Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/370852
34 CINEMONTAGE / SEP-OCT 14 features Cameron as a major character." Now living in Maui, Woo realized after retiring from the industry that "I have never experienced a filmmaking journey anywhere close to the one I had working on The Abyss." Largely relying on his powers of recall to write the memoir, he wrote the entire book standing up. "Standing upright is the best position for my thought processes, whether editing or writing," Woo explains. "Walter Murch turned me on to this method when I worked with him." Woo worked with Murch on House of Cards (1993), Romeo Is Bleeding (1993) and First Knight (1995). On all three projects, the editor requested that Woo be given screen credit as "associate editor" to reflect his contributions. In acknowledgment, Woo dedicated his book to Murch as "my mentor and friend who made filmmaking fun and not solely work." The memoir is a clear, technical exploration of the film production and post-production process before digital tools took over. It also strongly supports the view that The Abyss made history developing techniques for underwater filming and sound recording as well as for its visual effects, for which it won an Oscar. "I was the first feature assistant ever to order a CGI effect creation," claims Woo. In addition, he offers an engrossing depiction of the intense working relationships behind an intricate big- budget location shoot in Gaffney, North Carolina, with fascinating glimpses into the creative personalities involved in the film — from writer/director Cameron, producer Gale Anne Hurd and editors Joel Goodman, Conrad Buff, ACE, and Howard E. Smith, ACE, on down to the PAs. Woo started writing the book in 2011 and finished a first draft in 2013. He received feedback from friends on the production and continued to tweak it into early 2014. Along with corrections, he incorporated cultural and historical references to give a sense of how the world was touching people's lives in 1988 and 1989. With the writing completed, Woo decided that publishing Life's Abyss as an e-book would be most Joe Woo, Jr. Left, Joe Woo, Jr. in the editing room of The Abyss in 1989.