Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1532181
vid Butler; dialogue editor Emma Present; music editor Chris Newlin; and re-recording mixers Will Files, MPSE and Tom Ozanich. CineMontage: Nathan, you started on the film and were later joined by Shane. What was your approach going in? Nathan Orloff: Jason is incredibly pre- cise in what he shoots. He can be incredibly confident: "This is the way into a scene" or "This is going to be here." He rarely shoots a widespread shotgun blast of "Get everything — figure it out in post!" That's not Jason's style. There are times when that shot he thought was going to be the opening shot was actually split in two, and then we cut back to it 30 seconds later, but there weren't tons of alternate ideas left on the cutting room floor. We just wanted to keep what was singing and lose the stuff that wasn't moving the story along. CineMontage: Do you like to let scenes play out in long takes when they've been shot that way? Orloff: I have this little voice I try to listen to when I'm watching something. If I'm enthralled and it's working, I don't have any desire to cut. CineMontage: But it sounds like you had freedom to intercut scenes in a different order than might have been planned. Orloff: Originally, the moment where Gilda is on the crane was separate from Jim Henson talking to Garrett Morris, and Dan Aykroyd talking about the gun under the bleachers. In the shooting, those were just singular little scenes, but when we intermingled all three, it told the story of: "This cast is out of control." There's a lot of creativity in the placement of scenes, even though there aren't many different angles and coverage. CineMontage: What was the workflow on the film like? Orloff: I was in Atlanta from the begin- ning. Jason and I were very close on set. They shot Monday through Friday, and then Jason and I would spend Saturday together. I would show him everything I had done that week. One of the wonderful things about the movie existing on one night is everyone is in the same costume the entire shoot and lighting doesn't change. I had a running note list of little pickups I'd love to grab, and it was easy to get these — close-ups of Lorne freaking out or something. It was a testament to Jason working closely with the edit. Shane was still f inishing "Deadpool & Wolverine," so he started working on assembling scenes towards the end of the shoot. Once we got back to LA, he joined us in full force. That was an interesting and wonderful dynamic. I'm happy with how it worked out because Shane had a slightly outside perspective from coming in later. CineMontage: Shane, did it feel like you were a fresh set of eyes? Shane Reid: I think one of my strengths as an editor is that I came up doing a lot of short-form work. I could be an objective person and sort of re-look at material as a fresh voice: "Yes, you may have conceptu- alized it this way, and may have executed it this way, but there are also other ways of putting it together." On "Saturday Night," I was the first person to be able to step back and say, "Cool, but let's check this out" or "Let's do this with this here." I think it helped Nathan unlock a little bit. CineMontage: What were your impressions of what the movie needed? Reid: We watched the assembly of the film with Jason just a few days after they had come back from shooting. We had it assembled and into shape enough at that point to watch it very early on. I had been scrambling to assemble scenes and keep up with the camera. Immediately, I thought the film was not frenetic enough. There were a lot of pacing issues out of the gate because some of these things that seemed like really well-orchestrated long shots did slow the rhythm down on film, even though they seemed chaotic at the moment. CineMontage: The film should feel like we're struggling to keep up with what's going on. Orloff: The idea was for the audience to join the film and say: "Wait a minute. This is going really fast. I think I'm following this. What's that person's name? Who is that again?" But hopefully, by the midpoint, you are totally into it and want everyone to suc- ceed. That flow, that dynamic, was intended to sort of mirror what all the characters are going through in putting on the show. No one [involved with the show] had ever done anything like this before. CineMontage: Yet amid all the chaos, we have Lorne's cool, implacable disposition. Did you feel the movie was kind of anchored by his presence? Orloff: Absolutely. He's the thread Shane Reid. Nathan Orloff. 21 S P R I N G Q 1 I S S U E F E A T U R E