Chris Catanach Stitches A Code

Chris Catanach Stitches A Code

Coding isn't exactly perceived the sexiest of professions, but in a short doc for the non-profit foundation Code.org the creative and practical benefits of knowing the language of computers is shown by a few familiar faces. Setting out to create a compelling campaign demystifying the nerdy nature of computer coding, 'What Most Schools Don't Teach' uses the likes of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Drew Houston to explain the magic that can be created with a spot of practice.

Following the film's release, it's already garnered over 12.2 million views online and has been shared by most of the talent involved. Central to the film's coherence and likable flow is the editing by Stitch LA's Chris Catanach. We chatted to Chris about how you construct a narrative out of talking-heads, how you balance the screentime amongst such well-regarded figures and if his HTML skills were up to scratch.

How did you get involved in the Code.org project?

Lesley Chilcott and I had worked previously on a mini doc piece for Ford which we both enjoyed very much. Lesley teamed up with code.org founders Hadi and Ali Partovi, wrote a treatment and brought the idea to me. I knew very little about coding at the time but was excited about the opportunity to work with Lesley again and learn something new.

The film contains a host of talking heads. How much footage was there to wade through?

A lot of talking heads, indeed. All in all, we interviewed over 30 subjects, ranging from students to teachers, athletes to musicians, and gamers to CEOs. This totaled to over 13 hours of interview footage alone. That being said, the diversity of interviewees and the quality and insight in the answers Lesley was able to draw made for hours of great footage and the building blocks for an intriguing piece.

How do you construct a narrative when relying on Q&A answers? Did the structure get dictated to you from the director or did it evolve from logging the answers?

Rather than predetermining a story flow, Lesley and I sat and watched through every interview to get a bearing on what we had to work with. We started with just a few interviews and a basic story structure which grew and grew as more interviews came in. We found ourselves with so many rich ideas and discussion about so many different avenues of the coding world that it became tough to narrow the piece down to under 10 minutes. The real trick was finding a way to put the more artistic and abstract answers of someone like will.i.am right next to the more nuts-and-bolts answers of Bill Gates and still have a coherent story. In the end, we tried to let our great cast of characters tell the story rather than cutting away every other shot to spoonfeed the story to our viewers.

Did you have to consciously give equal screen time to the interviewees? There were some massive names in there that must have had a lot to say, and a few who maybe didn't (*cough* Will.i.am).

We did have a bit of bias towards the guys with the last names of Gates, Zuckerberg, Houston and Newell simply because they are among the great titans and pioneers of the coding world. However, by themselves they only tell part of the story. We needed people like Elena Silenok, founder of clothia.com, and Jaime, the elementary school computer teacher, to really flesh out the story and show the power and impact of this multi-faceted field from unique and nuance angles. So we weren't as conscious of screen time per interviewee as we were telling a complete story. Just about everyone had a lot to say, and their passion for their craft and the education of others was very evident in their answers.

Were there any surprises in the answers? Did the film give you the drive to get an HTML fix?

I think the most surprising theme we kept coming across in these interviews is that people like Mark Zuckerberg, who are changing the world in so many ways, can't find enough good people to work for them. You'd think young people today would be banging down the doors to work for someone like Zuckerberg, and instead there's a shortage of about 1 million qualified engineers in the field. That, and the stories of how some of the big names in this piece got started. It's really inspiring to hear people like Bill Gates and Drew Houston talk about how a single line of code launched start-ups that now have such an impact on a worldwide scale. It definitely made we want to take a stab as coding something myself.

How high did your jealousy levels get when you cut together the montage of office shots? Do you travel around the Stitch corridors on a scooter?

While Stitch is a very nice office, I'll have to admit that some of the office shots from this piece pushed the jealously levels a bit. The arcade, music rooms and rooftop lounges are among the main culprits there. My first and last time riding a skateboard through the narrow Stitch corridors didn't end too well, so I try to stick to just using my feet!

How's your coding? Could you get a ZX Spectrum to say your name?

My coding is just as good as everyone who logs on to code.org for startup lessons, meaning it's pretty basic. But after working on this piece I've definitely got the itch to learn and try to code my own iphone app. A ZX what?? No, I've never been able to send a DeLorean back to the alternate 1985.

Are there any plans to do more work with the project? Do you think there's scope for longer-form/webisodes around coding?

There were thoughts of a feature-length documentary floating around at one point, but it looks like we might stick to creating shorter webisodes focusing on one person's coding story at a time. People like Drew Houston, Gabe Newell, Chris Bosh andwill.i.am had some really interesting perspectives on coding and may warrant their own mini pieces.

What's up next for you?

We have number of commercials and documentaries currently here at Stitch, including a feature film on childhood obesity spearheaded by Katie Couric. We're also very excited about a documentary film coming our way shortly, but I'll unfortunately have to keep it zipped on the details. That and a slew of music videos. Busy, busy!

Posted on 25th March 2013.