by Nancy Jundi as originally published by CinemaEditor Magazine
When I was growing up, there were two kinds of heroes in my house: Democrats and the Avengers. Given the culture of “politics” and superheroes in film today, I’d say I got a good jumpstart on my future calling. What I wasn’t prepared for, however, was the awe-inspiring venture into Marvel, the mega brand churning out the heroes of young and old alike. Generations past, present and future hold these comic book heroes in high esteem all the same. One can understand the protective nature over something so cherished, but I’ve never watched a movie with a bodyguard before. Now I can scratch that off my bucket list. Walking into Marvel Studios was an experience all on it’s own. I half expected to see everyone in the room with speech bubbles hanging over their heads, wearing capes and carrying shields. I mean, this is a place where Gods are created, super humans are brought to life and it’s all being done by some of the most talented minds in the game. They have their own Producer, Kevin Feige, who oversees the Marvel Film Universe and has the responsibility of ensuring that the films are true to the Marvel Mythology. I don’t know about you, but I felt like I had just been transported to Oz and was getting to meet the Wizard. Better than that, the Wizard was Kenneth Branagh – a man I had been enamored with since his turn in 1989’s “Look Back in Anger.” Thankfully, editor Paul Rubell, A.C.E., was there to guarantee I didn’t pass out or ramble incessantly about my love for Branagh’s extensive Shakespearean adaptations.
Upon the announcement that Kenneth Branagh would be charged with bringing Thor to the big screen, fan boys everywhere where scratching their heads to make sense of the choice. Branagh is best known for being the modern day Laurence Olivier; he picked up the torch of bringing Shakespeare to the masses in a relatable way. He wrote, directed and starred in “Henry V” (1989), “Much Ado About Nothing” (1993), “Hamlet” (1996) and “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (2000), directed “As You Like It” (2006) and played Iago in “Othello” (1995). While many of my geeky brethren were trying to follow the logic, I was basking in the stroke of Marvel’s genius. Thor is a Norse God, the God of Thunder, who was banished to Earth by his father Odin, ruler of Asgard, who, in Marvel mythology, created humans because he felt the world was lonely. I mean… This isn’t someone who speaks like you and I do. He’s not a character with a past we can all immediately associate with. Batman wanted to avenge his parents’ death and save a city he loved. Superman, while from another planet, was still raised by a human family on Earth and his moral compass brought him to use his powers for good. Spider-Man was an awkward teenager who got bitten on a field trip and struggled to accept his newfound powers and responsibilities. All of those guys spoke like us and had an underlying story we could associate with in some way. Thor? Not so much. In the same way most people initially struggle with Shakespeare and finding a connection to his characters, I think Marvel knew they could encounter those same issues in introducing a new audience to a Norse God who was punished by having to walk amongst us and had to fight battles in another realm trying to protect human kind. Thor’s not a Transformer that asks for an obvious suspension of disbelief. It was a delicate balance that needed to be struck in an age bracket of fans that demanded a quality translation.
Queue Kenneth Branagh. His adaptations are what teachers and professors around the world turn to in an effort to bring their students to love Shakespeare’s plays – another not so easy task. “The spectacle and scale of the project is what drew me,” said Kenneth Branagh. “It was the almost impossibly difficult challenge of it to a man who mostly showcases two people in a room talking.” In considering the audience and a need for bringing an otherwise awkward dialect to the screen Branagh maintained, “Truth is always paramount. There’s respect, but not reverence or obligation. I wanted enthusiasm and fun in the execution with nothing pretentious in the delivery, but not sloppy either unless the character required it. “ Branagh, being an actor himself and having directed over a dozen films, focused first and foremost on bringing the performances to life rather than making this just another VFX opus. That included bringing dailies back. Yes, dailies. Something editor Paul Rubell, A.C.E, hadn’t experienced in a long time. “We screened dailies with Ken every day. I felt his emotional response to what was on the screen and tried to channel that into the editing process,” remarked Rubell. There were limits, however. “Ken insisted on limiting the material to half an hour,” said Rubell, “there was no way we could run everything during the lunch hour – with multiple cameras, we might have 2 to 3 hours of dailies. Lyn McKissick, our script supervisor, would record Ken’s super selects. Assistant editor Rich Conkling would build those and pare them down if necessary by editing out pauses between resets, or even off screen line feeds.”
There’s a case to be made for and against dailies in this situation. “There’s the loss of editing time, due to travel to and from dailies, and hanging out in the screening room when production didn’t break on time, which was often,” said Rubell. “However, it was enormously useful in that Ken sat next to me and often indicated his preferences. I could feel the way he was leaning. Ken has a way of eliciting a range of performance so the choices can be broad as well as nuanced. Just watching him react to the dailies was fun. He would often mirror what the actor was doing, consciously or not. The time suck is not ideal, but the immersion is wonderful. So, like everything else, there are pros and cons.” After principal photography was wrapped, Branagh took a couple of weeks off and went home to London, which gave Rubell a chance to catch up. “When I was ready,” said Rubell, “I uploaded the movie to PIX and Ken watched it in his London screening room. The movie was an hour longer than it is now and the work had barely begun, but Ken decided he wanted to show it to the Marvel producers before we started on his director’s cut. That was a first for me.” This is pretty notable, as producers aren’t contractually permitted to view any cuts prior to the director’s cut, per the DGA. Rubell remarked “Because of the unique nature of Marvel as a producer of movies with a single brand, Ken decided to bring them into the process early rather than have to backtrack later with having to present deleted scenes and lines, for example. I was impressed that he felt secure enough to do this. It was a masterstroke of good will. We would screen works-in-progress during the director’s cut period, at 2 to 3 week intervals. Ken would take their feedback and filter it through his own sensibilities. Fortunately I survived that phase.” Thankfully he did survive, as that’s when a lot of the magic could begin. “Ken is extremely organized,” said Rubell. “He would sit with me every morning and we’d look at a sequence while he gave me notes. Then he would go off to VFX meetings and let me do my work. He liked the idea that I might come up with something that surprised him. Something that was far more likely to happen if I were free to experiment on my own.” Branagh noted, “I am always interested in getting an editors unfettered instinct and I enjoy being surprised. Someone like Paul is going to have a very interesting approach to whatever you give him. I want his artistry. I’ll soon say if I want it to change.” Rubell commented, “Ken would sit with my first assistant, Rob Malina, and watch dailies. If there were performance swaps he wanted to try, Rob would line them up for me. It was a very efficient way to work.”
Another first for Rubell was joining a film in pre-production. Rubell recounted, “I came on board in September of 2009. The big VFX sequences had been story boarded under Ken’s close supervision. The storyboard artists, headed by Federico D’Alessandro, had created animatics, some of which had been handed off to the pre-viz team. This group of artists, headed by Gerardo Ramirez, used those animatics as a guide to creating more detailed pre-viz. You would walk by Gerardo’s room and see him in a motion capture suit swinging an imaginary hammer. The pre-viz Thor was a hunky blonde version of Gerardo.” Branagh noted, “Fights are considered the source material. Combining story boarded flights of fancy, via Federico’s D’Alessandro’s great animatics, with practical stunt rehearsal experimentation certainly brought the comic battles to life.” When Rubell came on board the pre-viz team had been editing these sequences together. In joining the team, he freed them of that responsibility, which allowed them to concentrate on coming up with shots. Rubell met with Ken everyday worked closely with Ramirez to come up with new angles and beats. “I spent a lot of time temping music,” said Rubell. “Once a week we would screen for the Marvel producers, Kevin Feige, Craig Kyle, Louis D’Esposito and Victoria Alonso. Over the next couple of months we fine-tuned these sequences to a point where everyone was happy. Then the stunt team came in and we were back to square one. As Robert Altman used to say ‘we’re making sand castles on the shore. Every night a wave comes in and knocks it down. Every day we go out and build a stronger one.’”
Never having worked on such a VFX heavy project before, Branagh came to the edit room with a prepared yet open mind. “My approach evolved based on my growing understanding of the process and steep learning curve,” said Branagh. “I tried fruitlessly, but pleasurably, to procure order from chaos. It is part of the impossible dream on any film. It’s a beautiful illusion that occasionally allows you to put one foot in front of the other. You have to remember that you’re making big screen entertainment. Don’t think small! The most challenging aspect is not being swamped by logistics, but staying free and creative, while the technical juggernaut moves forward and to keep making movies not schedules, but DO make the schedule. It will help you make the movie you want.” As if one more challenge was needed, the team decided to make a 3D conversion of the film. Not having shot with 3D cameras, other tactics were employed to ensure a quality conversion. Rubell elaborated “The VFX department urged Ken and his Director of Photography, Haris Zambarloukos, to shoot Super 35 so that position based effects, like adding shake or zooms, would not have to be blown up so much, but they didn’t want to sacrifice the beauty of the scope lenses.” Branagh said, “Haris was always passionate about film. I was open. I had worked with red cameras on ‘Wallander,’ but ultimately agreed with him about going film. I’ve just seen the results and I’m thrilled.” Rubell mentioned, “The movie was not originally planned for 3D conversion. That was decided upon in postproduction. Some things might have been shot slightly differently had they know. For example, over shoulder shots can be problematic. Our 3D vendor, Stereo D, along with our VFX Supervisor, Wes Sewell, came up with a scheme for making such shots work in 3D. Whatever part of the frame is of primary interest to the audience is brought to screen plane then the volume of the foreground image is collapsed so that the image, such as the back of a head, is less intrusive.” Rubell, having come on 18 months prior to the release date originally saw the time as cushion and breathing room. Eventually, it morphed into a necessary amount of time. “We wondered how we would ever be able to make our release date,” he said. “Once Marvel decided on the 3D conversion, they were adamant that this not be a compromised version like some of the others that had been rushed to market. We started the process early, which advanced the locking and VFX delivery schedules. First you have months, then you have weeks, then you have days, then you have hours…”
As it tends to be with any franchise film, this isn’t an audience you want to disappoint or bear the vitriol of. Five years later, Bryan Singer is still giving interviews trying to hash out where his take on the “Superman” franchise went awry. That’s the sort of thing that’ll keep you up at night in cold sweats. Furthermore, this is the first red cape we’ve seen since “Superman.” Oh yes, “Thor” gives us that dramatic red cape. When I asked Branagh if he had any apprehensions in pleasing the fan base he replied “Only excitement. This level of interest and anticipation for a film is rare, thrilling and to be savored.” Considering “Thor” and the release of “Captain America” shortly thereafter are part of a much bigger picture, which includes Robert Downey Jr.’s “Iron Man,” Marvel isn’t taking any chances. That bigger picture comes in the form of 2012’s debut of “The Avengers,” which will be helmed by none other than fan boy demigod, Joss Whedon. Rubell will be joining Whedon in the cutting room, an apropos fit now that he has intimate knowledge of how to navigate the extensive Marvel realm. “It’s like working for the Vatican,” joked Rubell, “but in a good way! Having said that, the mythology isn’t always clear. Thor has been an ongoing comic since the sixties, with generations of writers coming and going. What was true of the story and characters in 1970 wasn’t necessarily the same in 2010. Some things are fudged in the single-frame nature of comic-book story telling which just can’t fly in the film medium.” That’s a big boat of history to navigate with an awful lot of responsibility. “Ken steered this movie to the finish line with his wisdom and grace,” said Rubell, “channeling the creative contributions of the Kevin Feige-led Marvel execs into a Marvel Studios presentation of a Kenneth Branagh film.”
While praise is certainly due for Branagh, it’s Rubell I’m usually left dumbfounded by. This is a man who pulled of the near Herculean feat of editing this project solo. “There is a reason most movies of this scale have multiple editors. It’s just too much for one editor to handle, what with 1300 visual effects shots or 2000 if you include the ones that were abandoned at various stages of completion.” While “Thor” may have felt like too much work for one editor he recognized it might not have been enough for two. He, like his First Assist, Rob Malina, who you can read about in other pages of this same magazine, credits his incredible team for helping bring all the pieces together. Rubell, well known for his collaborative work on numerous Michael Bay and Michael Mann projects (amongst many other blockbusters), saw both sides of the challenge. “I hadn’t worked that way for a few years, and it was a joy to plug the entire film into my nervous system,” he said. “On the other hand, I missed the camaraderie and instant expert feedback that having an experienced editor in the next room gives you.” Having had the incredible fortune of interviewing Paul on a number of films over the years and watching how he mines gold where others may have overlooked a treasure, I have a hard time believing he’s not a super hero walking amongst us. Really, I couldn’t think of a better duo to have brought the character of Thor to life. Kenneth Branagh and Paul Rubell are two of the best in their fields. This fan girl is pretty thankful they were the ones tasked with bringing one of my favorites to life. My only suggestion to Marvel: hand out red capes and make them mandatory office attire. Honestly, it just makes sense. (Please note: If this ever happens, I want one for making it happen. For those this may disgruntle, I take no responsibility for it actually happening.)
