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48 C I N E M O N T A G E LOTUS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31 represented the impact of being hit with a fist. Boden loved it. "We gave it to our visual effects editor and started comping those in. We considered using 'BOOM!' and 'ARRGH!', and then our supervisor handwrote those on the frames. It was a total evolution that we did together in post." That notion of "experimenting until you break it" came to be the ethos of the movie, and something Komatsu said he'll take with him on future projects. "The Legend of Sleepy Floyd" is the final chapter that ties together the other story threads of the film. It took place on May 10, 1987, when the real-life Golden State Warriors' Eric "Sleepy" Floyd scored 29 points in the fourth quarter of a playoff game against the "Showtime" Los Angeles Lakers — a record that still stands today. The famous performance stuck with Fleck because it meant that sometimes, the un- derdog wins. The film's theme of being an underdog who rises to the occasion and shows resil- ience in the face of adversity also resonated with Komatsu. "I feel like it should strike a chord for everyone who's felt like an under- dog at some point," he said. "And I feel that it grounds the film for everyone. As Sleepy says in the movie, 'Unless you're a Nazi scumbag, this movie is probably for you.'" The way the characters come together to become unlikely allies in the film will stay with him, too. "I love the diversity that we have in the film, and I love the message, especially about fighting against antisemi- tism and homophobia," he said. "It's crazy that I feel like this film resonates even more today than when Ryan and Anna were con- ceiving and writing it." ■ FREAKY TALES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33 talked a lot as he kept a wish list of pickup shots and B-roll he thought we needed. He had so many great ideas, and I can't say enough about his excellent work. It was a great collaboration. Scott and I shared editor credit on the finale. After I had a full assembly, Scott took one portion of it and worked with Mike while I took the other. Scott took complete ownership of his episodes. He was very generous to share credit on Episode 6 with his assistant editor, Kyle Traynor, who cut many scenes. Kyle had already been an editor on HBO's "Industry" and Amazon's "Utopia," but because he loves and respects Scott so much and was a big fan of "Lotus," he agreed to step in as Scott's assistant. Mentorship is important. My assistant editor, Zoe, is terrific, motivated, and wants to be an editor. I always say to her, "You have access to these dailies, cut as much as you want. Practice cutting as much as you can and we'll go over it." When she had time, she would take it upon herself to cut scenes and then show them to me. She cut enough on one of the episodes to earn an additional editor credit. CineMontage: How does music bring the show to life? You're using Thai music? Valerio: We always try to use the local music to help make our locations fully realized characters as much as possible. This season, we used all Thai style elements a n d n e e d l e d ro p s. [ No te : Th e o r i g i n a l meaning of "needle drop," which is to use a popular song or other well-known music, was to place a phonograph needle on a vinyl record.] In the premiere, we featured one of Thailand's all-time greatest hits, "Made in Thailand," by Carabao, one of its greatest bands. Also featured in the premiere is a Thai cover of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man." Our associate producer, "Bird" Pinitsanpirom, sent me an Instagram post made by a young Thai man who was watching the show in Thailand. He started crying when he heard the song because his deceased father had recorded it so long ago, and the young man thought it had been forgotten. It surprised him so much and made him glad to hear it in our show. I think music is the most powerful art form. It can transport you to another time and evoke memories and emotions you'll re-live. I love adding music and editing music in my cuts. It's such a critical part of my process. My dad started me on the violin when I was four, so music has been a big part of my life and continues to be a big part of what I do. CineMontage: The sound in "The White Lotus" makes you feel like you're in the jungle. How did you mix the show? Valerio: For our playback mixes in Kauai, our sound team set up a remote room with 5.1 surround. We worked live with our talented team, supervising sound editor Kathryn Madsen and re-recording mixers Christian Minkler and Ryan Collins, who were on the dubbing stage in Burbank. The sounds of the jungle are authentic and were mostly recorded on location — the birds, cicadas, monkeys, and all the atmo- sphere. We tried to use these sounds as an organic score — for example, raising the sound of cicadas to match a rising level of anxiety when Timothy is talking to his law- yer on the phone, realizing that his whole world is falling apart. My assistant Zoe de- serves a lot of credit for the very thorough, detailed, and polished sound work she did on our Avid temp mixes, which were crucial to the final mix. Now that I'm home, looking back at all the months I was in Thailand and then many more doing post in Kauai — it totaled more than a year — it feels like it wasn't real, that it was all a dream. ■