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Assistant Editor Andy Crosby talks Raising Dion and Anne Rice’s Interview with A Vampire
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“When you’re
working with an editor remotely and especially for creative reviews you need
the right tools to make it work effectively,” says Andy Crosby, assistant
editor to Danielle Statuto on Netflix superhero drama Raising Dion. “It’s
one thing outputting a cut for someone to review offline, and quite another to
get that immediate feedback as if you were together in person.”
Handling
Interruptions
His experience on
the show’s second season during the height of the pandemic is familiar.
Production began in January 2021 with editorial working from their Avids at
home connected to shared Nexis storage in Burbank.
“The problem was
that the video connectivity solution we were using was not good enough for the
daily routine we required in order to do our work.”
The schedule
for Raising Dion was particularly tight, partly because Covid
interruptions disrupted filming.
Crosby found
himself working 12 hours a day, often up to 16 hours, on eight episodes across
the series. “Every single second counts, so you need a workflow that is as
efficient as possible. That’s where ClearView Flex was a real bonus and we used
it a lot.”
One of the core
responsibilities of the assistant editor is to verify footage from the daily
house and then organise clips into one bin, scene by scene, in such a way for
the editor to quickly and intuitively begin to cut.
Shifting to
ClearView Flex
“Initially we would
output a cut and send it to the director for them to review and then we’d take
in notes,” says Crosby. “Increasingly we used ClearView Flex as a
shortcut. We’d all hop on a Google Meets call with a separate link to
ClearView. In real-time, we would see what we were doing and adjust, then
review different takes to get it to where we needed it as quickly as possible.
I would say ClearView was invaluable in this process.
Crosby remained
with Raising Dion for the duration of production, long after
picture lock, from January to December 2021, assisting VFX Supervisor Mark
Kolpack and his team.
Bringing the
visuals to life
“This was a
VFX-heavy show, and we used ClearView Flex extensively to iterate the
shots. Mark used the tool in ClearView to annotate on a specific frame. For
example, to explain his ideas to the showrunner (Carol Barbee) and director for
a VFX shot that had yet to be created. As the shot iterated, we could all jump
on ClearView Flex at the same time and see the exact frames and talk
it through.”
Flexible workflows
Having also worked
for the first time with Editor Leo Trombetta on Raising Dion,
Crosby was invited by the Emmy®-winning editor to assist him on AMC Studios’
supernatural drama series Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire where,
once again, ClearView Flex was called into action.
“They were using
another tool on this show, but it quite evidently did not have robust real-time
playback. There was considerable latency with video streams playing out of
sync. That was very, very frustrating for the director who said they couldn’t
work this way. That’s why we turned to ClearView Flex. We had to make sure
we got the work done and it was the answer.”
On ‘Interview’ and
on his current production, season 1 of AMC shows Parish back
assisting Statuto, the producers are operating a flexible workflow to give the
team the best of face-to-face interaction and the greater productivity of work
from home.
“Depending on how
the show-runner or director likes to work, it is always useful to share reviews
together in the cutting room but for the most part, I am working at home,”
notes Crosby. “The production can save money too by not having to hire office
space for a length of time. This is the way forward if everyone is comfortable
with remote collaboration.”
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