{"id":39182,"date":"2021-04-28T09:04:46","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T09:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amplify.nabshow.com\/?post_type=articles&p=39182"},"modified":"2024-09-15T16:26:48","modified_gmt":"2024-09-15T16:26:48","slug":"a-cut-above-the-editor-team-for-zack-snyders-justice-league-nab-show-premiere-rewind","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/jwolfepr.com\/dev\/articles\/a-cut-above-the-editor-team-for-zack-snyders-justice-league-nab-show-premiere-rewind\/","title":{"rendered":"A Cut Above: The Editors for \u201cZack Snyder\u2019s Justice League\u201d | NAB Show Premiere Rewind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\"Henry
Henry Cavill as Superman\/Clark Kent in ZACK SNYDER\u2019S JUSTICE LEAGUE. Cr: HBO Max<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fresh off its HBO Max debut, Zack Snyder\u2019s director\u2019s cut of Justice League<\/em> \u2014 originally released in theaters in 2017 \u2014 is a four-hour epic reimagining of the DC Comics\u2019 film, following Batman, Superman, Flash, Cyborg, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman as they defend Earth from Darkseid. A recent NAB Show Premiere session, \u201cA Cut Above: The Editors Behind Zack Snyder\u2019s Justice League<\/a>,\u201d featured the editorial team behind the heroic cut, discussing creative decisions, editorial choices, and reshoot process that led to Snyder\u2019s vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Produced in partnership with the American Cinema Editors guild, the session included moderator Carolyn Giardina, Tech Reporter at The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>, and panelists David Brenner, ACE, who won an Oscar for Born on the Fourth of July<\/em>, and worked on Snyder\u2019s 300: Rise of an Empire<\/em> and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice<\/em>; Dody Dorn, ACE, who was nominated for an Oscar for Christopher Nolan\u2019s Momento<\/em> and is the editor of Snyder\u2019s upcoming Army of the Dead<\/em>; and Carlos Castilli\u00f3n, who assisted on numerous Snyder films and worked as an editor on The Snyder Cut<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panel started off with a detailed discussion about the genesis of the project, which actually began with the home entertainment and streaming release of Batman v Superman<\/em>, Brenner revealed, which included both the theatrical version and a longer, \u201cultimate\u201d version. Brenner\u2019s first cut of Justice League<\/em>, which was assembled during production, was roughly four hours and 40 minutes long. That\u2019s because Snyder asked Brenner for three versions of the film: an A cut, or Brenner\u2019s longform cut; a \u201cmore realistic\u201d B cut for the studio to release theatrically, which was pegged at two-and-a-half hours; and a 120-minute C cut. Snyder viewed the C cut as a worst-case scenario, telling Brenner, \u201cIf we are forced into making something that\u2019s closer to, like, two hours, these are cuts that are really difficult cuts but at least we made them and feel good about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snyder was betting that the studio would allow him a two-hour and 30-minute theatrical release, but that turned out not to be the case. \u201cAs we went through the cut it became apparent that we had to focus on our B cut,\u201d Brenner recounted. \u201cBut it became apparent that the studio would like us to focus on something that was more like the C cut. Once the C cut was completed, Snyder said to go back to the A cut, fill in all the visual effects and the other details we\u2019d learned along the way, and that was the genesis of The Snyder Cut<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Castilli\u00f3n was the one to pick up the torch where Brenner left off. \u201cZach wanted to add a lot of little character beats,\u201d Castilli\u00f3n commented. \u201cHe wanted a movie that he could play in his theater for friends and family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where the black-and-white version came in,\u201d Dorn interjected. \u201cIn order to make it more watchable, Carlos and Zack turned it black-and-white in the Avid because of the CGI green screen. It looked better in black and white, it wasn\u2019t so jarring moving from one kind of background to another, all the green was turned black and white. They also toyed around with the aspect ratio because where they had left off it was 1.85:1 (similar to 16:9) and Zack didn\u2019t want to do the same aspect ratio, he wanted to switch it up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ray
Ray Fisher as Cyborg\/Victor Stone, Ezra Miller as The Flash\/Barry Allen, Ben Affleck as Batman\/Bruce Wayne, Henry Cavill as Superman\/Clark Kent, Gal Gadot as Diana Prince\/Wonder Woman and Jason Momoa as Aquaman\/Arthur Curry in ZACK SNYDER\u2019S JUSTICE LEAGUE. Cr: HBO Max<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Castilli\u00f3n and Snyder started experimenting with a 1.66:1 aspect ratio for the film. \u201cZack originally shot the movie in 1.33 because he always intended to have a 1.85 theatrical release and then the big 4:3 IMAX frame which would have been the entire top and bottom,\u201d Castilli\u00f3n explained. \u201cThe happy medium that we found was doing 1.66,\u201d he continued. \u201cIf we tried to go to the 4:3 frame there was a lot of top and bottom in the visual effects that were not completed, so we would have lost the frame, so 1.66 was kind of where we landed and what the movie ended up being nicknamed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nearly square aspect ratio served to showcase the idealized form of the super hero. \u201cSuperheroes are imposing, they\u2019re long and tall, they\u2019re not wide,\u201d Dorn emphasized. \u201cThere were so many shots that represented that the way Zack shot it, like the shot in Greece going from Wonder Woman\u2019s shoes up to the top of her head, she looks like the Empire State Building! And we just would have lost that if it was in 1.85. We jumped around and looked at these scenes and then we looked at each other, over FaceTime, and said, \u2018it has to be 1.33!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Dorn, \u201cThat was where the real bloodshed started with the VFX department because they created an entire list of all the shots that had to be redone at 1.33.\u201d That began an intense round of what Dorn calls horse trading, the back-and-forth between departments to negotiate the scope of work. \u201cWe dug in our heels and in the end we got 95-96 percent of them done.\u201d she said. \u201cBut it was a battle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gal
Gal Gadot as Diana Prince\/Wonder Woman in ZACK SNYDER\u2019S JUSTICE LEAGUE. Cr: HBO Max<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The panel also explored the idea of editing as the final rewrite of the film, delving into the character backstories created for The Snyder Cut<\/em> with clips showcasing Cyborg, Barry (aka The Flash), and the relationship between Darkseid and Steppenwolf. \u201cit\u2019s really gratifying to be able to include the entire arc for Cyborg\u2019s character,\u201d said Dorn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were a total of 2,700 new VFX shots created for The Snyder Cut<\/em>, which was assembled on a tight nine-month schedule. \u201cWe had to lock \u2014 more like latch \u2014 the picture by September, so we tackled these big VFX scenes first. That meant that we had editing room dialog recorded by Zack and Carlos playing [Darkseid and Steppenwolf] just to sort of flesh out what the action was. And then we had to get the actual actors to record remotely as well,\u201d Dorn noted. \u201cThat allowed them to advance the animation, particularly the lip sync.\u201d Another issue was Steppenwolf\u2019s articulated armor, which had to be tweaked based on his mood. \u201cWhen he would get mad they would flare up or shrink down,\u201d Dorn said. \u201cJust pushing forward, that\u2019s the only way to describe it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work wasn\u2019t just about finishing the effects, Brenner underscored, it was entirely recreating the character. \u201cBecause Zack\u2019s original design and vision for Steppenwolf was totally different than what people saw in the theaters\u2026 But, what you saw there was, paradoxically, somebody who looked more human, but didn\u2019t have the human emotions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ciar\u00e1n Hinds as Steppenwolf in ZACK SNYDER\u2019S JUSTICE LEAGUE. Cr: HBO Max<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Snyder Cut<\/em> was assembled using a completely remote workflow, Castilli\u00f3n detailed. \u201cWe all have an iMac computer that is connected remotely to our Avids in a warehouse in Burbank, and that\u2019s where our Nexus lives,\u201d he said. \u201cEach Avid is connected to the Nexus with no monitors, just kind of in this big room, and we each would connect remotely to the Avid\u2026 Zack would sometimes login and watch Dody cut.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The editorial team worked with low-res files for nearly eight months, which sometimes made it difficult to judge things, and made it trickly when locking down the animation, Dorn said, noting that it was very emotional to see the full-resolution imagery during tests on an IMAX screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reshoots for The Snyder Cut<\/em> were complicated by the Covid pandemic, Dorn shared. But the new scenes with Batman and The Joker were all CG, with the actors recording their lines remotely with whatever equipment they had available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panelists also revealed their thoughts on seeing the final version of The Snyder Cut<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ray
Ray Fisher as Cyborg\/Victor Stone in ZACK SNYDER\u2019S JUSTICE LEAGUE. Cr: HBO Max<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s interesting is, when you\u2019re sort of building to the cut that you and the director are happy with, depending on what the format is you have a different sensation of what the movie is,\u201d Brenner said. \u201cSo, I always thought it was going to be in theaters and so when he delivered his cut at 2:45, or a little more, I thought it was a fair, a very good length and I thought it was appropriate for the theater. When you go into a theater, I think audiences have a different expectation for pace. We\u2019re so used to seeing things now on streaming that we have more patience, and we\u2019d like to see character beats played out almost in real time. And I feel like that was the opportunity that Zack and Carlos and Dodi had, was to now just relax with the story, where people can see it in two pieces, in four pieces if they want, and I almost feel like I was watching a different film in a sense and I thought that was really, really wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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