Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1256765
EDITING www.postmagazine.com 14 POST MAY/JUNE 2020 How many episodes are in the pipeline at one time? "They block shoot, so they shoot two ep- isodes at a time. So we'll get (Episodes) 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8. And then if there's a ninth, like there is in Season 4, we will just tack that on to the end. Usually we split dailies. Nat Fuller is the other editor of Season 4. So we will split dailies and we'll keep working. But as it gets deeper and as they start shoot- ing more and more episodes, you're not just working on one episode, you're working on all of them. Usually [there are] other directors shooting. Shawn Levy shoots Episodes 3 and 4. And now we have a new director on 5 and 6. And then the Duffers will do 1 and 2, and then 7 through 9. So while those other direc- tors are shooting, we're still cutting, but also working with the Duffers, who will be in and be doing their showrunner cuts on the prior episodes." When do the visual effects come in? "Well, especially now, [as] we're getting deeper into the season, the visual effects are so massive. Every episode is almost like a feature when it comes to visual effects. And so to ramp up visual effects in that kind of capacity, you can't do it too early because then the cost is just insane. So we turn over key shots for research & development. They start to get certain looks and create the different monsters…For Season 3 we turned over the Russian sequence right when the boys got back from shooting. That was Episode 1. To develop the laser and what that does to the wall…that all happens so early in the process. So in an answer to your question, it all gets delivered at the end, but it kind of, depending on when you turn the sequence over, it comes in drips and drabs. And [there are] many different vendors on the show for all the different things. I don't think one house could handle the amount of visual effects they have, seeing as every season we are always tripling the visual effects count." Once the final edit is done, does it go to another facility for an online assembly? "Exactly! That's what happens. We submit an EDL that Technicolor will put together, and then our colorist will start his grading process. The assem- bly process is actually pretty easy now. Technicolor has their process, where it almost auto conforms. And then we get an offline QuickTime of that conform and double check it with our cut. It's a pretty seamless and very painless process." Being a script-based show, is there room for you to have creative input from an editorial standpoint? "There is. Some of the actors will kind riff here and there, but it's pretty dead on. I mean, the Duffers write such tight and really focused scripts that there's not too much variance. But I will say the performances are what the Duffers al- low Matt and I one-hundred percent cre- ative freedom to try anything we want. And that really yields such an amazing work environment. "I brought so much comedy to Season 1 for scenes that were written as very dramatic scenes, and they kind of played it different. I always talk about this one dinner-table scene at the Wheelers'. They're all sitting around the dinner table. They're having this very intense discus- sion: Hopper just laid down a curfew, and they want to go out and find their friends. And Nancy wants to go see Steve Harrington, as it becomes obvious there's a love interest in Season 1. And I played it all through the eyes of their little baby sister, who's sitting in a chair, eating pan- cakes. I basically played the entire scene through her eyes, and it made for a com- edy…instead of this very kind of dramat- ic-written scene. And when they showed the Duffers, that cut has not changed a frame from when I showed it to them to when it aired. And they have really started to write more comedy into their scripts, which is so wonderful. And that was just a part of me exploring and trying a new perspective on something." How tough are the deadlines and delivering eight or nine episodes? "Rand Geiger, who's the producer of the series, has scheduled it down to absolute perfection, where we don't feel that kind of pressure. There may be a little pressure on mixing here and there, and maybe a little pressure on the music guy. It's such a well-oiled machine that everyone knows where we're going to have our shortcomings. Then we account for that. It's not stressful…And everyone is very respectful of the process. It's why [I] came back to TV — because this experience has become such a joy and pleasure to work on. It makes you want to go to work every single day, and not sit in quarantine, like we are now." Technicolor handles the online. Avid's NEXIS provides storage. Editors work at DNx36 resolution. The series is cut on Avid systems.