson (Program Director Media and Performing Arts, Creative Capital), Herbert Bennett (Founder and Senior Editor, Metropolis Editorial), and Matthew Johnson (Editor, The Slow Business of Going).

Herb BennettHerb Bennett founded Metropolis Editorial in 1994.As an editor working with a broad spectrum of clients , Bennett's goal was to build a company that would cater to commercial , broadcast and film.To that end , Metropolis Editorial emphasizes story and editorial services over the gear mentality..

Prior to opening Metropolis Editorial , Bennett freelanced for 11 years as a editor for various CBS network shows , including CBS Evening News , 48 Hours , Eye to Eye , and Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt.
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Bennett launched his film career as an Assistant Film Editor on Berkeley In The Sixties ( 1991 Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary ).Recent credits include Co-Director/ Editor of two feature length documentaries , Haiti Harvest of Hope ( 1996 , Video ) and Burning Man : Where's the Fire?.( 1998 , Multiple formats ).Bennett is also the editor of the feature film White Lies ( 1998 , 35mm ).

Documentary filmmaker Herbert Bennett started his editing career as a news cutter at age 20 in San Francisco.After eight years in broadcasting he went on to found Metropolis Editorial, a film and video post house along the city's historic waterfront.Now residing in Austin, Texas, Bennett is at a point in his life where he is ready to get back to the pure art of editing and filmmaking, and he is using Avid Xpress DV v3.5 software on a Macintosh system as his palette.

DV from Start to Finish

Over the years, Metropolis' collaboration with innovative digital filmmakers gave Bennett the opportunity to explore DV as a start to finish production model.
...
By the time Metropolis closed in September 2001 and integrated its services with San Francisco's Video Arts, Bennett was able to help more than forty films get finished.
...
Upon arriving in Austin two years ago, Bennett discovered that the Texas town was very DV friendly.
...
"There are many small independent film companies, all adopting the DV standard for features and docs," says Bennett.
...
Bennett and his production collaborator - writer/producer Nora Cadena - are now in full swing with a series of projects all created using DV technologies.
...
Bennett and Cadena have two films in production that Bennett plans to edit on Avid Xpress DV v3.5 software.
...
Bennett himself is directing, shooting and editing a second work called "Texas Tango" - about Texas musician Glover Gill.Gill scored Richard Linklater's recent animated film "Waking Life" and is currently at work on a rare solo tango album (tango traditionally requires multiple instruments).

Bennett is excited about the fact that he can pick up his DV camera and visit his subjects at the drop of a hat.This spur-of-the-moment production mentality translates to the post-production process as well, with the help of Avid Xpress DV software.Says Bennett, "Now I have access to a professional tool to cut this project with a budget appropriate to the subject."
...
Bennett explains the reasons for his long history with Avid: "I love their products.
...
Avid Xpress DV v3.5 software impressed Bennett as having some important advanced capabilities at an incredibly reasonable price."One of my favorite things about Avid Xpress DV is the color correction capabilities.I make money by onlining films and as a Symphony colorist, so I was very impressed to see those color wheels in Avid Xpress DV. Having a feature set that is so similar to the Symphony, at this price point, is pretty mind-blowing," says Bennett."Another thing I really like is the toolset.I'm really big on custom configurations.I take advantage of every possible customizable feature that Avid has to offer, like the custom keyboard, which Avid practically invented."

The ease of interoperability among Avid editing systems is perhaps the most important reason to edit on Avid Xpress DV, according to Bennett.