We're back with editor Lee Smith.
The editor takes all of the footage shot on set by the director and puts together the
story and sequence of events for the final movie.
Lee Smith began his career serving in an entry-level position at a post-production facility.
Mr. Smith has gone on to serve as the editor on such films as Batman Begins, Inception,
and X-Men First Class.
Hi I'm editor Lee Smith, you're watching Made in Hollywood, here's the scene.
This world's a treasured, it's been telling us to leave for a while now.
As an editor how would you describe the duties and responsibilities that you had for Interstellar?
You basically assemble each sequence as it's being shot.
Not all sequences can be complete but they can be complete to a certain point.
Even the visual effects sequences you have to start to assemble them with a view that
you know there's a through in this film a giant wave for example or something happening.
I want to get down fast don't I? Actually we want to get there in one piece.
Hang on.
You start to construct it even if you're just cutting to black with a little thing that
says giant wave to get an idea of what's going to happen and the job of the editor
is to make sure it makes as much sense as it can make sense as you're going or that
you think even at 75% complete you know that the other 25% maybe being shot on a studio
or a set or in another country and you have to imagine that footage, combine with your
footage, imagine that's going to work and then give the two thumbs up that we can keep
moving.
Make it count.
Push the mountains.
Those are mountains.
The waves.
And then there's the post period where I assemble the entire movie while it's being photographed
and then once the six month shoot period is over Chris will come into the editing room
and then we'll start at the beginning and start to refine and just polish the movie.
Am I going to make it?
Yes you are.
Yes you are.
Now that you are an editor working on these big films do you ever feel like there's still
more to learn or do you feel like you kind of know everything now?
The great thing with this job is you learn something on every film I mean I've been doing
it for a lot of years now and these films are so complicated that you literally have
to reinvent things as you go and there's just levels of complexity to the process that
you're always learning.
I started editing on film now we edit digitally so you have to make that transition.
The digital platforms are evolving all the time so you have to basically you know you're
learning new steps the whole way.
You can't just think about your family now you have to think bigger than that.
I am thinking about my family and millions of other families.
What advice do you have for any aspiring editors who want to be like you one day?
Try to get into you know post-production facilities.
Be prepared to work from the bottom up because you'll learn more.
I think just be diligent work hard it's the usual thing in any career path but if you're
lucky you will work with people that will let you do certain things and and if you can
shine then like everything you'll bubble to the top just work hard.
We'll find a way that we always have.
