Old you is, folks. It should tie. People paid good money to
see this movie. When they go out to a theater. They want cold
sodas, hot popcorn, and no monsters. In the Projection Booth, everyone
for tend podcasting isn't boring of I'm Cody Lightning a little Victor. As most
people know me or should know me. Smoke signals big movie. I was
in it. Don't Don't go, Hey, come on, dad, don't
go. That was pretty good. If your dad was just leaving to the
store to get you a fucking slutch, he's leaving your life forever. He's
leaving you and your mother alone, and he's moving to Arizona. He's gonna
be living in a little trailer next to his new girlfriend who is not sleeping
with. I don't think so. There's gonna haunt you for the rest of
your life. Okay again, Hey, folks, Well, I'm doing a
special episode of The Projection Booth. I'm your host Mike White. On this
episode, I'm talking with editor Sarah Taylor all about the new film Hey Victor,
which she was the editor of. She has done a lot of great
work over the years, and she also has a podcast. Definitely check that
out and I hope you enjoy this interview. Can you tell me about your
background? How did you even get into filmmaking. So, I've actually been
a film and television editor for just over twenty years now. I started back.
I went to a local community college here in Edmonton, Alberta, and
we learned a little bit of everything in a program called Digital Arts and Media.
And I took on editing one of the projects and then it was in
the edit suite for ten hour straight and didn't realize that I was there for
so long, so I thought, I think maybe I like this, So
then I pursued an editing career. Yeah it worked out, Okay, yeah,
I guess. So have you always been editing offline or did you ever
do any like actual film editing. I did tape to tape editing my first
gig, which was horse raceist. That's my first job in the industry was
working in a horse race with somebody, which is a while to think about
that. So I would do the replace tape to tape, but I didn't
haven't gotten to cut on a Steinbeck yet. I've cut. I've used film,
but it's been transferred, so I've cut with film footage, but not
actual cutting of this film. So maybe one day it's on my list.
Where were you that you were cutting in these races? We have a local
Edmonton, Alberta north Lands horse racing yep, oh okay. And then you
said that you do a podcast as well. Yeah, I actually I host
two podcasts. I host a podcast called The Editor's Cut, which we all
about editing. So that's my mate. So it's weird actually gonna be on
the other side of somebody ask you weef questions about editing. And then I
also host a co host a podcast with my sister Heather Taylor, who's a
right a director, and we it's called Brains with Three A's, and we
talk about how our minds are portrayed in film and television, things like anxiety
or OCD and like how is it how do we see it on TV?
So is it right? Is it wrong? And we break things down like
that. Would there be like a typical episode of the Editing podcast or is
it just different subjects every single week? Yeah, every week we have a
different editor talking about their either their career or we have a topic like today,
Actually we released an episode with the two editors from the last of Us,
which takes very fun. Quite enjoyed talking to them. That's fantastic.
That's great that you get to brainstorm and hear other people's opinions about your own
end streight. Oh, it's amazing. Like I feel like I learned so
much getting to just talk to editors. And sometimes when I'm looking for guests,
I see a movie or a show that I really like and I'm like,
go cut that. I'm going to talk to them. I want to
know what they were thinking. And then I get to talk to them,
and it's amazing. How did you get involved in Hey, Victory? Victor
was shot in Edmonton, and so one of the executive producers reached out to
me and I came on board after they're finished filming, and so I said,
yeah, sure, I can fit it into my schedule, and then
got a giant box of hard drives that I just started cutting. That was
my I read the script prior to getting the footage, but I yeah,
I read the script and I was like, this looks funny. And I
looked at some of the footage and I was like, yeah, this will
be fun. Now, when you meet with somebody who's offering you this job.
Do you talk about we want it cutting this style, or do you
say I picture that it'll be like this, or do you just dive in
and do what you feel as best. Yeah, so I read the script
they gave me the the rundown of its mockumentary style comedy. I have a
background in documentary. A lot of my work in the last i'd say five
years has been dock heavy, so I did a lot of doc experience and
I used to cut sketch comedy shows, so I have both of the genres.
So to me, I just read the script one in knowing that we're
going to be doing this kind of as if it's a documentary, and just
went with what the footage had. What the footage showed me. Yeah,
it's your first step when you see all of these hard drives. I was
like, oh my gosh, how am I gonna plug all these hard drives
and inspection of futer at one time? So I got myself a little ad
after. But that first step, the footage was already sinked and proxies were
made, so that was like a big step that I didn't have to worry
about. The sinking can be the most time consuming and because I wasn't there
from the beginning, Luckily they were doing that as they were going. So
then I brought on this lady, Janelle Nichol, and she came and she
took the drives and she went in and labeled every shot as to what the
slate was, organized it by scene, and then once I got the organized
project file, I just started at scene one and slowly went through. What's
your software that you prefer? I use Premiere prow that's might go to its
like a second language now, so I don't have to think about the software.
I just do what my brain wants to do. I just was messing
around with Photoshop and the new AI stuff. Have they started to introduce that
into Premiere as well. Yeah, so not with creating video or anything at
this point, but definitely with transcriptions and being able to edit the transcription.
And there's a few like third party plug ins, which as a podcast person,
you might be interested in this where I can go in if you're doing
like a video podcast, it'll cut between the two cameras of whoever's talking,
or it'll take out pauses, long pauses, and so then now I do
that when I cut my podcast I drop in that and then it truncates my
edit. It just makes things bester. So it's great. Yeah yeah,
I mentioned your is your podcast video as well as audio. No, but
I but it's a capability if I want to, I do film, I
do record the video and use it for like reels and just like social media
content. But that's going to be amazing to just not even be involved in
the production and just be given all of these raw building blocks for you to
now craft something completely new out of it. It was wild because typically it's
like you get this giant mountain of footage and if you're doing it from typically
if you start when they start shooting, you would be cutting the next day.
You get the footage and you just keep on keeping on. But then
you have everything, and I was like, okay, okay, how many
scenes can I do in the day. And it's almost like a competition with
yourself to see how fast can I do? How many scenes can I do?
Because you have all this, Like I think there was if I'm going
to remember correctly, I could be completely wrong, ninety five scenes. Maybe
I'm making that number of But it was just like very daunting at first to
see wanting to get it done assembled as quick as possible so that you could
just start really crafting the film. And I love the whole idea of using
the original movie using smoke signals as a counterpoint to what's going on and just
our main character and where he's come from there, and I just love the
contrast of the simple, innocent times of that and versus where we're at now
in his life. Yeah, it was fun. And there's really little things
too, because I decided to rewatch the film because it's been a while since
we finished, and now that now that it's completed with music and all the
good stuff, it's like the icing on the cake, just like catching some
of the things that when you're in the midst of editing, maybe you're not
looking at some of the details is closely, but when you step back and
watch the whole thing, the truck is the same Cody drives, and he
Victor's the same color as the truck that is Dad drove. So there's these
little elements that really tie us in, which is just yeah, it's extra
special. What is your relationship with the folks that actually provide the soundtrack and
the people that cut the audio and just all of the sound effects and all
that. So typically it's interesting because in the States it's different than what it's
like in Canada. If in Canada, like I'll picture a lock something,
hand it off to the audio team like audio post, and then I say
bye and let it go onto the next project, where I know in the
States often an editor stays on till the end and they're in the on sound
stage and they're really like getting to be part of that, and it's just
for some reason i'd love to. I've done it a couple times where I've
gotten to go into the sound mix and I've caught things that we're like,
no, that needs to stay or whatever. So not this one, I
didn't do that. But I am pretty good friends with sound team because I've
in Edmonton. We have one guy, Johnny's the guy we always go to.
Johnny, so I am always in the loop of what's happening and stuff.
I can't say I'm that familiar with the Edmonton film scene. What is
it like? It's small, but we create some really amazing stuff. And
I think because it's a smaller market, the people like I often work with
the same people, so you have this special working relationship where you know what
kind of fouls they need, you know what their quirks are of like please
never send me this, or please make sure you do it this way so
you don't have to re teach each other. Every time you work with somebody,
it's the same thing and you just here's a file and they're like,
oh, it works great, and then you go all your way. So
yeah, we have some really strong players here. And it's cool too because
I feel because the market isn't as big. I find that from the editors
I've talked to you on my podcast, you often get pigeonholed into a certain
genre. So if you've last cut a reality show, like you're the reality
editor now and so it's really hard to step out of your lane. Where
for me, like I've gotten to do all sorts of stuff like right now,
I'm a finishing up a web series, I'm on a future doc.
I'm about to start season two of a CBC docuseries, So like I get
to do all sorts of cool stuff, which is amazing. So I'm lucky.
Do you find yourself changing the way that you edit stuff based upon the
genre that it is, or is it just always this is a Sarah Taylor
edit. This is what I feel as best. It is always what my
gut is, Like I always go with my instinct, but instinct, but
I don't have what I'd hope that if you watch something I cut, you
would be like, oh, Sarah Taylor got that. Because it should be
what the film needs and what the film is. So it is by the
genre of the film or whenever it's written or how it shocked, like you
shape the footage you have. Are there particular tricks where you're like, Okay,
this is comic edit, so I'm going to do this versus a dramatic
edit. Yeah, just like speed pacing when you get the reaction, Like
I know in a Hay Victor Kate had the best reactions. So it's like
when you go to Kate to like really emphasize maybe the joke or see the
other side of the joke, like where it maybe didn't land because Kate's with
the hell and so yeah, it's just going with the feel of the rhythm
and the piecing. When it comes to dramatic versus comedy, is there any
challenges when you've got somebody who's writing, directing, starring versus somebody who's just
the director, just quote unquote, just the writer, quote unquote, just
the star. It feels like stars probably don't get too much input on edits,
but directors, especially directors do. Typically I wouldn't really connect with the
writer or the stars when I'm in the edit suite. So this was a
unique process. And because we were cutting in the height of I think I
don't know was it Delta or armoricon one of the variants that was intense.
So it was all virtual. And so there was days where we had Cody
and who directed, and then Sam who was his co writer, and two
of the producers. We would all be in the edit virtually together. Now
we could never do that. We could try to do that in the edity,
but like I cut out of my basement and I wouldn't be able to
have four grown humans in my edit suit with me would be claustrophobic. I
would be like, no, there's too many people. But it was great
to have those people in the edit when we were doing it virtually. And
maybe that was done on purpose, like maybe because Cody was really in it,
like in it started in it, it's he wrote it, co wrote
it with Sam, and he directed it. Like he's maybe we needed those
extra voices, but I felt that they really helped. I know, when
I write stuff, if I write it out, I put in a or
I come back six months later, it feels like somebody else completely wrote it.
I am much more able to criticize my own stuff. Do you find
that one that comes to editing as well? Yeah, totally. Sometimes I'll
rewatch something and be like, oh I changed that now. I would do
that just now, But I have to try to turn that part off once
it's locked and it's out and it's done, like I can't do anything about
it. It's over. But there's always yeah, you watch it in a
different situation, like I was just at a screening for a feature doc that
screened at Hot Docs this year, and I'm watching it and it's there's lots
of comedy elements to it. Oh man, I should have let more space
for laughter because everybody's laughing, which is great, but they, you know,
miss the next little step. But you won't always get that if you're
not like I didn't. I couldn't screen it in a theater of four her
people, but I when I screened it with ten people, it was okay.
So Yeah, there's always room change, but you have to stop.
You have to stop at some point. When did you lock he victory?
Victor stopped? So we I finished because I actually had scheduling conflicts so I
couldn't take it to the very very end, which was very unfortunate. But
so I would have finished in June, so almost exactly a year, and
then I think they got one to picture on maybe a month after that.
But yeah, so it's been a year since I really was digging it and
then watching it back, like there's still jokes that landed for me, Like
there's one line that is in the film that just cracks me up every time
I watch it, and I've probably watched it like one hundred million times.
Did you get to see it with an audience? No, I haven't seen
it with anybody yet. I want, yeah, because it has the world
premiere is at Tribeca, so I haven't been able to let yeah, watch
it with anybody yet. Are you getting to go to Tribeca? I wish
I could, but I'm a busy editor and I have deadlines. I got
some CBC deadlines going up, so I'm stuck in my edit. Sweave,
Yeah, tell me about some of the other projects you're editing right now,
working on a dock for a CBC called The Wilds of Canada, and it's
not a comedy. It is compote reconciliation, so it's a heavier topic but
it's really important work. So I'm really excited to see how we shape this
and get this coin. So I have a rough cut coming up do coming
up soon, So that's gonna that's on my list. I'm rapping close to
picture lock on our website. It's called Scout about a group of friends that
start an online news channel. They're quirky and fun. And then in the
summer, I'm a starting season two of Push, which is series for CPC
in Canada about a group of friends who are wheeltrair users and just about their
life living with disability. Oh there, and there's there's another doc that's happening
right now from the director of Lebanese Burger Mafia, which is the doc that's
screened at Hot Talks, and it's also a comedy and it's gonna be really
funny. But that I'm just starting that one. Anyway, I tried this.
My goal this year was to do one project at a time, but
I failed. So things always get delayed and push back and it is what
it is, but I try. So. Is the best place for people
to keep up with you and your work? Is that through your podcast?
Or do you have a website? I do you have a website? Sweet
one? Sweet one is Anne Productions dot com. Also, Sarah Teeler editor
on Instagram is where I'm most up to date. I don't have time to
update my website as much as I like to, but yeah, Sarah Teler
editor on Instagram is the best piece. Sarah, if you ever want to
come back on the show and be a guest co host and I'd love it.
Awesome. Oh, I'd love to have you on. That sounds great.
I am excited to see what's next. And a victor is fantastic.
Oh, I'm so glad. I'm so glad. Thank you. Smokes is
my message getting through. I hope you understand my smoke. So much in
love with you, I'm so much in love with you. Sit on my
big reservation. Watch them all, will pop them oil layer out and an
empty wig wam never knew no work of farm. Need them small, spend
them money, buy a food and pay the rent soon I'll be too old
to marry. Then I'll be a buck. Will spend pay you pappy heap,
big wampam, many horses and cannue, Buy a cat like an airplane.
If you'll let me marry you, make you queen of a reservation,
give you penny of food and drink, cover you with pretty first gainst that
the white man call them me small signals. Small signals is my message getting
through. I hope you understand my small signals. I'm so much in love
with you. I'm so much in love with you. Now I sit and
a longsome wig won't beat them Tom Tom, all that long beat him small
to do, I'm cooking. Everything I do is wrong. Say you'll be
my Koklaichi. Come and live with me today. Then this whole cat won't
be long some when it's time to hear you the hey small signal. Smug
signals is my message getting through. I hope you understand my smull signal.
I'm so much in love with you. I'm so much in love with you. The Chris