A Chat With Marc Wade

Marc Wade making editing history...

Article
FIRST ONLINE Sep 7, 2005

Tools:

Marc Wade is the Supervising Producer of StarTrek.com, Paramount Pictures's official "Star Trek" website. He is responsible for much of the content found at the site, and his vision shapes the overall user experience. He was also my mentor when I interned for StarTrek.com.

In his spare time, Marc likes to edit small projects on the side. Recently, he completed work on "Serial Slayer", a movie released on DVD by Lions Gate. I used this opportunity to catch up with my good friend.

Eddie: Good afternoon, Marc! How many people have you banned from StarTrek.com's Message Boards today?
Marc: Not as many as I'd like!

Eddie: You worked with Mark Kines on the StarTrek.com website. Did you ask to edit "Serial Slayer", or did he ask you to work with him?
Marc: Mark was the Art Director for Paramount Digital Entertainment for four years, at the same time that I was the Supervising Producer for all of our Web sites. When he came to PDE, he was just finishing up "Foreign Correspondents", and I was very impressed to know someone who actually MADE a feature film! Mark and I worked very well together at PDE, and I greatly respected his creativity and abilities. I had done some editing of mostly industrial video and film (I was a Multimedia Specialist at Apple Computer for five years, working in the Apple USA Training organization), but I really wanted to try my hand at editing a feature. When Mark started talking about making "Claustrophobia" I made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

I remember taking him to lunch and giving him this big pitch: I would buy my own equipment and software, learn Final Cut Pro, and edit his project for free. For an independent filmmaker on a small budget, this can sound pretty attractive.

Eddie: The movie only took nine days to shoot. Were you on location most of that time?
Marc: Unfortunately, my "day job" prevented me from being on the set as much as I would have liked. I love production, watching all the professionals work to make the shots happen, and this was - in spite of the budget - a very professional crew. It was amazing how much they were able to get done and how well they did it in such a short time.

A cardinal rule for editors is NOT to go to the set at all. If you see how hard the crew and the actors work to get a shot, it might color your judgement about whether to use that shot or not. I understand that on a theoretical level, but I still love to be on the set.

To finally answer your question, I stopped by the set at the end of every shooting day to pick up the day's video and audio tapes. One afternoon I stopped by and showed them some "digital dailies" - captured QuickTime footage on my PowerBook. I did spend a little time watching them shoot, but probably not a whole hour over the course of the nine days. When we did the second unit shoot several months later, it was all done at my house, so I got to be there for all of that! Yes, that's right... Alena Gray was killed in my front yard, and the young couple in the last shot are sitting in my living room (that's my daughter Michelle with the last line in the movie).

Eddie: The movie was shot on MiniDV. Were you responsible for logging all the footage into a computer, or did you simply edit footage that was already saved onto a hard drive?
Marc: I did log some of the footage, but the bulk of the first unit material was captured by our Assistant Editor Maxx Gillman. I brought every day's tapes to him (in the kitchen at Mark's house) and he logged and captured everything. The second unit stuff was all mine.

Eddie: How long did it take you to edit the movie to its present form?
Marc: When Mark and I put the final audio into the finished Final Cut project and hit "Save" for the last time, it was May 31; the first day of shooting was June 1 of the previous year. So you could say that it took us almost exactly a year to edit. In fact, we didn't work constantly during that time. I figured I spent about 700 hours of editing time altogether (coincidentally, the movie has about 700 cuts). My time was for picture editing and then final marrying of the finished audio to the picture, then exporting the video in various forms for delivery.

Eddie: Did you and Mark work closely in the editing room, or did you just show Mark what you did on your own?
Marc: Since this was my first feature, my goal was to be the expert on the tools and let Mark express his vision with my assistance. He could be the artist; I'd be the technician. We worked very closely together, with him selecting every take and specifying every cut. There were a couple of sequences that I assembled, and then we fine-tuned them together. If I have a chance to edit another feature, I plan to do more on my own (as is more typical) and present it to the director in a more
complete form.

Eddie: You and Mark decided to add a prologue and an epilogue to the movie after completing the editing process. This required additional shooting. Did you simply tack on the prologue and the epilogue, or did you have to re-edit other sequences in the movie to accommodate the additions?
Marc: I'd rather choose a different expression than "simply tack on"! The prologue and epilogue were completely stand-alone, and were written after we had a nearly final cut of the "middle" of the movie. With that knowledge, those elements could be built to be compatible with what we already had. I'd rather say that those elements were so brilliantly constructed that they could be married to the rest of the movie seamlessly and without need for adjustments!

Eddie: I noticed that several sequences were comprised of long takes that lasted several minutes. Was this an artistic decision, or was there a lack of coverage that prevented you from cutting from one perspective to another?
Marc: From an artistic perspective, it makes sense to me not to cut unless you have to. In the cases you mention, the performances were good so we just stayed with them - much more powerful that way.

As for coverage, I was amazed as we edited that we never said, "Gee, if only I had a shot to go here..." In spite of the very short shooting schedule, Mark's planning and directorial expertise ensured that we had everything we needed in the editing room.

Eddie: You have some experience editing video and audio clips for StarTrek.com. How big of a change was it to edit a feature-length movie?
Marc: I love editing - putting pieces together to convey a message or invoke an emotion. Whether it's video of a subject-matter expert explaining how to use a software product, audio of a writer giving commentary about a "Star Trek" episode, or this feature film, I enjoy the process. This project was quite different since we were assembling a narrative from all the different elements, and it was very exciting to see the story come together as we brought things together. The big change was working at our own pace without a concrete deadline, and having the freedom to go back to a sequence we'd finished long before, have another look, and make changes to make it even better.

Eddie: Did you get tips from the people who edited "Star Trek: Enterprise" or any other editors you've met in the industry?
Marc: The legendary film editor Walter Murch is a hero of mine, and I've had the pleasure to meet him on a couple of occasions. His lectures and books have been both inspired and informed my work. I want to be him when I grow up.

Eddie: Did you do any work on the movie's sound design?
Marc: In our editing process we put together production sound (recorded with the picture) and some of the sound effects (like the footsteps on the roof - actually Mark stomping around in his living room in the killer's boots) so we had a complete (but rough) audio track when we had picture lock. However, Mark took all the sound elements to a couple of professional sound editors who did a much more complete version for the final product.

Eddie: What other editing experience do you have?
Marc: I had edited film and video as a hobby for years, using various technology (from razor blade and scotch tape for Super-8 films of the kids to dual-deck 8mm videotape). When I was at Apple I had the chance to work with the folks at Apple TV and was trained on the Avid. Our group worked with QuickTime digital video very early in its life. I used various tools to edit digital video projects we developed at Apple Training. When I first saw Final Cut Pro, I couldn't wait to learn all about it. It is such a great tool that it really cries out for you to find a project to use it on. That's what inspired me to volunteer to edit Mark's project.

Eddie: Most reviews of the movie praise your editing. Has this inspired you to look for other editing work? Has Mark already asked you to edit his next feature?
Marc: I'm very flattered! As I said, I have a "day job" that I really enjoy, and that keeps me from looking for other gigs of this nature. I would love to do another project, and I've already told Mark that I hope he'll consider me for his next feature.

Eddie: You have a cameo as a news reporter. Admit it, the acting bug bit you pretty badly, and now you want to play an important character in the next incarnation of "Star Trek".
Marc: Yeah, based on the quality of that performance I'm getting offers constantly! Seriously, I have no idea what possessed me to volunteer for that; I'm much more of a "behind the camera" guy. Never again. Leave that stuff to the professionals.

Eddie: Well, that's it for today, Marc.
Marc: Thanks, and I'll see you on the Message Boards!

Please Note - More details:
Be sure to check out the full details under related releases.