My Post House: Mercury Labs

Chris Lawing is director/editor at Mercury Labs, a cinema and communications company in St. Louis and San Francisco. Lawing has directed, edited and produced hundreds of commercials, brand videos and television content. He created an OnDemand channel in Atlanta, produced a nationally syndicated TV show, and directed the music video "Movie of Your Life," which won several Telly awards, DV awards, and numerous film festival awards. Prior to founding Mercury Labs (formerly Mercury Multimedia), Lawing worked as an assistant editor at Pixar and as an editor at TechTV (which is now G4), and he edited numerous feature and short films, including Showtime's BBGun and The Good Things starring Will Wheaton.

What specific projects do you currently have in the works?

I'm in the process of wrapping a 30-second spot we wrote, directed, and edited for our own company. We shot the commercial on an HDSLR rig, transcoded everything to ProRes, edited on FCP, added graphics and effects from AE, mixed down the soundtrack in Pro Tools, and graded the final in Color. We're in development for another 30-second spot, which will follow the same pipeline.

What else have you worked on recently?

I directed and edited a brand video for Wham-O, a toy manufacturer known for classic toys such as the Frisbee, Hula-Hoop and the Slip N Slide. This summer, I directed brand education videos for Chambord Liqueur and Tuaca Liqueur, using both Red One and the Phantom Gold for high-speed product shots. Mercury also just won two new Telly Awards for several video productions I edited, including a Silver Telly for client Advent Conspiracy and a bronze Telly for a board member orientation video produced for the YMCA of Greater St. Louis.

Related Links

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What do you consider to be the next big thing in post?

Speed and consolidation. With the coming of the tapeless format, the merging of color grading, sound mixing, motion graphics, and editing into single software suites, increasing the speed and efficiency of those suites is the next big thing in my book. It would be nice if there were a faster learning curve for everything.

What technology do you currently work with?

I'm a Mac guy and have been since grade school with the Apple II. It's what I know and what I've always worked with. On the systems in our shop, we work with Adobe Creative Suite, Maxon Cinema 4D, Final Cut Pro, Pro Tools and Color.

What new technology are you working with?

I've just started delving into the 3D realm with Cinema 4D for motion graphics. We have a 3D designer on staff but I can't resist getting my hands on something and trying to figure it out. On the production side, I'm working with digital cinema more and more, the Red One and the Canon 5D. Both of these cameras get me really jazzed at the prospect of making great-looking images without the cost and workflow of film.

What new products/technology are you looking forward to the most?

In the post world, I'm always salivating over the latest, fastest CPUs, anything that will make the back end faster so I can focus on what's really important, execution.

What gets you out of bed in the morning to go to work in postproduction?

My kids, every morning at 7 a.m. But seriously, the drive that I have is the need to continually push my skill set and mastery of the craft. Editing and postproduction has changed dramatically in the 15 years that I've been doing it. Simply having command of the edit process and command of a single system isn't enough now. The editor has to have command of so many elements of the process, from motion graphics to color grading to sound mixing. As more and more software and hardware comes out and makes those tools available at my fingertips, it''s up to me to stay on top of them so I can deliver the best product for my clients and myself.

What is your best post memory?

I was on set for a commercial shoot in L.A. I was going to edit the spots, but I had no real role the day of the shoot. Later in the day, while the second commercial was being filmed, the actor was really struggling with his lines, timing, and a consistent tone. Both the client and the director were getting frustrated. Production stopped for a short break and we huddled up to talk about what type of direction they could give the actor to get the consistency they were looking for. I piped in that the varied performances could actually work to our advantage, we could revise the spot into a series of jump cuts as opposed to a single take, thus freeing us up to get the best delivery for each individual line and controlling the tempo in post. The director and client loved the idea and that's how the commercial was cut. So it was good to have the editor on set.

What are your favorite/least favorite things about working in post?

My least favorite thing is watching paint dry on long renders. But definitely my most favorite thing is making a story come together out of a bunch of disparate elements and then tearing it down and putting it back together again and again until it tells the story we need it to.

What were you doing 10 years ago and what do you expect to be doing 10 years from now?

Ten years ago I was in my apartment in San Francisco sitting on an Avid Media Composer cutting everything from short films to corporate documentaries. I''ve moved to a lot more commercials and original TV and web content since then. In 10 years, I plan to add more feature films to my filmography.