Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546034
47 F A L L Q 3 I S S U E BEAST CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27 DTF CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33 channel to work. I think he was aware of the strengths that the traditional team brought and also held true to what Jimmy (MrBeast) wants done with his content and brand, creatively and editorially. Also, an unsung hero is Bernardo Herrera, the office manager/post supervisor at Beast Studios. He had a great attitude, always, despite be- ing overworked himself, and always got us set up technically and with the equipment we needed. And lastly, Chris Keiper, who is the post executive producer from the traditional TV world. Managing a team with so many different personalities, strengths, and ex- pectations — and knowing how to navigate working with a network — is not something just any EP can do. Chris was exceptional at steering the ship, keeping everyone happy, and keeping morale high. Kiesecker: It was very forward thinking for MrBeast and the YouTube channel to take the step to unionize on the second season. A lot of us didn't have our union benefits like healthcare at first, and union- izing in season two gave everybody their healthcare and their pension. I think that's one of the most important things for a lot of us — having that peace of mind to have our hours and to be able to retire sometime. It's good to see the YouTube world moving toward being union-friendly. ■ This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Koepke: My favorite scenes are the ones where you realize how earnest everybody is. You think there's this investigation going on and this seedy murder and someone's done something really bad — and in the end, it was just that the characters were doing their best. Without that kind of sweetness, I don't think the show would have been successful in the way that it has been. Some of my favorites are Carol sitting alone in the backyard in her umpire uni- form, or the pool house scenes with Floyd and Clark dancing in their underwear. There's something so sweet about it, and it reframes all the other plotlines into this very human sweetness rather than this pre- meditated cop show. I lean toward the really sweet scenes because they remind you that these people are just doing their best. Scheidegger: There's also a scene where Clark is in the lobby — in the concrete room where Richard Jenkins (Homer) is inter- viewing him. Kevin would have us review scenes with him during the editor's cut, and because Janet knew the footage (by ScriptSyncing the whole show with me), she caught a very unsettling reaction from Clark that Kevin used to elevate the scene. I told Kevin, "Don't let anyone change a frame of that scene," because to me, it was perfect cinema. And luckily, the scene didn't change. It got a little bit shorter, but it still gives me chills. K e v i n w a s a r e a l l y g r e a t m e n t o r throughout the whole series. He would throw me scenes throughout, and in Epi- sode 3, he gave me one that's still one of my favorites: the conversation between "Mod- ern Love" and Floyd at the diner, where they talk about their love-life circumstances. To me, it was a chance to get to know a bit more about their personal struggles under the surface and showcase their real humanity. CineMontage: How did sound change the tone of particular moments like those as the story progressed? Adelman: The swing set was an evolv- ing, moving sound that shifted the level of tension in each scene. It was extremely sub- tle. The interrogation rooms also evolved from episode to episode, as did the scene in the atrium where they discover Floyd's body. We added or subtracted elements to emphasize the moments rather than create a totally different sound because, as in a film, you want it all to tie together. CineMontage: How were sound and music used to tilt scenes toward tension, absurdity, or sweetness? Adelman: There's some highly defined sound design in the show, and the locations provide opportunities for that. The back- grounds are super-important. There are design moments for everything, so when we got to the dub stage with re-recording mixers John Cook and James Parnell, we had the opportunity to interpret what my team had provided to make sure that it does indeed reflect the vision of the show, because every once in a while, we go crazy and need to roll ourselves back. We were given the time, opportunity, and budget to go through those materials and make sure they told the story properly, rather than from an ego-driven point of view. But rebalancing the episodes in a show i s a c o m p l e te l y n o r m a l a c t i v i t y. E v e n though this is technically a limited series, I approached it like a film so that when the episodes were rebalanced, we provided audio continuity. Music editor Ellen Segal has been attached to every Steven Conrad project, and composer Alex Wurman has worked with him on film and TV projects since 2008. Since these are relationships I already have with that part of the depart- ment, I can reach out to Alex or Ellen and say, "I'm going to get out of your way…. This is a moment for music." So it's collaborative. Collaboration is the word I'd use over and over again in this process. ■ This interview has been edited for length and clarity.