“The tool I use most in Media Composer is Trim Mode. I live in Trim Mode. It makes everything easier.”

Crafting the Final Episode 

 

In the last episode we’re trying to wrap up stories of people set up in earlier episodes that come back, and you want to finish their story. One was photographer Oliver Stephen. He would photograph fans coming in, really beautiful work. He had a beautiful story about being at Wrexham but never going to an actual game. He had this fear of going into a match and watching live.

 

The producers got him in in the final episode. We cheated because he was actually at the match three weeks before. We put him walking in at the last match, cut to him, and he almost had the same jacket on. It was a night scene, so we had to do a lot of color correction. Cutting unscripted is so creative because you can attack it from any way. All of a sudden, it felt like it fit in seamlessly.

 

The biggest thing is that there's so many cameras during those matches, maybe nine, ten cameras. You're always trying to find audio tracks. When you cut a match, they're super fun to cut, but they take a while because you have to watch it. You have to listen to all the audio from everyone who's mic'd, the coach, the other coach, or the announcer. 

 

 

Building Emotion in Every Scene 

 

The first thing you have to do when you go through scenes is to ingest the material, to understand what's there, what makes you laugh or feel something. It's all about having an emotional attachment to a moment or scene and then those emotions change throughout that scene. If I don't feel anything, it's usually not in. Sometimes you have to skew it. You have to be like, ‘Okay, what really happened? How do we enhance the drama, get more stakes, put pressure on our characters?’ Those are always in the back of your head.

 

Knowing those things is the most helpful. You're constantly tracking the arc of their story. The fun stuff is when you have good material, great slow-mo cameras. When to slow and when not. You're always looking at that stuff, and that gets you excited. That is why the show works so well, it's about the fans, the community, how the zeitgeist of Wrexham has taken over, the magic it has created, all the players and the crazy story, how they've been promoted. It's just insane.

   

The tool I use most in Media Composer is Trim Mode. I live in Trim Mode. It makes everything easier. You know where your flags are, how to open things up, close things, get the pacing down perfectly, not screw up your music. Trim Mode is my favorite part of Media Composer. Asymmetric trim is a way to have all the tracks. You're in control of so much of the tracks that you are able to put rollers on each side and open things up, tighten things quickly and easily.

 

FluidMorph is another tool I use all the time. FluidMorphs are the best in docs because the camera moves so much. Usually in scripted, when you have locked off cameras, you can adjust performances, move things quicker, have a head turn happen quicker. In docs, it helps in pacing, especially with those slow-mo cameras. If the camera is locked off enough, it helps. If you feel like you're hanging on something a bit too long, you can take out the middle and blend it together. The FluidMorph tool is an absolutely invaluable piece of technology. It helps control performance in a lot of ways. You have a meter in your head or sometimes you’ve got to get through lines quicker or you don't always want to cut away. You feel the cutaway, especially if it's unnecessary. FluidMorph allows you to stay in the performance and move things along quickly, which is nice.

 

I use a lot of VFX. I use Animatte to split screens. Split screens save you just like FluidMorph. Split screens can get you out of jail. You can do a lot of different things. You have an idea and you need to temp it, you can do a lot just to get the concept down with the VFX tools in Avid. 

 

 

The Challenge and Joy of Unscripted Editing

 

When Rob (McElhenney, owner and actor) was buying the team we all chuckled. It turns out to be one of the smartest things he's done. It's a sweet story about a town, really grounded. Everybody can connect to it. People love sports and local teams.

 

It's a special show. To be nominated is the gravy on top. I was happy to be part of it. But really, it's about the process, about working with people and having debates about what you think works. There's so much heart because it's real. You see these fans that have been through this club and all the lows. It's hard not to feel that connection. Everybody can understand what it's like to be down and prevail. That's the best kind of story, right?

 

I have so much respect for people who cut documentaries and unscripted. It is the hardest stuff to cut. The most creative editors I've worked with are in unscripted. Everyone at Wrexham is fantastic. All the editors are so good and bring something different. I was super nervous. I remember starting and then you get your sea legs and you're like, ‘Oh my God, I love doing this stuff.’ It is such an enjoyable show because it is all on the editors and story producers and there are great story producers. Shout out to my wife, Abby (Schwarzwalder). She's amazing.

 

 

Finding Purpose in Editing

 

I worked at Reebok in the production department a long time ago and they had one Avid and the other I wasn't allowed to touch. Then we had deck to deck, 3/4 decks and I would just watch and cut Allen Iverson (professional basketball player) videos and it was the best thing in the world. I like creating emotion. I like creating drama. It was the part of production that I gravitated to the most.

 

I moved to L.A. a couple of years later, started as a PA (production assistant) and bugged somebody about wanting to be an assistant to Darla Marasco (producer) and she was great.  I bugged her and she let me be an assistant. Of course, I was a terrible assistant, ended up becoming an OK assistant, then realized that she helped others out. If I could cut, they would throw me stuff to cut. All those people I assisted ended up becoming good friends of mine that I'm still in contact with.

 

 

Embrace the Process

 

If you want to become a professional editor, you need to know Avid Media Composer. It still is the best editing software by far. The connectivity to other editors and the tools that Avid has are superior.

 

I’d love to mentor, show them tools and give them pointers. A lot of the process is banging your head against the wall, coming out of your cave with something, and then being judged. That's how you get good at it.

 

What I like about being an editor is it's secretly super creative in terms of what you have and how something is made. It's personal, takes a lot out of you because you put a lot into it, and you have long hours and long days, but I'm so lucky to be doing what I get to do because it is such a creative job.

 

You find the people that want to work with you and that have the same attitude of best idea wins. Let's not be precious about what we thought, about our intentions. That's what I look for in people I work with.

 

Cut anything: Friends making something, go to colleges, see if anybody needs an editor. I would always be trying to work, get better. Cut whatever you can. It could be like recut things. Take old movies and see if you can find tools that you can split tracks out and just cut things up. See if you can turn Citizen Kane into a 90-minute movie. Any experimenting is great. You can't wait for people to give you an opportunity. You have to show them that you can do stuff.

 

 

About the Editor 

 

Tim Roche has been an Editor/Director for over 20 years and has worked with some of the top talent in the industry. He was a longtime editor on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and has been nominated four times for best editing for his work on Silicon Valley, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Welcome to Wrexham, and WandaVision. His films include Fantastic Four, Vacation Friends 2, Fool’s Paradise, and Thor: Love and Thunder. His television credits include She-Hulk, Hawkeye, Wandavision, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Silicon Valley, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia to name a few. His directing credits include Silicon Valley, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and the series Hawkeye (uncredited) for Marvel Studios.