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FILMMAKING www.postmagazine.com 27 POST JAN/FEB 2023 N etflix's All Quiet on the Western Front tells the story of a young German soldier during World War I, who, along with his comrades, experience first-hand how the initial eupho- ria of war turns into desperation and fear as they fight for their lives. The feature was directed by Edward Berger and is based on the bestseller of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque. All Quiet on the Western Front received nine Oscar nominations for this year's Academy Awards, including one for Best Picture. Additional honors include nominations for Cinematography (James Friend), International Feature Film (Germany), Makeup & Hairstyling, Music/Original Score (Volker Bertelmann), Production Design, Sound (Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte), Visual Effects (Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar), and Writing/Adapted Screenplay. EDITING Sven Budelmann edited the film adaptation of the novel, and wanted to distinguish this project from previous features by exploring the realism of the first World War through a documentary-style portrayal. The film's score by Volker Bertelmann reflects the characters' emotional state without overpowering the visuals. Budelmann works as a freelance editor and has his own studio in Berlin. He used a Mac Studio with the newest Avid Media Composer version installed, a classic three-monitor setup, and a three-speaker LCR setup to work in Dolby ProLogic. "The media is stored on a Promise RAID," he explains. "We also set up a remote system, which mirrors either the desktop monitors or the output from the Avid DNxID box. We started with a lower resolution DNxHD LB, which we replaced with DNxHD SQ after the principal." Principal photography started in the Czech Republic in February of 2021, which was a peak time in the COVID pandemic. "Unfortunately, I couldn't be close to the set this time due to restrictions, so I worked from Berlin and sent QuickTimes of what I had cut to director Edward Berger every evening. He always wants to be in close contact during shooting and know if everything works out." Filming was completed at the end of May and Budelmann began working on the director's cut. In this pass, Berger wanted to ensure that it included all of his favorite takes. "In July, we had a first version, which was only five minutes longer than the final cut," says Budelmann. "From there, we got deeper and deep- er into the details. Edward is extremely focused, and I was inspired by how he always questions things in the cut. I always try to focus on deliver- ing the director's vision. That's why, even before shooting, I wanted to meet him in-person or on the phone and engage him in conversations about existing films, music and tonality. This way, I get a sense of where we are going. "For me, editing is the most creative part of film- making," he continues. "It's not just about cutting the picture, it's about the whole package: picture, sound and music. Everything influences the tonality and the story. In the editing room, we can work on all these elements at the same time. This is the mo- ment when we explore all possible directions, look for the best performances, change the rhythm, in- sert invisible split screens to improve timing, replace dialogue for better intonation, and work out the cinematic architecture of the scene. We completed the picture lock by the end of October." While the film needed to meet the demands of the book and the two film adaptations that already existed, Budelmann says taking a new, modern look from a German point of view — without he- roes or glory — is what drew his interest. "Simply — and unadorned — show of the sheer brutality of war in a maximally-realistic way, almost like a documentary," he says of his goal. The film's many battles were challenging, and Budelmann says he spent a lot of time exposed to the powerful and bloody images of war. "That certainly leaves traces behind, even if I wasn't aware of it during the work. It was only at the premiere a few weeks ago that I realized how extremely violent the film is, although these were the same scenes I had worked on for months. Even the raw footage looked very real because it was important to Edward to use as little VFX as possible. It helps the actors in their performance, and the scenes develop their full effect already in the camera." He points to the crater scene, when Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) stabs a French soldier and then tries to save him. "The raw material was hard to bear," he recalls. "I can genuinely say that I felt bad for hours after- ward. You might expect the fight scenes to be the hardest to cut, but they were so extremely well executed that it was fun to cut, if one can say such a thing in this context at all. For example, we have these long tracking shots that look great in their own right. So, you can't really cut that much." Finding the right pace and balance between violence and moments of silence was more challenging. "When has the viewer endured enough and needs a break? For example, the nature scenes — they weren't in the script, and our incredible cinematographer James Friend shot the beautiful images in his spare time in the forests of the Czech Republic before the shooting. There was tons of great footage. We used those as a contrast, as a breathing space between the intense war scenes to create distance." The film's soundtrack also plays a strong part in the telling of the war story. "Sound is always very important to me in my Budelmann cut the film using Avid's Media Composer. Budelmann