#Kayla the best one in the whole series and I’m going to show up often in your notes to say that

[aion-rsa]

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow has a John Constantine Conundrum

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This DC’s Legends of Tomorrow review contains spoilers

Legends of Tomorrow Season 6 Episode 10

Matt Ryan’s John Constantine is tremendous. He’s the definitive translation of a previously untranslatable character – an enormous feat of storytelling and acting craft, considering DC has been trying (with wildly varying degrees of success) to translate Constantine out of his Vertigo roots and into the mainstream DCU for the better part of a decade now. The fact that Ryan can take this character and make him likable and entertaining and also be a fairly faithful translation of the core of John Constantine on network television is a huge success.

But something about Constantine isn’t quite working on Legends of Tomorrow right now.

“Bad Blood,” the 10th episode of Legends of Tomorrow season 6, is a perfectly adequate episode of a stellar series in the midst of one of its best seasons. It spotlights a plot that has been set aside for the past few weeks – Constantine trying to get his magic back by any means necessary. He scores a map to the Fountain of Imperium (and some magic cocaine – cocaine for magic, not cocaine that’ll like, grow a giant beanstalk out of your nose) from a very shady vampire lady. Then he borrows Spooner and heads back to 1939 Spain, the end of the Spanish Civil War where the map leads them.

Spooner helps him find El Gato, this cat (AAH?) who has reportedly survived multiple shootings and a crucifixion, and after a shootout in a bar full of Nazis, the boy they discover with the powers of the fountain takes them to where he gained his abilities. Once there, Spooner tries to help Constantine transfer the power from the kid, but it doesn’t work, so John takes a bump of magic and obliterates their Nazi pursuers in a burst of pure psychedelic energy that feels like it could have come from a Doors music video.

All of this is perfectly serviceable as a Constantine story. In fact, heavy handed substance use disorder metaphor aside (and good lord was it heavy handed), it was a quintessential Constantine story. John is an unrepentant dick through the entire episode, from the opening where he cons his vampire dealer into a summoning circle to steal what he wants from her, all the way to the end where he’s straight up lying about getting the kid’s magic.

The problem is I’m not sure that there are a ton of good Constantine stories left that are also compatible with Legends of Tomorrow. John has always been an odd fit for this show, even on a team of misfits like the ones on the Waverider, and a combination of clever writing and Ryan’s perfect performance has helped the show thread the needle with Constantine for years now. But “Bad Blood” might just be an indicator that they’ve gone as close to the line as they can with the character.

This week’s B plot is Mick and Lita processing Mick’s pregnancy. Gus from last week is loose and pubescent, but that’s mostly background set dressing for Lita to do a deep dive on Mick’s emotional wellbeing. His brain is literally stuffed with tentacle babies, a remnant of his fling with Kayla, and Mick is avoiding medical care for his new embryos because he feels like he deserves to have a difficult birth for leaving Kayla behind to be eaten by lizard people. The rest of the team spends the episode fighting off teen Gus and occasionally popping into Mick and Lita’s conversation to remind Mick of how important he is to them. 

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Legends of Tomorrow is a workplace comedy about people who really care for each other, that also happens to be about superheroes. Constantine is a liar, a dirtbag, a cheat who ends up in the right place often reluctantly. The show has done an admirable job integrating John into the whole vibe of the rest, but it’s accomplished that in no small part by softening Constantine’s harder edges. So when they go hard-Constantine, the end result is jarring and walks a very delicate line that it sometimes topples over. Here, it didn’t quite work. Hopefully they’ll find a way to make it work. If anyone can, it’s this crew of creators.

The post DC’s Legends of Tomorrow has a John Constantine Conundrum appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[secondaryaftermathhq]

Welcome to the secondary aftermath

Hi! I thought a good place to start would be to make an introduction post to explain what the point of this blog is.

So first off, what is Secondary Aftermath?

Secondary aftermath is the name of the TV show I’m currently writing. I don’t know what’s going to happen with it - it may sit on my laptop for the rest of time, it may get picked up and actually put into production, I could end up doing it myself, I don’t know.

The title is a work in progress (and bonus points if you get the reference) but for now I’m happy with it. I’ve got 4 seasons mapped out so far but I’m confident I can go further, currently I’m finishing writing season 1 but I keep getting sidetracked by designing characters and writing parts of the later seasons that I’m SUPER excited for. I also have a prequel series surrounding Aliana’s time in Denver and everything that happened before she met the gang that sits in my brain, constantly knocking on the walls to remind me I need to write it. It’s fun.

I made this blog because I’m going stir crazy having this entire world inside my head with nobody to share it with. I realise nobody might even seen this account but at least I know it’s out there this way.

What’s the plot?

...So here’s the thing. I suck at descriptions. Really, really suck at descriptions. Here’s the short version:

Superpowers, robots, clones, bowling for soup, lgbt+ representation, My Chemical Romance and all the 2000’s alternative music you can take. That’s the best I can offer without making it over complicated. I’ll do a more detailed description below for season 1 but I can’t promise it’ll be great.

“Felix, Kurt, Rory and Vince are 4 people with different superpowers (I’m gonna do a detailed character post soon) who live in a gas station. The gas station is outside the town Felix and Kurt used to live in before it got burnt and all the residents were kidnapped 6 years ago. When Felix goes back to the town to get an important part for the car, they find Kayla cowering as she hides from the very people that took Felix’s town. After years of trying to find the people that committed the crime, they finally have a lead to chase - except that lead is now chasing them.

The group leave the station and head north, where they encounter the straight talking Aliana and her motorbike. After listening to Aliana explain that she can help them stop the bad guys and discovering she is also a special like the rest of the group, they agree to go with her to another abandoned town where Angus is waiting for them.

Together they make plans to stop the evil Planetary Inc. (more bonus points for getting the reference) and release all the captured citizens of various towns in the area whilst keeping Kayla safe, but it won’t be that simple. When the right hand man of Planetary’s leader shows up wanting to help, the group discover more about the company’s history in a day than they had in 6 years and trust is called into question.”

I like to keep a lot of things hidden so that’s a pretty vague description but I think it covers the basics of season 1. I might update it in future idk.

Who are the characters?

So like I said, I’ll do a detailed characters post soon where I give more information about each individual but for now I offer you some blurbs -

Felix

Felix can only be described as a non-binary sweetheart. They deserve the world and I’ll fight anyone that fucks with them. Their powers are that they can conjure force fields and play music as loud as possible. They feel responsible for what happened to the town and have spent the last 6 years trying to make it right, with no luck. They’re a total worry wart. The kind of person who would start vibrating if they found out someone they cared about was anything less than 100% happy. They act as the leader of the group but they’re not the firm type. Mcr stan if I ever saw one.

Kurt/K

Felix’s best friend, they’re inseparable. He also feels responsible for what happened but he’s better at hiding it. Kurt is the voice of reason within the group, when everyone else wants to act first and think later, he’s the one that sets them straight. His power is that he can conjure elements from his hands and control the weather within the area he’s located. Kurt’s the friend you go to when you’ve had a day from hell and just need someone to sit and listen to you without any interruption or judgement.

Rory

Imagine if you could capture chaos in a jar and eat it. That’s Rory. He used to be a doctor before he joined Felix and Kurt at the station which is handy because his powers are he can heal anything and see places in real time within his head. Rory is Vince’s boyfriend and it seems like they never stop arguing but god help you if you say something rude about one of them in the presence in the other. Rory seems tough but he’s seen some shit and been through some shit, it’s what got him and Vince bonding at first. The last person you’d expect to be giving sage advice but he’s actually really good at it. Rory’s brought some unsavoury characters to the station in the past but the group never hold it against him.

Vince/Vinnie

The only reason Rory hasn’t died yet. Vince is seen as “the strong one” of the group, he’s actually a big softie and a good man but that’s exactly why he’s the last person you’d want to piss off. His power is he can look into people’s memories to find the information he needs. Vince lost his daughter and her mother a year before finding the station after an experiment conducted by Planetary went horribly wrong, despite all that, he’s in good spirits and likes to look on the bright side of life.

Aliana

She’ll buy you dinner then poison your wine. Aliana is a no-nonsense, speak her mind kind of gal. Her power is that she can turn invisible which has helped her a lot when hiding from Planetary Inc. in the past. She’s “married” to Angus and lives in an abandoned town, courtesy of Planetary, a couple hours from the Station. Aliana briefly worked for Planetary at a pop-up research facility in Denver and struck up a good friendship with Phoenix before it all went pear shaped and she was forced to flee back home, where she found her own town abandoned.

Angus

We need to put bells on his ankles because you barely notice he’s in the room until he speaks. Angus prefers to observe than participate, he keeps to himself and doesn’t judge you on anything you share with him. He’s just full of wisdom. His power is that he can spawn in multiple places, giving him eyes and ears everywhere. Angus can be found caring for Kayla when the others are out dealing with Planetary, he prefers to deal with the logical side of things rather than the physical side.

Kayla

She literally didn’t ask for any of this but Nolan just had to bring a kid into this didn’t he. Ugh. Kayla is an absolute sweetheart who doesn’t really know what’s happening, she just knows the bad men are after her. Kayla was artificially born within the facility 4 years ago, but they had managed to rapidly speed up her aging so she was closer to the age at which children gain their powers. Kayla was the first success I.e the first person to be given powers without being born into them. Her power is that she can start and stop time but for obvious reasons, she’s not having the best time controlling them yet.

(The)Phoenix

He’s made some big mistakes in the past but he’s trying to turn himself around and regain Aliana’s friendship. He’s Nolan’s right hand man and ex-boyfriend, he spent many years dedicated to the cause but after Nolan’s experiment killed Vince’s town and they broke up, things went downhill. Phoenix is a tricky one, you’re never really sure what side he’s on and even when you think you know, there’s always room for doubt. He rarely makes sense and likes to keep you on your toes by never telling you the whole story. He originally never had powers but after Kayla, they found the right formula and he was able to acquire his own. His power is that he’s able to manipulate the minds of others to make them say and do whatever he wants them to, which is why you can never fully trust him.

Nolan

This is all I’m willing to say on the matter.

Lindsey

I love her. I love her so much. Lindsey is a bass player in Felix’s favourite band who also coincidentally met Aliana when she was flying into Denver and became her best friend. Lindsey, along with her brother Tiger, helped Aliana and Phoenix in solving the mystery surrounding Planetary Inc. when Aliana worked for them. After Aliana was forced to leave without saying goodbye, Lindsey and Tiger were captured by Planetary but escaped after they were given powers of their own and Lindsey acquired her robot arm. Lindsey lost her left arm after a cockup on Planetary’s part during testing and was quickly given a robotic prosthetic arm by the facility in Denver. Her power is similar to Aliana’s, by request, she can camouflage to anything.

Tiger

On this show we support and cover trans individuals. Tiger is ftm and has cool lilac hair. As stated above, he helped the group when Aliana was in Denver and became good friends with her like his sister. Tiger plays lead guitar in the band with Lindsey and is often found with a book or a knife, it depends on the day. He’s a total sweetheart that would do anything for almost anyone if they asked. Tiger’s power is that he can sprout wings and fly, he can also produce balls of energy that reaaaally pack a punch.

The other stuff

I can’t really think of what else to say about the show? I’ve got drawings of the characters that I’ll definitely post, they’re not amazing in terms of detail but they’re simple enough that my level of talent can manage it and they look nice. I don’t actually expect anyone to pay attention to this account but if anyone wants to know more or has questions, shoot. I’ll be using the hashtag ‘#Release the secondary aftermath’ on all my posts (unless I think of a better one, in which case I’ll update this) so you can find everything there

#secondary aftermath #intro post #release the secondary aftermath

[toomanysurveys9]

Have you ever read the Hunger Games series? i have not. i’ve thought about it but i’m not sure if i’d like it. When was the last time you ran into something? yesterday at the factory i’m working at. Do you enjoy dressing up? not so much. i feel extremely uncomfortable with my body after having a baby and i’m still breastfeeding, so that doesn’t help. Do you live in the city or a rural area? city. but it’s a smaller city where there’s never anything to do. Would you say you have a sense of style? i do, but it’s just kind of big t-shirts and jeans.

What’s your biggest fear? failing as a mother and at life in general. Have you ever been bitten by a wild animal? i have not. Are you close to any of your cousins? we used to be when we were younger but as we’ve all grown up and life has happened, we’re not. Have you ever been lost in the woods? not really, no. Where did you last travel? last place of significance was kentucky this past may. Do you enjoy driving? depends. generally, i get pretty bored with it pretty quickly. i rather ride shotgun and pick the music or in back with wyatt. What song did you last listen to? whatever was on the radio. If you have a job, how often do you work? i’m working at a factory operating a rivet machine so i can afford christmas because jake wants to be an ass. that’s monday through probably saturday, 5 am to 2:30 pm. then i go home and take care of my baby love. oh. he also still doesn’t sleep through the night, so that’s been fun. i get no sleep. i can’t wait to be past christmas so i don’t have to work there anymore. it’d be different if i was doing something i loved, but i’m not. What time do you normally go to sleep at night? whenever wyatt decides it’s bed time. Do you watch a lot of movies? eh, kind of. we have netflix and movies and that’s alll.. Do you like Tom Petty? i think i enjoy a couple songs but i’m not a super big fan or anything. Would you rather have snow or rain? rain. i hate snow. it’s just cold and complicates driving. Do you own a lot of sweaters? i own two. i only have one here. Have you ever tried rock-climbing? i have not. i don’t think i’d be good at it. Ever ridden in a police car? yeah. when i was taken to this place to talk to a forensic psychologist about my cousins who abused me as well as others... Favorite decade of music? i guess the 90′s and early to mid-2000′s? Have any of your best friends been your best friend longer than a year? yeah. kayla has been and so has jake. Ever witnessed a murder? i have not. Do you care what people think of you? ugh. i do but at the same time, i don’t. it’s complicated. Does your room have a ceiling fan? no, it doesn’t. Would you consider yourself poised? nope. Have you ever tried blogging? only tumblr, and i’m not sure what i do here really counts.... Favorite television channel? food network and cooking... usa... stuff like that. Have you ever lied under oath? no, because i’ve never been under oath. but if i were, i definitely wouldn’t lie. What are your religious views? i don’t have any. Are you a romantic person? not so much anymore. used to try but it’s not really worth it. Would you consider yourself a flirt? not even a little. At what age do you plan to be married? i am married. i got married when i was 22 to jake, who i have been with since right before high school. Do you eat a lot of junk food? not a lot, but still probably more than i should. When did you last go on vacation? this past may. Are you resilient? i’m not sure that’d be a word anyone would use to describe me. Have you ever failed a subject before? nope. If so, what was the class? Do you wear more bright or dull colors? dull. i wear a lot of grays and black. Do you know anyone who has attempted suicide? a few people, myself included. What’s your favorite quote? "and she loved a little boy very, very much; even more than she loved herself.” Would you consider yourself mature? for the most part, yes. How many clocks are in your house? i don’t know the exact number but we have quite a few ways to know the time.... most aren’t actually clocks exactly though. Do you play any sports? i do not. What is your biggest life regret? trusting anyone. ever. Have you ever been injured in a car accident? i have not. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be? far away from here. Have you ever had highlights in your hair? i have not. too much work. Favorite fast food restaurant? i don’t really have a favorite. In what country were you born? the u.s. Are your eyes more than one color? no. just blueish. Have you ever caught something on fire? nothing comes to mind. What would you consider your biggest flaw? i’m emotional. i care too much. What do you think your best quality is? i don’t even know. i guess i’m a pretty good mom.

Do you enjoy listening to others’ problems? i mean. i’m not sure i’d say i enjoy it. i feel horrible when i hear about the things people are going through.... i’m good at it though. Do you keep any plants in your house? nope. What is your mother’s occupation? stay at home mom. Do any of your friends like your musical style? yeah.. for the most part. What are you most looking forward to? quitting the factory job. What was your favorite television show as a child? i don’t know. when i was really little, barney. Are you afraid of insects? certain ones, yes. Are you cold-natured? lately i have been. How old were you when you got your first pet? i don’t remember exact age. Did you/do you enjoy high school? i enjoyed some of it. What would you say was your favorite age? young child before all the bad. but i really like my current age thanks to wy. What annoys you most about social networking? almost everything yet i use it. lol. i really hate that people hide behind their phones and computers and think it’s okay to be assholes to people. Are you the center of attention most of the time? not even close, which is fine with me. What are you currently reading? willow. most of my books got taken to storage. When did you last go to the library? it’s been a very long time. Are you ill at the moment? nope. just tired. Do people tease you about anything? yeah... i have a lot of weird quirks i guess. How late did you stay up last night and why? it was after 11:30... i wanted to finish watching john wick.

Have you ever written poetry? yeah. i used to really enjoy it. Curtains or shades? we usually use shades. How many people have you spoken to in the last hour? six. Do you tend to text a lot? no. i have no one to talk to. Ever lost a great best friend? yeah. story of my life. What is your favorite kind of flower? lilacs. How tall are you? about 5′3″ or something. Do you own any guns? not at the moment. my husband has quite a few though. What would you say is your favorite book of all-time? there are too many amazing books to choose. Do you think you’re living a good life? eh. there’s a lot of bad right now. What’s your least favorite part of the day? when i have work, that’d be it. Are you an over-achiever? depends what it is. Have you ever won an award for a speech? no. i hate speeches so i don’t give them much. Do you tend to curse a lot? sometimes, yes. Have you ever played on the Ouija board? nah. no reason to. they’re not real. Do you sleepwalk? nope. Have you ever slept on the floor before? many times. Are you a fan of public displays of affection? eh. depends. personally, i’m okay with holding hands, hugs, and maybe some not super intense kissing, but i’m not a super open person. When did you last attend a yard sale? a couple years ago. Do you wish your life were simpler or more interesting? more interesting i guess. What goals do you wish to accomplish tomorrow? just spending time with my baby. When is your birthday? september 1st. Which is worse: going blind or deaf? both would be hard to adjust to since i’ve had both senses my whole life. What was the best part of today? cuddles with my baby. and getting to take a nice, warm shower. i even got to shave my legs. Do you attempt to stay away from drama? for the most part, but it somehow manages to find me from time to time.

What liquid did you last drink? sprite. Do you ever prefer to be alone? i’m fine if wy is with me always, but other than him, yes. Have you ever had a deadly animal as a pet? no. Favorite Disney movie? the lion king. Have you ever been to the beach? yes. it can be fun. If you have, how many times have you been? lots of times. we used to take yearly trips to florida. What was your dream occupation at age ten? singer. Are you terrified at the idea of weight-gain? i have self-esteem issues, so it kind of does i guess. Do you drink a lot of water? not as much as i should. i don’t drink anything as much as i should. Does your room have carpet or hard-wood floors? it’s the floor that was under the carpet so neither. Do you take naps daily? nope. Who were you named after? first name is after a character on a soap opera. middle name is after my nanny (aka my mom’s foster mom). Do you plan on traveling this spring or summer? this spring and summer has passed. Do you know anyone who is colorblind? no one comes to mind. Have you ever been a teacher’s pet? jake has called me that. What is your absolute favorite hobby? reading and playing with wy. How many times a day do you brush your teeth? twice, depending how many times i’ve eaten and whatnot. Ever been to a tanning bed before? i have not. Are you satisfied with your financial stability? no. Who is your favorite actor/actress? misha collins, jensen ackles, and jared padalecki.

Are your nails painted? no. as always. What’s the meanest thing you’ve ever said to someone? i’m sure i said some not too nice things to michelle but she’s a psycho bitch who wanted to talk shit about me as a parent and wy. that shit isn’t going to fly with me. i suck at every aspect in my life EXCEPT that one. and who the hell talks about an innocent baby, and your nephew who you tried claiming to love so much at that? like seriously. and we won’t even go into the shit that was said when i was pregnant because she was jealous i was pregnant first (she wasn’t even seeing anyone). oh, and all of that drama started because i said her brother said we weren’t going to her grandpa’s house but that i’d talk to him. apparently he’s not a grown man who makes his own decisions. sorry. i am still having issues with her and jake’s entire dad’s side and it’s pissing me off. Do you ever accidentally talk to inanimate objects? i’ve never accidently talked to them, no. What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream? lately, plain vanilla is fine. Have you ever kissed someone of the same gender? on a dare, twice. Do you receive any hate mail? nope. Have you ever sent a letter in the mail? yeah. a long time ago. If you could, would you have a pen pal? eh. it’s whatever. What color are the pants you’re wearing? blue jeans. Have you ever had a stalker? not really. What is your life philosophy? i’m just trying to be the best mom i can and trying to give wy a good life. other than that, i don’t care much about life. Who last sent you a goodnight text message? no clue. Do you own any clothes that are your favorite color? yup. Have you ever been in a hot tub before? yeah. they’re pretty nice. What’s your favorite comedy movie? i just watched fist fight and that one was pretty good. i’m also a robin williams fan and jim carrey.

#survey #surveys #personal #questions #question #random

[cinephiled-com]

New Post has been published on Cinephiled

New Post has been published on http://www.cinephiled.com/rodney-evans-stunning-vision-portraits-shows-artists-deal-sight-loss/

Rodney Evans' Stunning 'Vision Portraits' Shows How He and Other Artists Deal with Sight Loss

Vision Portraits is a deeply personal documentary by award-winning filmmaker Rodney Evans (Brother to Brother) as he explores how his loss of vision may impact his creative future, and what it means to be a blind or visually impaired creative artist. It’s a celebration of the possibilities of art created by a Manhattan photographer (John Dugdale), a Bronx-based dancer (Kayla Hamilton), a Canadian writer (Ryan Knighton), and the filmmaker himself, each of whom experience varying degrees of visual impairment. Using archival material along with new illuminating interviews and observational footage of the artists at work, Evans has created a tantalizing meditation on blindness and creativity, a sensual work that opens our minds to new possibilities.

I sat down with Rodney Evans to discuss this remarkable documentary, which has been winning awards at film festivals all over the country including the Outstanding Documentary Award from the 2019 Frameline San Francisco LGBTQ Film Festival and a Special Award for Artistic Achievement from Outfest Los Angeles.

Danny Miller: This is such a moving film, it was fascinating to watch you and these three incredible artists at work. Let’s get one big cliché out of the way — what do you think about the idea that when one sense is impaired in some way, the other senses become way more attuned?

Rodney Evans

Rodney Evans: I mean, I do think that’s true to a certain degree. I think my hearing is much more acute due to my visual impairments and I think being visually impaired often leads artists to want to explore their other senses. You see it with all the artists profiled in the film.

Even as I ask that question, though, I worry that it partly stems from my subconscious desire to hear people in your position to say that losing some of your vision was a “gift.” Do you feel that some people watch a film like this needing to find a way to make it all “okay?”

Yes, I do think some people are looking for what I would call “inspiration porn!” I’m very aware of the parameters of that genre and I worked hard to not fall into it.

Kayla Hamilton

I think the way you avoid that is to show multidimensional characters and all shades of gray — let’s celebrate the triumphs but let’s also see some of the devastating episodes that occur when someone loses their vision and has to navigate the New York City subway system via muscle memory. Believe me, there are experiences that people with visual impairments go through that can be very difficult. I think I’m very real about that in the film but I also wanted to show how such experiences can become a catalyst for making art. Look at Kayla Hamilton in the film. She’s a very multidimensional character and a brilliant artist and she wasn’t afraid of taking about how she contemplated taking her own life at one point. But then she went on to use that experience to make a very powerful singular piece of work.

I love her dance piece so much, I’d love to see the whole thing. How did you choose the artists to profile in the film, was it about wanting to represent different art forms and show people with different creative responses to their visual impairment?

Ryan Knighton

I think it was a combination of those things. In the case of Ryan Knighton, I was already friends with him. He wrote this very powerful memoir called Cockeyed that just blew me away. We first met after he adapted it into a screenplay and was looking for a director.  We ended up sharing our work with each other and we stayed in touch. So when I thought of making this film, he was probably the first person I reached out to. And I was very interested in his experience because he has the same condition that I have, retinitis pigmentosa.

What first put the idea in your head of making a documentary about artists dealing with vision loss?

It had been brewing for a long time. Around the end of 2014, I started to think about what I’d do if my vision continued to deteriorate. I had noticed some deterioration between my first and second features and my fears were looming about how I’d continue to make films if things got much worse. I think my M.O. as an artist is to always move towards things that scare the crap out of me, frankly. I didn’t want to keep it hidden so I just decided to address it and try to conquer the fear. I started looking for other artists creating work in that situation, I wanted to know what their artistic practice was like. In addition to Ryan, I had a friend who knew John Dugdale. I had always loved John’s photographs — I thought they were really beautiful.

His photographs are amazing, and he seems like such a fascinating guy.

John Dugdale

He is. And I know it was very painful for him to have to go back through all of those memories of being in St. Vincent’s at the height of the AIDS epidemic. He was there for a year and a half and lost his vision as a result. John had a series of AIDS-related strokes, and as he says in the film, a lot of times when you had AIDS, vision loss was one of the last symptoms. But John lost his vision early on. St. Vincent’s was the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic at that time, so many people were dying all around him. That period obviously had a huge impact on his work.

Did making this film help you feel less fear about your condition as you hoped it would?

Yes, I definitely feel less fear now and I feel less shame. I just feel free and empowered.

Were you actively trying to hide your vision loss before you made this documentary?

I felt very hidden within the film industry and I was even told by certain producers that I should never say that I was visually impaired in a pitch meeting. Better no one should know.

Oy, not exactly a prescription for getting rid of any internal shame you were feeling. That anecdote you tell in the film about needing a cane and your mother getting you a walking cane instead of one for visually impaired people was so poignant. Did you find a lot of similarities to when you came out as gay?

Oh yes, there were many parallels.

Like, “I love and support you, but please don’t make a spectacle of yourself, no one needs to know!”

Exactly. I mean, I do understand where my mother was coming from. Parents want the best for their kids and they don’t want their kids to have to come up against homophobia or ableism of this world. They know that’s going to make their children’s lives harder and they don’t want them to have a hard life. That’s why my parents moved from Jamaica to the U.S. so that I would have better opportunities. So on that level, I understand the protective parental instinct: “Holy shit, you’re black, you’re gay, and now have this disability? Your life is going to be so fucking hard! Why does everyone need to know?” I get it, but it just doesn’t work.

You sound like you have a lot of compassion for your parents.

I understood the culture that they come from which is not LGBT friendly and had different attitudes about people with disabilities. There’s this universal immigrant fantasy that my parents subscribed to. Come to this country, be successful, keep up with the Joneses, build your successful business, put your kids through college, and have them be as successful as possible. And while doing that, they should try to blend in and assimilate as much as they can and never do anything that might prevent them from getting the highest paying job.

It would be great if all parents of kids with any vision loss could see this documentary.

I do hear from parents who are very appreciative. But I mostly hear from low vision adults who are very grateful to see themselves reflected on screen for the first time. Some of them come up after screenings and hug me for a long time. They are so grateful for the authentic representation of what their lives are like. Some people told me they’d been waiting their whole life for this movie, that it fills a hunger they’ve had to feel seen and to feel whole and that their experience is valid and valuable.

I’m sure this film is giving people dealing with vision loss a lot of hope.

When you first receive such a diagnosis, many people think it means that their life is over and that they are doomed to a very sheltered existence with a caretaker. I think the film debunks this stereotype because it shows these fiercely independent artists out in the world making very powerful work. I’m thrilled to be able to turn this experience into something that’s healing and transformative both for me and for audiences.

Vision Portraits is playing in New York and Los Angeles and will be opening in other cities in the coming weeks.

#John Dugdale #Kayla Hamilton #Rodney Evans #Ryan Knighton #Vision Portraits #Interviews #What's Hot

[mrmichaelchadler]

Hulu's Space Exploration Series The First is Bookended by Greatness

Is an eight-episode series worth watching if it is only bookended by greatness? That’s one of many things that Hulu’s new series “The First” meditates on, among its many ruminations in this story of grounded emotions, concerning pioneers heading to Mars for the first time. There’s a lot going on in between, including an ambitious take with the visual storytelling of a something packaged in between commercials, but this series from creator Beau Willimon is not an easy recommendation, however noble it may be. 

“The First” imagines, with a gentle touch, what it might look like the first time we try to go to Mars. In the first episode, it lays clear the human stakes by showing a jaw-dropping tragedy involving five astronauts after a launch goes horrifically wrong. Like the best kind of false start for anyone thinking this show would be about floating astronauts, the episode is focused on the grief of the immediate aftermath and how it ripples through the families and NASA employees on the ground. Directed by Agnieszka Holland, this pilot is a standalone depiction of dealing with loss on a micro and macro scale, while introducing us to fascinating key players: Sean Penn’s Tom Hagerty, a intense commander who should have been on that shuttle and wasn’t (for reasons we’ll see later), and Natascha McElhone’s Laz Ingram, who is shouldered with doing damage control while trying to secure funding for the next launch. 

Without spoiling: the show's true Mars mission is assembled and hundreds of minutes later, “The First” returns to its incredible graces by its last episode. “The First” offers its own sense of discovery, lifting us into the air and beyond with our emotions tethered to the ground. It’s an incredibly human take on space, tender and full of awe, an experience seen as much as it is felt. But were I not intrigued to see whether the show itself was a disaster, I would have aborted by episode four. As someone now tempted to rewatch the whole show, I’m glad I didn’t. 

But, the middle: “The First” pulls a bait-and-switch around episode three when it’s trying to pick itself back up, focusing on the other astronauts, their relationships with their loved ones and their power struggles internally as the second launch day comes closer. At its best, this focus offers tender imagery of brilliant people and their emotional vulnerabilities, like LisaGay Hamilton’s Kayla, as she builds a house with her partner, or Keiko Agena, who is shown navigating her anxieties about her mother having Alzheimer's. But at its worst, "The First" is like a self-serious project management drama, where Laz and Tom deal with the bureaucracy of the mission, the promise of exploration and a slowly impending launch date only taunting the viewer. Even when the story introduces new life and death stakes in the middle about a rover, it’s not related to a particularly disturbing or thrilling improbability. 

Penn is not featured in every episode, but his arc largely concerns that of his relationship with his daughter Denise (Anna Jacoby-Heron, who can well hold her own against the Oscar winner) as they deal with the trauma of his wife/her mother's suicide. He's set to go to Mars with the new crew, but he tries to find a peace with her before possibly leaving forever. In an dynamic fifth episode by “Mustang” director Deniz Gamze Ergüven, "The First" shows his problems of facing the past in memory and in the present, as he struggles with his current relationship with his daughter as she carries on her mother's addiction. Together, the two paint a terrifying image of loss, and the worst kind: when you lose someone who is standing right in front of you.  

You can see part of what drove Penn to this project: it carries the storytelling values of “The Tree of Life,” which similarly had Penn wandering through a story of overlapping past, present, and future, where he’s just a speck to something bigger than a simple planet. But its cinematography isn’t like Malick so much as the editing, as it freely bounces back and forth in time, or takes a full minute to study the strokes on a painting. For good measure but less success, every now and then there's the flickering metaphor of a faceless man slowly building a phone. In the scheme of TV, whole chunks of “The First” are downright experimental, especially Ergüven’s fifth episode which provides a lot of backstory as if it played out on a stage, adding to the show's emotional scope and its intriguing artistry. 

Another question that “The First” raises: Can you recommend a series based on its score? The only thing that’s directly binge-watch-friendly is the incredible work by Colin Stetson, who “Hereditary” fans will recall was able to open a door into hell with his fluttering, distorted horns and woodwinds. Here, Stetson uses that same arrangement and goes full-Aaron Copland, the results of which might make the driest episodes of “The First” worth watching for the credits.

This is not a series about space, its narrative reminds us so often, so much as to what it would mean for someone to accept the role of a pioneer, and what lives and loved ones they'd be leaving behind. And even with the production design's dream of new technology, where cars are commanded by voices and memories can be accessed by putting on glasses, it's a very sobering idea of the near future. Enamored with its characters to a possible fault, "The First" is cut and paced like the roughly 368-minute director’s cut; you can imagine a two-hour film, probably with the same budget, that hits the same emotional beats and divides audiences like previous high-concept sci-fi stories like "Contact" did. As is, "The First" is a noble, ambitious series, but one that demands equally ambitious viewers.  

from All Content https://ift.tt/2Ok0P4Q

[lorrainecparker]

ART OF THE CUT – editing “Lost City of Z”

Editor John Axelrad, ACE, has been in post-production since 1991, including a stint as Oscar® winner Anne Coates’ assistant on Out of Sight and Erin Brockovich (I interviewed Coates previously here). He’s edited dozens of features including Slither, We Own the Night, Two Lovers, Crazy Heart, Something Borrowed, Miles Ahead, and Krampus.  Editor Lee Haugen started as an apprentice under Axelrad and then cut several films including Repentance, Dope, and Miss Stevens before joining Axelrad again to cut Amazon Studios’ new theatrical release, The Lost City of Z.

L-R; John Axelrad, ACE, 1st AE Scott Morris, and Lee Haugen.

HULLFISH: Tell me a little bit about working on a movie with two editors. How did you guys work that collaboration out between the two of you?

AXELRAD: Well it was kind of a natural process to have the two of us cutting. I was hired as the editor and I had been co-editing with another one of my former assistants, Kayla M. Emter, who’s now cutting on her own. It was such a liberating experience for me to be co-editing with somebody. We did Miles Ahead together and we did James Gray’s previous movie, The Immigrant, and I just found that experience to be creatively fluid.  It allowed us to really explore the film from different points of view and to really enhance the creative process of putting the film together, because when you’re cutting with someone and you’re bouncing ideas off each other, I think it is to the benefit of the movie. It’s not just one perspective of how something can be done. And my favorite part of the process personally is working with the director and trying out ideas: trying to look at the entire structure of the movie; making sure that character arcs are working; that the film itself is well paced; that the characters are alive and vibrant. Lee was also a former assistant of mine, and I saw an opportunity when Kayla was unable to work with us on The Lost City of Z.  Lee actually started the film first, because I was finishing up Krampus, so I couldn’t start on the dailies right away. So Lee actually went to Northern Ireland and started the assembly process.

HAUGEN: It was my first time working in the two editor system as well. John has been so gracious to allow creative contributions from all positions. He was the first person to have given me an opportunity in feature films in 2008 on James Gray’s Two Lovers. Our paths just didn’t line up after that. Two Lovers was such an eye opening experience of how to make a film. Working with James and seeing his process and working with John and how they interact together. It was the best learning experience I could ever have and it was fun to be reunited again eight years later.

AXELRAD: It definitely was.

HAUGEN: To have the whole crew, except for Tom… Tom was busy.

AXELRAD: Tom Cross was another assistant of mine. We did five films together. I was not in a career position yet to share editing credit with him, although he did get additional editing credit on everything. But I really wanted to make sure Tom got the exposure working with directors and being able to sit in the chair and collaborate. I like having a team. I’ve got three guys around me that we can bounce ideas off of. It just speeds up the process of editing because different ideas are flying back and forth at a much faster rate. Lee edited the movie Dope, which won him the Best Editing award at Sundance. That was two years ago?

HAUGEN: Yeah, two years ago.

HULLFISH: Congratulations

HAUGEN: Thank you

AXELRAD: So it wasn’t that Lee just fell off a truck.  He established himself as a successful editor.

HULLFISH: I didn’t think that was the case. So I’m assuming you’re cutting in AVID. Are you using a Nexis, or how are you collaborating?

AXELRAD: Yeah, Avid shared storage on Nexis. We have a good shorthand we developed together. If one of us does changes or does something, we use markers in Avid so I know what he’s done and he knows what I’ve done. And we just kind of develop a process as we go. So much obviously depends on how the director likes to work.

HULLFISH: Tell me a little bit about versioning. I talk to editors all the time about organization. There’s all the organization of doing versions which is compounded when you have two editors. Do you have naming conventions that you’re using? Or bin conventions to keep that stuff straight?

AXELRAD: If it’s dailies we simply divide up the scenes. Lee would be editing certain scenes and I would be editing certain scenes. Sometimes, I’ll take Lee’s scene that he’s edited and I’ll work on it after he’s done. I’ll give him a scene that I did and let him play with it and come up with something else. Then we cut into the reel the version of the scene that we feel is best. We’re obviously editing out of order, so it’s always a guessing game when you’re cutting along with dailies.

Avid works very well with shared projects and shared storage. So only one of us has access to a bin at one time, and if we’re dividing a show into reels in the case of The Lost City of Z or in the case in the film we’re editing now, which is Papillon. At one point we had seven reels. We would just call back and forth to each other, like “Hey can I get reel 1? Are you working on it?” It really just comes down to communication. Before we attack something, we get a series of notes from the director and we do a little pow-wow. And we come up with a gameplan of “okay you’ll work on this and I’ll work on this.”  Then after that we show it to each other and give each other notes on the edits.

HAUGEN: John is probably the most organized editor I’ve ever met.

AXELRAD: I’m a little anal retentive. I think that is what he’s trying to say.

HAUGEN: Organized is a nicer word.

HULLFISH: Do you both organize your bins differently so you had to use different bins? Or did you come up with a mutually agreed bin layout and organization?

AXELRAD: I confess that I made him conform to how I like to do it.

HAUGEN: That’s the way I learned to organize the bins from John back on Two Lovers. I adapted that into my own workflow as an editor after that. So coming back to it wasn’t really that much of a stretch. We organize each dailies bin by scene, in script order and frame view. And when we do the first cut, we leave that editor’s version in the bin. And if we continue to do multiple editor versions, we leave them in the scene bins and then we’ll also add them to the reel as we start to build the show. That way we always have a back up of what we originally did so we can reference them.

AXELRAD: That’s an advantage of co-editing with people that have worked with me before in an assistant capacity. I can imprint a certain system so we already have a shorthand going in. I imagine it would be different for me if I joined a show – like I know Tom Cross was editing on Joy with multiple editors. These are people he hadn’t worked with before and they’re all established and I’m sure they have different methods. So I would say that that’s much more complicated if they have different ways of working.

HAUGEN: It’s a good system. I changed things I as I grew, but I think we worked out a good solution.

AXELRAD: Communication is key.

HULLFISH: Are either one of you guys selects reel guys? Or is it always working straight out of the bins – straight off the dailies of the clips themselves?

AXELRAD: It depends on the scene. I’m a huge, huge fan of ScriptSync. For dialogue scenes it is invaluable to me. Often times it is very time consuming for the assistants to do the ScriptSyncing. So if I need to edit a scene right away I’ll just dive in, but ideally I could be working on something while they’re ScriptSyncing a scene. I like to watch the dailies first, mark everything up, mark the takes within the takes, and mark moments and things that I like. Making sure the system, which is kind of a color-coded system of markers, will help my assistant do the ScriptSyncing. And once that’s done, we dive into it. Then we’re able to edit and compare performances. If it’s an action scene with action beats, then I do like to do a selects reel. I’ll go through and mark everything up and maybe break the action scene down into beats, and just cut together the beats that I think are the best moments. And then, from that selects reel, I’ll do the assembly.

HULLFISH: I will pull a selects reel but I will do the selects reel in sections, beats in other words. I don’t do every line or every exact moment. A lot of times if there’s a blocking change in a scene, I’ll say, “Okay here’s where they’re standing up against the window” and then it’s all the shots when they move to the other side of the room. And then one character moves over to the couch and sits down and then I’ll break all that stuff down. Is that kind of what you’re talking about?

AXELRAD: That’s what I mean when I say in terms of beats, and it depends if it’s an action sequence. What I usually will do is make select reels based on character or camera angle. So I’ll say, “Okay, these are all the selects from this character” and they’d be – for example – in the order of a fight scene. Therefore when I’m editing, I instinctually say, “Okay, now I feel like I need to go to this other character” and then I have all the selects for that part of the scene in a separate sequence. It’s different for a scene with dialogue, which may have less “beats,” but I think the method you’re suggesting of how you organize is the same.

HULLFISH: Then I do my bins the same way: organizing bins the way that I imagine the edit might go. So if I know that there’s a big jib shot or something that begins a scene, the director probably wants that to be the first thing. So even if that’s setup I’ll put that at the top of my bin. And then normally wideshots. Then all the two-shots together. I do them visually, not necessarily in the order that they were shot; but in the order of if I’m “looking for a specific visual where can I find it the easiest?”.

This is Axelrad’s method of color coding locators, colors have different uses in the source and record monitors.

AXELRAD: And that’s exactly what we do. We do it in frame mode, and kind of in the visual order of where they occur in the scene. I think it’s easy to scroll down and say “well I’m done with the stuff up top because we’ve already been through that and the coverage doesn’t continue”.

HULLFISH: And then if you’ve got pickups or something you know that those pickups are not going to be at the top but further down or wherever they belong.

Axelrad: I feel like I can’t really get into a scene until I’ve really gone through all the footage and marked it up. It’s like I can’t make my bed until I’ve cleaned and organized everything in my bedroom first.

HULLFISH: So tell me your process, Lee.

HAUGEN: I do sit down and watch the dailies. But I first start with the wide shots so I get a layout of what the scene is going do and where it’s going. Mentally I can prepare as I watch the rest of the dailies. I can envision how the scene is going to playout in my mind. Then, as I go through and watch all the dailies, I will sometimes pick selects of things that I really like and I’ll just put them into the sequence. And then I assemble the first rough pass very quickly, because I do want to see it as a whole. That gives me more of a grasp on where the scene is going to go and what the director is really going for. A lot of the time I will set that scene aside and revisit it the next day, because I do like to walk away, especially if I’m frustrated with a scene or it’s just not fitting together easily. Seeing it with fresh eyes is a good solution for me. That way, I don’t waste too much time fighting with myself during dailies.

AXELRAD: On The Lost City of Z, I did not participate in the assembly since I was finishing up Krampus, so Lee was in Northern Ireland during all of principle photography. A 50 day shoot or something?

HAUGEN: 55 I think.

AXELRAD: 55 day shoot, and Lee put together a 4 hour assembly, and he was caught up to camera. And I don’t know how he did that. I mean it was a good assembly, the problem is that it was 4 hours long. That’s something I struggle with the most is going through dailies. There’s the perfectionist thing in me that I can’t even move on to the next scene until I feel like I polished it. I think that can be a handicap, because in dailies, the purpose is to make sure that there’s not a major problem that your director needs to know about or damaged film or that they don’t have a scene they think they have. So it is a handicap being a perfectionist in that phase. That’s why, for me, I’ve found so much creative energy working with another editor because we can stay efficient together. It’s a very symbiotic thing that we have going.

HULLFISH: So it was a 55 day shoot. Then what happened? How long did you guys go from there?

AXELRAD: Well, for James Gray that’s when it all begins. Every director is different, but James is very much, “Okay, let’s start with scene one, and perfect scene one before we go on to scene two.” So, I learned very quickly, having done three films previous with James, you can put all this sweat and blood and tears into the assembly and it doesn’t matter. Because James wants to rediscover all the footage for himself with you in the room. And to his credit, he’s there with you twelve hours a day and you’re reviewing and he’s watching the paint dry as we edit. But that helps his process and he’s seeing how things go together. That’s where Avid ScriptSync comes in so handy, especially for someone like James, who’s very, very performance-based and wants to be able to compare performances. In the case of The Lost City of Z that’s where the work begins. What Lee did with his assembly was a wonderful blueprint. We were able to watch the whole thing together and kind of know ahead of time, “Okay we’re gonna have some trouble when we get to the second act.” It just puts it in the back of your head. Some directors just like to work on the overall structure first, but working with James he likes to paint the fence one panel at a time before he steps back and looks at the whole fence.

HULLFISH: Martin Scorsese has the quote you may have heard that “No movie is ever as good as the dailies, or ever as bad as the first cut.” What’s the value of doing that first cut, then? What’s the value of putting it together at four hours and saying, ”Okay now we don’t have a movie”?

HAUGEN: I think it’s very important to watch the editor’s assembly because it does lay out the blueprint. It also gives you a rough idea of things to look out for on the first pass of the director’s cut. I know in The Lost City of Z, the jungle is a large portion of the film. And it became Charlie Hunnam and Robert Pattinson for a long period of time in that four hour cut. After viewing we realized we needed to keep Nina, Percy’s wife, more present. So when we were in the jungle we used her voice to read some poetry. which kept her character alive.

AXELRAD: There’s a reason they call it the ‘assembly.’ At first I was offended when I started out. I said, “What do you mean assembly? This is the editor’s cut.” But it really is an assembly because your responsibility is to put things together, which you have to do quickly. You have to do it out of order, based on the order they shoot the scenes. As the editor, I would say during the shooting process it’s 50% politics and 50% editing. Because it is your responsibility to let people know if there’s a problem. And you have to really dance a very fine line: knowing to speak with the right people and not get people panicked. But oftentimes there’s a problem with the film. In the case of The Lost City of Z, they shot on 35mm film and there was a lot of film damage from the humidity and the jungle heat and things like that. So these are the things that – if they simply just shot it and didn’t look at the footage until shooting was over – there would be some unpleasant surprises. So it’s kind of the purpose of an assembly to make sure they have what they need to start to work when shooting is over.

HULLFISH: Great point. The other thing with an assembly: calling it the editor’s cut is kinda funny, because it’s a cut where you have to kinda set your ego aside a little bit. Because I look at a scene and I’m think, “This scene’s never gonna make it into the movie, so I might as well just cut it out.” or “These three lines that start this scene are never going to make it, so let’s just start here”. But in an assembly you can’t, right? You have to do it by the script. So it’s not really the “editor’s cut” because if it was the editor’s cut, you would have cut those scenes out and you would’ve cut those lines out.

AXELRAD: Exactly. If editors had a more time, I’d first deliver the “assembly,” and then I’d trim it down and deliver an “editor’s cut.” It really depends on who you’re working for, because I always felt obligated to include everything. And when I started working with James a few times he said, “You know, you don’t have to include everything I shoot.” So it depends on the needs of your director. But I’d say the general consensus among editors is that you don’t purposely remove dialogue or scenes in an assembly just because you don’t think they’ll make the final cut.  You have to swallow your pride at this stage, because the intent of the assembly is not to show what you would do, but rather to have the whole film laid out for you and the director to have a starting point from which to work.

HAUGEN: It’s true even if one dialogue scene is ten minutes long, which we had a couple of those, and I thought, “Wow, that’s a long scene.” But there’s really great moments in it and you can just tell it’s going to be really great once we tighten it up.

AXELRAD: It’s also helpful to reference back to the assembly. Working with James, we’ll edit on the scene for weeks and weeks and change it every which way. And then he’ll say “you know, let’s look at the assembly for that scene again,” which basically has everything in it and the kitchen sink. And it’s just a way to hit “restart” if we’re working a scene and beating it down and it’s become too contorted to a way that’s not working. Watching the full assembly of that scene again may make a few lightbulbs go off to how to approach it differently.

HULLFISH: Tell me a little bit about your feelings on temp music?

HAUGEN: That’s an easy question for a James Gray film, because he has very specific music that he wants to put in his films. And he does so much research ahead of time that we do not temp during the assembly. And we work the scene with James first before we put in music. We want to make sure that it is working and that it is functioning without the help of music. Then as we start to build the show, we add music.

AXELRAD: Personally I love editing temp music and sound effects. I love doing that sound design as a picture editor. I always joke that I’m a frustrated music and sound editor working as a picture editor. But working with James, it’s absolutely true, sometimes music during early stages of a cut can be a band-aid to the point where it is detrimental to the structure of the scene.  Among the directors I’ve worked with, I’d say maybe a third of them say absolutely no temp music at the start, because they really want to see if a scene is true to itself and not being masked by music. But it also depends on the genre. When I edited Krampus, the expectation was to thoroughly do a temporary sound design and work with temp music. For a horror-comedy it’s so critical to the genre. Obviously we’re editing first before we include the music, but I think you can really know if something is working after you’ve cut it and watched it and then to have experiment with music. Sometimes I have found the structure of the music perfectly fits the edit that you did. Or sometimes it’s a little off and you might adjust the picture edit to the music, because there is a rhythm to editing. If you find the right piece of temp music, you kind of know when you’ve got that connection when the two are working together in harmony.

HULLFISH: David Woo was telling me he cut a motorboat chase scene to Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild… you know… ”Get your motor runnin’, head out on the highway…” Then he stripped that completely away and the final audio track was just the sound of the motorboats. But the song gave him his rhythm and impetus.

AXELRAD: It depends on what you’re editing. With an action sequence I would say “why not edit with music?” When you’re doing a big drama scene, I always say dialogue first– dialogue should be pacing it. For something like “Crazy Heart” and “Rudderless,” I often let the music guide the edit.

HAUGEN: When I did Dope it was very music heavy. The main characters are in a band and they had four original songs. So those songs were what I pulled from to find the rhythm and the pace of the film: that energy and that pulse within the music they were creating.

HULLFISH: Talk to me a little bit about sound design on Lost City. You were just saying that you’re a frustrated sound editor dressed as a picture editor. Tell me about what you use. Is it all production tracks? Do you have a big sound effects library you like to use? Are you using a lot of like pad room tone and stuff to make things smooth over?

AXELRAD: To start with, there’s the production sound. I always like to talk with the sound recordist before the shoot starts. Make sure that we’re on the same page. I think it’s imperative that we work with the full eight tracks of the WAV file. Lee can attest that I’m very fussy with dialogue editing. And you know the first step is making sure the dialogue is smooth. And I like being able to access all eight tracks of the poly WAV file. Not that I’m using all eight tracks, but I like to be able to choose between them to find the best track for dialogue, whether it’s the lav or the boom. Or if I need ambience or fill from what he or she records. So the first step is to make sure that the production tracks, technically, are smooth and synced and no drop-outs. And then we talk start talking sound design.

HAUGEN: And we mostly pull from a large library that I received from John back in 2008.

AXELRAD: It’s many Terabytes big and many, many sound libraries and custom designs.

HAUGEN:  We monitor LCR (left-center-right, as opposed to plain stereo). We fill out everything, every scene has stereo even if it’s just room tone. In The Lost City of Z it was a lot of jungle, and we tried to change it up to help with change of location. Give you a different feel from scene to scene as they were traveling throughout the jungle.

HULLFISH: In Avid, how are you achieving left, center, right? As direct outs? How are you monitoring that?

AXELRAD: We do direct out. I know some people that use a digital interface to do that, I think Tom has a digital interface to do that. But we’re still accustomed to the Mackie Mixer and so we have all 8-channel direct output. So it’s analog but we designate the first four channels as mono (to the center speaker) and the second four channels as stereo (left and right speakers).  Editing 3.1 is just a fuller experience, especially when you preview the movie in a theater, to have the dialogue coming out from the center speaker and then you’ve got your stereo music and effects coming out left-right. It’s funny because when I go to New York to edit they just don’t do that.  They edit stereo. I think LCR is maybe more of an L.A. thing. And I even know a lot of people that are editing in 5.1 out of the Avid, which it’s very capable of doing.

HULLFISH: I just talked to somebody who was doing that.

AXELRAD: I think like on a big show, if you’re doing a Marvel movie, you want to be editing in 5.1 or 7.1. For a James Gray movie I think editing 5.1 would be overkill, at least at this stage. We’re expected to do a preliminary sound design, but we don’t have time to mix 5.1. They usually don’t hire the sound supervisor until later in the process – usually in the middle the director’s cut. You’re expected to have some sort of sound design blueprint in the movie and I do enjoy working on that—including temp music. I know it’s a sensitive union issue because a lot of music editors get upset: why is a picture editor doing music editing? And I do know a lot of picture editors who respectfully say “that’s not my job.” They don’t want to do it, because they don’t want to take away work from a music editor or from the sound designer. I do it because I enjoy doing it, and that’s always my defense when I get criticized for doing it. Once you know the edit is working, sound design is really the polish you need to really sell it.

HULLFISH: I agree. Let’s talk about the overall or story pacing of the movie.

HAUGEN: This is an epic film, and starting with a four hour assembly, it was very challenging to get it down to the run time that it is, which I think is 2:20 with credits.

AXELRAD: We first started by cutting out every other frame to get it down to two hours.

HAUGEN: For some reason it didn’t work.

AXELRAD: Nah, that didn’t work.

HAUGEN: But as we kept cutting it down and focusing the story more we found the most difficult part was the beginning of the film. Trying to get to the jungle in an efficient amount of time, because that is where the film really takes off.

Avid screenshot of the timeline and partial locator list, indicating VFX, ADR and other items. Right click on image to open in another browser tab for more detail.

AXELRAD:  And it really depends on the director you’re working with. We’re editing Papillon right now with director Michael Noer, and he comes from more of a documentary background. So his approach is to look at the whole structure. So we constantly are watching the whole movie. We’re just working first on overall structure and arc and looking at overall pacing before we start getting into scene by scene micro-pacing. With James Gray it’s the opposite. He’s a very linear thinker and he wants to go scene by scene by scene. So each scene, with James, has its own internal pacing that works. And then once we get through that process – which takes many, many weeks – then we sit back and look at the whole movie and say “wow okay, now we have an overall pacing issue.” These individual scenes work by themselves, but now let’s look at the big picture and fix that. So, as editors, we have to be adaptable depending on how a director likes to work. For us we can’t rest until the pacing of the entire film is working, and that’s when the tough choices come about: what to cut? what to shorten? what to omit and what to put back in?

HULLFISH: That’s an interesting point: you take some stuff out and it seems to work for a while, and then you decide, “I think we need that scene back.”

AXELRAD: That happens a lot.

HULLFISH: Were there any scenes like that in this movie? Can you describe why that might have happened? Why a scene that seemed like a good idea to take out ended up going back in? What was the purpose of that?

AXELRAD: There’s two different levels to that. You’ve got experimentation where we say, “Hey, we don’t need this let’s take it out” and we kind of retroactively change the story through loop (ADR) lines and through editorial sleight of hand. And so we try to do that a lot to help streamline things, to help change the flow of the story where we feel that there’s a problem. Sometimes it doesn’t work or sometimes the narrative gap is too big and then we’ll abandon that idea and restore something.

HAUGEN: There’s one sequence that we did take out scenes and put scenes back a couple of times. It was the World War I sequence, there were three of four main scenes. And at one point we wanted to make it all about his character, Percy Fawcett, and about him being a great leader in the war. And when we sat back and watched it, we didn’t think it flowed with his story. He’s striving to get back to the jungle – to get back to what he’s really deep down inside looking for. And so we did swap out some scenes to make sure his obsession came through.

AXELRAD: I can remember over the course of the films I’ve cut, and even what we’re editing right now, we’ve taken scenes out, deciding, “We don’t need this, we can tell the story more efficiently doing it this way.” And then we screen it for people and things bump for them. Then we say, “Okay well maybe what we thought would be a better way to tell the story is causing some character interpretation problems.” Even though it’s narratively efficient, character-wise it’s confusing. So we undo something that we thought we were very clever to do, and we restored a scene that we cut out. Even though, narrative-wise, it drags a little bit, it’s essential for understanding the characters and their relationships with each other.

HULLFISH: Let’s talk about crafting performance from actors. I’m sure you’re working with very talented actors, but they’re not working in context sometimes.

HAUGEN: James is great at getting different levels of performance from the actors which is a blessing for editors. That way we can help tell the story as best we can. There’s one scene where an actor goes from being this stern person that keeps all his emotions inside and ends up getting up and yelling at another character. We experimented with many different ways to see which performance fit better: whether he should yell and storm out of the room, or be calm and cool and just see in his anger through his expression. We stuck with the internal performance.

AXELRAD: I think it’s the adage of “less is more.” Sometimes outward emotion or yelling and screaming maybe a tendency for an actor. But I think you can craft a performance about what is not said, the unspoken word, and just through nuance and facial expression. And in the case of The Lost City of Z, there are a couple of instances where we can say much more by saying less. And that really was by removing dialogue from a scene. I know in Two Lovers, which we worked on together, there were whole sequences that just weren’t resonating with people on an emotional level. So we simply removed the dialogue and made this montage out of it, set to the right music, and it really brought sympathy to the characters. A famous case of this is in Raging Bull, where there’s a scene where they’re not speaking — but if you look at it, Scorsese just simply removed their dialogue. Their mouths are still moving, yet you don’t notice it because you are emotionally invested in the scene. You could imagine that scene with dialogue being a far different scene emotionally than without. And so those are some of the things we do to craft and hone performance.

This was fun to construct, editorially speaking. The images from the church of the baptism were from a deleted scene that was to open the movie.  During the editing process, we wanted the aftermath of Percy stopping the arrow with his book to be more spiritual, so we cannibalized footage from this other scene.  This was a great example of building an emotional moment in the editing process that was not intended from the original shoot.

HULLFISH: Thank you so much for your time guys. Good luck on your film.

Axelrad: Thanks so much, Steve.  It was a pleasure speaking with you.  We love to talk about the craft of film editing.

Haugen: It was great speaking with you, Steve. Thank you so much.

To read more interviews in the Art of the Cut series, check out THIS LINK and follow me on Twitter @stevehullfish

The first 50 Art of the Cut interviews have been curated into a book, “Art of the Cut: Conversations with Film and TV editors.” The book is not merely a collection of interviews, but was edited into topics that read like a massive, virtual roundtable discussion of some of the most important topics to editors everywhere: storytelling, pacing, rhythm, collaboration with directors, approach to a scene and more.

Thanks to Moviola’s Todd Peterson and Evan O’Connor for transcribing this interview.

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