I was there every day of every moment of every take. To this film, where actually Edgar saying ‘Yeah, you know I think I might want you out there everyday’ basically…”įor the film to work just right, Machliss had to be on set editing to verify that the timing of each shot was perfect: “To make it work you had to sort of be there at the moment of creation. Built from some reshoots we did on Scott Pilgrim, then to The World’s End we put together a lot of the action scenes together with me on set. The distance between production and post-production on the film was seemingly non-existent: “Baby Driver is probably the ultimate expression of the way Edgar and I work together. It may happen to be on the beat, but we don’t want you to think we are waiting for that moment.” We didn’t want you to notice that someone puts a bottle down on a chair. The goal was “not make it feel like a musical where everything is heavily choreographed. But the integration of the two is quite unique.”
It’s commercial music roughly over a 40 year period.”Īs for the choreographed musical style of the film, Machliss is quick to comment that Wright had a very distinct vision that didn’t wait for audio cues action would naturally fall to the beat: “I wouldn’t say it’s a musical, it’s a film full of music. And of course the beauty of it, all the music is commercial. We had to clear all the tracks first, because we only knew these scenes would only work with these songs. That, he always seems to have the right track for the right mood.”
While describing the film, he mentioned that Baby’s “life becomes regimented by music. That means the film is constantly set to the music, and much of the action unfolds to musical cues. In Paul Machliss’s presentation, he immediately came out and said “that was the hardest job I’ve ever worked as an editor.” Thus the birth of an action film set to the soundtrack of the main character’s collection of iPods and mixtapes. The main thing to note is that Baby has tinnitus, and to cancel out the hum in his ears, he is constantly listening to music. The film follows the story of a getaway driver, Baby. There’s a very good chance you’ve already heard plenty about Baby Driver and the film’s rave reviews. You may also recognize his comedic editing style from other television series, like The IT Crowd. He discussed Baby Driver being the most difficult edit he’s ever had to manage. He also talked about his previous experiences working with director Edgar Wright on Scott Pilgrim vs. My brother and I were fortunate enough to stumble upon Machliss’s presentation at NAB 2017 at the Avid booth.
Most recently, he cut the hit musical thriller Baby Driver. Dive into the real time production and post-production workflow of this tightly synced film.Įditor Paul Machliss, ACE has cut some of the most ambitious film and television projects.