Editing ‘Russell Brand: In Plain Sight: Dispatches’ - An Interview with Editor Florence Kennard
*Trigger warning - this article discusses themes of sexual abuse please read with caution*
TV documentary ‘Russell Brand: In Plain Sight: Dispatches’, addresses a series of rape and sexual assault allegations against the British comedian in what can only be described as a harrowing 90 minute watch.
As someone who grew up watching Russell Brand and his controversial comedy on TV I felt a mix of disappointment and horror, but not much shock, as the title suggests... the warning signs were there.
In ‘Russell Brand: In Plain Sight’, editor Florence Kennard masterfully intertwines interview footage with decades worth of archive clips from throughout Brand’s career to help tell survivor’s stories with sensitivity and balance.
She has really kindly shared her experience with Edit Girls, giving an insight into the high levels of security surrounding working on a subject matter of this nature and what it’s like editing footage about an ongoing investigation.
How did you first get involved in the project and what was your initial personal reaction to hearing the allegations?
Florence: I was initially approached to edit the film by EP Esella Hawkey at Hardcash Productions, who I had worked with on a previous current affairs documentary. When I found out who this film was about, and heard the allegations for the first time, including “Alice’s”, who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Brand in 2006 when she was in a relationship with him aged 16, I felt devastated for her and all these women. I basically started watching archive footage straight after that - it felt nostalgic, horrifying and urgent all at once. I knew straight away that I wanted to edit this film!
“Current affairs documentaries can be pretty bonkers projects to cut your teeth on, as they are nearly always fast turn around films, with a lot of moving parts. ”
Have you worked on a project of like this before?
Florence: Current affairs has really been my path into cutting long form docs. My journey towards this project began at Vice News. Before Vice I was cutting any and all short form online content I could get my hands on, and sharing a studio space with super talented editor Sarah Keeling. During the pandemic Sarah introduced me to Sean Stevens and the team at Vice, and I began editing short form news documentaries for Vice News Tonight. This eventually led to my first longer form projects - two films for Channel 4 Dispatches - “Cadbury Exposed”, and “Broke: Britain’s Debt Emergency”.
Current affairs documentaries can be pretty bonkers projects to cut your teeth on, as they are nearly always fast turn around films, with a lot of moving parts. The editing process of this genre always feels quite chaotic, with lots of compliance and legals to juggle alongside the creative storytelling. But I definitely thrive on that challenge!
Florence’s editing timeline shows the volume of archive footage she was working with
What were the logistics of working on the project; how long was the process, where were you cutting it and who with?
Florence: We cut the film at Bumblebee Post. I had just finished working on an episode of a Disney+ project “JFK: One Day in America” which was really my first experience of handling archive on that huge, huge scale, and I had learnt the hard way that when you don’t have a robust system for marking up your clips, you waste so much time searching for things later! So when I first joined “Russell Brand: In Plain Sight” I was thankfully well equipped for that process of meticulously logging and marking up hundreds of hours of archive spanning multiple decades.
The investigation was ongoing as I started cutting, progressing day by day. It was fascinating to work with such an incredible team of journalists and filmmakers as the investigation unfolded. A shorter edit was scheduled initially, but we ended up cutting from May - September. There was definitely a “fast turnaround” energy that stayed with the project from beginning to end.
Tell us about the NDA process and the importance of confidentiality around the creation of the documentary.
Florence: We cut the film in a basement, in a sound-proofed room, and the post house set up our Avid project completely separately from the other films being cut at their facility, so we had very intense levels of security at all times, and it was continuously monitored. I attempted to offset the lack of windows with vitamin D supplements on my desk!
“We cut the film in a basement, in a sound-proofed room, and the post house set up our Avid project completely separately from the other films being cut at their facility.”
Tell us how you view your role as an editor when working on a story of this sensitive nature.
As the rushes came in and we watched them for the first time, I felt incredibly privileged to be able to work with testimonies that held such brutal and honest power. These women made that decision to relive some of the darkest moments of their lives and it was our job to communicate that to the audience.
It was my first experience working with non ID (anonymous) contributors, and director Alice McShane and I spent a lot of time discussing how we could use illustrative material to speak to these interviews that would really support them, and maintain the patience and integrity of the testimony.
I think Carol Morley achieves this balance perfectly in her feature documentary ‘Dreams of a Life’, and this film was a big inspiration when we decided I would step out of my editor’s chair and take on shooting material for “Alice’s” testimony myself. Camera op Jason Vivekananthan and I filmed in a very low key vintage home movie / flip phone style, to maintain the raw intimacy of “Alice’s” testimony and to help transport the viewer into the mind of a 16 year old in 2006. We filmed a lot of flowers, specifically roses, in this home movie style, which became a recurring motif for “Alice”s testimony.
Whether it’s choice of music, order of sequences or pacing, an editor has a lot of control over how an audience feels towards a particular topic, how do you ensure your editing stays ethical?
It was definitely one of the greatest challenges of my career so far, to edit within the parameters of a film which was making strong allegations and where the legal bar was very high. We worked with supportive lawyers at Channel 4 who were viewing cuts from the very beginning of the editing process.
Working with music is one of my favourite parts of being an editor. Director Alice McShane and I were very conscious that the music should support the testimony but not overpower it. We worked with musician Tim Matthews who composed some beautiful and delicate tracks for the film.
The piece uses a variety of archival footage, tell us a bit about the process of finding these clips and the decision making around which to show.
The archive is incredibly important to this film. I watched through hundreds of hours of tv, radio and stand up shows, meticulously gathered by the team at Channel 4 Dispatches and our archive researchers. One of our main objectives was to communicate the public vs private persona of Russell Brand and this was achieved through careful placement of archive footage from the era of each woman’s testimony. There was so much we wanted to include, and even since the film has come out I can see that more and more of the archive that didn’t make the final cut of our film is now circulating online.
“It was a privilege to edit this, and I hope the film has and will continue to inspire women to come forward and share their own experiences of sexual assault.”
How does the fact checking element of a film like this impact the editing process?
The fact checking and the journalism in general required an unprecedented level of precision. This was definitely challenging in the edit. Alice McShane and I were initially keen to make a film that had no voice over at all, just using cards. But it became apparent very quickly that voice over was needed to effectively communicate the allegations with a clarity and exactness beyond what we would be able to do with cards alone. The challenge was then to create a film tonally that still let the women be the driving voices. We were able to achieve this by giving their interviews space, and letting key moments of testimony play out at length.
The emotional toll of working on a film of this nature can be exhausting, how did you ensure you took care of yourself during the edit and also now that the piece is out and the reactions are coming in, tell us a bit about how this feels.
I think when everyone involved in the filmmaking process really believes in the film, there is a collective power in that which can carry you through emotionally hard times. We were lucky to have a very close knit team, and we really took care of each other on this project.
Russell Brand’s response, which came out the day before the documentary was released, was included in the final broadcast was this expected and accounted for, or a surprise addition?
Russell Brand’s video response to the allegations made against him was edited in the night before broadcast. Our post house was incredibly flexible knowing that there could be a lot of last minute changes, which of course there were! The offline edit closed a week before broadcast but I was able to give notes alongside the rest of the team, to our incredibly patient online editor as changes came in. It was difficult to step out of my editor’s driving seat in that final week but it was an unprecedented situation in a lot of ways, and we all came together as a team to deliver the film under some very unusual circumstances!
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
As an editor I absolutely live for the creative collaboration in the edit. So a major shout out to our director Alice McShane… The director and editor relationship can be an intense one, especially when working under pressure (you will probably spend far more time with this one person than your own family and friends!) And to work with Alice on this film, and have such a great meeting of minds in that windowless basement, was magic!
And filmmaking is a team effort and we had such a brilliant team including these guys: Alice McShane, Victoria Noble, Esella Hawkey, Imogen Wynell-Mayow, Tim Matthews, Melanie Spencer, Geraldine Mckelvie, HardCash Productions and Channel 4 Dispatches.
It was a privilege to edit this, and I hope the film has and will continue to inspire women to come forward and share their own experiences of sexual assault.
You can watch ‘Russell Brand: In Plain Sight: Dispatches’ on Channel 4 catch up