Kristin Marguerite Doidge
When Oscars aired live on March 2, when nearly 20 million American viewers (and more from around the world) surveyed, few people knew that two local 700 members in Los Angeles were the most memorable moment of the night. While viewers are used to seeing image editing, sound editing, sound blenders and other post-production professionals respected in their respective reward categories for Hollywood’s biggest nights, this year’s ceremony brings some of their handcrafted on screen.
Image editor Alan Maxson joins the broadcast in one of the most unique ways: giant sandworms playing “Dunes” on the piano as part of the opening music number of host Conan O’Brien.
“I spend time as an actor when I’m not editing for TV, mostly as monsters and creatures,” McKesson explained. “One day, I received a call from my friend Richard Dorton, who said, ‘A very prestigious show requires a bio-actor.’ Once I confirmed my availability, my name was on the list of potential applicants. A few days later, I was told I had booked the show!”
He said he was supposed to play the harp only in the middle of the show initially, but after the rehearsal, he received a late-night email on Friday saying the producers were very fond of Sandworms and they wanted to add him to O’Brien’s musical numbers, too.
Maxson said on performance night that there was an “indescribable energy” in the air. “Everyone is happy to be there, there is a huge amount of talent in front and behind the camera,” he said. “It feels surreal all the time. I stand next to the giant sandworm on the wings of the stage and watch Conan O’Brien, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Adam Sandler perform. And then before I knew it, I was in the worm and was brought to the stage.”
When he is not performing Sandworms on stage (or other creatures as actors, such as one of the people who made a motion for King Ghidorah in 2019), Maxson is the TV editor. He has been working in post-production in Los Angeles since 2007 and joined the Guild in 2012. He is currently editing a project for Paramount and has previously written and directed a feature film called “Alien Planet.”
Similarly, editor Matthew Shaw has to be part of the particularly stupid, equally stupid – aiming to set the tone to say, “Welcome to the Oscars of Conan O’Brien.”
After a short montage, the producers wanted to act as a “love letter to Los Angeles” and a special live music performance from Oscar-nominated Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo to open up the show, one of the most notable films of the year, namely “Substance”, as the backdrop with the first entertaining Backstage the First Erdices Times Esteme.
“The initial idea of Conan was to include the stage manager knocking on the door, and it just blossomed from there,” said Matthew Shaw, TV and movie picture editor. “It was a cool thing to say that I’ve done a crazy but simple concept. We shot the actual “substantial” side of the work [with Oscar nominee Demi Moore’s ‘body’] About a week and a half before the show, it was essentially locked on Monday. ”
The comedian, who is the chief editor of the popular travel show Conan Must Go on Max, said he has been working on Conan Orbit for about 13 years. This means he has been able to understand O’Brien and his writer’s intuitions and how to drive editorial meetings in a way the team is happy with his results, while also having that urgency to portray the clock late at night.
“I like to discuss ‘Conan’s hair is best’ what is the best?’ or: “Do we like his nose catch the meat more when he appears? “One of the certainty we draw from the show is that when we see Conan completely trapped in Demi’s ‘body’, we know it must be placed in the work intact. This is great and must not be used. ”
By Wednesday before the event, the team filmed the stage manager scene, and within an hour the work was locked and ready to introduce it to the show producer for the first time. “Every time we watch it in the edit, everyone smiles, so I at least know that we all find it hysterical, no matter how the audience responds.”
Despite this, the on-site response was still much he asked for. “It was fun to see it live,” he said. “I know what happened after the ‘evil’ music number of the opening ceremony, it was dizzy and showed something weird in such a famous environment. The idea of Conan crawling out of his body seemed like something we couldn’t play earlier, so I saw all of these factors, which made me so happy. My family returned to Wisconsin to have a viewing party and I think it was the first time they did anything for something I edited, so it was also special.”
He recently served as other editor of the documentary Andre Is an Idiot, which won an Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in January. But it was his ongoing relationship with O’Brien and the team that gave him confidence in his business as he was.
“I love my job as an editor,” he said. “I love working in comedy, I love having the opportunity to jump into projects like Andre, knowing that I have their support to accept support from other projects when they appear…I can honestly say they are like a second family.”
