Wendy Hallam Martin - Editor
Job title - Editor
Experience - 10+ years
“I never look at the continuity until after I assemble because I don’t want to be influenced by what went on while filming. I just want to have an honest first reaction to the material.”
Tell us about your job role and the kinds of projects you work on;
I am a Picture Editor who mostly works on Cable Television drama. I love this medium because it is challenging, high quality, fast-paced, and different every day. For the last few years, I have been lucky to work with the incredible team at Take5 Productions. Producers John Webber and Sheila Hockin bring in such incredible shows for us to work on. Big studios like MGM, Showtime, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and Starz trust us to create awesome television; The Handmaids Tale, Penny Dreadful, Vikings, The Tudors, The Borgias, and the upcoming epic Halo series for Showtime to name a few.
What does an average day look like in your post-production working world?
We edit the show on the Avid Media Composer. There are three full-time editors on the series – Myself, Chris Donaldson, and our former assistant who now cuts with us (after mentoring her through the years) Ana Yavari. I am lucky to work with such a great team. We constantly bounce ideas off of each other and watch each other’s scenes and give our thoughts.
An average day for me, usually entails first watching the scenes that I assembled the previous day and do any tweaks to them while I am fresh. By then my dailies are usually ready. It takes the assistant a couple of hours to prepare my bins with the footage that was shot the day before. I screen all of the dailies from top to bottom, then begin to assemble them. Sometimes I throw things in my timeline so that I won’t lose them. I tend to cut only one version using the takes that really hit me in some way. I never look at the continuity until after I assemble because I don’t want to be influenced by what went on while filming. I just want to have an honest first reaction to the material. Afterward, I will go back and compare any “preferred takes” that I didn’t use.
As far as a schedule to cut an episode, it varies. Usually, we keep up to camera assembling the dailies. They block shoot two (sometimes 3) episodes at a time. We usually get two or three scenes each a day on average. Once the episode is shot, we have three days to put the show together, add music, temp VFX and sound before we start the director’s cut (DGA rule, they get 4 days per episode). Once that is complete, the producers will come in and do their cut (a week or two) then it’s off to MGM and Hulu. They send back notes, we address those and send it back for lock. Meanwhile, we are getting dailies on the next block coming through the door that we have to keep up with and we are also expected to attend sound evaluations, give notes on the visual effects, and attend a music spotting session with our composer. It is busy, to say the least.
What has been your career highlight?
I have been lucky in my career thus far and there have been several highlights. The biggest being the year I won an ACE Eddie Award and an Emmy for my work on The Handmaid’s Tale. I have also had the amazing opportunity to work with some of the best directors on the planet. Most recently, I have been working with Elisabeth Moss on her directorial debut of HMT, Episode 403. She did such an incredible job! I’m super proud of this particular episode. It is a roller-coaster ride from start to finish and I can’t wait for fans to see it.
How did your career in post-production begin?
My passions growing up were music, horses, and reading. I thought I wanted to manage a band or work for a big record label. A friend of mine managed a local record store and he invited me to go and see a music video that was being filmed in our area. It was Bruce Cockburn (who is a Canadian icon) “Lover’s In a Dangerous Time”. I was mesmerised. Not by the band, but by the film crew shooting the video. It was like a light bulb went off. This was what I wanted to do. Music and visual storytelling together on film.
I enrolled in film school (Sheridan College) and volunteered on any film set I could get on. Through school, I discovered that I could marry my love for music and storytelling through editing. In my last year of college, I got a work placement with an incredible editor (Stephen Lawrence) and ended up working with him as his assistant for quite a few years. Steve let me assemble scenes for him and mentored me over the years. One of the directors that we frequently worked with (Fred Gerber) asked Steve to edit his movie, but Steve already had too much on the go. Fred then asked Steve whether I was ready to cut yet. Steve said yes and they conspired to approve me for the movie Mr. Music for Showtime. It was such a lucky break. From there, I went on to cut Queer as Folk, The Tudors, and Borgias to name a few.
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your career;
I never thought it would get any better than working on Queer As Folk. It was a dream job in the sense that we had so much creative freedom and we were allowed to experiment with the way we cut scenes and the way stories were told visually. We had a very healthy music budget, so it honestly felt like I was allowed to play in this incredible sandbox on a ground-breaking show. It set me on the path where I could be considered to work on shows that were outside of the box.
Women in post you admire?
There are so many wonderful women in post that I admire, but the ones I admire the most are the ones who paved the way for women like myself to be able to work in this industry. Of course, Thelma Schoonmaker (Martin Scorsese’s editor) was a big influence for me but close to home, women like Sheila Hockin (Executive Post Producer) Jane Tattersall (Sound genius) and Rachel Sutherland (Post Coordinator) have all had a huge influence in the industry, mentoring, nurturing and encouraging young talent to shine. They really are the best of the best.
Tell us about a stand out scene you’ve worked on;
A stand-out scene for me was the opening scene in the Season 2 premiere of The Handmaid’s Tale, entitled, “June.” The episode begins with June in the back of a van and she doesn’t know whether she is about to escape or face certain death. She is brought to what used to be Fenway Park in Boston and is herded through the underground with hundreds of other Handmaids out onto the field where gallows have been erected. The women are forced to climb up the stairs and nooses are put around their necks. There is a suspended moment that is incredibly powerful where June looks to the other women almost as if to say goodbye. The levers are then pulled, and they drop to what they think is their death, but it is only enough to “teach them a lesson.”
This almost ten-minute scene was so powerful in the way that it was written (Bruce Miller), shot (Colin Watkinson), acted (Elizabeth Moss), and directed (Mike Barker), that I found myself constantly having to remind myself to breathe while cutting it. I worked the footage until I would cry every time when the Kate Bush song, “Woman’s Work,” played over the tearful goodbyes. When I watch this scene today, I still get goosebumps thinking June is going to die even though I know every frame in the cut. It was one of those scenes that felt like my intuition took over when cutting it. It took two days to put together, and it honestly felt like an hour. It was extremely challenging given the amount of footage (4 cameras running plus drone material) the number of people in the scene and the terror I had to bring out in these women. It was such a fine balance of how long to hold on a shot, who to be on when to change camera angles and what sizes to choose. The narrative really dictated the rhythm and pace. It truly was a learning moment for me as an editor not to force something that isn’t true to the moment. So, for those reasons, this scene is definitely one of my favourites.
What advice do you have for other women wanting to start a career in post?
I would suggest getting involved in various organizations so that you can meet people in the field and start networking. A big part of getting your foot in the door is knowing someone who trusts you and your abilities. The Director’s Guild of Canada is a great place to start. Find out how you can join, take some courses if needed, and possibly land a trainee position. The CCE (Canadian Cinema Editors) is also a wonderful organization that can help you meet others and a great way to get involved in industry events like edit-con, screenings, and workshops.
My advice to anyone starting out is expect to work hard. Don’t expect to leave at 5pm. Have a good attitude and a genuine love for what you do. Practice cutting on the side, especially sound design work because that teaches you a lot about storytelling and will help the editor out immensely if you can do great sound work. The other thing is don’t get overly confident. We are all faced with new things every day including technology, working with new personalities, and different expectations. You have to be open-minded and flexible.