Entry 6: Baby Driver and Editing

Paul Machliss in his mobile editing center.

Baby Driver has very special editing in that much of the editing was done on set. Editor Paul Machliss had a mobile setup built so he could edit during filming. This was done to ensure "that six months down the line we weren't gonna go, 'Ugh, we missed a trick here.' 'This didn't work." Machliss says that because he also worked with Wright on Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and At World's End, they had begun to come up with a cohesive system to edit the film on-set as it was shot. They had to get incredibly inventive for many of the scenes with large-scale car chases and such. Says Machliss, "Edgar said, 'We're filming on the road, I'd like you to be with me editing as we're filming'... So basically, we lashed up to an apple crate... and on this particular day, this is how it worked."

Machliss on his ExtraMobile editing studio.

Although our production is different as we cannot edit on set, we have taken many measures to ensure editing this picture is much smoother than our last film, like blocking out our actions and filming entire scenes from different angles as continuous shots, instead of stopping and starting the camera every time the scene cuts. Additionally, Brandon has been recording Foley sounds on set for many of our scenes, so we don't have to go out into the hallway at school and record the closest thing we can find with our phones after editing has begun. This way, we can edit the whole movie uninterrupted. I think this will truly help us not have to stay very late every day to complete our editing on time.

Sources:
https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/editing-and-sound-baby-driver/
http://www.indiewire.com/2018/02/oscars-2018-baby-driver-editing-edgar-wright-1201930279/