Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1256765
EDITING www.postmagazine.com 13 POST MAY/JUNE 2020 be an editor. And I was kind of ghost mentoring him, if you will. So I wasn't necessarily involved as far as the day-to- day cutting, but if there were any issues or problems, I would take a peek at it and get some notes. And then [they] called me back for Season 3. I was available and it wasn't even a question. I was like, 'Yeah, let's go. When are we going to start?'" Has the show evolved since that first season? "It has evolved. We've been using the Red cameras for Season 1, 2 and 3. Season 4, we're switching formats a little bit. We're moving to the (Arri) Alexa. But as far as workflows, they've all stayed the same. The only difference is it's just exponentially bigger." What resolution are you working at, knowing that you'll be delivering in 4K for Netflix? "We deliver 4K, but, just because of the amount of storage that we need, we're still working in the DNx36 world. What we found is DNx115 is a little taxing on the systems, especially when you're basically carrying nine full features. And that's how we really look at it. So it does tax the system a bit and [the ability] to move as quickly as we want to. DNx36 has been around forever. It's tried and true. It's super stable, super fast, and it's fine. And if the Duffer Brothers really need to see something, we just jump into our DI suite and look at it there." Where are you typically working? "Where we're at a post facility in Hollywood. Of course, we can't disclose the location, but it's in Hollywood." You hinted that you're cutting on an Avid? "We are. I like to think of myself as a little more tech savvy than the average Joe out there. I have been working with Avid for a very long time. I'm actually beta testing. I would normally alpha test, but on a series like Stranger Things, I try not to do that just because there are too many issues that happen. But I love to beta test stuff. For Season 3 I definitely was beta testing the newer version of the Avid…We have a pretty elaborate setup with our NEXIS servers. I think we have 128 terabytes of storage." Who is providing you with dailies? "Technicolor is our post facility. All the media usually pushes through them and then comes to us, unless it's a unique situation, where we are on a distant loca- tion and they will use a local facility that will push us media, and then Technicolor will get it and vet it. And if there's any issues or problems, they'll fix it. But everything's been fine so far…We get it through Aspera." What are the demands for your delivery? Are you delivering one episode at a time to meet an ultimate deadline, or are you delivering them all at the same time? "The way we set it up — and this was really kind of in the inception period of Netflix's post workflow — Kevin Ross, who was the other editor of Season 1 and Season 2 as well — Kevin, has been doing TV for a very long time, where as I've done features for a very long time. Basically, what we've done is we've taken both workflows from TV and features, and combined them. So we basically cut all of the episodes and get them done, and get visual effects started as soon as possible. And we do all our finishing work at the end, so all of the mixing, all the color correction, and all the scoring, all the music — all that happens at the end. It allows us the most time to have the creative freedom to go in and tweak the episodes to make them as good as possible. And that's now become the paradigm and model that Netflix uses on all their shows." Technicolor provides dailies for editorial.