Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1436481
days and provide feedback. Xico says the artist is incredibly collaborative and wants to hear ideas, but also knows what she likes for the final edit. "Depending on the song, she would probably want to see more of the close ups, more of the dance/choreography," Kasiuha explains. "It all depends on the song and how you edit it first. I did [a] song — I had zero notes! She loved it right away and it was approved. Some songs, we were going back and forth." Xico adds that he was always con- scious of "making sure that she looks great, the show looks great and the dancers look great." But, he adds, "We have to tell the story in there." Madonna's feedback, he recalls, might be, "'OK, I love how the story is told, but we're losing choreography. So, let's keep this story but let's bring choreography in.' And then we would do that…'Okay, now there's way too much choreography, and now I'm not in the song enough, so now you need to bring me back in.'" Xico describes the evolution of the edit as a process — one that hopefully starts with a strong foundation and only gets better. He recalls one segment that he worked on, where he felt he really nailed it. "I was like, 'Oh my God. This is the best edit that I've ever done! It's incredible! I'm so proud of this." Madonna agreed that the base was good, but now they needed to "take it to the next level." The feature's final run time comes in at 92 minutes, the length needed to execute Madonna's vision of what Madame X should be. "It's her movie, and once she sets her mind…You know, it's artistic choice," says Kasiuha. "I feel like, of all the artists in the world, if there's someone who would be like, 'F- -- you! This is what I want it to be!' They would have to accept it or not," adds Xico. "If someone told her, your film has to be an hour and a half, she would make it three hours!" Rather than keep the entire film on their timelines, Kasiuha and Xico export- ed final song edits as QuickTimes, freeing up resources within their editing systems. "And that's basically what we were as- sembling at the end," says Xico of the files. Company 3 handled the color grade and conform. Visual effects were created by The Artery, and Harbor, in New York City, completed the final mix. www.postmagazine.com 17 POST NOV/DEC 2021 The SKNX team used iMac Pros running Adobe Premiere for the edit. Concerts for the Paramount+ feature were shot in Portugal and France. Madame X draws on 40 years of Madonna's visual assets.