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bigsnzstanacct · 5 years ago

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Kn/ives Out - R/ansom Fic

Inspired by these posts, although I went a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle overboard with it, as is my wont. This may or may not be the first of a five-or-six part series, a sort of “Five Times Ransom Pissed Off Everybody By Sneezing, and One Time He Didn’t.” Or it might just be the one little story. You know the drill, over-the-top sneezing ahoy lmao.

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“Do we have to talk politics?” Joni asked, her fingers tensed, her eyes rolling as she walked rather briskly to the drink cart. “It’s not that I’m not willing it’s just it’s so contentious and I’m a little concerned about that kind of energy—”

“No, no, no Joni,”—Richard cutting in now, his words stretching longer in the way all of him seemed to extend and elongate when he was drunk, as though he forgot Linda and Harlan were watching and expecting—”No, Joni, you don’t get to throw stones and then hide your hand, if you say something about our President, I’m gonna say something back.”

“Now, now, Richard,”—The aforementioned Harlan—”I think we can all agree the President—”

“Our President, Harlan, our President, I’m not saying I like him but I’m saying he’s our—”

“N-now… now come on Richard”—Walt, briefly, before being steamrolled by—

“Richard, I think I’d like a change of subject now—” Linda, ordinarily authoritative enough to end the line of inquiry altogether, but apparently not tonight.

“Well I wouldn’t, Linda. I wouldn’t like a change of subject, and for that matter...” (Richard, elongated as though he forgot Linda and Harlan…)

“How boring,” Ransom said in an aside. Marta happened to be walking by, picking up Richard’s emptied drink, and Joni’s recently downed one. It wasn’t actually her job to provide maid service for these people but they seemed to expect it and Harlan encouraged it and they really were so generous.

So it was to Marta that Ransom delivered his aside, though it wasn’t really to her—it might as well have been to the drink cart, or the grandfather clock, or the nonexistent camera over his shoulder. Ransom was the sort of man who walked around as though there could always be a camera over his shoulder. In fairness, Ransom was also the sort of man cameras commonly followed around. He’d very nearly committed to at least two reality tv shows, mostly to annoy his family. He’d gotten his current sports car upon backing out of a reality tv show. It was too bad he was too old to start a YouTube channel. He was still waiting to see what he could get out of revealing Jacob’s channel to the family, whether it would be better to threaten Jacob with its reveal to his parents, his parents with its reveal to to the family, or perhaps the family as a whole with a leak to… whatever random book-related website might find that gossip interesting. Maybe just Reddit.

Marta was just about to respond, to perhaps engage Ransom in conversation. She had it on good authority--Harlan’s--that she could be good company to a Thrombey or a Drysdale. Everyone seemed rather wary of Ransom, but aside from his aversion to the dogs, Marta had no reason to think ill of him, and so tried to assume the best of him. And---she could admit somewhat blushingly---he certainly wasn’t unattractive. She could see how, in her younger, sillier days how she might nurse a bit of crush on him, the wealthy prince charming and the maid---although she was not a maid, no matter how they treated her, she was a well-trained professional, dammit---

But before she could speak, Ransom’s face suddenly underwent some sort squishing, snorting motion. His long nose scrunched up short as he took in a sharp sniff, nearly a snort. His eyes closed for a moment, and a smile played on his lips. “This’ll be fuhh-hun,” he said in half a whisper, airy breathing infusing and interrupting his murmur.

Marta tilted her head to the side, curious what Ransom could be referring to, until she saw his nose, which was twitching: once, then twice. A heavy sniff, then another, then two in a row, then a long one, for all the world like fanning a flame (a flame, as she would come to realize, to light a fuse, to burn down to an explosion...)

It was around this moment that Ransom abruptly stood, and she could not help but notice how broad his shoulders were, as his eyes fluttered, and his chest began to swell. His nose was starting to pinken around the nostrils, the flaring and scrunching continuing, his arms falling slack. The creak of his chair as he stood brought everyone’s attention towards him, and as they noticed the bizarre ritual Ransom was performing or enduring.

“Oh, god, Ransom, not this again…” (Linda, eyes rolling)

“Ransom, Ransom buddy, Ransom please...” (Richard, hands waving)

“Is he going to do that screaming thing again, I’m leaving the room---” (Joni, hands raising towards her ears)

“Leaving the room won’t do her much good.” (Harlan, with a bit of a snicker in his voice)

Ransom was starting to vocalize now, little “hehhhH… hEHHHhh…” sounds that sounded as though they were either being dragged out of him or as though he was dragging them out himself, perhaps both. His head was tilting back, that chest looking larger than ever as it stretched and air flowed in and his long nose scrunched and his mouth hung open in a tall O and his back arched and hands went over ears and then one last voiceless gasp in… “huuuUUHH!”

“HHHHEEYYY-SSHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

Ransom sprang forward, giving vent to what was plainly a titanic sneeze to begin with, let alone his leaning into it, relishing it, and then on top of that, as the sneeze went on it seemed to turn into a pure, guttural yell, his voice roughening in an obviously voluntary way. It sounded as though the sort of scream one might hear on a hardcore metal record was riding the rails of an involuntary, massive rush of air, and Marta couldn’t help but frown as a visible spray was ejected from Ransom’s face along with the helter skelter noise, but she could hardly notice the spray since, standing closest to the blast, her ears were assaulted worst with Ransom’s screaming sneeze or sneeze-flavored scream, whatever it was, and she dearly wished she’d followed the family’s example and plugged her ears.

The sneeze tapered off at last, and Ransom--who’d doubled over with the blast--bounced back up, face reddened from exertion, practically beaming. Or at least he would have been beaming, were his nose not already scrunching…

“Whew! Big wuhh-hunn…” He was presumably celebrating his sneeze, congratulating himself on a “big one�� although the urge had not yet left him entirely, and it seemed another sneeze was one its way. Joni was just walking back into the room as he went into his sniffing routine again.

“Jesus! Ransom you’re gonna give your grandfather a heart attack…” she huffed, before seeing him building towards another sneeze, spinning on her heel and promptly marching out of the room again.

(Harlan, for his part, was chuckling.)

“S-suhh… sorry guys, think I gotta sn-sneeze again…” he warned, breath catching as he actively tilted his head back, presumably seeking some sort of light to look into. His eyes were tearing slightly as he fanned one hand in the general direction of his nose, perhaps… attempting to spark another sneeze by fanning dust at himself? He smiled as he could the whole way, clearly enjoying this performance.

“What the hell, kiddo, didn’t we tell you about your whole yelling routine…” Richard grumbled, making a move to walk towards Ransom but clearly thinking better of it as Ransom’s breath caught yet again.

“Ransom!” His mother interjected.

“You’re not a kid, you get allergy shots, I don’t know why you put on this whole production…” (Richard again)

“Ransom stop that this instant, you know the neighbors called the police last time they thought someone was in here being murdered.” (Linda)

“Shh, shh, shh, you’ll make it go away… ooh, I can feel it…” (Ransom, giggling)

The rest of them were rolling their eyes, plugging their ears, shuffling away from the scene---Marta heard a door slam, clearly Joni wasn’t risking being within the house for Ransom’s next explosion.

Meanwhile Ransom seemed to have clinched the sneeze, no longer trying to coax it out but surrendering to it, preparing for it, getting ready to ride the wave and rattle the rafters… he held up his hand, and put his fingers down one by one, his giggling nearly putting him off his sneeze again as he counted down to the sneeze: five fingers, four, three, two... and just as he had one finger left up, he gave another of those great airy voiceless pulls with his flared nostrils and slack mouth and…

“EEEYYYYYYYYAAAA-SSSHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

This one was less a heavy metal growl and more a pure scream, perhaps inspired by his mother’s mention of murder, as it bent higher pitched towards the end, and Marta couldn’t help but think she wouldn’t have imagined such a large man could reach such a high pitch.

Once again Ransom pitched forward, staying bent over, hands over his face this time as he pushed out the sneeze, dragging it out beyond all necessity, but clearly enjoying it. He popped up again, “whew! Think I got the itch out that time!” He said, beaming like a child pleased to have gotten away with something naughty, before he screwed his face up again, “W-well, I think I got it…”

“Ransom, stop it, I know you’re just putting it on this time, I can tell.” Linda said, although this time she was chuckling a bit. Harlan was outright laughing, although he rolled his eyes as he said “you’ve outdone yourself.”

Marta had prepared adequately for this one, fingers plugging her ears, but she was still rather distracted by the whole affair. She’d never seen anyone sneeze quite so dramatically. Still, he seemed to have some measure of control over the whole affair; standing behind him, she couldn’t help but notice the sheen of his hands, practically glistening with the moisture from the sneeze, before he wiped them roughly on his pants. Clearly this sneeze had been much… juicier, she thought with an alarmed frown. Ransom must have anticipated that, ergo the hands tented around his nose as he’d howled out that last sneeze.

“You done yelling at us, buddy?” Richard asked, clearly irritated. His son had managed to take up even more space than he did, after all. Practically took up all the space in the house; certainly there wasn’t a room in the house (or on the grounds altogether, practically) that Ransom’s sneezes couldn’t be heard.

“Yeah Dad, sorry.” Ransom said, his childish grin replaced with a more adolescent smirk, his eyes cutting over towards the couch where his father sat. “Just had a tickle in my nose.” His voice grew brighter, though no less mocking, as he looked over at Marta, who once again could have been a drink cart, a grandfather clock, a camera for all it mattered. He tilted his head at her, and adopted what might have been a boyish pout (if his face weren’t so smug) to say:

“Allergies, you know. I can’t help it.”

#snz fic #snz fanfic #loud sneeze #dramatic sneeze #little shit over the top sneezes #snz story

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bigband98-blog · 6 years ago

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The real Clara Bow.

"(I'm) just a woikin goil" Source: Clara Bow And a working girl she was. During her rise to fame and eventual stardom Clara Bow, one of the most popular and talented actresses the screen has ever produced and the ultimate ideal of the 20s flapper, was the most overworked and underpaid star then in Hollywood. Producer B.P. Schulberg had her under personal contract and steered Clara's career becoming his greatest meal ticket. But fame hadn't come easy to this Brooklyn bombshell. Clara was born into the world on July 29,1905.And her childhood was nothing but unsettled. Her home life was a shambles as her father was an alcoholic, abusive and a womanizer. Her mother had come from a similar background and was given to regular mental "bouts". As a result Clara became quite sensitive and shy and developed a slight speech impediment. When she was old enough the streets more often than not were her home away from home when her father or mother proved too much. She became quite the tomboy but a tomboy who frequented the movies any chance she could get. She would do anything she could to earn money to help pay for her movie habit and to help her father with keeping the household together, as her mother was not able to work steadily for any length of time. Her favourite movie actress was Mary Pickford and she would stand in front of a mirror emulating her. In January 1921 Motion Picture Magazine sponsored a "Fame and Fortune" contest. Clara saw the ads and badly wanted to give it a try. At that moment she didn't have enough money for the two photos that she would need for the contest entry so she sheepishly approached her father. Unexpectedly her father not only agreed but accompanied her personally to the photographer's studio and paid the $1.00 for the shoot. A few days later she attended the offices in New York of Motion Picture Magazine and was crestfallen when she entered to find it crammed with many lovely looking girls, all there for the same reason. Looking at some of the beautifully dressed wanna be's, she figured she didn't have a chance but she had come too far to give up so she persevered through the obligatory interview with the magazine staff and returned home to await the decision. A month or so later Clara was given the astounding news that it was she out of all the others, that had been picked as the magazine's winner;she was floored. Soon after she was given a small part in a movie called "Beyond The Rainbow". The part was so small that it was excised from the original release prints but later when Clara's star had risen to such phenomenal heights they reinserted it and re-released it. One night after work had been completed on the film Clara awoke to find her mother standing over her holding a butcher knife. Her father and Clara had been trying to keep anything about her film ambitions quiet, but her mother had gotten wind of it and this night was threatening to use the knife. Clara as calmly as she could talked her mother into surrendering the knife to her. Clara prayed that there would be no such other instances but shortly after the film's release her mother attacked Clara once more. She chased Clara around and around the room screaming that no daughter of hers was going to go into such a questionable and perverted occupation. Clara retreated to the streets sobbing and it took her father some time to calm her mother down. After the dust had settled her father quietly made inquiries and eventually had his wife put into an asylum. And it was there her mother passed away just a few months later in early 1924. Clara was now under personal contract with Hollywood producer B.P. Schulberg who had seen her work in "Down to the Sea in Ships ", her other 1922 effort. She would complete three movies in 1923 and moved on into 1924 doing an astounding eight pictures.1924 would prove to be a watershed year for her. She was picked as one of the W.A.M.P.A.S. (Western Associated Motion Picture Advertising Society) girls and the only one of the group that actually went on to better things. Then Schulberg moved on to Paramount studios taking his young protege with him. And Clara was getting much needed attention from critics and business insiders alike. Her star was definitely on the rise. Clara's schedule was even more hectic in 1925 for it saw no less than 14 films released!.1926 saw Clara do eight films among them "Mantrap " with Ernest Torrance which really made Clara a star and "Kid Boots" starring a well known vaudevillian making his screen debut, Eddie Cantor. "Kiss me Again" was significant in that it showed off Clara's range as an actress in a more serious role. She garnered great reviews for her part but this was one of the very few serious roles she would get in her career. Directors Victor Fleming and Paul Bern stated on several occasions that Clara could be one of the greatest dramatic actresses of her time It is so unfortunate Hollywood didn't have the foresight and guts to stick her in other than formulaic roles featuring her as a "modern" girl, a flapper and emphasizing her sexuality. They realized they could stick Clara in any kind of picture no matter how bad the script and because of her sheer presence and forcefulness she would carry the day. And as long as his meal ticket was making money B.P. Schulberg was quite happy to keep the status quo. But it was a visit on a set by British author and sex maven Elinor Glyn that kicked Clara's career up another big notch. She had written several novels on relationships between couples that were very daring for their day. Elinor watched Clara work and declared that she had "It". An energy or sexually charged charisma and magnetism that affected everything and everyone around her. And it was this "It" that made her glow on the screen .And there is no doubt Clara lit up the screen. And 1927 was to showcase Clara at her finest. She starred in about seven vehicles that year but two are standouts. The first is "It" and it did indeed capitalize on Clara's "personality" but it also featured a walk on by Elinor Glyn herself to give the movie it's obvious tie in. It was about a department store clerk who falls in love with the young owner of the store that she works in. It had all the typical mix ups, tears and laughter associated with that type of movie but it showed Clara off to great advantage and the film still stands up extremely well today. The second film was "Wings" and was set during the First World War and it co-starred Richard Arlen and Buddy Rogers as two fliers who see action overseas. Clara who always had a crush on Buddy meets up with him in France while driving an ambulance there. There was quite a few touching scenes throughout the movie involving Clara. In fact the movie has quite a serious feel to it throughout especially through it's realistic depictions of aerial combat in the war and its consequences. But when Clara is on screen the movie literally comes alive. It is a testament to her ability as an actress that she could do that repeatedly, picture after picture. And it's in no small way that she helped the film win the first Academy Award for best picture that year. 1927 went into 1928 and her film output continued unabated as did her career. She starred in four pictures that year; "Red Hair" and "The Fleet's In " being standouts. But 1929 would prove to be an unnerving one for many actresses and actors and Clara Bow unfortunately was one of them. Clara was at the top of her game. She was often seen driving around Hollywood in a flame red car (a Kissel or Stutz-Bearcat depending on the story) with one or more of her auburn coloured Chow dogs. She was known quite well in the neighbourhood by the local constabulary who would frequently drop in at the rear entrance to her home to have a cup of coffee and sandwiches and have a chat. Clara was frequently linked with many men over the years and was a constant source of gossip for the papers to engorge. One incident was a touch football game she played on her front lawn with the University of Southern California Football team. Everyone had such a great time that she invited them over again. This incident got turned inside out until one read that Clara had slept with every member of the USC football team! Another incident that didn't help Clara's reputation at all involved Clara attending a gambling establishment in Lake Tahoe. It was reported she had welshed on a gambling debt while playing there. She had gotten into an argument with staff personnel and refused at first to pay but it she eventually settled. But not before the incident had leaked out and done some damage publicly. Clara was a very trusting and unassuming individual and often wore her heart on her sleeve. She was in reality a very insecure person and she many times publicly decried that her past home life had left many a scar on her emotionally. And she also stated that mentally she could just not shut down and was always worrying about something and had insomnia.In point of fact Clara had become overworked and overwrought. What happened in 1929 sent Clara hurtling precariously towards the edge. The movie industry had been experimenting with sound pictures from the early 1920s.But it was Jolson's "The Jazz Singer" in 1927 (little dialogue but with musical numbers) and the first full talking movie in 1928 "Lights of New York", that broke the dam wide open and there was no turning back. But the big question was how everyone was going to sound, literally. Many actor's didn't have the vocal capability of transitioning from silence into sound and as a result found themselves leaving the business. In those days sound was monitored from a booth, and especially in the early days the microphone was static and immovable. Actor's would have to know where the mike was and dutifully stand within its' range to be recorded properly. The camera's were put into sound proof boxes where the camera's whirring would not be picked up by the mike. Consider this December 1929 Photoplay article excerpt: "Terrible Mike has cooled down the incandescent flapper-he's giving her an awful kick, and is putting Poor Old lady Has-Been on the Throne" It was a stifling environment in which to work and for Clara this was definitely another pressure which she did not need. The making of "Wild Party", her first talking picture, was anything but smooth. Clara was overwrought with the added pressure of having to know where and when to stand and was now having to pay attention to her annunciation as well as her voice level. In fact it has been reported that in her run through for her very first scene as she comes in and says:" Hello Everybody" all the sound valves in the sound booth exploded! Clara would more than once become so upset she would run off the set crying. But the movie was made and Clara showed she had not lost "It" and it garnered great reviews. Clara's voice came over very well and was able to rise well above the primitive recording techniques of the day. But Clara's career was slowly grinding to an inevitable end and "Mike" was the least of her worries. Clara would make between 1929 and 1933 10 more pictures and all quite successful. Her last two "Call Her Savage" and "Hoopla" were especially good vehicles for her and showed off her acting ability to its best. But strangely they weren't successful at the box office. In January of 1931 Clara was involved in a very public trial in regards to her former personal secretary Daisy Devoe who it was claimed had mishandled Clara's funds. While Clara did not want to press charges the police saw fit to carry it through the court system anyways and many personal details of Clara's life came out during the trial. Clara was forced to testify but was in tears much of the time. When the verdict came down about a month later Devoe was sentenced to 18 months in jail. It was plain that Clara, as usual, had been much too trusting with her employee and when asked about the trial, being the person she was ,she could not kick Devoe even when she was down, it wasn't her nature: "The trouble with me is, I'm no sneak....I may have made mistakes...But my greatest mistake seems to have been that I was open and above board with everything". On December 4,1931 Clara married cowboy actor Rex Bell who she had been dating steadily for the last two years. They bought a ranch in Nevada and Clara would retire there permanently. But Clara was her mother's daughter and some of the same type of inflictions that harried her mother would eventually also do the same to Clara. The pressure of the last few years with sound, her personal life being spread more and more across headlines much of it exaggerated or totally untrue and her realization, albeit late, of her true worth and what the pittance was she actually received, in the end proved too much for the fragile Clara to cope with. Clara would spend much of her retirement years in and out of sanitariums and on drugs of one type or another to control her condition. She would always remain an insomniac and stated that the nights would always be the hardest. Clara had two sons one in 1935 and the other in 1938.Rex eventually gave up movies for a life in politics and by 1954 was the lieutenant governor of Nevada. In July of 1962 Rex died of a heart attack and Clara went all the way to Glendale, California to attend the funeral . Afterwards she retired back to the ranch and seclusion once more. To pass the time away in her final years she would often send letters off to stars that she admired and even answered fan mail that came to her. She would spend her days swimming and reading while at night television was her favourite pass time. . On September 27,1965 while watching the " Late, Late Show" she passed away quietly in her chair. In the late 1960s when film historian Kevin Brownlow wrote his fine work: " The Parade's Gone By" about silent films and their stars he completely overlooked Clara Bow and her works. Louise Brooks, a contemporary of Clara's, wrote to Mr.Brownlow the following: "You brush off Clara Bow for some old nothing like Brooks. The more I think about it the madder I get .Clara made three pictures which will never be surpassed, 'Dancing Mothers', 'Mantrap', and 'It' " And Louise Brooks was right. Clara has been largely forgotten and overlooked as time has passed by many critics and historians. And this is a travesty.For to watch Clara Bow today is to see a human dynamo, a force onto her own who literally brings the screen to life with her presence alone. But there was more to her than just "It" and she could act alongside the best of her day and in many instances surpass them at their own game. This was a star of the highest order. She defined an entire generation and she still touches us as equally today as she did over 70 years ago. She was an original. She was....Clara Bow.

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lorrainecparker · 7 years ago

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ART OF THE CUT with Oscar-winner Conrad Buff, ACE

Conrad Buff, ACE started his career as a VFX supervisor and editor at ILM on iconic movies like Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Star Wars,: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi and Ghostbusters. He made his transition to the editor’s seat in 1985 and edited such films as Spaceballs, The Abyss, Terminator 2, True Lies, and Titanic, for which he won an Oscar for Best Editing with James Cameron and Richard Harris. Art of the Cut last interviewed him for The Huntsman: Winter’s War. We spoke to him about his most recent film, American Assassin.

HULLFISH: You’ve edited for a bunch of huge directors and you’ve edited for Antoine Fuqua several times – and, as a matter of fact, you’re cutting for him as we record this interview. What’s the advantage to working with somebody that you’ve done a bunch of films with?

BUFF: I think number one there’s just a comfortableness with having experienced each other before and then chemically clicking in a positive way and having on my end, freedom to sink or swim and try things. It’s a very comfortable natural communication. The first film I did with Antoine was Training Day and it was a pretty subjective process because it was reams of material. The actors spent a good amount of time in a tow car driving through the streets of L.A. So their energy would ebb and flow and there would be a good amount of experimentation on Denzel’s part particularly. So anyway that became successful and the experience was great. We just hit it off. I think that’s the same with any of the people I’ve had repeat business with.

HULLFISH: American Assassin’s a new director for you, right?

BUFF: Yes. Correct.

HULLFISH: What were some of the parts of trying to get in sync with him or to figure out how he likes to work or explain to him how you like to work. How did some of that relationship develop as that movie started?

BUFF: Well Michael Cuesta, the director in question, was pretty busy every day. Very rarely had time to come to the cutting room. There were many distractions on the weekends. So the way we ended up communicating basically other than a phone call or me running over to the set to say hi but he rarely had the time to come over to editorial. But using PIX I could post cuts for him so he would be appraised of progress and performances. And if I had any issues communicating through his assistants or email or phone call if there was time, but there was also a reasonably busy second unit, that Vic Armstrong was directing. So it was great being on location being able to coordinate between the two units. Additionally, I had producers requesting things and popping into editorial maybe even more than the director while we were shooting.

HULLFISH: Is there a danger of having producers pop in? Do you feel like you need to protect the director in those instances in some way?

BUFF: I certainly want the director to be aware that somebody is popping in and what they’re going to see. And I would certainly want the director to see it first so he or she could put a disclaimer on it, that it’s the first draft on my part and has no input from the director. But I worked with the producer, Lorenzo di Bonaventura before, in fact, it was on Training Day that we first met. And so I knew Lorenzo and I knew that he would respect the relationship between director and editor. And he did, so he didn’t see things that Michael didn’t see first. But it was good periodically to have them come in and get enthused by what they saw. There were times also where main unit would shoot something and second unit was on the heels wanting to know what they needed to cover and in that case, I would have to produce a cut that probably quite a few people saw beyond the director so everybody was in sync and knew what they were getting. In fact one of the clips you sent me, the training sequence when Michael Keaton is teaching the boys with the knives in the forest, that was one of those instances I had to work on a weekend because main unit finished on a Friday and second unit were shooting on a Monday and everybody needed to know what they needed and the producers were concerned that it was properly covered etc. etc..

HULLFISH: And so in the instance of that one particular scene the main unit I’m assuming is shooting the Michael Keaton stuff, the stuff that’s more dramatic and then the second unit comes into maybe get some fight footage and stunt players?

BUFF: Yes exactly. Although remarkably the two leads in that, Dylan O’Brien and Scott were both pretty darn good at delivering remarkable looking stunts. So it’s definitely a marriage of first and second unit that’s pretty seamless. Second unit did a lot of the detail work and some of the wider shots where they were doubled.

HULLFISH: Can you talk to me a little bit about that scene specifically about either what some of the challenges were or what your considerations were while you’re editing it?

BUFF: I was actually impressed that the real actors were amazingly adept at doing things that you wouldn’t expect them to do.

HULLFISH: That’s a big help to an editor, right?

BUFF: Right. you don’t have to be concerned about masking or digitally replacing, covering up something, cutting away before you want to, that kind of thing. And that applied to that final fight in the boat sequence at the very end. Taylor Kitsch and Dylan O’Brien did almost everything in that sequence. There’s only an extremely limited number of shots that were stunt people. All the more remarkable to me because Dylan O’Brien had had a bad experience where he had been injured terribly on a previous film and the fact that he was willing to be so physical in this one was an interesting surprise to me.

HULLFISH: Talk to me a little bit about that stunt work. It’s one of the things that I just talked to Elizabeth Ronaldsdottir about who cut Atomic Blonde. She was really very forward about how much she discussed the scenes with the stunt choreographers.

BUFF: The blocking on this film, I really didn’t participate in the design of the fight sequences. There was basically a fight coordinator and then there was a second unit director and main unit, So all three were contributing. I was not involved in any preplanning other than receiving some sort of sketches from the fight coordinator that he had shot on video that indicated the blocking and the general idea where he was going to go, shot on an empty stage. So there was some sort of a template but it wasn’t something that I would follow. It only allowed me to see what the blocking was because the shots themselves and the action within the frame are going to dictate a completely different pattern and different requirements.

Dylan O’Brien as Mitch Rapp in AMERICAN ASSASSIN to be released by CBS Films and Lionsgate.

HULLFISH: I’ve only done one big action sequence like that, and the first cut was incredibly long.

BUFF: (Laughs) That happens.

HULLFISH: My question is that action sequences are not like a scripted dialogue scene where you say, “OK this person says this and this person says this and this person says this and they finish their conversation.” With a fight or action sequence, you get footage in and it doesn’t say “right hook then left hook then something else.” So how much are you being driven by either that template that you said you got earlier on, or just throwing it all out the window and looking at the dailies and just saying, “It doesn’t even matter as long as they start here and here?”

BUFF: Well there is a pattern to the coverage at least most of the time. There is a pattern to it. There’s a blocking that is set and rehearsed, practiced and how it’s covered varies frequently. It’s covered to death, all sizes, angles. Punches always need to be sold with the recipient of the punch is usually facing away from camera or blocked if you’re facing someone’s face and they’re receiving that punch the proximity of the fist to the face photographically looks like it’s connecting. Sound effects go a long way to selling things that wouldn’t necessarily be accepted visually when they’re silent.

HULLFISH: When you’re cutting, especially an action sequence or fight sequence, how much do you feel like you need to put sound effects in right then and there to maintain not just whether you can sell it properly but even the rhythm of it?

BUFF: I don’t worry about putting sound effects in right away. I cut it for visual impact. I want to make it as strong as possible and interesting and varied as possible. What I do find is that once I’ve established a cut, and if I have time to put the sound effects in, or if I don’t and I have to pass them on to the assistant to do it, frequently there are adjustments required because the sound does impact the visual considerably and it needs some slight modification to really make it work properly with the sound.

HULLFISH: When you’re cutting those do you bother with production sound at all, or is it distracting?

BUFF: Usually it’s a lot of grunts and a lot of vocalizations, very little impact of people hitting the ground or any kind of chest punch or leg kicks or anything like that. It’s a tough thing to get recorded. All of it requires audio sweetening.

HULLFISH: There were at least two places where I noticed pacing changes between very fast edited sequences going directly to slower edited sequences. One of them was between the fight scene in the forest and the following scene of the CIA talking in the embassy about nukes. And the other one was another fight sequence followed by the female agent gently cleaning Mitch’s wounds in a hotel room.

BUFF: Well, in the first case, the fight scene with the knife, the training sequence, that originally lived in a different position that was later in the film. But quite late in the game after a preview or two we realized that the training sequences were well liked by the audience. So structurally it was advanced just to get the ball rolling sooner. Script-wise, it was not written that way, but I think the latter scenes you’re referring to were structured on the page the way they are in the film. The way Michael shot that nursing — tending to Mitch’s wounds — was very simple.

HULLFISH: Did you find that you tried to create these tempo changes or that that’s some way satisfying to you to have these kinds of musical ebbs and flows.

BUFF: I think it’s a function of writing more than anything really. It depends on the structure of the script.

HULLFISH: Do you want to talk about temp music?

BUFF: I told Michael that I had my hands full on this all in terms of the volume of material and the two units, main and second. I told him that I didn’t really want to put time in putting in temp music, in order to sell scenes. I wanted the scenes to stand on their own. And he was delighted to hear that. In a previous experience, he watched the editor’s cuts and there was a lot of music that he didn’t care for. I think that just clouds perception. I would rather keep things as straightforward as possible unless the director has something specific he wants to try. These days I’m just really shying away from throwing that stuff in because to me the final structure is so far away. I can put in something that will help sell a scene but it’s too seductive. You can make anything work if you add score. But structurally it may not ultimately want score. It may work better in context as a dry scene. But if you’re so used to hearing a certain cue for having music at all you find it odd when you’re not watching it with it. I just think it’s too seductive. There are times where if you are doing a montage or something you might need something to drive it. But more and more I just shy away from it. I have ideas and I listen to things that I think might be appropriate but unless it’s demanded or if I have to show some scenes to the studio then I might reconsider and put something in. But most of the American Assassin was dry. Once the shooting finished we brought a music editor in. I gave her reels and I gave her some instructions. Michael talked to her and she just ran with the ball. I just would rather spend time on performance structure.

HULLFISH: Speaking of structure, let’s talk about transitions. There are a couple of places where you’re dealing with intercutting an A, B and a C story. What were some of the considerations when you were going through those sections about where to come back and forth or did they stick really close to the script?

BUFF: I think there was some experimentation early on of restructuring either scenes or parts of scenes. My first cut was obviously honoring the script but I think ultimately we found that for the most part, the script structure worked. We actually undid some of the experiments of breaking up scenes and intercutting. A much more linear approach ultimately.

HULLFISH: What about the intercutting from the various A and B stories at the end of the film?

BUFF: There were a lot of parallel scenes and all of that was broken up a little differently than what was originally written. And then the whole last part of the third act with the Navy, there was a late shooting requirement in order to get the Navy’s cooperation. They had to write a new draft for the part that contained their story and their participation on the show. And it turned out to be a real mess. It was so lethargic, trying to be so technically correct in honoring the accuracy of how the Navy would handle things. Dramatically, it just put you to sleep. So there was a lot of reconstruction in that area.

HULLFISH: What were you dealing with to be able to try to get the pacing of the editing in that very effects-heavy section?

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BUFF: Storyboards originally, then pre-viz was made. We all participated in that but then the pre-viz itself needed to be opened up. Basically, the pre-viz didn’t incorporate the reactions of the Navy or Mitch… the helicopter, the pilots, all that sort of thing. So I used storyboards initially and then pre-viz once they got it. The pre-viz gave us the shots that we needed to commit to financially. So we knew what the duration of them would be. It was up to me to place them.

HULLFISH: I’m assuming that VFX have changed significantly from back when you worked on Star Wars.

BUFF: (laughs) Yeah!

HULLFISH: Does that experience of working as a VFX editor on films like Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. and Ghostbusters – does that help you as the picture editor on a film like American Assassin?

BUFF: I do have a very good understanding of how things work and what the requirements are and what the timetable is and what the demands are and the accuracy of what you need to turn over and honoring the shots and sequences in an economic sense. And I know what to expect and how to interpret things when they come in. I can pre-visualize things pretty well and get a good sense of timing even with just a storyboard. So having that background was helpful. That was kind of my detour to get into feature film editing. I’d worked in commercials for quite a few years before ILM.

HULLFISH: What kind of discussions between you and Michael Cuesta went on before he got involved in the shoot, in other words, what did he tell you he was after or what kind of discussions led you to know you were making the right choices or that you two were on the same page?

BUFF: He and I had a very long Skype call, that was our introduction to each other. He was in New York and I was in California and we talked for an hour and a half. But when I got to London it was right before they began shooting. So there was no real time to have much of a discussion. We had dinner together one night. I could really tell what he wanted just when I received dailies and I’d listen to him talk with the actors between takes I mean there’s a certain osmosis to all of this. You react to what you like and you hope that the director is going to like what you like. I find that the most freeing thing is to stop worrying about what you think a director’s going to like and just worry about what you like and what you react to. You glean so much from just watching the material of tone, color and what their taste is and the developments from take to take.

HULLFISH: Many people have talked about that approach to a scene. For some people, they like to watch the set-ups and takes of a scene backward. But many people like you have said there’s so much to be derived from seeing the progression of takes.

BUFF: Yeah, the evolution, and what changes and notes there are from shot to shot even if you don’t have the opportunity to hear anybody discussing between set-ups, you can see the subtleties and differences from take to take.

HULLFISH: Conrad, thank you so much for your time today. Good luck to you and Antoine on your current film.

BUFF: Alright man, thanks. Take care. Bye

This interview was transcribed using SpeedScriber. (Transcribed in under 10 minutes with no wait for a transcriptionist.)

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

The first 50 interviews in the series provided the material for the book, “Art of the Cut: Conversations with Film and TV Editors.” This is a unique book that breaks down interviews with many of the world’s best editors and organizes it into a virtual roundtable discussion centering on the topics editors care about. It is a powerful tool for experienced and aspiring editors alike. Cinemontage and CinemaEditor magazine both gave it rave reviews. No other book provides the breadth of opinion and experience. Combined, the editors featured in the book have edited for over 1,000 years on many of the most iconic, critically acclaimed and biggest box office hits in the history of cinema.

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