Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545125
28 C I N E M O N T A G E F E A T U R E played it in the wide shot after the trash pickup, it was better. The bag was so heavy, and seeing the drone, in one practical shot, move at that angle and wrap itself around the light pole — I think that's pretty em- blematic of Vince's humor. McCaleb: It had that Buster Keaton quality: play it in the wide; it's going to be funnier if you do it as practically as possi- ble. Over the years, you become exposed to someone's sensibility. Vince has a very specific sensibility, and part of that is: Don't cut if you don't need to. He also prefers, when possible, not to reuse shots. When he's directing, he designs his shots around that strategy. With other directors, you can't always do that because the schedule only allows so much coverage. Some scenes will require reusing an angle, and he totally understands that. But whenever we can, we try not to reuse shots. Macdonald: He'll shoot different angles of the master — different places in the room — so you can go back wide but not reuse the same piece. CineMontage: Gilligan loves tracking the minute details of processes his characters go through. What's a memorable sequence from "Pluribus"? Macdonald: Zosia f lying the C-130. People in that world know everything, so she knew how to fly a plane, and we got to experience the entire startup process. There was a lot of footage, too. That was a lot of fun to put together. Liew: What would this character do and how would they do it? Sitting, opening a can of dog food — McCaleb: — or taking a painstaking trip across South America. It starts with genuine curiosity about why people do what they do and the processes of how things work. That curiosity is infused in every frame of the show, every frame of the dailies. Then the challenge for us is how best to tell that story and where to be, which is the same challenge any editor has: Whose perspective are we in? Where do you want to be, and when? Especially in scenes like that. In an episode Joey edited, Carol is covering Helen's grave with paver stones. That's a montage about process, but at the heart of it is a woman grieving the loss of her wife, the woman she loved. There's al- ways something going on under the surface behind that process, because just like real life, there's always something behind all of our processes — Liew: — and layers and layers. Macdonald: Everything ties to some- thing else down the road. At some point, you get the answer. C i n e M o n t a g e : T h e s h o w t r u s t s the audience. McCaleb: You just said it. I think we all share the ethos of trusting the audience: assume they're intelligent and perceptive, trust them to put the pieces together, and have the patience to know the story is going somewhere. Peter Gould did this as well on "Better Call Saul." We're going at our own pace, but ultimately it'll be worth it. Macdonald: I've come to realize the au- diences that watch Vince's shows are smart. They pick up on this stuff really quickly. We do trust them and rely on them to find these things. It's special to work on a project Vince created and to watch the story unfold. We're also figuring this out as we go, which is fun — opening all these doors and seeing where they lead. ■ P H OT O : A P P L E T V GILLIGAN'S ISLAND: A scene from "Pluribus."