by Nancy Jundi as originally published by CinemaEditor Magazine

In honor of the 1st Assistant and the many long days that often go unsung in favor of the far more glamorous and ritzy editor (insert laugh track here), CinemaEditor would like to get to know some of these hard working men and women a bit better. Technically and politically savvy, these folks tend to be our butt savers, our go-tos, our resilient punching bags and part time therapists. They’re cut from a different kind of reliable cloth that you don’t often see up for grabs, the kind that lives, breathes and eats a “get’er done” attitude. To all of you 1st’s out there, I salute you… Along with Captain Morgan, Johnny Walker, Jose Cuervo and a fleet of other heroes in a bottle who have been your life blood. With that, I give you Chris Patteron!

It’s been nearly 4 years since I interviewed Ben Affleck for CinemaEditor about his directorial debut in GONE, BABY, GONE. Back then he was pioneering HD cutting rooms and hugging up with an Avid night and day, excited to learn the bells and whistles. Here we are in 2010 with the Avid DX being a standard in the cutting room and Affleck is quite cozy in his Aeron chair. Chris Paterson, 1st Assistant to Dylan Tichenor, A.C.E. on Affleck’s sophomore effort, THE TOWN, shared a bit with us on how another ode to Boston came together. “Ben worked on the Avid quite a bit,” said Patterson. “He would build select sequences for us and do some cutting. He also imported and placed a lot of the source music in the movie trying out different songs for different scenes.”

THE TOWN takes place mostly inside a one-square-mile neighborhood called Charlestown, which is home to many of Boston’s bank robbers. A number of riveting action sequences come together in this character drama, but one that may stand out for many happens to take place inside Fenway itself, home of the Boston Red Sox. “The biggest issue we had with this sequence was continuity,” said Patterson. “ Once we had a scene put together the way we liked, a lot of the practical FX (gun shots, bullet holes, explosions, etc.) didn’t make sense anymore. We had to the go through the sequence erasing the on set FX to add tension and fix the continuity according to the new structure.”

What struck me most about the editorial process on this project was the team’s commitment to screening dailies. “Dylan is one of the few editors I’ve worked with recently that prefers to watch all of the dailies before he begins cutting a scene,” Paterson said. “This is also how I was trained and it just seems that fewer and fewer productions watch dailies anymore.” I’d have to agree with him. In all the interviews I’ve done in the past decade, be it studio or indie, red carpet press or film festival under dog, I just don’t hear about this happening any more. It was a treat, for me at least, to know there’s still someone out there kickin’ it old school. “We were getting 6 to 10 hours of footage a day, six days a week,” Patterson continued. “When we started cutting scenes we knew which takes were good and had a very solid idea of how to put the scenes together. However, when you’re watching dailies for 8 hours and then start synching and cutting, your days to get very long.“

1.    Did where you grow up lend to an interest in film or editing in particular?

I grew up in Worchester Mass., which is about 45 minutes west of Boston.  When I was younger my friends and I used to make movies with a VHS camcorder.  Mostly skateboard video and things like that but I always enjoyed doing it.  Then I went to Emerson College in Boston and that was really where I started getting into editing.  I really enjoyed sitting in a dark room all night on a kem splicing together 16mm film.  I ended up cutting a lot of student films as well as a few of my own.

2.    How did you get you start in editing?

During my time at Emerson I interned at Avid, which was about a half hour north of Boston.  I got to learn the Avid pretty well and when I graduated I took a job there doing tech support.  After about 2 years of that I moved to NY and started working for a company called POSTWORKS that rented and supported systems to films in NYC.  At one point an editor, Lee Percy, was finishing up a film and crewing up for another one and asked me if I was interested in becoming an apprentice and joining the union.  I jumped at the chance and have been working in features ever since.

3.    Is there a scene in television or film that you remember having given you an appreciation for editing?

I think the movie that totally blew me away as far as editing goes has to be OUT OF SIGHT.  It’s just absolutely amazing what Anne Coates did with that film.  It was also around the time I had joined the union and started working on features so it got me really excited.

4.    Is there a project you cut or worked on that you’re especially proud of?

I have to say that every movie I’ve ever worked on I’ve put 110% into so in some way I’m proud of them all even though some didn’t turn out so great.  BEFORE NIGHT FALLS, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS and CASANOVA are probably my three favorites that I’ve worked on.

5.    Is there a scene in television or film that you would love to go back and put your own spin on?

That’s a tough one. I’ve watched films and television shows that I don’t think are particularly well edited but it’s hard to pass judgment because I wasn’t there.  There are so many factors as to why things are edited the way they are, from technical problems with the footage to studio politics so it’s hard to say.

6.   What platforms are you familiar with?

I have worked with Avid, FCP and Lightworks, although it’s been a while since I’ve done a Lightworks show.  I started out working on Film and I probably wouldn’t want to cut a show on film in this day and age but I could do it.  Even with all the digital technology we have now I think it’s important if you are going to work on films to have a working knowledge of cutting on film.

7.    What have you found to be the best feature on your system of choice?

Avid has the best media management and list making capabilities out there.  Also being able to customize the system to fit the way you work is invaluable.  About 6 years ago I broke my elbow and I was in dailies for a show syncing on the Avid and I was able to configure my Avid so I could do everything one handed. It didn’t slow down my workflow one bit.

8.    What feature are you hoping to see in the future?

I would love to see the compositing software on the Avid get a little better.  We cut ACROSS THE UNIVERSE on FCP and I was able to do all of the temp comps in Shake.  It was amazing because Shake and FCP use the same media format and passing files from one to another is instantaneous.  Avid’s compositing is getting better but it just can’t do everything that I would like.

9.    Is there one person in the industry, living or dead, be it director, editor, or otherwise would you like to work with?

I don’t want to geek out but I would love to work with Joss Whedon.  I’ve liked everything he’s done so far.  He’s an amazing storyteller.

10. What upcoming film, other than your own, are you looking forward to?

I’m really looking forward to The Social Network.  I always have high expectations for David Fincher.