Right this moment we’re talking with Úna Ní Dhonghaíle, ACE, BFE, about her work on the critically acclaimed Belfast, a semi-autobiographical film written and directed by Kenneth Branagh.
Úna is a BAFTA-winning editor with movie credit that embody Stan and Ollie, All is True, and Misbehaviour alongside TV reveals Three Ladies, The Crown, and Les Misérables.
Our final chat on Artwork of the Lower was about modifying The Crown, and we’ll hopefully do that once more when Branagh’s Loss of life on the Nile is launched subsequent yr.
Take a look at the Artwork of the Lower podcast to listen to this interview, and keep updated on all the most recent episodes.
HULLFISH: What a sensational film; I like the opening montage that you simply see in modern-day Belfast because the entire movie was rooted within the sixties. What was the rationale that Ken [Branagh] otherwise you needed to start out the film with modern-day footage?
DHONGHAÍLE: That was really Ken. He had that written in his script. He needed to have a look at Belfast. So that is actually a love letter to Belfast and it was such a ravishing script that he wrote. I did wonder if the title would survive as a result of in the event you’re going to the films would you prefer to see a movie referred to as Belfast? Possibly it has connotations, and I’m actually happy with Ken for conserving the title as a result of I believe he’s reclaimed that title and written a love poem to that metropolis and championed that metropolis.
So one of many first issues he needed to do was have a look at that metropolis as it’s in 2021, however with contemporary eyes. So he filmed it in a really lovely method, I believe. Simply making an attempt to point out the structure, the sunshine, the colour, the hills behind and earlier than principal images, he and Haris [Zambarloukos] the DoP went to Belfast and, on their telephones, they filmed photographs of Belfast, which he then gave to me. And Ken and I had about 4 or 5 days collectively working to put up.
We had been really distant. I minimize collectively the cellphone footage whereas exploring the Van Morrison music monitor and likewise the voiceover. We had been exploring issues previous to principal images to work out the way it may work and reframing the cellphone footage in order that when he went to shoot it—he solely had two days to shoot it—he may impart the knowledge to the Belfast group who had been going to shoot it. As a result of the danger was, with COVID, they could not have the ability to get again. So we wanted to have an excellent template.
So I believe that his imaginative and prescient was to point out Belfast as it’s right now in 2021, in a ravishing new, contemporary method. After which to be transported again in time. And it was all the time high and tail Van Morrison and coloration; that was all the time the plan from the script stage.
HULLFISH: One of many huge motion sequences is the opening riot. Did Ken speak to you about an intent for that scene? What did he need it to really feel like? What was the aim of it? Or did you simply get the dailies, and off you went?
DHONGHAÍLE: No, this movie is Ken’s ardour venture. Nevertheless it grew to become all of us who actually respect Ken and admire him as a filmmaker and a poet—I do say he’s just like the grasp storyteller, a poet, like Van Morrison is a poet; the 2 Belfast poets.
However when he gave me the script to learn initially in June—we had been making Loss of life on the Nile on the time—it simply chimed with me as a result of my dad is from Northern Eire, from Omagh in County Tyrone, and my uncles and my grandparents had been working-class Catholics who lived by way of this time. And for me, Ken has captured the vernacular of the folks, the intimacy of the neighbors, the nice friendships between protestants and catholics, and the truth that there was a love of the neighborhood, folks residing on these terraced homes.
So, a lot of the script chimed with me that myself and Ken really developed a shorthand. We’ve made three movies—would you consider—in two years; All Is True, Loss of life on the Nile, and Belfast. So it meant that after I was reducing, Ken didn’t have to speak an excessive amount of to me as a result of I bought it.
So he was capturing in London, I used to be modifying in my studio in Dublin, and I simply noticed the rushes, I noticed the best way he had shot it, that stunning first sweeping shot as we come down with the kid. So I may observe it with the subjective standpoint of the kid in thoughts. And that shot that circles across the boy? He shot that in 60 frames per second. So I used to be in a position to put a timewarp on that and produce it from 24 frames to 48 to 60 again as much as 48, perhaps even to 36.
So it’s not a steady really feel of a pan. So that you simply actually really feel what the kid is feeling. And clearly, sound design was essential to me, even from the primary day of principal images, as a result of they shot in Surrey. I needed to construct a soundbed with my assistant editors till the sound group got here on board correct.
Utilizing that soundbed, which Ken known as “The kid hears the buzzing of bees, he doesn’t fairly know what it’s,” which was a superb little be aware for me as a result of it meant we may have a little bit of freedom within the sound right here to do one thing just a little bit inventive with the sound earlier than that first explosion.
After which it was simply me, like a magpie, discovering each shot from B digital camera or A digital camera that we may get. The man with the chain, the folks smashing a window, one other particular person working by way of, the explosion… So you must really feel as in the event you had been within the boy’s sneakers. What he felt.
There’s a magnificence in the best way Ken and Haris shot it. That stillness, that round monitor, to immediately the visceral, elliptical model of modifying, out of a psychology and a subjective standpoint to the opening sequence. After which the sound enriched that additional.
So I did contact our sound group, and Simon Chase was very sort, and though he wasn’t formally beginning but, he fed in some sound design results to me just like the chain, some ship horns, or something that I may use to counterpoint the edit. In any other case, we had been utilizing any sounds that I had already on file. It was the true psychological or visceral model of modifying to maintain you figuring out with what it felt like for Ken as a result of that’s a really actual reminiscence for him. I actually like the truth that we saved that scene with out music as a result of I believe that’s a significant component.
HULLFISH: That’s what I used to be about to level out. There was no music for that shot.
DHONGHAÍLE: We did have a model with music at one level. Although our edit time was brief, myself and Ken are a superb group, so we are able to work swiftly and interrogate the footage collectively, and though we had been working remotely, we labored as if we had been in the identical room.
I had an Avid with the drive in my home; he had an Avid with the drive at his home, my assistants had the identical. Usually, if the director’s within the room with you, you’ll be able to present them concepts and cuts rapidly. However as a result of Ken wasn’t bodily with me, I’d construct just a few choices and have my assistant render it and ship it over to his bin, and he may simply press play and get on the cellphone with me. It was sensible as a result of it meant that Ken was really very hands-on and will watch these totally different variations. It was a very nice expertise. It meant that each of us had been crafting and exploring something that would occur.
So again to your level, we initially did have music on that shot, however then we agreed to take the music off and simply really feel it. We had an excellent group. They had been all coming in with some good concepts, and saying it does work with out the music, and there’s a confidence to it really that basically makes the viewers lean in. Should you had music on, it in some way softened the expertise, or perhaps it simply made it simply too toe-tappy. Whereas, by letting it’s a barren explosion, you get to be with the kid, and it felt extra genuine and actual.
HULLFISH: Was there any rating within the movie?
DHONGHAÍLE: No, probably not. Van Morrison equipped two cues referred to as “Instrumental One” and “Instrumental Two” each of them had been roughly 5 minutes every, and I used to be in a position to minimize them in numerous moments within the movie the place we didn’t wish to use a Van Morrison monitor that could be lyric-led, the place we simply needed a motif. So it saved us tonally with Van Morrison, however we’re actually simply two cues that I may use to segue from one to the opposite, and sprinkle all through the movie. And each time the Billy Clanton Jr. character got here in we used some motifs that gave the impression of a drone, or a bit musical.
Van Morrison was working with Ken because the script stage, and he clearly wrote the enjoyment piece specifically for this movie based mostly on the script. So I had that previous to capturing. Initially, we had another music concepts on the time, however then in a short time, we moved away from that and went for a extra sparse rating utilizing solely Van Morrison tracks that resonated on a kind of human stage with Ken.
HULLFISH: These songs weren’t written into the script for particular scenes?
DHONGHAÍLE: No, they got here organically, however in a short time really. After watching the primary minimize, Ken felt from a reminiscence standpoint that Van’s music and the lyrics actually chimed with him.
As we had been shortening the movie, the primary minimize was two hours and twenty minutes, and we discovered, as we had been reducing away, we may take the perfect of any of the imagery that was now leaving the movie and we may make them into little montages with Van Morrison’s music. These montages supplied a significant component of tempo. As a result of we have now all these lovely scenes that had been shot in a tableau model with depth of area, these little vignettes of the passage of time with Van Morrison’s music added a lyricism to the movie, which was proper for Ken’s reminiscence.
HULLFISH: I like the pacing of the movie, and the performances had been unimaginable. There may be a tremendous scene with Buddy, performed by Jude Hill, the place you keep on his face throughout a complete dialog of different folks speaking. You by no means minimize to anybody else speaking.
DHONGHAÍLE: No, we didn’t minimize to anybody; we intentionally did that as a result of Ken had devised a quite simple model, which actually works with a memory-based movie. You could have the huge photographs after which a few close-ups. And in that exact scene we may have minimize round to others, nevertheless it felt extra assured to simply stick with the boy. We felt that it really was fairly courageous to stick with him. When you’ve footage, you don’t wish to over-cut or overuse photographs as a result of generally you get lower than the sum of the elements.
We thought that there was extra boldness staying with the boy and setting our floor very firmly that that is the story of this youngster by way of whose eyes we’ll largely see the movie. Though we do have totally different moments the place we switched the subjective standpoint, that dialog scene was a very necessary one to simply stick with him.
HULLFISH: Why would you say staying on Buddy is a assured selection?
DHONGHAÍLE: It forces the viewers to look at it. We’re unconsciously saying to the viewers, “That is necessary. We would like you to see this.” If I had been to chop again to the mob, Pa, or brother Will, it would simply develop into an atypical scene. We don’t need that; we would like the viewers to take heed to what’s been mentioned right here and bear in mind this second.
I believe it took the ordinariness away. You’ll be able to think about if we minimize to the opposite folks, it simply turns into a dialogue scene or a scene between the household, and the subtext was extra to instate the kid as our protagonist by way of whose eyes we might see and to essentially let the viewers lean in.
What I believe is extraordinary about Jude Hill (who performs Buddy) is that he was solely 9 or ten when he acted on this. Ken principally mentioned to him, “Pay attention to what’s taking place. Take heed to the phrases spoken from Ma and Pa.” And you may think about from his perspective, there’s this nice huge digital camera in entrance of him, however he saved specializing in Jamie, or Caitríona, or Judi, or whoever was within the scene with him. Ken would give Jude course and he was sensible; he by no means misplaced a step. He lived within the second. He listened to what was mentioned as if it was his personal dad and mom.
HULLFISH: What was the schedule and overview course of like whereas filming?
DHONGHAÍLE: Our schedule was so tight; as soon as Ken began capturing, we needed to hit the bottom working. Let’s say he began capturing Monday morning; that meant I used to be modifying Monday night time in order that we may present him the primary meeting of that week by Friday night time. He would wrap at 7:00 pm and be with me by 8:00 pm, and we watched every little thing till midnight simply to verify we bought every little thing or if he wanted something additional. Whereas we had been filming, Matthew Glenn, our VFX producer, was engaged on backdrops and helicopter scenes which helped us be extra economical with our time.
HULLFISH: How a lot protection had been you in dailies?
DHONGHAÍLE: At occasions, there was much less protection insofar as Ken might have had a really clear imaginative and prescient, however we did have a variety of lengthy takes to excellent the efficiency. It’s a rare achievement for just a little youngster who has by no means actually acted earlier than to do these lengthy takes with a variety of dialogue and to guarantee that everybody hits the bottom working.
As Ken was capturing, he was getting the tableaux and he was choosing up just a few closeups. As an editor, my problem from a tempo standpoint, was find out how to marry these tableau model scenes with conserving the movie transferring and the viewers engaged. We discovered that generally when you have too a lot of these tableau scenes in a row, there may very well be a threat that the movie would plateau. In order that’s the place Ken and I made a superb group; we saved simply forensically wanting on the rushes and questioning what we may transfer round.
I requested Ken what his audio recollections had been from his childhood so I may have them prepared in anticipation for the shoot as a result of we shot in Surrey, and wanted to create a soundbed of Belfast for the primary day of principal images in editorial. Sound and music, for me, are wealthy characters so as to add to the movie, and Ken talked about just a few issues just like the ice cream van, the ship horns, the fixed trains, the rag-and-bone man, the coalman, the milkman, and so forth. He had these very lovely recollections that meant we may add these sounds at any second that helps the viewers, on an implicit stage, totally notice that is an atypical metropolis devastated by this extraordinary rise of violence.
HULLFISH: When including these sounds, did the temper or tone dictate which sound you selected? Like if you’re in a contented second, you would possibly add the ice cream van, or if it’s a extra tense second, you’ll add the practice horn.
DHONGHAÍLE: Yeah, or perhaps quite you’re in a scene of hazard, and you set within the ice cream van. It was extra just like the counterintuitive stuff of making an attempt to convey that this can be a metropolis with youngsters going to high school, and the ice cream man is coming even though the British military has arrived and is placing up barricades. And even the folks within the streets are placing up their very own barricades. This builds and builds -the pressure whereas additionally persevering with the normality of on a regular basis life.
So if you see the little child, and he’s wanting on the little lady getting her hair brushed, however you even have the boys being stopped and searched on the barricades. So that you wish to clarify that this normalization of these barricades is one thing that was fairly horrifying to see, and it’s one thing that sadly continued all through the 30 years of The Troubles.
So I believe Ken was very courageous in the best way he’s informed this story. Even at first through the riot the place the protestant vigilantes are smashing the home windows to get the catholics out, that was a really courageous factor for him to do as a person with a protestant background. He’s telling that story, and telling the reality in as genuine a method as potential, which I believe is mirrored in our modifying model, the psychology of our edits, in addition to the sound design.
We had a fantastic sound design group who joined us to deliver that stage of sound to the movie. So that you didn’t miss the music or the rating, you might really feel that this can be a movie that’s making an attempt to be extra truthful and extra easy in its model, and that perhaps resonates extra with the viewers because of this.
HULLFISH: The movie is black and white, however there are moments of coloration. Are you able to speak to us in regards to the motive for these and the psychological functions behind it?
DHONGHAÍLE: I’ve beloved Ken’s work earlier than I even began working with him. Once I was a scholar, I beloved Useless Once more, the place he used black and white, and I believe that’s a motif of his to symbolize the previous.
For Belfast, the black and white is a motif to symbolize the previous, however once they went to the cinema that will be in coloration. He was making an attempt to point out the influence on the kid, that cinema was an escape. It was very vivid and actual within the midst of all of the ordinariness of life. All the pieces was shot in coloration after which put into black and white. So we have now the chance to do it in coloration, however he all the time envisioned it primarily in black and white with the cinema and starting and finish of the movie in coloration.
Figuring out that this youngster relies on Ken, I beloved the truth that he sprinkled within the Thor comedian e book, his favourite soccer group, and all these little components which might be noticeable to anybody who is aware of him.
HULLFISH: I beloved the scene within the theater the place they’re watching A Christmas Carol as a result of you’ll be able to see the colour of the movie mirrored in Dame Judi Dench’s glasses.
DHONGHAÍLE: That was actually necessary as a result of we thought that Granny was additionally impressed by the theater, which associated to my background loads. My dad and mom and my grandparents are superb oral storytellers, and I believe the identical is true for Ken’s household. So it was actually necessary that Granny was provided that reward proven within the reflection on her glasses as a result of she additionally loves the theater—maybe that’s the place Ken additionally bought this appreciation for theater—so it’s a pleasant little nod to Granny.
HULLFISH: Speak to me about your collaboration with Ken. You talked about having to do that largely remotely. Had been you utilizing any particular instruments to realize that?
DHONGHAÍLE: No. [Laughs] We had been so old-fashioned. He had a drive, I had a drive, my assistants all had drives, and that’s it. We had three second assistants as a result of folks stayed with us for 2 months at a time—which is the character of unbiased movie—and the identical factor with the primary assistants. Carly Brown was a primary assistant who stayed for the length, however Simon Davis and Matthew Tucker each did two months every simply to assist with the sheer quantity of turnover for sound and preparation for grade and every little thing.
We did rather well as a result of when you concentrate on having folks for under two months at a time, that provides an additional problem alongside Covid as a result of you must get folks in control. However we had been blessed that we had sensible folks to hitch us for these two months. The opposite second assistants are Lydia Mannering and Tímea Kalderák, they usually helped loads with all of that turnover.
HULLFISH: It seems like most of your collaboration was simply over the cellphone?
DHONGHAÍLE: Yeah, it was simply the cellphone; even once we did the sound combine, it was all around the cellphone. They had been mixing on Monday, and at lunchtime, they’d ship me the information of what they’d completed in order that I may watch in a sound studio in Dublin as a result of COVID stopped me from returning to London. We had been in a position to speak by way of the sound combine over the cellphone; editors, I believe, are all the time fairly sturdy within the combine, we are able to spot issues that could be useful to the director.
HULLFISH: Are you able to elaborate on the worth you as an editor can add to the sound combine?
DHONGHAÍLE: The worth I consider any editor in sound combine is the truth that earlier than the sound group begins, we’re already constructing an edit all through the meeting, utilizing sound and music as characters and instruments for storytelling. So we are able to see issues or know the intention of one thing on the subtext stage. Once we’re within the sound combined with you, we’d spot one thing another person would possibly miss. I believe we’re invaluable simply on an implicit stage of getting one other pair of ears. I believe that’s the place my talent is.
There’s a phone dialog, for instance, within the earlier movie I labored on. I’d put the particular person’s breath on the cellphone, however when it bought to the combo, the sound guys cleaned it up, which eliminated a variety of the strain. I used to be in a position to spot that and produce it as much as the director and point out how that breath helped the strain and let the viewers know there was another person on the cellphone. There are delicate issues like that which we are able to spot. Even when it’s not within the price range for me to go to the sound combine, I’ll usually do it at no cost as a result of I believe it impacts my modifying.
For the movie Belfast, there have been just a few small issues I bought to interject, like with a number of the ADR strains, which was enjoyable. I recorded myself and my son on my cellphone, they usually ended up conserving these performances which had been enjoyable. My son particularly had a sure power and vitality to it that felt proper.
HULLFISH: That is your third movie with Ken; how did you guys initially join?
DHONGHAÍLE: You’ll must ask Ken that, however I believe it was by way of my work on Wallander. He was the producer and the actor, and I did sequence two and the finale of sequence 4. Ken’s efficiency as Wallander with Alzheimer’s was beautiful, and I consider that’s how I got here to his consideration, however I’m not too positive.
HULLFISH: That just about jogs my memory of what Joe Walker mentioned when he was referred to as out in Lupita Nyong’o’s Oscar acceptance speech. Should you’re conscious, you need to have the ability to see your efficiency formed by the editor.
DHONGHAÍLE: Yeah. That’s such a superb level. That could be very potential.
HULLFISH: What’s your strategy in dailies? How did your assistants arrange your bins, and if you come within the morning and also you don’t have something in your timeline, what do you do?
DHONGHAÍLE: I’m very old-fashioned and notably for a movie like this I watch completely every little thing. So I simply requested the assistants to have it on body view in Avid. I used to have it on textual content view, however I’ve moved and grown from body view as a result of in some movies you simply must be in body view, however actually I start by watching and I begin to pick issues that basically resonate with me and begin constructing a palette.
By doing that, it immerses me within the footage. So then, after I really come to edit, I can bear in mind the particular takes which might be actually attention-grabbing, and I can put them into my timeline and construct round them.
I all the time work with sound early on as a result of I believe sound can enrich a movie to such a level that in the event you didn’t do the sound work, you would possibly find yourself reducing one thing that really may very well be held. So I watch every little thing and maintain something that I believe is admittedly attention-grabbing—like photographs of the actors earlier than or after the take—that’s going to have a truthfulness or authenticity. Then I started to construct it and work the sound design, and determine how we’re going to make use of music, notably in a sparse method, to maintain the actions by way of the movie and never develop into too indulgent.
HULLFISH: Are you reducing one thing out of a every day that you simply’re watching and sticking it within the timeline, or are you placing a marker to point it?
DHONGHAÍLE: I really don’t hassle with markers except there are just a few various things to consider which might be good. Let’s say, for instance, with Jude, there may very well be rolling takes, so there may very well be many performances on one take, so it could be a really lengthy take. I do ask the assistants to place little markers on each new efficiency on a rolling take, and no matter I appreciated, I might really minimize onto a timeline, and it’d be all my favourite bits.
I’d undergo all of the rushes and do my “Úna Selects” for these totally different bins. Then I might return and start to construct it. If time was valuable and I didn’t have time to do sound design, I might ship that to my assistant, and both the primary or second assistants with some course they usually’d construct it and ship it again to me whereas I used to be modifying different scenes. That method, I may watch it and tweak it if the sound was maybe not completely right, or if it was good however wanted just a little little bit of quantity modulation. Or if it was nice, I might simply say “Thanks a lot!” After which give them one other scene. It’s an actual labor of affection, and by the tip of that day, I’ll have crafted scenes that really feel wealthy, not solely editorially but additionally in sound.
HULLFISH: I’m interested by the way you pull all of your selects for a day. What do you assume the worth is in not beginning to minimize instantly.
DHONGHAÍLE: Once I pull all of the scenes first, it permits me just a little little bit of considering time to digest the general influence of the characters and what’s going to occur. It provides me just a little break as properly from what I’ve simply watched. So after I watch it once more later, I’m watching it once more with contemporary eyes, and I can re-interrogate that materials.
I believe I’m good at being fearless in diving again into the rushes if want be. I don’t get too connected to one thing; I’m courageous sufficient to return in and reevaluate edits and scenes. Significantly with movies like Belfast. You received’t see it, however there are scenes the place we’ve eliminated dialogue, so we discovered actually intelligent methods to get across the dialogue edit with out drawing consideration to itself, and that’s due to realizing my rushes. It’s a vital feat of reminiscence as properly as a result of it helps you simply carry the movie.
[Laughs] Typically I’ve to cover my “Úna Selects” bin as a result of they may look too mad. There are components that I can discover that I believe have a lyricism or poetic realism worth for me and the place I believe myself and Ken are well-matched in a number of the issues we each like. However then there are different occasions the place we aren’t on the identical web page and what I get pleasure from working with any director is being challenged. I may edit one thing and assume it’s magnificent, and Ken can problem me and say “Hold on. What about doing X, Y, and Z?” Which makes me assume, “Oh my gosh. You wish to destroy that masterpiece we’ve created!” However he’s fearless, and we see what it seems like with it out. It’s all nice conversations to assist us carry the edit.
HULLFISH: I may take heed to you all day, however I do know you’ve different issues to do and extra promotion to do.
DHONGHAÍLE: Thanks, Steve, for chatting with me. I’m such an admirer of your work. So thanks a lot.
