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Q/.Where you the editor on the entire series of Tour Of Duty
?
A/. I worked on "Tour of Duty" for the entire three seasons,
While I didn't work on the pilot I started shortly after the show was picked up by CBS for
the 1987-88 season.
I was the assistant editor with John Duffy, who edited the pilot with Doug Ibold.
The first season editing staff consisted of :
Editors: John Duffy, Michael Ripps and Stephen Michael,
Assistant Editors, Tom Petersen, David Ekstrom and Sondra Davis.
Apprentice Editor Robert Segal
Second Season Editorial staff only had one change with Michael Stern replacing Sondra
Davis as an assistant editor.
The third season had a large turnover in the editing staff.
It was my favourite season since I was promoted to editor and cut seven episodes that
season in addition to the two episodes I had co-credit on in previous seasons.
Third season editors were:
Thomas Petersen, Robert Sinise, and Ellen Jacobson,
Assistant Editors: Dan Simmons, Michael Stern and Robert Segal,
Apprentice editor Marty Hezelof.
To demonstrate how personal contacts work in Hollywood, I worked on later series with some
of the same editors.
I worked again with Ellen Jacobson on "Murder, She Wrote" and Stephen Michael on
"JAG".
Q/. Being film editor on the show , what did your job entail ?
A/. Film Editor's basically assemble the show. The production
crew shoots approximately 8-12 hours of footage for a show that runs 48 minutes.
Much of that footage overlaps the same action from various angles and then you will have
multiple takes of the same angle. The editors job is select from this coverage the
best takes and angles that will tell the story in the clearest and most interesting
way.
The creative part of the job is making those decisions as to what works and looks
best. The technical part of the job is the actual joining of these pieces of film
physically together, in addition to manipulating the sound, and guiding the film into the
finished product the viewer will see.
If the editor has done his job the viewer should be into the story and not even be aware
of the technical aspects of the film.
The assistant editor does just that, assists the editor by organising the film, checking
the sync, and handling the hundreds of details that would distract the editor from
concentrating on the creative aspects of film editing.
Q/. Being the film editor did you have to work with the directors putting the
episodes together ?
A/. The editors begin cutting the film immediately as it's being shot.
Film from day 1 is processed and transferred at the lab so the editors have it the next
day, hence the term "dailies". So a couple of days after the episode is shot a
first assembly or "first cut" of the show is ready.
The director works with the editor to revise and usually remove time from this cut
to get it closer to the finished air time.
After the director, & the producers will the view the cut and give more notes and
changes, then a close to finished product will be screened by the network for final notes.
On Tour of Duty each episode shot for 7 days, the editor had an additional 4 days to
finish the first cut then the director had 4 days to produce a director's cut, after an
additional 3-4 days a producer's cut would be sent to the network, then the show would be
on-lined.
The music composer and sound effects editors would then spot the show for music and sound
work.
They would have about a week to do their job then the sound would be mixed, the picture
color corrected, titles added and the finished product would be delivered to the network a couple of days before airing,
Q/.Were there any difficulties in editing the real footage in with "stock
footage" from the show ?
A/. Stock footage cut into the show easily, most however was our
own footage that was re-used in many shows.
The first season most of the helicopter footage was shot in Hawaii then used in numerous
flying sequences.
As battle sequences added up we would be able to use the same shot of NVA or VC soldiers
shooting and fighting. Some scenes only had new footage of the tour cast and the enemy
footage was take from previous episodes and cut in.
Q/.Have you got a favourite episode that you enjoyed working on the most ?
A/. My favourite episodes are the ones I cut because I was so
intimately involved with them those were "Doc Hoc", "A Bodyguard of
Lies","The Raid", "Green Christmas", "Deadman Tales",
and "Vietnam Rag".
HOME
CopyrightÓ2000/2001 Craig Blackmore. All rights Reserved.
Thomas Peterson
Editor
JAG
Paramount series
Don Bellisario Executive Producer, 4 seasons, ‘96-‘00
COLOR ME PERFECT
Lifetime Movie, Hearst Entertainment
Producer/Director Michele Lee, '96
MURDER, SHE WROTE
Universal series
Bruce Lansbury, Mark Burley Producers, edited on Moviola ‘95-'96
TOUR OF DUTY
New World series, Zev Braun Productions
Steven Philip Smith, Vahan Moosekian Producers, 3 seasons, ‘87-‘90
KNOTS LANDING
Lorimar, David Jacobs, Michael Filerman, Barbara Corday
Producers, 3 seasons, ‘90-‘93
CISCO KID
TNT Movie, Director Luis Valdes, additional editor with Zach Staenberg,
'93
HOTEL MALIBU
CBS Series, Deepak Nayar Producer, Deborah Norton Producer
‘94
SECOND CHANCES
CBS Series, Lynn Latham, Bernard Lechowick Producers,
‘93-'94
BLACK SCORPION
Feature, Director Jonathan Winfrey, Executive Producer Roger
Corman, '95
Directors
Tony Wharmby, Jeannot Szwarc, Mark Horowitz, Terrence
O’Hara, Allan Levi, Alan Meyerson, Scott Brazil, Joe Napolitano, Michael Shultz,
Michael Lange, Jim Johnston, Helaine Head, Brad May, Stefan Scaini, Gene Reynolds, Luis
Valdez, Paul Lynch, George Kaczender, Reza Bediya, Jerome Courtland, Joseph Scanlon, Bill
Norton, Kevin Corcoran, Vince McEveety, Walter Grauman, Anthony Shaw, Larraine Senna
Ferrara, Hugo Cortina.
HOME
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