Timeline Analog 4. John Buck

helped me turn it into a success. Bill Orr, Pete Hammar and Ralph Guggenheim were endlessly helpful before the idea of a book even existed, and continued with insight throughout its writing. Ralph’s enthusiasm is infectious, Pete’s advice forthright.

      Despite the fact that Thelma Schoonmaker is one of the most awarded and talented editors ever, she answered my questions as if she were unknown and idle.

      Ted Horton and Vincent Zimbardi supported me with editing challenges through my transition from editor to editor/author.

      Andrew Morris starred in my 8mm movies, listened to my plans, gave me work and remained an unwavering friend throughout. Donna, Manny, Tillster, Miranda, Elena, Mario, the Colettes and Wild Matt encouraged and humored me.

      Bill Warner (above right) changed editing forever. Without Bill there would be no Avid. There would be no book called ‘Timeline’. He encouraged me at every turn, welcomed me to his home, selflessly assisted my research, lent me documents and tapes, drove me around Boston, twisted former colleagues’ arms to talk, and opened up his heart to the project. Without reservation.

      Bill has faced challenges that would humble most, and never gave up. He is an inspiration.

      The Bucks, Waddells and Kuehs have been hugely supportive.

      Mum and Dad gave me the freedom to dream.

      Tan gave me patience and understanding.

      Preface

      In the spring of 1924, a small Germany company Lyta Cinema Works built the first dedicated editing device. A few months later the American made Moviola went on sale in Hollywood and become a huge success but it was sixty five years before a digital equivalent arrived for professionals.

      In the intervening years individuals, and teams imagined tools that could join images together in the blink of an eye. They trialled technology, experimented with the impossible, quit secure jobs for the unknown, and ran out of money. All the while, they tried to ship the best editing product possible. For many years their stories went untold.

      Hoping to solve an amicable dispute with Boris Yamnitsky, who had just acquired Media 100, I found myself at the local library staring at books that talked about 'how to' edit but not how editing came to be. My casual conversation was now a niggling annoyance. I turned to the web and found two names listed in submissions to the U.S Patent Office about electronic editing.

      Adrian Ettlinger and William Warner.

      One had created something called the CBS RAVE, and the other, Avid. They graciously took my phone calls, retold stories of electronic editing’s rich history, and connected me with lesser known individuals who had created the tools we use today. Adrian and Bill not only helped, but they actively encouraged me. Bill made time to talk, linked me to others and poured me coffee in his kitchen.

      Adrian braved the wet streets of Manhattan to tell me, over lunch at the Chiam, about a remarkable period of innovation. My part-time quest changed again when two key contributors passed away. Art Schneider and Jack Calaway both made huge contributions to editing, yet their efforts had gone largely unheralded.

      I decided to record the history of editing before it fades.

      Timeline zigs and zags from people to places, within companies, across continents. People's lives rarely run from A to B.

      Former Xerox scientist David Canfield Smith told me:

      “In any revolution, technological or otherwise, there are interesting characters. In fact, the characters often are the story”.

      This edition

      This edition Timeline: Analog Four is the fourth in a series that is specifically designed for students of film and television and small screens everywhere. It will take you about 4 hours to read.

      I am updating it regularly with new interviews and images - at no extra cost to you. This version has new exclusive interviews with Andrew Soderberg, Duncan Kennedy and Gavin Miller. It also includes excerpts from Hansen Hsu' interview with the QuickTime.

      The right of John Buck to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act, 1988. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly. Besides it’s uncool to copy.

      I have made recorded contact with all known copyright owners. Email me if you wish to make corrections. ([email protected])

      © Copyright John Buck 2019

      Timeline 4

       I’m no door-ist, but if there are too many scenes bookended by doors, the editor’s duty is to kick them down.

      – Joe Walker, editor Blade Runner 2049, 12 Years a Slave

      20: Non-print, Non-linear

      As the world adjusted to the Black Monday stock exchange collapse, Apple announced new products at the 1987 MacWorld Conference & Expo in Boston, Massachusetts.

      Apple debuted Mac System 4.2 and System Software 5.0 which supported the new color Macintosh models, added the MultiFinder (allowing switching between running applications) and background printing with the LaserWriter printer.

      Bill Atkinson’s WildCard, now called HyperCard, drew most interest. Atkinson described HyperCard (above) as:

      '...an attempt to bridge the gap between the priesthood of programmers and the Macintosh mouse clickers.'

      Apple CEO John Sculley went further:

       'In many ways, HyperCard is just as important as the personal computer itself'

      HyperCard was designed to let users combine various media elements called stacks into one. The Wall Street Journal described HyperCard as:

      '...a major development in the industry, changing the way information is organized and used.'

      In time schools created interactive learning materials with it while industrials like Renault used HyperCard to build inventory databases.

      Matthew Laser explained HyperCard in Art Technica:

       HyperCard allowed you to create "stacks" of cards, which were visual pages on a Macintosh screen. You could insert "fields" into these cards that showed text, tables, or even images. You could install "buttons" that linked individual cards within the stack to each other and that played various sounds as the user clicked them, mostly notably a "boing" clip that to this day I can't get out of my mind. You could also turn your own pictures into buttons. Before the World Wide Web did anything, HyperCard did everything.

      Atkinson realised much the same, later.

       I missed the mark with HyperCard. I grew up in a box-centric culture at Apple. If I'd grown up in a network-centric culture, like Sun, HyperCard might have been the first Web browser. My blind spot at Apple prevented me from making HyperCard the first Web browser

      HyperCard wasn't going to be the first web connected application nor was it the best way to deliver animations, video and audio in future. Apple need a different way to deliver media elements. And it needed to pivot away from hardware to software. Both seemed unlikely to happen.

      Tyler Peppel oversaw product concepts that included optical media, CDROM, video hardware,