Mad Men - Season 5 - Q&A with Christopher Gay (Editor)
2012 Emmy-nominated Editor for “Far Away Places”
Q: How many hours of tape do you generally start with? How do you determine what stays and what goes?
A: That’s always the question! On average, we get 28 to 35 hours of footage. You watch and you study, and I always try to memorize the film as best as I possibly can. Ultimately, it’s me battling the footage with Matthew Weiner and trying to find nuances of both performance and picking out little things that aren’t quite working. The biggest challenge is always getting the last three minutes out of the show, but it always ends up being better because it just makes it move that much faster. It’s always better to leave the audience wanting a little more.
Q: What do you think distinguishes the editing in “Far Away Places”?
A: Men Men, editorially, is very clean and classic. The reason I submitted “Far Away Places” is because in Mad Men standards, it’s about as flashy as you can get. There’s the LSD sequence and the three different story lines that all re-start at a certain moment. From an editing standpoint, I thought it was more of a standout episode. This one had a little more flair, and sometimes that’s what people recognize in editing because it’s kind of an unseen craft. [x]
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2012 Emmy-nominated Editor for “Far Away Places” Q: How many hours of tape do you generally start with? How do you...
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