Watchtower of China: Leonardo Dalessandri Releases Another Cinematic Masterpiece, Entirely Created in Final Cut Pro

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Ronny thanks for this wonderful write up! Looking forward to watching this and learning from it.

Thanks, Tangier.

Amazing masterpiece and an excellent breakdown.

Thanks, Mark. Much appreciated!

GREAT Interview, Ronny! Really well put together to lead the reader through his process -- really enjoyed reading it. 

How can anyone not be inspired by him and his films???

Thank you. I have known Leo for a very long time. He is a wonderful person and very dedicated to his work. Leo is an old soul. A breath of fresh air compared to all the content creators you see today who just want things to be done quickly and with the least possible effort. 

Thanks Ronny for such a meticulous article. It's always a pleasure to catch up with you and the guys at fcp.co!

The adventurous side of me says, "Shooting 9 months over 3 years in 72 cities... Why not?"

The practical side of me questions, "Shooting 9 months over 3 years in 72 cities with a tribe of 20 people... Who bankrolled the project and is the ROI written in red or black?"

This is a work of love. Money has no meaning in such projects.

Always a pleasure to see more of your work, Leo. I look forward to seeing you in Istanbul soon!

ronny courtens wrote:

This is a work of love. Money has no meaning in such projects.

That's more a Utopian calibre statement than a realistic one. Unless everyone involved is Musk level rich there's no amount of love that negates the freight of travel, food, housing, not to mention hours of planning, acquiring, editing that's required to pull it off. I’m universally admired but I doubt any of them would take 3 months off following me around if it was on their own nickle.

The thing catching my eye about the project was the comment:

"You cannot imagine how many private message and emails I get from people asking me where they can buy my package of transition plugins. There is no such thing. My style is based around creating cinematic cuts that are driven by matching camera movements or matching content between shots."

The bane of today is editors looking for accessories / plugins / tricks to slap onto their clips because they lack the skill or insight on how to capture compelling footage to begin with.
- - - - -
I have a 97 minute loop of 26 shoots compiled playing in the lobby. None of them planned. Ordinary things I've stumbled across that inspired a different way to appreciate events so commonplace their beauty goes unnoticed... Twelve empty cabs of 1940s era ferris wheel at sunset, some morning freight train at a crossing, street vendor creating burritos during virus lockdown, removing a gigantic iconic Sears sign of 67 years on the roof, breaking down a construction crane to load on trucks. There's even one of a clear plastic bag caught in an updraft then following it through an intersection and across a busy street. All quite pointless by conventional standards, still they're compelling to watch because of the camerawork, pacing, if not downright artistry and not because of an editors sleight of hand pulling fancy effects from a folder filled with plugins.

Just my stuff. Just for me. A self imposed limit of 2-3 hours to edit the NonRev video (non-revenue) keeps me nimble at making decisions and not over thinking the choices made. When someone asked why I shot one bird bullying another bird as it chased the other across a parking lot (both hopping along, mind you, neither taking flight which was the reason behind filming this oddity) I informed them I did it for me. I might even show them the cartoon I recreated from one I came across reading a Playboy in my youth. Most of the edits will never be seen but they were done... to... satisfy... me.



In effect I'm simply a Man with a Movie Camera.

"That's more a Utopian calibre statement than a realistic one. "

It's a very realistic one. Because know it for a fact that the crew has volunteered to help out without any financial compensation.

Speechless just amazing work.!!!
Congratulations to the fcp.com page as well for this excellent article.

Thank you, much appreciated!