Here is Part III of our interview with Dan Lebental.

In this segment Dan gives us some great insights into the feature film editorial process. We discuss topics such as what it’s like screening the “first cut” with the director and starting out on the directors cut, bringing the length of IRON MAN down from 3.5 to it’s final running time of 2 hours, exploring variations of the film and reinventing scenes, and something he fondly refers to as “index card death row”. We also get to talk a bit more about his long term working relationship with director Jon Favreau, getting the studio involved and the editorial muse. Finally we discuss an issue that confronts directors and editors on many visual effects films, the time quandary. Specifically, the amount of time it takes from the director’s contractual (DGA) 10 week cut to lock VFX sequences and get them in the “pipeline”.

Today we present Part II of my interview with Dan Lebental, film editor of Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment’s, IRON MAN.

In this segment Dan talks about his experience cutting on the Avid Media Composer, working with the visual effects team (upwards of 800 people) at ILM and the economics and intricacies of cutting a film with nearly 1000 visual effects shots. We go on to discuss the state of, and need for, industry accepted digital post production workflows. Finally, we talk about cutting IRON MAN utilizing the Avid DNX36 codec, and his first experience cutting a studio feature in HD. Enjoy.

According to Luhrmann’s introductory vidcast, the series will be updated approximately every three weeks, with each episode taking viewers through a different part of the production process. The series will also present a “creative challenge” each episode, with prizes ranging from iPods to MacBook Pro’s. The grand prize being a trip to Australia, planned by the director himself, and inclusion of the winner’s final work on the film’s DVD release. To get started go to iTunes and subscribe to the Set to Screen podcast today.

Last Friday, I had the good fortune to visit the offices of Dan Lebental’s editing company, Splice-Inc. in midtown Los Angeles. Many of you know that Dan was the “film” editor of this summer’s first box office breakout hit, “Iron Man”. Not only is the film doing incredibly well in theaters, but it has also become one of the most critically acclaimed pictures in the genre.

Posted here is the first of our 3-part interview with Dan. In it, Dan tells us how he initially became interested in film editing, his “big break” which made him one of the most sought after music video editors of the early nineties, and how he developed a working relationship with director Jon Favereau.

On crutches and awaiting knee surgery, Dan was kind enough to give us an insider’s perspective of what it is like to participate in such a massive creative endeavor.

You will need Apple’s QuickTime 7 to view this properly.