Editing Insight: Evil Dead Editor Bryan Shaw on Cutting Horror
From the HD Pro Guide Magazine archive: this article first appeared in HD Pro Guide Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 1 (2014).
Editing Q&A with Editor BRyan shaw continued from page 30 Q&A with Editor BRyan shaw BRyan, what editing programs do you work with?
BRyan Shaw: Avid, it is my system of choice. I like to run it with the Avid Artist Mix audio desk.
How CLOSELy do you follow the director's vision, for example, in one of your most recent films, "evil dead"? how much creative freedom do you have?
BRyan Shaw: I spent a lot of time with Fede [Alvarez] prior to the shoot, and was at a lot of the pre-production meetings. It is very important to me to try and understand what the director's vision is for the movie. Fede and I worked closely all through the shoot as well. As the edit developed I, of course, had opportunities to offer up alternate ways of cutting scenes. Fede had a clear vision, but at the same time, he was very open to my ideas. It was one of the most enjoyable edits I have ever been part of.
How do you manage to make the movie fresh, knowing that it is a remake of a classic film? how do you make your editing original?
BRyan Shaw: The editing of any movie is naturally influenced by decisions made by the director and the DOP. I never really had to think about anything other than making the best movie it could be. The approach was always to make this film as good and scary a horror as possible.
What are the challenges specific to editing a horror film? how did you overcome these challenges?
BRyan Shaw: I would say the suspense and release aspect of the film. Not just within individual scenes but throughout the entire film. I also keep in mind the contribution that the composer and sound designer will make, and in horror they play a very important part. So we worked very hard on our temp mix in terms of selection of temp music and the building of FX's and soundscapes. We adjusted certain scenes after we had a temp mix done for a screening, as we could see areas that needed adjustment. In some cases, we only adjusted things by as little as 4 frames, but the room it gave to the sound designer was critical. We also adjusted one scene near the head by a very small amount, so the composer could fit just the right tempo to it. Having a good music editor during the later part of the director’s cut was invaluable.
In this genre, one would imagine that the element of suspense is paramount. how do you deal with this in your editing?
BRyan Shaw: I think suspense is paramount, and as I said, in this genre you cannot understate the work that the composer and sound designer bring. The closer you can work with them the better the scenes and the movie will play. I must say I love sound design and music a great deal; and being a drummer doesn't hurt.
Because the genre plays HEAVILy on the character's psychology, how do you PICk scenes that reveal the character's thoughts and emotions? how do you get inside the character's head?
BRyan Shaw: That job is really done by the director, Fede. With the cast we had, I was delivered really good performances. I can't say enough about how hard they all worked, but I take my hat off to Jane Levy, she is brilliant. What she went through was hell, and she delivered every time.
from Bryan Shaw Always trust your instincts, don't second guess yourself.
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