“Everything we do with Media Composer is what makes it simple for us to make The Last of Us.”

Finding the Emotional Heart of the Story

 

The most challenging thing I dealt with was the death of Joel and the sequence that led up to that because the performances that I was given, the choices I was presented with were absolutely stunning and it was almost impossible to decide how to make these choices, build the sequence and not feel like you were leaving anything behind. I did five versions of the scene before I was happy to even show it.

 

There was a great overarching vision for what the episode was about. It was always evolving because not everything we write and film can be used. There were certain sequences that once we put them on their feet, we realized we don't need these things. This is actually taking away from the main action, from the emotion of the dialectic between Joel and Ellie. It's making us not care about certain characters because we're in places we shouldn't be. All of those things create a massive evolution. This was a massively restructured episode.

 

The “Kitchen Sink” Editing Approach

 

When it comes to putting everything on its feet, I use this method I call the kitchen sink edit. I put everything into the first cut, because I want everyone to see all pieces and then we decide to remove things. Instead of going into the dailies and finding things that are missing, we start extracting things. There are strong emotional connections happening and a really impactful ending that we need to get to. Anything that happened along the side was stripped away. The episode started out at 72 minutes, and we ended up at 54.

 

When I'm putting a sequence together, it has to almost feel symphonic to me. It has to have a build, crescendos, and feel musically centered. I create the pace of the dialogue I feel is correct. I'm using all of the Media Composer tools which allows us to create the exact pace I'm looking for, because the rhythm has to be exactly right.

 

Media Composer is integral, and the only thing I use. It makes working on The Last of Us the easiest thing. We have so many people working from around the world. We have crews in Vancouver, in Los Angeles, VFX teams here, there and everywhere. All of those people are connected to Media Composer. I'm creating split frames. I'm creating Animattes, FluidMorphs, and then we're passing those off to our visual effects editors that are sometimes even in their apartments in Vancouver, and then they're handing things back to us. Everything we do with Media Composer is what makes it simple for us to make The Last of Us.

 

The Media Composer tools I love are Animatte, FluidMorph, creating audio mixes using the rubber banding tool. I absolutely love the audio suite functions. ScriptSync saves so much time with Craig Mazin (showrunner), who's going from room to room to room and he's like, ‘Wow, that was so easy.’ We're very into sound on The Last of Us, so we are trying to constantly make these soundscapes very lived in. Having an audio suite, having all of these abilities to change frames and make exactly what we're looking for is what makes these tools work for me from Avid.

 

 

The Joy of an Emmy Nomination

 

This category is filled with incredibly talented editors. It's such a joy to hear from people when you receive an Emmy nomination. I've been able to meet editors I've admired. I've heard from editors that I'm just in awe of and I’m so thankful.

 

What I like about being an editor is the endless creativity. I get to be the first person to put together the story. Everyone else is making ingredients or grocery shopping. I heard Kurosawa (Akira Kurosawa, director) say that directing is like going to the store and buying ingredients. The best part about editing is that you're the first cook. You're creating a meal and allowing people to taste it for the first time. You get to be that person who refines it, makes this even more delicious. It's like being a chef.

The cast and crew of The Last of Us

What Drives Tim Good as an Editor

 

I was always building things as a child and was infatuated with music and architecture. This showman's desire to make people feel things drives me. When I put a scene together, I want to impress the next person who sees the scene. I want them to be moved by it or angry because of it. I want them to feel deeply. And that's what drives me as an editor.

 

I started using Media Composer in 1996 at Northwestern University. What made it click for me was that it was like telling a story with a piano, being able to move seamlessly between shots and trim things in such detail. I've always loved it. I remember reading the manual when I first came to Hollywood in 1998. I read it overnight on a job so I could learn how it worked. I was amazed at the way it respected the craft of filmmaking. There's a complete understanding of how an editor's brain works with Media Composer and that's why I'm always using it.

 

I'm a big believer in passing the craft on. I can't hold on to it because it doesn't belong to me. It was given to me by my mentors. So it's a massive deal for me to have all of my team moving up in the ranks of editing.

 

 

Master the Industry’s Go-To Tool

 

You have to be patient. You cannot expect things to happen right away. The more experience you have, the more time you put in, the more people you know, the more you will learn. I learned from so many different editors that if I were to have done things too early, I would not have had that experience. Surround yourself with people who are filling your well of knowledge.

 

If somebody wants a career in editing, they have to understand Media Composer because it really is the tool that almost all of us use. It's time-tested and does exactly what we're asking of it. It allows us to have so much flexibility and creativity in the process. It's the most effective tool in storytelling that I know. I don't know how anyone who wants a career doesn't know it. You have to.

 

 

About the Editor

 

Timothy A. Good, ACE, is currently editing the hit series The Last of Us, for which he was nominated for a 2025 Emmy Award for Outstanding Picture Editing For A Drama Series for the episode “Through the Valley.” He won a 2023 Emmy Award for his work on season 1 of the series. Good also edited the acclaimed season1 episode, “Long, Long Time,” featuring the love story between characters Bill and Frank. Prior to his work on The Last of Us, Good edited a wide variety of TV series and miniseries, including When We Rise, The Umbrella Academy and Fringe. He also worked on classic series such as the original Gossip Girl and The O.C.

Timothy Good’s Avid Media Composer Timeline for The Last of Us