All language subtitles for Module 18

Make the cut.

Make any cut.

You know, you can go back and revise it.

So I really try.

And I'm not always successful.

I get blocked.

I get panicked.

But I always try to just do it.

I just try to make the cut and I try
to get through it as quickly as possible.

My first cut is an impression.

It doesn't have to be perfect or not.

Every cut has to work.

I just want to get the rough idea of it.

So I always do a very rough
I don't smooth out the sound sometimes,

especially if it's a visual scene
or very action oriented.

I'll cut it silently.

I'll turn off the I'll turn off the sound
and you find that you can work out

that much more quickly

because
you're just dealing with the picture.

So I'll sometimes cut things quietly.

If it's a dialog scene, I will.

Maybe I'll listen to the dialog,

but I'll keep the volume really low
so that when I'm watching it,

I'm not distracted by the cuts

in in a room, tone or ambiance.

We can smooth that out later.

You just want to get a rough impression.

And so my first cuts, if you look at
my first cuts, are very rough.

They're very rough.

In my first pass,
there's something very, very rough

because I just want to do an impression,
get an impression of the scene.

Then I go back and then I refine it.

Then I start smoothing the dialog out.

I might do my rough sketch

and then put it on the shelf
and I put it away and say, You know what?

I know this scene will be fine.

I can already tell.

I just have to pass.

It'll be fine. I put it away.

It's amazing
how you the objectivity you get

when you put something aside
and then you go back to it later.

The problems become more clear.

But I will often put that sketch aside.

No one looks at it.

I don't show anyone, you know, maybe
I can show my assistance or something.

But it's not meant to be seen.

It's just meant as a starting point.
I don't show the director.

I go on to the next scene
because there's film.

All the while film is piling
up, piling, piling, piling up, you know.

And so so I move on to the next thing.

And then I when I'm done clearing my plate
a little bit or feel a little comfort,

I can go back to the sketch
and then I can polish the sound.

I can I can either have sound,
I can put sound effects in myself.

I can have my assistants do it.

But again, it's

it's to make a rough sort of sketch.

If you don't have the benefit of of

conversing with the director right away,
you look for whatever

you can get information
wise every day when the footage comes in.

Not only do you get the footage,
but you should get new

script pages from the script supervisor

to see if there's any direction
from the director.

Any comments?
What are the best pieces to use?

Is there any comments that are editing
plans?

And I always try to use the.

The pieces
that are selected by the director.

If if the director says
this is a good take, that's what

I usually try to favor.

And I figure that this is what he wants
or she wants.

And later on, when we work together,

that may change, that may evolve,
something that the director likes on set.

When we put it in context, it may not work
the way we need it to work,

and so you'll change it.

But on my own, I really try to

I try to

favor always look out for what
the director wants.

If it's been indicated often
what I do, my first cut

is often referred to as an assembly.

I that's that's a that's a, you know,

that's a traditional classical

standard term.

I don't really call it an assembly
too much.

I like to think that my first cut
is more polished than an assembly,

but at the same time,
a lot of people call it an editors cut,

but I don't even think of it
as an editors cut because that suggests

that this is my take on the cut,
and it's not exactly my take.

It is going through me, it's
going through my judgment,

it's going through my own rhythms,
but not entirely.

I always think of it as a script
cut the first cut that I do

and the first cut that most editors
almost always do.

This is this is the tradition is a cut
based on the script.

What you want to do
is you want to follow the script.

You might see something
as you cut it together.

That doesn't work.

You don't think works.

Well,
what you do then is you do an alternate.

You do an alternate of it, of that scene
the way you think it might work,

and you set it aside.

But it's always important to present
to the filmmaker exactly what is scripted

or your job as an editor is to present
what's in the script show to the director.

If it doesn't work, he
or she will probably see that if

if they don't see it
the same way, you can discuss it,

but always show them
what they've asked for first.

If you're inspired and you want to try
something different, always try it.

But keep that as an alternate.

You always must have
what was asked for first.

That's your job. And so.

So in that way, I don't think of what I do
at first as an editor's cut.

I think of it as a first cut or a script
cut in terms of getting there.

I again use the notes that I have
from the script supervisor and again,

I go back to
what is the essence of the scene

based on the script I reread, the scene

I reread and think about
what do I think the motivation is?

What is it about?

And I go from there
for a complicated scene like this.

I also look at Damien Chazelle's animatic.

I look at that
and I try to match that because I know

that Damien is so exacting
and I know that's what his intention is.

I do that
and I know that it's going to work.

It's going to go through a process.

I know that he and I are going
to we're going to go through it together

as an editor.

I always want to present something
as polished as I can do it.

But there does come a point where.

You need the filmmaker.

That's what that's what it's about.

You need the collaboration.

And then I feel like
if it's a good collaboration,

that's
when you take the thing to the next level.

I love collaborating with filmmakers.

I don't get too precious
about my own work.

I get firm about something
I think is right for the movie,

but I don't get Precious about my own work
for the sake of getting Precious

about my own work.

I don't always like it when I have
a first cut and we leave it alone.

I want the filmmaker to come in
and to push me to bring it to a new level.

I want to.

I want a filmmaker like Damien Chazelle
to push me to

for me to do even better work
than I would do on my own.

You know, I'm intelligent
about storytelling,

but I, I never want to feel like I'm

the smartest person in the room
because I feel like if I am, then. Then

I've lost in a way.

Each person works differently,
but you want to have the organize

and have a way that you can label things
so you know how to find them later.

Because when you work
for someone like Damien

and other directors are very detail
oriented, they will ask for this.

So what about that version
we did a week ago?

We did it
when when so-and-so came into the room.

And often times
Damien will remember things.

I have no idea and I don't remember.

But if I've labeled it right,
I'll be able to find it.

And that's the great thing about about
digital editing is you can save it.

There's no reason to throw it away
if if things get too crowded

as they do on a movie like this
or first man especially,

the projects get so big
that it takes forever to save.

My assistants will archive the cuts.

There's no need to ever throw it away.

You always want to archive it and save it
because you never know when you might

go back to it.

If it's a director like Damien Chazelle

or any director
that is very specific about

how they've boarded
something or animatics,

I always try to match what I think
their intention is .

And Damien is very specific about
he preplan

everything, very specific about it.

I don't mind doing that.

I don't feel like
I've missed an opportunity.

I don't feel like I my opinion isn't

valid.

And the reason I don't feel
that is because I know that when we see

it in context, when we
when we look at it together, I know that

it's only going to be a starting point
and we're going to go from there.

If we have a scene where it's like,

Wow, you shot this, it's exactly
the way you intended it.

I really just had to kind of
put the pieces together.

Great.

I'm completely happy for that.

I just get as an editor,
I just get out of the way of that.

If I if I put it together exactly
based on his plan, fantastic.

But I know that's not going to happen
for a hundred scenes in a movie.

If it happens,
the more it happens, the better.

Then we can focus on other problems.

It's all about the specific director.

You know,
when I work with different directors,

when I work with Scott Cooper, you know,
he was someone who who really had

certain things important in mind
about character and performance.

But he is not a director who who

necessarily

says, we have to start on this shot

and then we at this exact moment,
we have to cut to this.

He's not that type of director.

He is someone who wants
a little bit of my take on something.

So then in the case of something like
that, I might experiment a little bit more

and then we work together
and he'll guide me and say, You know,

I think I like the idea that you had
to dissolve out of this scene.

I like that.

I like your choice of dissolving,
you know?

One way again,

I one way of of of trying different things

is to not get hung up on polishing it yet.

So sometimes I'll cut things.

I'll turn the sound
down. I'll cut it silently.

You can cut very fast when you do that.

And if the concept works.

Okay, great.

Now I'll spend time
polishing the sound, you know?

Now I'll make sure that everything is.

Is perfect.

But you want to kind of.

You want to do something that's.

You want to get an impression.

So you want to do an impressionist
cut of it.

It doesn't have to be perfect of you.

I know some editors who who are so good
in such perfectionists,

they cannot leave a scene

until they polish all the sound
and stuff like that.

And I do believe that
that when you present your work

and you're really trying to sell it,
you do want it to be polished.

But I know some editors who

who let that get the better of them.

And it because of that,
it slows them down because they can't go

through these different versions.

So if there's a way that you

can just rough them out very quickly
just to get an idea, play it.

Play it without the sound.

Okay. Does that feel right?

Okay, good, good. Now.

And even if you can show your director
if you have enough of a relationship,

if there's trust, because they have to,

in order for you to do that,
they have to understand

that you are showing them
something rough just to get a rough idea.

I remember doing something a long time ago
for a director who didn't know me

very well, and I had been used to just

sketching things out,
just to just to see if this idea worked.

I showed it to him.

He got really hung up on the fact that the
sound didn't work or the sound was cut.

And he said, you know, I don't

I can't tell with the sound being all like
this is too rough.

And, you know,
I don't think this is going to work.

And that was the problem.

Whereas Damien Chazelle
like knows me so well that I can say, Hey,

can you just take a look at this? Don't
just pay.

Don't pay attention to the sound. It's
rough. We'll fix that later.

He'll just play with the sound off or low
and you be like,

Yeah, yeah,
that'll work. Okay, good. That idea works.

Okay, smooth out the sound.

Now I will give my assistance.

Different versions to try. If.

If I.

If I am bogged down with other things,
I'll say, I need you to do this.

I'll go across the hall and I say,
I need you to take this scene here.

I put I made a copy of it.

I put it in a bin for you.

Take this scene up here in this bin, okay?

Do this version.

Try to cut it like this
where you want to cut around this

this actor,
because we don't want to see him.

So do a version of that.

And then when you're done, let me know
so you can delegate if you have the crew,

if you are working with people that
you trust and who you like and appreciate.

You know, the older editors,

for example,
from Walter Marx's generation and older,

there's a way
that when they learn to edit on film

because of the nature of the technology,
because it took a certain amount of time,

they had no choice but to have downtime,
to think they had no choice

but to think about the cuts
they were making

while they're rewinding film
or while they were changing a reel.

The difference with digital editing
now is that

we can do things so immediately we can.

We can just try things.

And I don't.

In a way, I don't think you can.

I don't think you can go back.

You can go
you can't go back to what we had before.

So I do think it's a reality that.

You work on

things, you try things because now
and then that can be a wonderful thing.

Because now instead of.

Instead of imagining

or trying to think of something works,
you can actually just try it.

So I do think that it's very important

to just edit and to try.

But there is a fine line because

there does come a time where.

You could spend.

More time than is efficient.

Just trying random ideas
where if you really just took a moment

to think about it
or to discuss it with someone.

You might come to an answer sooner.

So it is a little bit of both.

And I don't think there's any

easy answer in terms of
is it better to just edit it or do it?

Or is it better to think about it?
I think it's a little bit of both.

But one thing I will say is
I think that it's very good

to try to remain objective,
and that's very hard to do.

But if you can look at your film,
look at your scene different ways,

and I mean that literally and physically,

if you spend hours and hours
editing on your Avid or final cut

or premiere and you're looking at
it on a monitor the same way.

Anything you can

do to look at it
physically in a different way,

if you can look at it on your phone,
it feels different if you can look at it.

In the case of watching,

working on a big movie,
if you can look at it on a projected

on a big movie screen or even take a
cut of it at home and watch it on your TV,

I find that that helps you get objectivity
and look at things differently.

Sometimes when I'm editing
and I lose objectivity,

I can't tell because I've been working
a cut over and over again.

I will I will put a a flop.

I will flop the screen
direction on the image

and I'll look at it
because then there's a part of it.

There's an element of it
that becomes new to me

because the screen directions change.

I can judge the rhythm differently.

So I think there's little tricks like that
that that I do

to try to remain objective.