By Steve Hullfish THE ART OF THE CUT: WITH FABIENNE BOUVILLE, ACE to the editing I do during the shooting schedule (usually about 9 days), I get four days to complete the editor’s cut and four days working with the director to complete his or her cut. After that, the cut goes to the producers and it takes about another week to 10 days before we lock. In my experience, different shows require a very different amount of work in post. American Horror Story is more crafted because of its style; the experience of it is dependent on dynamic and creative editing. American Horror Story is the gold standard for me because of how honed it is and it’s really a feat to get it done on that schedule. In terms of resources (number of days) it’s the same as other shows but the creative requirements are more intense.
Editor Fabienne Bouville, ACE has been working consistently in scripted TV with stints as an editor on Nip/Tuck, Glee, American Horror Story, and Masters of Sex. STEVE HULLFISH (SH): I know that although Glee is considered a “single camera” show, it was usually shot with multiple cameras. Any differences in editing a show like Glee and American Horror Story?
SH: Talk to me about how American Horror Story is creatively different from Masters of Sex or Glee.
FABIENNE BOUVILLE (FB): Calling things multicam and single cam is a bit of a misnomer. Everything I work on is shot with at least two cameras. Typically maybe 60% of what I get is shot on three cameras, maybe 20% is two cameras and 20% is one camera. My assistant groups them. I try to keep my assistant as creatively involved as possible. We gave up ScriptSynching for example, because it takes a lot of time. I’d rather have them work on the sound design, which on American Horror Story is very intensive work. Also, I like to offer my assistant at least one scene to cut per episode if possible, for their own development. I prefer to have them do creative work where possible instead of grunt work like ScriptSynching.
FB: Everything about American Horror Story is crafted and honed. Each season is completely different and we are constantly looking for a fresh strategy for everything. The sound design is key, and I discuss it with my assistant and then turn it over to them. They will comb through our extensive sound library and distort the individual sound effects in every which way – it’s a real free-for-all - to get the kind of quality we are looking for. Then I work on music, which is different from the process on other shows, too. Music plays a much more important part in horror. It’s mixed much hotter than with something like Masters of Sex. There’s a big conversation with the composer that starts happening right at the script delivery. I’ll send him (the composer) a rough cut of an act or an initial assembly of scenes as soon as I can and then he sends me ideas and themes with all the stems so that I can also play with them in other ways. It’s a lot of back and forth and a really fun part of the process. Initial scoring of an episode takes a few days, which is why I need my assistant to handle the sound design.
SH: Talk to me about the deadlines you’re working on in TV. FB: The schedules in TV are uniformly set-up in a one-size-fits-all scheme, which is frustrating because each project involves a different set of creative challenges, which translates to a very different amount of time required. In addition n
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SIGHT, SOUND & STORY
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