Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1488780
'Together' CONTINUED FROM PAGE 56 'White Noise' CONTINUED FROM PAGE 46 'Disney' CONTINUED FROM PAGE 70 83 W I N T E R Q 4 I S S U E he wrote that with stock shots, which to me is part of the power of editing; you can discover these things later. Everyone knows I wrote and directed the movie, so I'm not afraid to say that Matt works as a co-direc- tor and a co-writer, just like the actors do when you work together. CineMontage: I hear so many similar anecdotes from successful editors—go- ing that extra mile to try out an idea that could flop or it can really pay off. For some, it even started a career. Allen: I think two things allowed me to be in that space. One was working under really great editors like Matt Chessé and to be mentored by others like Kevin Tent and Alan Baumgarten through the ACE Eric Zumbrunnen Fellowship. You stand on the shoulders of giants — the filmmakers who have come before you — and you watch, learn and listen on how they went the extra mile. The second thing was having a director who was open to you saying, "Hey, this might be awful, but for your eyes only, let me know what you think." That creates a safe space where they can either love it or hate it without a bunch of other people watching. Those intimate moments of having an edit come together and fulfill a director's vision are some of my favorite things about editing. Gentile: Hiring Matt Allen makes me look good. He's going to push you to be bet- ter. He will tell me if I have something stuck in my teeth. You need that in a collaborator. You need people who are going to rein you in and tell you if it isn't working. It's all a constant conversation. ■ Rob Feld is a New York-based filmmaker and freelance writer whose work frequently appears in CineMontage. with the usual routine of preparing an assembly from which he then works with the director. "Which frees me up to just cut scenes and say, 'Hey, this could be cool to do next,' or, 'I think we could use this shot,'" he said, adding, "Noah is a very open and collaborative guy, but he also knows exactly what he wants to do." Scenes would be cut and recut until Baumbach and Hannam were satisfied, and then they would go to work on another scene, usually those surrounding the cut scene. "You just move inch by inch through the movie until you get to the end [and] it took us a long time to get to a [full] cut," Hannam said. "We would show half of the movie to a few people and talk about that, and then rework that." Lots of things were tried, but the movie's soul stayed the same. Hannam describes the role of the editor as that of a harmonizer of sorts. "My job as an editor is to bring together the elements that let the f ilm present itself with all pistons firing," he said. Few recent Amer- ican movies have as many pistons firing as "White Noise" — making it the perfect assignment for the kid from Winnipeg who watched so many movies and so much TV. "That's why I loved making this movie so much," Hannam said. "Noah is older than I am, but in a way we met each other on a lot of levels — musically and literature-wise and cinema-wise." ■ Peter Tonguette, a frequent CineMontage contributor, writes for the Wall Street Journal and National Review. the gangsters behind the IATSE were in- dicted for extortion of more than $1 million from the biggest studios and charged with fraud against the stagehands and projec- tionists. Friedman does not point a finger at Walt Disney for his possible antisemitic beliefs, pointing out that Disney worked with many Jews. Nor does he excoriate Walt for testifying and naming names before the Congressional House Unamerican Activi- ties Committee in 1947. Three of the men he named were business managers of the Screen Cartoonists Guild, and the fourth was Dave Hilberman, a layout artist at the studio and a strike leader who was indeed a Communist. Still, within the industry, Walt Disney's name was tarnished by accusa- tions of prejudice. Friedman does not follow up on the long-lasting animosity that existed for de- cades between strikers and non-supporters of the union. He presents Babbitt as the stronger, more principled of the two men, and the vitriol between them is almost glossed over in the final chapter, where he notes Babbitt's 2007 posthumous honor of being designated a Disney Legend, joining the company's official "hall of fame." Art Babbitt died in 1992, living more than a quar ter- century af ter Walt Disney 's death in 1966. Babbitt ultimately became a much-revered elder of animation, influenc- ing many artists. Disney became a mythic hero, the namesake of a huge corporation and a household name for millions of fans. Each man, in his own way, was forever marked by the strike. It is difficult to know whether either would have liked the Disney Legend designation. It is even harder to imagine what they might make of more recent events, such as the March 2022 walk- out of some Disney employees in support of LGBTQ rights. ■ The Disney Revolt: The Great Labor War of Animation's Golden Age By Jake S. Friedman 322 pages 2022 Chicago Review Press Betsy McLane is a freelance writer and documentary film expert whose work frequently appears in CineMontage.