Stitch LA Breaks The Code

Stitch LA’s Chris Catanach has wrapped duties editing absorbing work for non-profit foundation Code.org, working with director Lesley Chilcott to create a compelling campaign demystifying the nerdy nature of computer coding.

 

Code.org is a non-profit foundation dedicated to growing computer programming education. Together Catanach and Chilcott shaped a 60-second teaser, a five-minute promo and an additional nine-minute doc that has already garnered over 12.2 million views online.

 

 

In order to spread the word and decode coding’s geeky demeanor Code.org owners Hadi and Ali Partovi approached Chilcott for ideas. She initially pitched a series of webisodes for the foundation to outline the issue at hand, but eventually a mini documentary format was chosen:

 

“Creating a doc breaking down some of the myths of coding is no easy task, so I knew I needed an editor who could take a bunch of talking heads and make it absorbing,” she explains. “There is a true skill to presenting and editing cinema vérité in the right way, and Chris did an amazing job.”

 

“The challenge for me was to show Lesley’s work in a captivating way to underline that coding is accessible to all of us,” adds Catanach on the challenge at hand. “She provided amazing interviews with very creative people, so it became a task of making talking heads interesting while debunking the myth of code monkey nerds.”

 

Catanach commenced editing with just a few interviews in hand, slowly adding the likes of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Drew Houston and will.i.am to the mix.

 

In terms of keeping the creative DNA intact, Chilcott notes how Catanach kept even keel, flowing footage smoothly and erasing repetitive commentary:

 

“At some point you have to figure out how to get your point across with the least amount of people saying it,” she notes. “Chris is so fast at sliding things around. Taking out extraneous information makes for impactful work. Even the Temp music Chris chose ended up being the foundation of the composition used in the campaign.”

 

Toward the end of the process Regal Entertainment Group agreed to screen the campaign in theaters, adding yet more to the workload right before release: “Suddenly it wasn’t just a web finish,” explains Catanach, adding that color correction and final conform were all completed under the Stitch banner.

 

Catanach feels that the final message imparted in the campaign eloquently conveys how coding is for everyone. “We successfully broke down some of the myths surrounding coding which include believing that it’s super hard, not for women and only for geniuses buried in dark rooms surrounded with empty pizza boxes and crushed soda cans,” she quips.

 

The campaign’s goal to encourage schools to incorporate coding into their regular curriculum got off to a rousing start thanks in great part to the celebrities interviewed, some utilizing their own native technology to get the word out:

 

“Zuckerberg placed the promo on his Facebook page, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey tweeted it out to the world and Dropbox founder Drew Houston enabled it as a fast download on his site,” reveals Chilcott. “We got a million hits on our first day – plus 10,000 schools have written in wanting computer science classes, while over 21,000 engineers have volunteered to teach coding to kids.”

 

As for working aside Chris, Lesley notes an elusive skill that some commercial editors lack: “There is a real talent in telling a complicated story in a short amount of time,” she outlines. “So many amazing commercial editors don’t have that ability to cross over to longer format work, but Chris has a natural affinity for it.”

 

Meanwhile Catanach looks forward to future projects with Chilcott, who has herself produced additional work including the compelling documentaries “Waiting for ‘Superman” and “An Inconvenient Truth” – the latter edited by STITCH owner Dan Swietlik, A.C.E. – and is currently in development on a new documentary focused on privacy issues:

 

”Lesley is such a great storyteller and the footage she captures is always engaging and thought provoking,“ concludes Catanach on Chilcott. “It was inspiring to see her work for code.org, approaching sporting figures and media celebrities who spoke about doing something they all love to do.”

 

“We all use technology,” says Chilcott on her own passion for coding. “We all know how to use it – but not how to write it. Technology is everywhere, but do you shape it or are you shaped by it? For me the big message in the work is that you don’t really have a lot of control, especially as a kid – but coding is an amazing way to get back that control.”

 

STITCH is also editing a Chevrolet spot through Commonwealth directed by Smuggler’s Guy Shelmerdine, while Swietlik cuts “The Big Picture” – a fascinating documentary to be narrated by Katie Couric that examines the issues surrounding obesity in American children. The film is directed by Stephanie Soechtig (who also directed “Tapped” about the bottled water industry) and produced by Laurie David.

 

Credits

 

DP:                             Logan Schneider

Editor:                         Chris Catanach, Stitch, LA

Composer:                Greg Kuehn, Peligro Music, LA

Animations:                Juan Delcan, Click 3x, NY

Sound Design/Mix:  Machine Head  (POP Sound also mixed theatrical trailer)

Color:                         Mitch Gardiner, Stitch Editing

Conform:                    Mitch Gardiner, Stitch Editing

Producers:                  Josh Lieberman, Lesley Chilcott