Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545125
27 S U M M E R Q 2 I S S U E F E A T U R E if you still hear traffic. In real life, people are around; we can't completely eliminate civilization in production. So we use the iZotope RX filters to bring everything down to almost-silent levels, except dialogue. We'd strip away the world and then rebuild the worlds that Carol and Manousos are living in, which are very different lives from those most of us have any experience with. I couldn't tell you the last time I was truly off the grid. On other shows, you can some- times paper over emotions with different sounds or with music. On this show, we generally don't do either. We don't temp- score. Our amazing composer, Dave Porter, will watch it for the first time, and then in our spotting sessions with Vince, we'll talk: Is this a spot for music? If a scene doesn't work without music, it's never going to be as great as it could be. If you're using music as a band-aid, it's always an additive, never the foundation. CineMontage: Can you talk about an emblematic moment that captures the cutting pattern — the minute detail into those big wide shots; that Gilligan grammar? Macdonald: For me, it was the opening of Episode 2. We start on the boots walking up the hill, and when she gets to the top, we come around wide and see the whole landscape — where she is and everything that happened. That's the grammar we work with. Over the years we've worked with Vince on different shows, the wide shots have become standard for us. They're beautiful, and they can sustain a hold because the characters are so strong. We'll stay in shots much longer than most other shows on the air. It's a testament to the look of the show and the actors that we're able to do that. CineMontage: How about a moment that speaks to the show's humor? Liew: The sequence in Episode 5 when the drone picks up the trash. The drone was supposed to pick up the trash and swing it toward Carol, almost hitting her. There was a lot of coverage. We found that if we just Joey Liew. Chris McCaleb. P H OT O : A P P L E T V A VERITABLE DYSTOPIA: Rhea Seehorn in "Pluribus."