THE AWARDS - American Cinema Editors
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THE MAGAZINE FOR FILM & TELEVISION EDITORS, ASSISTANTS & POST-PRODUCTION PROFESSIONALS
T H E A W A R D S I S S U E 1
IN THIS ISSUE
THE TRIAL OF
THE CHICAGO 7
HILLBILLY ELEGY
DEATH ON THE NILE
TENET
TED LASSO
AND MUCH MORE!
US $8.95 / Canada $8.95
QTR 4 / 2020 / VOL 70
F O R Y O U R C O N S I D E R A T I O N I N A L L C A T E G O R I E S I N C L U D I N G
BEST PICTURE • BEST FILM EDITING
TARIQ ANWAR
“A CRITICAL KNOCKOUT, KINGSLEY BEN-ADIR ELI GOREE
humanizing and celebrating ALDIS HODGE LESLIE ODOM JR.
A REGINA KING FILM
the four icons and all they
stood for”
“A POWERFUL DRAMATIC
WORK ABOUT FOUR OF
THE MOST IMPORTANT
FIGURES OF THE
20TH CENTURY.
It takes these men
and makes them feel
fully alive again, and
it makes their passions
and beliefs feel
relevant to today”
FOUR LEGENDS. ONE LEGENDARY NIGHT.
C O N T E N T S
CINEMAEDITOR 2020 4QTR
STOCK FOOTAGE
08 EDITOR'S CUT
What’s New!
News & Announcements 04
A Message from
10 the Board
Aspects of Editing
Stepping Stones 37
BY JASON ROSENFIELD, ACE
ACE Debuts
EditFest Global
20 The new virtual event
Tech Corner/ and online portal
Where the World launched on Aug. 29
is Going
BY HARRY B. MILLER III, ACE 42
ACE Internship
44 Program
Cuts We Love Goes Virtual
Super 8
BY ADRIAN PENNINGTON
FEATURES
26 28 30
Trial of the Chicago 7 Death on the Nile Hillbilly Elegy
Alan Baumgarten, ACE, reteams Úna Ní Dhonghaíle, ACE, James Wilcox, ACE, examines
with Aaron Sorkin on the is at the scene of the crime family responsibility in Ron
writer/director’s historical drama for Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot Howard’s biographical drama
BY SCOTT LEHANE BY ADRIAN PENNINGTON BY SCOTT LEHANE
32 34
Tenet Ted Lasso
Jennifer Lame, ACE, straps Melissa Brown McCoy and
in for Christopher Nolan’s A.J. Catoline bring a kick
time-traveling spy thriller of optimism to viewers
BY ADRIAN PENNINGTON BY NANCY JUNDI
02 CINEMAEDITOR QTR 4 2020 VOL 70 Cover: The Trial of the Chicago 7 (L-R) Sacha Baron Cohen, Jeremy Strong. Photo by Niko Tavernise. ©2020 Netflix.
4 CRITICS CHOICE
DOCUMENTARY AWARDS
NOMINATIONS INCLUDING
IDA DOCUMENTARY
A W A R D S
BEST DO C UM E NTARY FEATURE BEST DO C UM E NTARY FEATURE
B E S T D I R E C T O R GARRETT BRADLEY SHORTLIST 2020
“ONE OF 2020’S GREAT DOCUMENTARIES...
a two - decades - spanning epic of love, devotion and perseverance”
“A MASTERPIECE...
transportingly emotional, urgent work”
AMAZON ORIGINAL MOVIE
F O R YO U R CO N S I D E R AT I O N I N A L L C AT E G O R I E S I N C LU D I N G
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
BEST FILM EDITING
Gabriel Rhodes
amazonstudiosguilds.com
A MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD
Welcome to the latest issue of CinemaEditor. must have aired between Nov. 2, 2019 - Dec. 31, 2020.
ACE is pleased to release the 2021 ACE Eddie Awards The complete Eddies calendar follows, below.
schedule, reflecting changes to the overall awards sea- ACE also continues to monitor how members are
son calendar. As a result, you’ll see that this issue is adjusting to work during the pandemic, while staying
themed “Awards 1.” The first quarter issue of 2021 will safe. We’ve recently sent out a new Best Practices – Work
be renamed “Awards 2,” enabling ACE members to read from Home survey, and your responses are appreciated.
about even more of the season’s movies. During this challenging time, keeping our community
A few notes about next year’s Eddies: The presentation connected is more important than ever. To that end, we
has been scheduled for April 18, though the format is want to gratefully acknowledge the speakers, sponsors
still in discussion. Next, we’re happy to introduce a new and more than 800 participants in this year’s virtual
category, Best Edited Animation (Non-Theatrical), which EditFest Global, which you can read about in this issue.
will showcase animated series and other content released With the event, the EditFest Global website has been
for TV and streaming platforms. launched and we look forward to sharing additional
Please note that Eddie eligibility periods have been year-round content from the ACE community through
revised. Eligible feature films must be released between this new platform. Please stay safe.
Jan. 1, 2020 - Feb. 28, 2021. Television category entries –The ACE Board of Directors
2021 ACE Eddie Awards Schedule
PLEASE NOTE: TV eligibility dates are different from Feature this year
TELEVISION: Must have aired between Nov. 2, 2019 - Dec. 31, 2020
FEATURE FILMS: Must be released between Jan. 1, 2020 - Feb. 28, 2021
November 2, 2020 Submissions for Nominations Begin
February 12, 2021 Submissions for Nominations End
February 19, 2021 Nominations Ballots Sent
March 8, 2021 Nominations Ballots Due
March 11, 2021 Nominations Announced
March 19, 2021 Final Ballots Sent
March 19-26, 2021 Online Blue Ribbon Screenings
March 26, 2021 Final Ballots Closed
April 9, 2021 Deadline for Advertising
To Be Announced Nominee Cocktail Party
Awards presented Sunday, April 18, 2021 (Location TBD)
04 CINEMAEDITOR QTR 4 2020 VOL 70
CRITICS CHOICE DOCUMENTARY AWARDS
NOMINEE
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
“ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FILMS OF THE YEAR”
“A documentary of supreme relevance that has the effect, at once CHILLING AND ROUSING, of a political cautionary tale”
“The filmmakers bring the past alive with a passion and clarity that is RIVETING”
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION IN ALL CATEGORIES INCLUDING AMAZON ORIGINAL MOVIE
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
BEST FILM EDITING
Nancy Novack
amazonstudiosguilds.com
Official Periodical of American Cinema Editors, Inc. Founded November 28, 1950.
EDITORIAL STAFF
EDITORIAL CONSULTANT INTERNATIONAL EDITOR ART DIRECTOR EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Carolyn Giardina Adrian Pennington Luci Zakhary Peter Zakhary
BUSINESS AFFAIRS
PRODUCTION MANAGER PRODUCTION COORDINATOR PRODUCTION ASSISTANT ADVERTISING & DISTRIBUTION PRESIDENT
Jenni McCormick Marika Ellis Gemmalyn Brunson Peter Zakhary Stephen Rivkin, ACE
VICE PRESIDENT
ADVISORY BOARD
Carol Littleton, ACE
Edgar Burcksen, ACE Harry B. Miller III, ACE Andrew Seklir, ACE SECRETARY
Lillian Benson, ACE
CONTRIBUTORS
TREASURER
Carolyn Giardina is an award-winning journalist and The New Grammar of Stereoscopic Filmmaking (Focal Stephen Lovejoy, ACE
author who serves as tech editor at The Hollywood Press, 2012) and his favorite film of all time is Gilda.
Reporter, with responsibilities including its Behind the
Screen coverage. She is also co-author of Exploring 3D: Jason Rosenfield, ACE, is a three-time Emmy®Award-
The New Grammar of Stereoscopic Filmmaking (Focal winning film editor, producer, director and writer and
Press, 2012). One of her first assignments at the start member of the faculty of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. BOARD OF DIRECTORS
of her career was a feature story about editing – and she His narrative credits range from Robert Altman’s Come Anita Brandt Burgoyne, ACE
has enjoyed covering editors ever since. Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean Jacqueline Cambas, ACE
to improvisational TV comedy Free Ride. His work has Dorian Harris, ACE
Nancy Jundi has been a contributing writer to Cinema- included Oscar®-nominated Blues Highway; R. J. Cutler’s
Editor since 2006. She is the COO of DigitalFilm Tree, a Tina Hirsch, ACE
Emmy Award-winning series American High; HBO’s Emmy
post-production and entertainment software company in
Award-winning doc Memphis PD; Dick Wolf's NBC cinema
Maysie Hoy, ACE
the Los Angeles area. Bonnie Koehler, ACE
verite series Crime & Punishment; Mark Jonathan Harris’
Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine; and Mary Jo Markey, ACE
Scott Lehane is a freelance journalist who has cov-
Jordan Peele’s four-part Amazon series Lorena. He has Michael Ornstein, ACE
ered the film and TV industry for over 20 years.
served as Associate Director of the ACE Board, three Sabrina Plisco, ACE
Harry B. Miller III, ACE, is a feature, television and terms as Governor of the Television Academy and almost
two decades on the Academy’s Picture Editors and
Kevin Tent, ACE
documentary editor. His recent credits include Turn:
Washington’s Spies and The Predator. Documentary Peer Groups Executive Committees.
Adrian Pennington is a journalist, editor and marketing John Van Vliet has worked in animation and visual
ASSOCIATE BOARD
copywriter whose articles have appeared in the Financial effects for more than 32 years. Although his involvement
Times, British Cinematographer, Screen International, The on bad pictures far outnumbers the good ones, all Kate Amend, ACE
Hollywood Reporter, Premiere, Broadcast, RTS Television have provided raw material for his drawings – for which Dana Glauberman, ACE
and The Guardian. He is co-author of Exploring 3D: he’s grateful. Mark Helfrich, ACE
Andrew Seklir, ACE
SUBSCRIPTION, ADVERTISING & CONTACT INFO
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F O R Y O U R C O N S I D E R A T I O N
I N A L L C A T E G O R I E S I N C L U D I N G
BEST PICTURE
BEST FILM EDITING
JAMES THOMAS • CRAIG ALPERT, ACE • MIKE GIAMBRA
“SACHA BARON COHEN’S
BEST MOVIE TO DATE...
THIS BRILLIANT, VULGAR PLEA FOR
A BETTER WORLD CUTS DEEP AND
HIS SEARING BRAND OF HUMOR HAS
NEVER FELT MORE ESSENTIAL”
“HERE, SHOT AND DELIVERED
AMID AN UNPRECEDENTED
GLOBAL PANDEMIC, IS
A STAGGERING ACT OF
COMEDIC REVOLT”
W H A T ' S N E W !
NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
CONGRATULATIONS WELCOME
The 2020 Creative Arts Emmy Winners for Editing
®
American Cinema Editors would
like to welcome new ACE members:
OUTSTANDING SINGLE-CAMERA PICTURE OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING
EDITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES FOR A NONFICTION PROGRAM ACTIVE
Succession “This Is Not for Tears” Apollo 11 Isaiah Camp, ACE
Bill Henry, Editor Todd Douglas Miller, Editor Sam Citron, ACE
Venya Bruk, Additional Editor Julie Cohen, ACE
OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING Rachel Cushing, ACE
FOR A STRUCTURED REALITY OR
OUTSTANDING SINGLE-CAMERA PICTURE
COMPETITION PROGRAM Cameron Dennis, ACE
EDITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES Mark Eckersley, ACE
Insecure “Lowkey Trying” RuPaul’s Drag Race Andrew S. Eisen, ACE
Nena Erb, ACE, Editor “I’m That Bitch” Jim Flynn, ACE
Lynarion Hubbard, Additional Editor Jamie Martin, Lead Editor Andrea Folprecht, ACE
Michael Roha, Editor Mollie Goldstein, ACE
OUTSTANDING MULTI-CAMERA PICTURE Paul Cross, Editor Justin Goll, ACE
EDITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES Michael Lynn Deis, Editor Ryo Ikegami, ACE
One Day at a Time “Boundaries” Benjamin Massoubre, ACE
Ryan Mallick, Editor Joseph Matoske, ACE
Cheryl Campsmith, ACE, Editor
Masayoshi Matsuda, ACE
OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING Paul Millspaugh, ACE
OUTSTANDING SINGLE-CAMERA FOR AN UNSTRUCTURED
PICTURE EDITING FOR A LIMITED SERIES REALITY PROGRAM LaRonda Morris, ACE
OR MOVIE Stephanie Neroes, ACE
Cheer “God Blessed Texas”
Watchmen “A God Walks in to Abar” Steven Nevius, ACE
Arielle Kilker, Supervising Editor Kyle Schadt, ACE
Henk Van Eeghen, ACE, Editor David Nordstrom, Supervising Editor
Kate Hackett, Editor AFFILIATE
OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING FOR
VARIETY PROGRAMMING Daniel McDonald, Editor Marcos Horacio Azevedo
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver Mark Morgan, Editor Anderson Boyd
“Eat Shit, Bob!” (segment) Sharon Weaver, Editor Andrew M. Cohen
Ryan Barger, Editor Ted Woerner, Editor Mengle Han
Liam Johnson
James M. Martin
BY JOHN VAN VLIET
ADVERTISER INDEX
IFC Motion Picture Editors Guild
01 One Night in Miami
03 Time
05 All In
07 Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
09 Small Axe
11 Sylvie’s Love
13 Uncle Frank
14 Blackmagic Design
15 The Boys
SHORT CUT COMIC
16 Amazon FYC
18 Amazon FYC
21 Palm Springs
23 Adobe
24 The Looping Group
25 Avid Technology, Inc.
36 Cutting It in Hollywood
39 Onward
40 EditFest Global
41 Soul
BC Editors Recognition Petition
08 CINEMAEDITOR QTR 4 2020 VOL 70“ THE TACTILE
INTIMACY AND
GORGEOUS
FLUIDITY OF BEST EDITED LIMITED SERIES
THE VISUALS IS
ENHANCED
BY THE LOOSE
RHYTHMS OF
THE EDITING ”
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
AMAZON ORIGINAL SERIE SStepping
Stones
BY JASON ROSENFIELD, ACE
The following is an excerpt from the memoir of Jason Rosenfield, ACE, Everything Has Meaning: Confessions of a Film Editor,
Chapter 9, “Stepping Stones.” Rosenfield is a three-time Emmy® Award-winning film editor, producer, director and writer and
member of the faculty of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. His credits range from Robert Altman’s Come Back to the Five and Dime,
Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean to Jordan Peele’s four-part series Lorena. This excerpt is reprinted with the permission of Rosenfield;
a memoir publication date was not confirmed at press time.
Los Angeles, 1999. American High is my first time editing a the first time I’ve seen her angry … I search backwards, to
true cinema verité – “truth cinema” – documentary, attempting the day before and the day before that. What pissed her off?
to capture real life without narrators or interviews, just a couple Then forwards. Where might this go?
of cameras following suburban Chicago high school seniors on A camera crew captures young Marjorie breaking up
the cusp of adulthood. It’s a bold concept for a Fox TV prime- with a boyfriend. She throws something in his face – a note –
time series – the most exciting project I’ve worked on in years. and marches away. Why? Do I look back a month for clues that
If it succeeds, it could establish a new television genre. led up to this? Or does the breakup start her story arc – a catalyst
Editing cinema vérité leaves nowhere to hide. No fancy that puts things in motion? Which is the stronger approach?
montages, no explanatory title cards, nothing to save my butt Too early to tell. What about that teary close-up? Good, remember
when I can't fill a hole in the story. Everything has to happen in it, but it may be too on the money. I’m basically writing the
scene. But what an opportunity! For all their bravado and angst, script and sketching out rough scenes at the same time, because
every senior is on a hero’s journey, preparing to confront the if I can’t make it work seamlessly on screen – if I have to over-
fiercest of dragons – freedom. It’s not going to be compelling to manipulate and force shots to fit the scenario in my head –
safely observe our young champions. I want the audience to feel the editing becomes a distraction, and all my story insights are
the collision. Without them noticing what I'm doing. useless. Believability hangs in the balance.
That’s a very seductive proposal. It’s easy to get antsy watching endless dailies. There’s the
Along with co-editor David Tedeschi, I’ve scoured footage temptation to high-speed through, looking for the big bits –
coming in from the field for eight weeks, looking for potential a fight, a kiss, a dance show. But big bits are a result of little bits
characters and story beats, and stringing them into visual that precede them. And each big bit creates little bits that lead
timelines – casting portraits for a handful of producers and up to the next big one. And so on. Whenever I’ve been tempted
writers to assess. Some major events can anchor individual to skip past the minutiae, the story falls apart.
episodes – a football game, a year-end musical, graduation. But Slow down. Be present. Subtext is nuanced by nature. Watch.
I seek more than iconic moments. We need evolving story arcs Listen. And empathize. What does envy look like? Lust? Betrayal?
that can play over multiple episodes. Zero in on the screen like an iris at the end of a silent movie, to
At first, my explorations are based on hunches – hints of the exclusion of everything and everyone else. I’m good at that.
something deeper, like spotting one half of a popular couple Just ask my wife and kids.
holding someone else’s hand. I stay alert for anomalies in What is truth? Is it objective? Or subjective? Cinema vérité
personalities. One arrives at a party and I think Wow, that’s filmmaking is grounded in the belief that one can capture
10 CINEMAEDITOR QTR 4 2020 VOL 70 Above: Jason Rosenfield, ACE. Photo by Lynn Lobban.real life in the making. But the second I make a cut, aren’t I a character’s inner life – but its roots are in my dance training.
changing reality? If I cut a 60-minute football game down to Even when unmoving, a dancer is never dead weight. He’s alert,
a three-minute sequence, I create an illusion: cinematic time aware and awaiting. It’s the same for everyone – even silent and
passing as real time. If I insert a sunset to add poignancy, still, we instinctively react to the world. We smile, we slump,
I’m manipulating mood. Say a guy yells at his girlfriend, we shrug, we frown. Our fingers twitch, our nostrils flare, our
and the camera never swings around to grab her reaction. shoulders rise, our eyes drop. Find those shots, put them in the
What do I do? In a more traditional documentary, I could right places, and you’ve got subtext.
use an interview, letting her tell us what she felt at the time. Why can’t it work in documentary as well? I know where to
I’m skilled at using pauses – like someone waiting for the next look, and I know how to spot them. Watch the dailies again –
question – to indicate an inner life beating beneath the words. but without sound.
But I’ve got to solve problems in the scene. What if the shot I start with Robbie. Turn off the lights. Mute the audio, hit
I need doesn’t exist? play. Let the silence strip everything of context. Slip my mind
What I finally land on is this: capture the truth of someone’s into neutral and focus on what I can reimagine as unconscious
experience. If it’s a broken heart, tell that story. If I need to reactions to an action word, or thought – There. Just before he
combine two lines of dialogue into one for something to make turns off his camera – the slight head shake, the small smile …
sense, so be it. If I need to steal a shot from a different scene I know he’s been talking about his da – Forget that. Try it
to add emotional power, fine. As long as I don’t turn a yes into against Brad laughing over his fear of telling his best friend …
a no. As long as I don’t embellish or lie. As long as I don’t and I love Robbie flipping off the camera. Clever but organic…
change the experience. What else, what else…
Robbie the soccer captain is the first character to take shape I experiment with timing and juxtaposition. I play with
for me, a trigger point setting other stories in motion, like a cue transitions. I audition music cues, building emotional continuity.
ball on a pool table. Not much of a first impression. Easy going. Hours later, I’ve stitched together a rough portrait of the black
Stoner. No known enemies, flame-haired girlfriend. Decent eye affair, the emotional truth of their experiences sometimes
grades, nice family, no discernable problems. Until there are. overt but often implied over a rough story arc.
The first clue comes in one of his video diaries. To help gain Implication is something I know from my dancing days.
permission to shoot, the production gave inexpensive cameras My body has never been flexible – I couldn’t elevate a straight
to a number of interested students to use at school. Nobody leg above my waist without throwing my center – read balance
takes their footage seriously until we realize they’ve been taking – off. A dancer with the Martha Graham Company saw me
the cameras home, to the privacy of their rooms. The results struggling with this in class, said he had the same problem and
are raw, real and surprising. While our crews follow their lives, offered a solution – a deception – that can fool an audience.
these diaries have been capturing their secrets. Never quite reach the upper limit of your leg’s full elevation.
Robbie’s at home, it’s night, and as usual he’s toked up. Keep moving it in that direction, slowly, stretch the moment out,
While bitching about his parents’ and his girlfriend’s anxieties, closer – until it’s time to move somewhere else.
this pops out: Oh, and I got red-carded at a game today. What? Never getting to the end created the illusion of greater
I rewind the footage and listen again. Red carded? Mellow, height. I could imply something that was never there. When I
team captain Robbie? I'm no soccer player, but I know it means first arrived in the editing room, I already knew this instinctively.
he’d been kicked out of the game. I mention it to showrunner It’s a poorly sung piece of music that finally leads me to the
R. J. Cutler, but don’t get much of a response. tone and style of the show. I discover a shot of Brad sitting at
A week goes by: more diaries, and a bigger clue – Robbie’s his school locker at one end of a long, empty hallway. He looks
got a black eye. He got into a fight when somebody made a drained after a long day – or so I imagine. Maybe brooding.
crack about a friend named Brad. Tedeschi hasn’t encoun- Or bewildered. And I recall a song Robbie sings in one of his
tered a Brad. My assistant searches the field logs, finds a Brad, video diaries, his scratchy late-night stoner voice murdering a
we start following him and stumble onto his mother recounting Bob Dylan lyric after yet another argument with his dad: There
that when Brad was 5, she and her husband were already must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief…
wondering if he was gay. I find Robbie’s shot, mark the opening lines, then cut Brad’s
Ah. shot just behind it. Robbie’s singing continues over Brad closing
We’re soon stitching together odd bits and pieces of dialogue his locker and starting his lonesome walk down the deserted
from the boys, their parents and friends – enough to establish hall. Another half-verse in, I cross-fade Robbie’s voice with
that I’ve found a love story: Robbie and Brad grew up together, Dylan’s own recording, let it take Brad out the door. I rewind,
they’re best friends, and Brad came out to him first, in their sit back to watch … and something happens.
junior year. But these are past events – none are on camera. I don’t have a clue yet where this scene might fit into the
Important information, yes, but with little emotional resonance. season. But I don’t really care right now because I’m being
I need to find a visual language to tell their story. lifted from my chair by an alchemy of shots, lyrics, timing and
There’s a trick I learned about physicalizing the unspoken emotional investment that’s whispering follow me. Get on the
while cutting Bob Altman’s ensemble drama Come Back to train, go for the ride, let the story unfold itself. American High
the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean – visual clues to is coming to life.
12 CINEMAEDITOR QTR 4 2020 VOL 70Introducing the World’s Fastest Editor
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Well. Maybe not…
BY HARRY B. MILLER III, ACE
M
icrosoft creates operating systems that are designed to to upgrade my least-used Mac computer to see the results.
work on a huge variety of computers, new and old. Most I have a Mac mini in my TV setup, used to play movies off an
of the hardware it runs on is not made by Microsoft, but external drive, and as a way to access HBO Max. HBO became
by the likes of Dell, HP or Toshiba. unavailable on Roku and TiVo, my preferred devices. The Mac
Apple has one customer for its operating system: Apple. mini can also play Amazon Prime in a browser, or Netflix on the
With updates to the hardware, implementing new technologies, application Clicker. Whatever it broke wouldn’t stop me from
Apple designs software to take advantage of those changes. They getting work done.
work in tandem. But it can leave customers who’d want the new
features with older Apple hardware out of luck. And software Upgrading from Mojave, macOS
developers for Apple have to update their programs to run on the 10.14, to Catalina was simple.
new Apple operating system. Some don’t, or financially can’t, so The Setting icon in the dock
their programs can no longer run on the new computers. regularly would prompt to make
Catalina is its name, macOS 10.15. It’s the latest OS. the upgrade.
The biggest, most important thing to know about Catalina is it
will not run a LOT of software you may be used to using. Upgrad- The next screen was a one click upgrade.
ing might break many of your essential workflow programs.
The same may be true for macOS 11.0 called Big Sur, which is in
beta testing as of this writing.
The reason is the transition from 32-bit to all 64-bit
applications – 32-bit is the floppy disk drive of software. Steve
Jobs dropped the floppy drive to much public gnashing of teeth
to move the world of computing forward. Catalina won’t run
anything that is, or has components that are, 32-bit. Programs
like Avid Media Composer. It would be an unhappy surprise to
find you’ve bought a brand new MacBook Pro, but your editing
software doesn’t work on it.
The software developers at Avid have been working diligently
to update Media Composer to work on the new macOS. Catalina and then
was released in October of 2019. They delivered Catalina-
compatible Media Composer in April of 2020 (hence AMC
version 2020.4). But some components didn’t make the update
because they had 32-bit components. Avid has not updated those,
and replaced them with the new Titler+.
The parts left behind included the Title Tool and Marquee.
Both were replaced by Titler+, the new AMC title tool. Media
Composer also wouldn’t support QuickTime, meaning there’d no
longer be outputs of Same-as-Source and QuickTime Reference
(ask your assistant what that means). I held my breath. Well, not really. I’d be dead if true. It took
I have long declined to upgrade any of my Macs to Catalina. 30-40 minutes of downloading and rebooting before the new
Basically, I was afraid of what it would break. But I decided background for Catalina showed.
20 CINEMAEDITOR QTR 4 2020 VOL 70 Screenshots courtesy of Harry B. Miller III, ACE.F O R YO U R C O N S I D E R AT I O N
BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM
(COMEDY)
Mat t hew Friedman, ACE
Andrew Dickler
THE MOST
“
ORIGINAL COMEDY
OF 2020 DEADLINE
”
.longer work. And that was it. So, what programs did it break?
Surprisingly few. When Apple says we’re going 64-bit, most all
Mac developers start updating their applications.
The only two of my commonly-used applications that would
no longer work are MPEG Streamclip and QuickTime 7. There
are a lot of other applications that can replace MPEG Streamclip
as a compression tool, such as Adobe’s Media Encoder, Apple’s
Compressor and Handbrake. QuickTime X replaces 7. Certainly
not the end of the world.
I know Media Composer works on Catalina because I’ve read
enough stories of people using it. It isn’t a completely smooth
transition. A lot of people are having a hard time adjusting to the
Titler+ tool. And exporting is more complicated. But it does work.
A new folder, ‘Relocated Items,’ appeared on the desktop. Ultimately, upgrading wasn’t the nightmare I expected. And
These are components that because of being 32-bit will no next up is Big Sur.
Where the Michael Nouryeh is working from home as a second assistant
on the feature film The Tomorrow War. His system was setup by
World is Going
FotoKem and includes a Mac trash can and two monitors. The
Nexis media storage is in Hollywood. From his Mac at home,
Michael logs into a remote Windows PC workstation, as do all the
crew except for the editor, Roger Barton, ACE.
Wait, what? Windows? HP’s Remote Graphics Software
B
ecause of the lead time to publish this magazine, it’s (RGS) is used for the remote connection. It has no Mac version.
difficult to know what will have changed by the time you Michael opens a Windows workspace where he runs Avid
are reading this article. With any luck (and we are way Media Composer which is at a remote site. All of which sounds
due), we’ll all be getting back at work and almost normal. Until like a clunky arrangement, mixing computer operating systems
then, we have to adjust to the current situation. I interviewed four over the internet. “Playback can lag, based on your internet
people for their perspective on how we’re adjusting. speed,” says Michael.
His primary task is to keep Barton, who has media stored
Steve Welke is a post producer working on The Stand for CBS locally in his edit room, in sync with everyone else. He is
All Access. The entire miniseries had been shot by early February using FotoKem’s globalDATA system for asset distribution and
except for final scenes, which were planned for a week of shooting transfer. Each morning he looks at the Nexis and checks every
in Las Vegas. As the reality of the pandemic set in, it was decided partition for new renders, music, sound, projects and VFX.
that each editor would work from home. A copy of the full shared There are no dailies as production long ago wrapped. They are
storage was made for each editor, assistant and VFX editor. Eight currently awaiting on the actor Chris Pratt to become available
copies of the entire mini-series, plus a backup. Three editors got for additional shooting.
two 20TB RAID drives. The assistants and VFX team each got The biggest problem with working remotely is isolation.
48TB RAID drives. Each system in addition has a 4TB drive for “I miss the osmosis of information one absorbs when editorial
local renders. is working together in offices. When working remotely, my
The Las Vegas shoot was completed in August. Each day’s experience so far is that 99 percent of the information is doled
media was no more than 5GB so the lab pushed media directly out via text/email/Slack on a need-to-know basis,” says Michael.
through Aspera Cargo to each system.
TeamViewer is one method of communication between the Tim Kinzy is waiting for the restart of the CW series Charmed.
remote workstations. It allows one computer to muck around in To finish the previous season, they used local drives with copies
a remote system. A system called Resilio Connect/Sync has been of the media. But for the upcoming season they are planning
used to keep each workstation’s RAID media in sync. It can be set something similar to The Tomorrow War. They are working
up and customized to sync media over peer-to-peer technology, with Moviola which is recommending Teradici, which uses a
which is similar to the file transfer service Aspera. proprietary system called PCoIP technology to do the same thing
For remote collaboration they use Evercast on some systems. as HP’s RGS software. The editor logs into a remote Windows
Pacific Post has made other remote connections. PC, which opens a window on their local Mac. “You can’t do full-
Steve’s evaluation: “Can it be done? Yes. Is it better? No. What screen playback very well” with this system, according to Tim.
took a day takes three to four.” And “at least for dailies, local storage is ideally the way to go.”
22 CINEMAEDITOR QTR 4 2020 VOL 70Editing that makes an impact. Discover how the versatile tools in Adobe Premiere Pro help editors tell inspiring stories, like Netflix’s Crip Camp, Disclosure, and Athlete A. Visit: adobe.com/go/stories Creativity for all. © 2020 Adobe. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, and Adobe Premiere are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
The Pacific Post collaboration system was demoed. “Playback And how many times will the editor have to explain to producers
was very smooth, even when multiple users were logged in,” and directors why everything is so slow?
according to Tim. A Frame also has solutions for streaming Avid playback to
producers and directors for collaboration, i.e. alternatives to
Andrew Seklir, ACE, is the founder of A Frame Post, an editing Evercast, or Frame.io.
system rental company. His company offers two options for shows
that can be modified to fit individual needs. The first is PC-over- So far it seems the trend is to set up editing systems to accom-
IP. It is essentially the same as the two previous remote setups, modate the studios’ fear of the internet. I suspect producers
where the user logs into a PC workstation and operates Media and directors will likely find the results hardly bearable. When
Composer remotely. A Frame’s recommended remote system your neighbors are all watching Tiger King and your internet
uses TGX Remote Desktop, from Mechdyne. Editors and AE’s speed slows to a crawl, so will your progress. And it is the
use two-factor authentication and a secure VPN connection to log editor who will get yelled at. Rather than listen to the people
into their remote Avid workstations. who know, the studios are listening to the most conservative
But the more interesting solution involves having each editor security advocates, who won’t care if it doesn’t work as
keep a copy of the media locally, which takes out the vagaries long as the dailies on your average boring sitcom are secure
of internet connections. Each home workstation has a 20TB- at the studio. Sheesh.
32TB RAID/NAS (network attached storage) from Synology. I am currently setting up a remote show for Hallmark.
All workstation RAIDs have the exact same media. To accomplish The shoot is in North Carolina and Nashville, the post house is
this, each Avid workstation has an Aspera connection which pulls in Connecticut, and editorial is in Los Angeles. As I’ve done on
down dailies from the cloud. Render files, user-generated media, previous remote shows, the producers will send a shuttle drive
project files and bins are scheduled to sync overnight (or at the each day from set. My assistant and I will sync in person (from
push of a button) between the NAS stations using GoodSync. a respectable six feet away, masked). We’ll use Frame.io to share
And software called Mimiq is used to facilitate file naming and cuts with the director and producer. There may be some director
bin locking. The Synology workstations live behind a firewall, but visits to my house for her cut … um, after I get tested and pass.
assistant editors are able to remote into their editor’s NAS and But there is only one editor, so it is quite simple.
manage media and files on the other Synology workstations. We’re getting this figured out. There will be growing pains.
The advantage to local storage is apparent. It is fast. Going Maybe the studios will get the message about improving the
through your internet connection to a remote workstation, to log workflow. Like everything these days, I’m not optimistic.
into a Windows machine is full of pain points and potential errors. So be patient, and stay safe everyone.Thanks to all of the
talented editors and assistants
that use Media Composer®
to tell their stories.
©2020 Avid Technology, Inc. Avid, the Avid logo, Media Composer, and POWERING GREATER CREATORS
are registered trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc.The Trial of Baumgarten was nominated for an Oscar® in 2014 for his
work on American Hustle and has been nominated for five ACE
the Chicago 7
Eddie Awards, winning two for American Hustle and the 2008 TV
film Recount, which also earned him a Primetime Emmy®.
Shooting started last October with eight days in Chicago to
film the riot scenes and get other authentic location shots. Over
Alan Baumgarten, ACE, reteams with Aaron Sorkin the course of two months from October to December most of the
on the writer/director’s historical drama rest of the film was shot in a courtroom set built in New Jersey.
“During production, I was here in Los Angeles, editing the
dailies with my crew,” explains Baumgarten. “We used the same
editing rooms we used on Molly’s Game [Pivotal Post’s Sunset Ave.
facility]. They’re very close to Aaron’s house and it made it easy for
him to come and go whenever he liked.”
During December, the editor had some time to explore the
material while working on a first cut, before really getting down
to business in the beginning of January. But of course, they didn’t
see COVID coming.
“We finished Aaron’s director’s cut and we were prepared to
screen it for the executives in a theater on the lot, as one normally
would, but that was literally the week they introduced the stay-at-
home protocol in Los Angeles and the State of California,” says
Baumgarten. “So we all quickly disassembled the editing systems
and brought our Avids home to our individual workplaces.”
From that point on, the film was posted securely online and
BY SCOTT LEHANE Zoom calls replaced in-person meetings as the team quickly
adapted to the new normal. The post team was geographically
A
aron Sorkin’s new historical drama The Trial of the quite spread out, with the visual effects company in New York, the
Chicago 7 looks at one of the most tumultuous trials music editor in Hawaii and the composer in London.
in U.S. history after a group of activists were charged Baumgarten reports that while COVID was probably the
with crossing state lines with the intention of inciting riots biggest challenge he faced on this film, “we figured out a way to
at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. do it. We all just communicated remotely and sent the material
The defendants, played by an all-star ensemble cast, represented back and forth as needed and continued to refine the cut and
a range of different political movements, from pacifist conscien- fine-tune it to a place where we eventually locked the picture
tious objectors like David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch) and and went into the final finishing parts of post-production –
student activists like Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne), to cultural the sound, music and the DI.”
revolutionary Yippies like Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) “There were delays due to the pandemic that we just had to
and Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), as well as Black Panther co- work with,” he adds. “[For example] there was no orchestra that
founder Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) who had left could perform the score until things opened up a little bit more
Chicago by the time of the riots and was denied legal counsel at in London. So we were set back about a month for that. But we
the trial. But they all came to Chicago with a common purpose – managed to work and communicate in a very fluid way, and I
to protest the Vietnam War. think that’s partly because of the stage we were at in the process.
It was a tumultuous time in U.S. politics, as a generation We were in really good shape and ready to fine-tune the film when
of activists rose up to protest an unpopular war that seemed we had to separate and start working remotely. Had it been earlier
unwinnable, or at least, not worth the cost in casualties. in the post process, it might have been more of a challenge.”
When Sorkin first wrote the script over 14 years ago, he Baumgarten says that while they reviewed certain films like
couldn’t have foreseen how it would resonate with the current Haskell Wexler’s critically-acclaimed Medium Cool, which is set
events of 2020. Paramount originally planned to release the film during the riots, as well as films like Argo, Detroit and Straight
theatrically, but due to the pandemic, the distribution rights were Outta Compton. “As an editor, I really take my lead from the script
sold to Netflix with an Oct. 16 release date, landing right before and the material that’s there. And Aaron is very specific with his
one of the most contentious U.S. elections in history. (This issue dialogue and also the structure of his film. There’s freedom to
of CinemaEditor went to press prior to Election Day). experiment and explore, but Aaron gave us a great launching-off
After shopping the script around for several years, Sorkin point from which to build the film.”
decided to direct the film himself. Fresh off his 2017 film Still, much of the film’s dynamic tension really came out in the
Molly’s Game, he shared the script with Molly’s Game editor editing room. In particular, the film frequently jumps between the
Alan Baumgarten, ACE, in 2018, who was keen to work with riots, the courtroom and scenes of Hoffman describing the events
Sorkin again. to a crowd of college students.
26 CINEMAEDITOR QTR 4 2020 VOL 70 Top (L-R): Caitlin Fitzgerald, Alan Metoskie, Alex Sharp, Jeremy Strong, John Carroll Lynch, Sacha Baron Cohen and Noah Robbins.
Photo by Niko Tavernise. ©2020 Netflix.“Some of that jumping back and forth was created editorially
because it just felt right,” Baumgarten recalls. “Aaron had laid
that out for the most part, as he likes to jump back and forth
in time. So he will indicate it in places, but that specific area
became a little bit more intricate to build more tension leading
up to the riot. So we jumped into the riot, but then we paused for
a brief moment as Abbie describes the use of tear gas, and then
we continue on.”
He explains that he cut based on the energy and rhythm
that came out of the riot sequences, “but for other areas where
Abbie’s talking about the convention and narratively giving
us a run-through of the story, we followed the script and then
adjusted as it felt right to illustrate some of the things that were
being said.”
Humor also helped break the tension at times. “There’s a
clever type of humor in the film that provides ironic commentary
on something that may have happened or is about to happen.
And that certainly helps when you have a buildup to a tense
moment, and then you can deliver a bit of a commentary on that.” The editor explains that Sorkin was very involved in the
For Baumgarten the trick is knowing when to hold the editorial process. “He primarily focuses on the pacing and rhythm
tension, and when to break it up. “It’s fun to play with that as of the dialogue and the tone of how the lines are being delivered.
we refine the edit.” He likes to get the dialogue right first, and then we’ll work on
In one of the film’s most intense scenes, Bobby Seale is swapping out shots, whether it’s a close-up or a medium shot or
dragged from the courtroom, roughed up by guards and then a different reaction. But as far as the visual, he encourages me to
brought back, bound and gagged. It was a key moment to hold assemble a structure that I think is right.”
the tension, as we see the expressions on his co-defendants’ faces, Baumgarten explains that he’s worked with his assistant editor
before even the prosecutor (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) felt compelled Christine Kim a few times before. At the end of post-production,
to object to his treatment and move for an immediate mistrial. she was bumped up to the title of additional editor. “She’s a very
Baumgarten reports that they did a lot of work to build the talented editor in her own right. She was very involved creatively
tension between Hayden and Hoffman – co-defendants with very and ran a great cutting room as well. I looked to her with every
different ideas of how to proceed. Hayden is basically a straight- sequence I put together to be my first viewer.
laced kid who is legitimately afraid of going to prison. Hoffman, “She has a great sense of clarity and precision and I trust her
on the other hand, sees the trial as political theatre and seems taste and her judgment, and I was able to give her sections to work
determined to turn it into a circus. “From the very beginning of on and say, ‘Here, have a go at this.’”
the prologue, we juxtapose Tom Hayden and Abbie Hoffman back They were joined by assistant editor Brandon Marchionda,
to back, and right away, you get that they are coming at it from whom Baumgarten says mapped out some of the visual effects
different points of view.” shots, doing comp work and temp VFX elements that would serve
At one pivotal moment, the defendants pass around a note, as a guide. Machionda coordinated with the VFX vendor, New
deciding not to stand up when the judge calls them to rise. But York’s Brainstorm Digital.
Hayden ignores the note and stands for the judge. The moment Kaitlyn Ali rounded out the team, serving as editorial pro-
lingers long enough to see the reactions of the other defendants and duction assistant. “She had great energy and great ideas and
underscores the tension between Hayden and his co-defendants. was also very involved in the discussions,” says Baumgarten.
“We were all very passionate about this project, about the subject,
the opportunity to tell this story and to work with Aaron. It was
really a pleasure and a lot of fun for all of us.”
During this interview with Baumgarten, conducted in early
October, he said he hoped that the film would inspire people to
vote. “It’s part of this film – how important voting is and the need
to be involved in the process of our democracy – that it does
take work and how important it is to fight for our rights of free
expression and dissent.
“While we were working on it, we had no idea of the events
that would be happening the past few months,” he concludes.
“But now more than ever, it feels urgent that those things are not
only respected, but upheld and it requires people understanding
that and responding.”
Aaron Sorkin and Alan Baumgarten, ACE. Photo by Nancy Kirhoffer. Top (L-R): Christine Kim, Brandon Marchionda, Kaitlyn Ali and Alan Baumgarten, ACE. CINEMAEDITOR QTR 4 2020 VOL 70 27
Photo by Kaitlyn Ali.Death on
the Nile
Úna Ní Dhonghaíle, ACE, is
at the scene of the crime for
Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot.
BY ADRIAN PENNINGTON
D
irector Kenneth Branagh assembles an all-star cast of Audiences love a good whodunnit because of the fun to be had
potential murderers for Death on the Nile, a new feature in teasing out the red herrings from the facts of the case. They like
adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1937 novel. The follow- to be their own detective. The trick for the filmmaker is to give
up to 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express, has famous Belgian an audience just enough rope to play along with, but not quite
detective Hercule Poirot tasked with solving the death of an enough that they guess who did it before the final curtain.
American heiress on board a honeymoon cruise in Egypt. Like “That’s what I found fun about working on this film,” says
Orient Express, it is written for the screen by Michael Green, Ní Dhonghaíle. “You can plant seeds that are going to pay off
photographed by Haris Zambarloukos, BSC, with production later. With a sound or an image that you plant early on and echo
design by Jim Clay. later you hope the audience will have a little rush of recollection
The editor on this occasion is Úna Ní Dhonghaíle, ACE, and think that that person did it. Then five minutes later the
(The Crown, Three Girls, Stan and Ollie) who cut episodes of suspicion has switched to another person.
detective drama Wallander starring Branagh and edited the “The script contained all the verbal clues but we had such
Branagh-directed William Shakespeare tragicomedy All Is True. a strong cast of actors who all seemed to live their characters.
The whodunnit genre (like the 1978 feature version of Nile I made sure I saw everything that was shot to catch those little
starring Peter Ustinov) has been recently satirized by Rian ad libs that Ken had encouraged his actors to deliver.”
Johnson’s Knives Out with Daniel Craig as a Poirot-esque sleuth Viewing all the dailies also helped to catch the non-verbal
complete with rogue accent. CinemaEditor wondered if that had cues. “For example, if there was a little flick of the eye I could
played into the filmmaker’s approach? steal like a magpie and use it to maybe hold a fraction longer.
“Both Ken and I had seen Knives Out and we loved it but Or, if there was a big clue and we didn’t want to signpost it,
Death has a much darker story and is definitely not a pastiche,” I might be lighter, more implicit – I didn’t linger in the cut.”
says Ní Dhonghaíle. “Our film is a little more serious than that. She adds, “Knives Out celebrates a more pastiche style, using
Michael wrote a beautiful script that gets under the skin of sound design or flashbacks to telegraph clues. In our film we
Poirot a bit more. Ken also wanted that subjectivity and was wanted to throw it away a bit more, make it a bit more subtle
willing to go darker.” and not reveal too much that might give the game away. We were
Ní Dhonghaíle is an Agatha Christie fan and says she mindful of an audience who may not know the book or have seen
enjoyed previous incarnations of Poirot by actors including previous versions, so we want to keep them guessing.”
Peter Ustinov, David Suchet, Ian Holm, Albert Finney, Alfred Another delight for an audience in watching one of the
Molina, even Orson Welles. Christie canon on film is the all-star ensemble. Death On The
“Poirot is one of those well-known characters that generations Nile features Gal Gadot as unfortunate heiress Linnet Ridgeway,
of audiences are willing to take in any form and expression,” with Emma Mackey, Annette Bening, Armie Hammer, Letitia
she says. “That’s because Christie has created a character that Wright, Sophie Okonedo, Ali Fazal and British comedy stars
warrants interpretation in different ways. Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French and Russell Brand.
“What I like about Poirot is that his quirkiness, and things that “The challenge is to craft a picture that meets audience
are deep in his psyche, enable him to solve the riddle.” expectations of seeing their favorite actor while balancing the
28 CINEMAEDITOR QTR 4 2020 VOL 70 Top: Kenneth Branagh. Photo by Rob Youngson. ©2020 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.screen time for each without letting the pace slack. We had a
really great script with a cast of incredible characters each with
their own reason to murder.
“The first cut was massively enjoyable but 40 minutes too
long – so the task was to hone it by losing some scenes and
collapsing others while maintaining the essence. The challenge
of shortening is something I enjoy. You want to feel the visceral
nature of the scene by shrinking it or merging things together so
that you don’t ever notice anything is missing.”
Principal photography last Autumn was at Longcross Studios,
just outside London, where Ní Dhonghaíle was stationed. Having
championed her usual assistants to go solo on their own shows,
she arrived needing a new team. She quickly called up first
assistant Simon Davis and VFX editor Matt Glen, both of whom
had worked on Branagh productions before. Joining them were
Sarah Bowden second assistant; Katie Nicholls, editorial trainee;
and Thora Woodward, assistant VFX editor.
“They were all brilliant. Simon would organize all the rushes.
I would start cutting what was shot that day. Then I would give
the scenes to Simon and Sarah and they would begin doing
sound design,” Ni Dhonghaile says. “Matt was also with us
from week one and began painting in any bluescreen backdrops.
It meant that by Friday I could send Ken the first-week assembly
that looked and sounded pretty good. That’s a good boost for
any director. All directors need a good editorial team just to give
them a little email to say ‘well done, it’s beautiful’ but for them
to see it is even better.
“Every week I would send [Branagh] that week’s cut but
halfway through the shoot I pulled the whole film together so he “The big thing with the pandemic is that everyone pulled
could view it. We were in constant communication about anything together. From the top executives on down everyone was kindness
he needed to drop or pick up, but because of time pressures it was and consideration,” she adds, noting that Disney Co-Chairmen Alan
a bonus to be able to watch it together at this moment and know Bergman and Alan Horn, 20th Century’s president of production
where to go from there.” Steve Asbell, Michael Green and producer Judy Hofflund “had
It was also beneficial to project the film, shot on 65mm, at to review on PIX and I was struck by how gracious they were
Longcross’ screening rooms for editorial, the camera team, and in accommodating this. They quickly sent over notes to us.
art department. Glen was able to drop in backdrops from the Ken would digest them, attack them and we had another screening
location shoot in Egypt so Ní Dhonghaíle could cut those in one week later, so it was a really quick turnaround.”
before the VFX department began to work in earnest. Ní Dhonghaíle spent two weeks on the sound mix at Twicken-
“George Murphy (VFX supervisor) and Claudia Dehmel ham Studios following COVID-safety protocols.
(VFX producer) were just down the corridor from me at “As the VFX came in, Simon would send them to me and I’d
Longcross which was really handy. We had great communi- cut it in and send on updated reels. If anything needed adjusting
cation. They shared some early imagery with us of the CG boat we talked it through over the phone. It’s the biggest-budget feature
which I could put some sound design on and add a push in on a I’ve worked on to date and despite all of the challenges working
shot to give it more life so that we could better understand how remotely it proved to be one of the most rewarding because of
the story was working. Ken is very good at watching work-in- everyone’s attitude. We were just working as a team and very
progress VFX and not being put off!” aware how lucky were to be able to work and blessed that none of
The film had wrapped by January but editorial was bare- us or our families were sick. Everyone took that as a real positive
ly begun when COVID-19 forced everyone to quarantine. sign to just do our best to finish the film.” With the story in good
Ní Dhonghaíle decided to return to Dublin, where she has an shape they locked the cut in June giving additional time for VFX
Avid-equipped studio, and maintain regular communication with to work through shots in remote workflows.
Davis and Glen in England, talking with Branagh every morning. “At film school I studied directing and cinematography and
“We were lucky in being further down the road than some part of our course was on Dead Again (Branagh’s thriller from
films,” she says. “We’d had a few screenings together and were on 1991). I would draw diagrams and mis-en-scene about how he’d
our third cut but we had to abandon plans to screen our DCP, with placed the camera. So, I was thrilled when I got to work with
temp mix in L.A. for Disney – which would have been their first him years later on Wallander and honored to join him on his
screening – because of the COVID restrictions. journey down the Nile.”
Top: Scene from Death on the Nile. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. Bottom right: Armie Hammer and Gal Gadot. Photo by Rob Youngson. CINEMAEDITOR QTR 4 2020 VOL 70 29
©2020 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved. Bottom left: Editor Úna Ní Dhonghaíle, ACE. Photo courtesy of Úna Ní Dhonghaíle, ACE.You can also read
