Arnold, who prior to this project worked on trailers (The Passion of the Christ, Monster, Whale Rider) was brought on board by the film’s producers Bobby Newmyer and Steven J. Wolfe to cut a few scenes as well as a five-minutes sales reel designed to help secure financing for the project. He was later hired to work on the film full time, leaving his trailer editing job and setting up his own Fix It In Post Productions (www.fixitinpost.net).
According to Arnold, the film was shot with the Panasonic VariCam on DVCPRO HD stock and then downconverted to DVCAM. He cut Phat Girlz on an Apple G5 running Final Cut Pro 4.5.
“I used Cinema Tools to digitize and convert the footage to 24 fps,” Arnold recalls. “The film was onlined in DVCPRO HD 8-bit, color-corrected in a [Quantel] iQ bay, and then filmed-out to 35mm film stock.”
In addition to cutting the feature, Arnold also edited and performed an HD finish for the theatrical trailer using AJA’s Kona LS card.
Phat Girlz will be released nationwide on April 7th.
Arnold says his next project will involve cutting the feature Beautiful Loser, from his home on a G5 running Final Cut Pro 5. The film will be cut in DVCPRO HD after converting it from the HDV format.