Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/832212
50 CINEMONTAGE / Q2 2017 time. I had to make room for that by making other things a little bit tighter. CM: Why is the use of these common techniques to transition between scenes frowned upon? AH: I think the trick is to not draw attention to anything in the edit as far as the cuts or sound goes. It's a very understated, un-self-conscious approach. This is a general aesthetic that applies across most of Simon's productions. CM: So jump cuts are out? AH: Funny you should ask! There is a scene in the episode of The Deuce that I directed in which Maggie Gyllenhaal [Eileen] is going through her wardrobe and getting dressed for a date. It was a nicely orchestrated and elegantly shot scene. We got the point pretty quickly and the scene was hovering around 45 seconds with no dialogue, so we toyed around with jump cuts that ended up saving us probably 15 seconds. MB: We talked about it in the edit when we were doing it. You said not to do it because the producers would never go for it. AH: I said to keep it in your back pocket. When we shot it, we intentionally crafted the shots to accommodate that, so if it needed to happen later it could. KS: I think there's also a difference between using jump cuts as an elegant solution to an editing problem, as opposed to making jump cuts to emphasize the style and have some fun with the edit — like a Breaking Bad montage. CM: How do you split your allegiances between the directors and the producers? Alex Hall.