How To Shoot and Edit for Visual and Practical FX With “Appendage” Editor

Alex Familian is the editor for the horror film, Appendage, which follows the story of a young fashion designer who struggles with anxiety and self-doubt. The main character’s feelings eventually manifest into a gross, ferocious growth which sprouts from her body and yells mean, demeaning phrases at her.

In today’s episode, No Film School’s GG Hawkins and Yaro Altunin speak with Editor Alex Familian discuss: 

How the current WGA and SAG strikes are impacting his work in post-production

What we love about improv

Maintain work-life balance when your spouse is also a filmmaker

The differences between the feature version and short version of the film 

Practical versus virtual effects

The crazy, speaking mechanism puppeteers created for the “appendage” character

Differences between an online editor and offline editor

What it was like to edit while the film was still being shot

Why we prefer macbooks over desktops

Alex’s go-to effects he uses during editing

Memorable Quotes

“I’m basically putting together a cut of the film with 25% of the movie missing.” [3:58]

“It taught me how to be okay with failing.” [7:15]

“Whole movie was cut and finished on a Macbook Pro.” [31:34]

“People made editing software difficult on purpose so that other people wouldn’t know how to use it.” [36:08]

Resources:

Appendage (Full Short)

Connect with Alex on Instagram

Check out Alex's website

Appendage (Full Version) releases October 2023

How Can Cinematography Techniques Help Your VFX?

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