Please check out my blog below regarding Jeanne Hartman's upcoming acting workshop in Hong Kong!

For those of you who don't know, I am an Apple Certified Final Cut Pro Trainer (notice the keyboard at the top of my page)?

Anyway, I've been teaching both Avid and Final Cut for years and advertising it around L.A. Well, two things are happening. I am restarting one-day crash courses on Saturdays, here at EditPlus and tutoring one-on-one or small groups by appointment.

I thought I might post my listing here for anyone who is interested and passing through L.A.

The other new thing is that I have just learned of a very sophisticated video conferencing software that will allow me to give anyone, anywhere, instruction over the internet. I should have it up and running in a couple of weeks.

The Saturday classes are 8 hours and priced at $250 US at the door or $225 in advance and we do take credit cards or Paypal.

My tutoring blurb follows and I'll let you know as soon as I'm ready to test the program. It is a very exciting concept and it was brought to my attention by a friend who's currently shooting her film in Australia. (She is a Final Cut Pro student of mine). I have not set a price for remote instruction, I'm working on that.

You can check with Jason Tobin who has done some classes with me. Okay, Jason?

I am always available to answer Final Cut questions for AnDers. No charge for that, happy to do it.

Take a look at my blurb below and feel free to comment:

Private one-on-one tutoring. Learn to cut a movie in Final Cut Pro or Final Cut Express in 8 hours or less, using my methods that I have developed during 20 years of instruction.

Some students are finding a four-hour half day session ($200 at their location) enough to start cutting on their own! If you have tried learning Final Cut Pro, or Avid, elsewhere and wound up bewildered, I can help.

I am an Apple Certified Trainer (Exam score 96.4).

You do not need your own computer or Final Cut Pro program. I can provide everything we need for training. If you have your own system we will work on that, which means I can help you set it up for optimum performance.

I have taught Final Cut Pro editing at UCLA Extension and Avid at Learning Tree University, as well as other venues, for over 20 years. I am currently a working editing professional in Hollywood, (see partial resume below).

I am offering an in-our-studio special: $ 40 per hour.

My hourly rate to train at your location is $60 per hour and may be shared by two students. Acceptable payments: cash, check and all major credit cards.

I tailor my instruction to the needs and objectives of individual students. Some students wish to cut their own movie. Others are directors or producers who wish to communicate better with their editors. Some are actors or directors of photography who wish edit their own reels. Many are planning an editing career in the industry. As an Avid editor myself, I help Avid editors add FCP to their skills. Sessions are always exciting, fun and rewarding.

Learn to capture from all capture formats, disks, cards, tape and the Web. Learn compression for web, email programs, large file transfer sites, iPhone and all others. Instruction in ingesting and peripheral programs such as Photoshop, DVD Studio Pro etc. as relates to Final Cut Pro editing.

My editing resume is extensive, including cutting trailers for Disney, and working for such Hollywood luminaries as Steven Poster ASC, and Robert Abel. I am available to help those with less (or no) experience. (My advanced students learn the art of cutting trailers)

I also specialize in assisting those who want to learn while cutting their own project. A feature film I cut ("Forgiving the Franklins") for a first-time Writer/Producer/Director became a Sundance Selection.

I come to you or you can train with me at Edit Plus, in Sherman Oaks. I have been teaching Avid for 15 years and Final Cut Pro since 2002.

As a career editor, I approach editing instruction from the perspective of someone who makes their living practicing the art of editing on a daily basis. As a former company owner (Angus Lake Productions) I had to develop teaching methods that got young editors up to speed in the shortest possible time.

I have developed teaching methods that go well beyond those applied in formal schools. A current 18 year old student of mine told me, "I learn more from you in 10 minutes than I get from 5 hours of sitting in my Final Cut Pro class in College."

My one-day crash course teaches the basics of cutting a simple movie, from capture/transfer to compression and/or output, with titles and music.

These intense but stress-free sessions are designed to help you absorb the most in the shortest possible time.

I offer training for:
Those with no editing experience, whatever
Those with experience who want to fill in some gaps
Those who wish to cut their own independent movie
Those who would like assistance cutting their own independent movie
Avid editors who wish to learn Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Express Training
Machine room Operation including Digibeta functions.

My resume, student feedback sheet, and video samples of my editing are available by email. I am a published author and a member of LA Final Cut Pro Users Group.

References, Testimonials andd video samples are available by request.

AVID USERS: After 15 years of Avid instruction I am no longer offering Avid due to diminished interest. If you have Avid needs, feel free to email me and I will be happy to discuss them with you. 

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr3qJDPnAG4

I recently cut this montage for Director of Photography Dave Klein who is best known for shooting Clerks and most recently Zack and Miri make a Porno. The music is from Cirque du Soleil 

One of my specialties is editing reels for directors of photography
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11pg1HUaTQM, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEGNC9e8xGo

. My next few blog posts are a few reels you may find of interest.

This is one I made for Steven Poster ASC who shot the movie Southland Tales for Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko W.P.D.)  These reels must showcase the cinematography and therefore contain no effects other than the occasional dissolve. They must showcase the style of the DOP, lighting, composition, camera movement, lenses, etc. I hope you enjoy them. 

According to AnD Community Update, it's been 139 days since I posted anything. Yeow. It's been a very busy summer! Well, I have some great news to start off a more reliable winter of blogging.

Those of you who have read my previous blogs know how important I feel it is for actors to continue to practice their art. And I'd like to talk about that a little bit, because my favorite acting coach, Jeanne Hartman, is making a return trip to Hong Kong in just two weeks and it's a great opportunity to get into her workshop and shape up!

Some years ago I spent a summer on the acting staff of the Banff School of Fine Arts in the Rocky Mountains of Canada. The school has a long hallway lined with cubicles each one containing a grand piano. Day in and day out, those cubicles were filled with concert pianists practicing, practicing, practicing.

Where did you have to go if you wanted to find your fellow actors? The bar. Okay, a bar is a great place for an actor to observe human behavior... certain forms of behavior anyway, but in order to reliably and, may I say brilliantly, reproduce behavior in performance, the actor needs to practice their "scales" just like a musician.

We need to get in touch with our centers, loosen our bodies, open our throats, stretch ourselves through improvisation and we have to keep doing it. Regularly. An acting coach like Jeanne is a godsend to us because she can pull performances from us we never knew we had hidden within us. She establishes a safe environment for us to explore our limits, go for whatever emotion might be lurking down there, and discover, for ourselves, just how much further we can go. Then it will be there for us in actual performance, where there is no net. We've done the work in Jeanne's class, now that work can work for us on the set or on the boards.

I've seen the testimonials of those of you who attended her earlier workshops in Hong Kong and I know how much you felt you'd stretched because of them. The moment has arrived for you to dust off the cobwebs and get loose again! Every time you "work out" in an acting class, you learn new things and reach new heights. I'm stuck here in L.A. but I cannot encourage you enough to take advantage of this opportunity, and I can't wait to hear more excited talk about how much you learned and how much you grew while in her care.

For those of you who don't know Jeanne, she is the kindest coach at the top of her form. She does not see herself as an acting guru as some teachers do. She calls herself the Actor's Detective because she helps you find the clues to your own individual performance. She helps performers reach what's inside each individual by asking questions, and detecting where this particular performance lies. She knows that no two performers are the same and no two performances will be either. It's a thrill to watch her work but more of a thrill to participate.

http://www.alivenotdead.com/jasontobin/Jeanne-Hartman-s-Acting-Workshop-Take-3-event-814561.html