Mark Yoshikawa, ACE made his return to The Hunger Games universe after an eight-year break to chop the prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Mark’s first expertise reducing on the franchise, and for director Francis Lawrence, was on the two-part Mockingjay movies. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire editor Alan E. Bell, ACE reached out to his previous buddy Mark to enlist his assist with the elevated workload of the two-part conclusion of the Katniss Everdeen storyline.
Plot abstract for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is the fifth movie in The Hunger Games franchise and is about 64 years earlier than the occasions of the primary movie. It explores the occasions that ultimately lead a younger Coriolanus Snow down the trail to turning into the tyrannical chief of Panem. With the tenth annual Hunger Games quick approaching, the younger Snow turns into alarmed when he’s assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird from District 12. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and political savvy, they race towards time to finally reveal who’s a songbird and who’s a snake.
Read on to find out about:
- Keeping tempo with an enormous film
- Going again to the ebook for inside monologues
- Taking a web page on projectors from Alan Bell
- Bringing again the birds from Mockingjay
- Coming right into a scene later and leaving earlier
Check out The Rough Cut podcast to take heed to this interview.
Editing The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Matt Feury: Mark, that is your fourth movie reducing for director Francis Lawrence. I assumed we might return to the start and speak about the way you joined The Hunger Games franchise.
Mark Yoshikawa: I’ve been lucky to have just a few mentors who’ve guided me by means of my profession, Richard Chew, ACE and Bob Leighton, ACE, being the massive ones. Hank Corwin, ACE was additionally instrumental. Alan Bell, ACE, who was Francis’s editor on Catching Fire, wanted one other editor on the Mockingjay movies. They had been doing these again to again they usually wanted extra assist to get the primary one out rapidly.
I had labored with Alan earlier than as an assistant. At the time, he was making his approach into the chair by modifying a Rob Reiner movie and we saved in contact. Alan’s an amazing man, and he introduced me in to fulfill Francis on the Mockingjay movies. It was an amazing collaboration. I realized lots from Alan. He’s in his semi-retirement out on the East Coast proper now. I labored on these movies and a TV present referred to as See with him.
MF: Tell me in regards to the interview course of and assembly Francis. What did he wish to learn about you?
Mark Yoshikawa: I believe they met with just a few editors. I had simply come off The Tree of Life. He was a Terrence Malick fan, so he had a whole lot of questions. Like any interview, he simply needed to vibe it out and see if we bought alongside. That’s a lot of what the editor-director relationship is, particularly whenever you’re a co-editor. I already had a very good relationship with Alan Bell they usually had been ending Catching Fire.
During that period, they had been doing the films back-to-back. There was a brand new Hunger Games film each Thanksgiving. They had been busy, so it was a comparatively temporary assembly. Alan referred to as me on the drive house and mentioned, “I think you have the job.”
We shot the Mockingjay films out in Atlanta. There had been two other ways we did it. Alan had a trailer on set that will journey with the manufacturing wherever they had been going. I used to be again on the Screen Gem Studios the place our most important modifying hub was arrange. But I might drive out to see dailies day-after-day, wherever they had been.
I bought to see a whole lot of Georgia, that’s for certain. We shot throughout Georgia. Twenty miles in any path out of Atlanta is a unique world. There had been filming in a whole lot of previous dilapidated mills and industrial areas.
I bought to know Francis throughout that point. I used to be thrown proper into the hearth. It was a fast submit on Mockingjay Part One. Part Two was longer as a result of it was going to be launched a 12 months later. We went again to L.A. to work at that time.
MF: Let’s speak a bit bit extra in regards to the Alan connection. How did you two share the workload and strategy submit for these two movies?
Mark Yoshikawa: For these two movies, we simply grabbed scenes as they had been coming in. I’ve labored on collaborations earlier than and it’s all the time completely different. It was seamless with Alan as a result of we wouldn’t share scenes, however we might present our cuts to one another. As far as who labored on what, we simply constructed out from whichever part we had been engaged on. We weren’t cherry-picking scenes. Whatever scene was shot, if it occurred to be connected to one thing we had been engaged on, we might simply construct that out naturally.
We wanted to work quick on Mockingjay Part One, so we had been reducing lots throughout manufacturing. When they went to Europe, I went again to our reducing rooms. We had a 24-hour reducing room as a result of Francis was 9 hours forward. They had been taking pictures in Paris and Berlin.
I keep in mind there was an enormous climactic sequence on the finish of Part One the place we had been sending cuts forwards and backwards. Francis would minimize it in the course of the day, ship it again to me at night time, and I might do no matter I wanted to do and ship it again to him. We bounced issues forwards and backwards, ultimately attending to a very good synthesis.
MF: While doing the press for Songbirds and Snakes, Francis Lawrence mentioned he thought-about splitting this movie into two components as he did with Mockingjay. But you talked about he regrets splitting Mockingjay into two components. What was it like pacing out one story that would have been two films?
Mark Yoshikawa: I don’t know that we ever thought-about modifying it as two films. Maybe they thought-about splitting it up in the course of the script stage, or possibly Lionsgate thought-about doing that for different causes. But such as you mentioned, I believe Francis now realizes that it might have been a mistake to separate Mockingjay in two. If it’s a TV present, then you definitely solely have to attend till subsequent week to get a decision. But for these films, it’s a complete 12 months.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the longest of all of the Hunger Games books. It’s over 500 pages lengthy and it’s in three sections. To me, there’s no pure break up, apart from making it have an enormous cliffhanger. We all the time simply checked out it as one large movie, and we knew it was going to be a large film. I believe contractually it needed to be beneath two hours and forty-five minutes. We needed it nearer to 2 and a half hours.
It’s humorous, your nostril is so near the canvas when you’re engaged on this stuff. I didn’t notice how epic it was till the final couple of weeks of the job. Then I watched it on the premiere and I noticed it once more final night time with a bunch of mates. It’s sizable, particularly seeing it in IMAX. When you’re engaged on it, you’re simply working one scene at a time. You’re not stepping again to have a look at how huge the entire thing is.
The largest problem of this movie was getting the size down as a result of there’s a lot story in it. It’s so sprawling. The first minimize was most likely over 4 hours lengthy and that wasn’t essentially fats, both. There was a whole lot of story to inform.
The factor about studying a ebook versus watching a film is that you could often see how a lot of a ebook you continue to have left to learn. You can see there’s nonetheless a large chunk left partly three. But whenever you’re watching a Hunger Games film, you recognize you’re close to the top when the sport or mission is over. That’s simply how the previous 4 films have been structured.
In our film, the sport is over on the finish of half two. We needed to be cautious as a result of we didn’t need half three to be groan-inducing. You don’t need the viewers to say, “Oh my God, I thought this thing was over and now there’s an entire other part!” We had to ensure there have been sufficient unfastened ends so the viewers knew that half three wasn’t going to be an epilogue. People needed to look ahead to it. Luckily, half three is lots of people’s favourite a part of the movie as a result of a lot of the story comes collectively.
MF: With Mockingjay, you had two movies that, in line with Francis, might have been one movie, they usually had been minimize by two editors. For this movie, you will have one movie that would have been two movies, and it was minimize by one editor. How does being the lone editor examine to being a part of a duo? It looks as if the Mockingjay films and this one had been comparable when it comes to workload.
Mark Yoshikawa: It’s a unique dynamic. I take pleasure in working with different editors. I definitely loved working with Alan and bouncing concepts off of one another. It’s the identical factor within the TV world. When you will have different editors which can be engaged on the identical sequence, you may present one another cuts or have water cooler conversations. You can get different skilled opinions.
You’re proper, the workload on this film might be as large because the Mockingjay films, however I needed to sort out it myself. I didn’t notice how large it was till I stepped again and watched it in full. I knew that I had a four-and-a-half hour minimize however I used to be taking a look at it in sections and bringing them down individually.
As far because the workload, that’s the great thing about options. I respect having the time to sit down and take into consideration cuts, size, tempo, efficiency, and all of that. You get extra time in options to sit down and work on it. Much more time than TV, that’s for certain. I by no means felt pressured due to the dimensions of the movie. I used to be engaged on it as a narrative. It simply occurred to be a whole lot of story.
“I was working on it as a story. It just happened to be a lot of story.”
MF: Since I’m specializing in the workload, possibly we must always try to put some parameters across the manufacturing timeline of this movie. When did it begin manufacturing? How lengthy was the submit course of?
Mark Yoshikawa: They began taking pictures in July of 2022 and went for about 4 months. They shot in Poland and Germany, largely round Berlin and South Germany. I used to be working remotely in Los Angeles for the entire run. When they wrapped and got here again to Los Angeles, all of us went to the places of work over at Pivotal Post. That’s the place we did our final movie as effectively. We labored there for about 10 months, so it was 14 months total. I simply completed throughout Labor Day. I did our final high quality management examine of the IMAX model.
MF: It all the time amazes me how near the end line you get on these movies. I might be shedding my thoughts. But that’s why I’m not knowledgeable function movie editor such as you. Anyways, Hunger Games writer Suzanne Collins has a hand within the screenplay for this movie. Did you utilize the novel as a reference, or did you permit it alone and simply go along with the script and Francis’s path?
Mark Yoshikawa: I learn the ebook when it got here out as a result of I used to be a fan. I simply love the world normally. But I didn’t reference it within the reducing room. Maybe we needed to pull it out a couple of times. There was a duplicate laying round and we might have one of many PAs lookup line references. One factor that Francis and Nina Jacobson, the producer, had been very intent on is being true to the followers of the ebook.
This goes again to the size subject of the film. We needed to honor Suzanne’s story and her characters and in addition the followers who’ve grown to like it over time. A whole lot of variations stray from the ebook for cinematic causes, however I’ve all the time felt that every one the Hunger Games movies stayed very devoted and really true. I really like that as a result of the tales are so good.
I typically went again to see precisely what Coriolanus, the President Snow character, was pondering. Suzanne’s ebook is written in first particular person and it’s all from Snow’s perspective. There’s a whole lot of inner monologues. That’s one thing you may’t do on-screen except you do tacky voice overs or one thing.
Fortunately, we had a improbable actor, Tom Blyth, and a stellar forged throughout the board. Tom conveyed a whole lot of the interior battles and feelings which can be written within the novel together with his eyes. We set it up by means of context, and music and sound assist too.
MF: Once you learn a script and comply with do the movie, what do you do subsequent to arrange for a really lengthy challenge?
Mark Yoshikawa: We had been ending one other movie referred to as Slumberland earlier than this film. Francis was off to prep Songbirds and Snakes whereas we had been posting on Slumberland, so there wasn’t a whole lot of prep on my finish. I used to be making an attempt to complete that movie. But I learn the ebook when it got here out in the course of the pandemic. I used to be glad to be returning to this world.
As far as prep, as a result of we had been ending that different movie, we simply left our Avids and walked away. Everybody needed to take no matter holidays they may. Then we got here again a month and a half later and began coping with the dailies. They had been coming in as a result of Francis had been prepping the entire trip in Germany and Poland.
But again to your query. I did return to the ebook each every now and then questioning, “What is Coriolanus thinking?” and a whole lot of occasions it was already proper there on the display screen.
It was simple to get again into it as a result of I really like this world and I really like working with the individuals in our crew. Almost all the principals got here again on the manufacturing finish as effectively. We had a whole lot of the identical individuals on our facet too.
MF: Editors typically inform me {that a} director will go away earlier than they’re achieved and begin prepping their subsequent movie. I’m not saying that’s what occurred with you and Francis, however I think about that may be irritating for the editor. They’re left saying, “Wait a minute, we’re not done here. Can you focus on what we’re doing?”
Mark Yoshikawa: I by no means felt like that. You desire a director’s time however you’re additionally honored to have his belief. At that time, you’re simply hoping that you just’re not doing one thing that he’s going to fully undo, which just about by no means occurs. The director may have the ultimate say, however he’s trusting us as a crew to steer the ship in his absence.
I might really feel extra stress if it occurred with a brand new director. But whenever you’re conversant in a director, there’s a bit little bit of belief. That goes for the reducing as effectively. I’m not valuable about my cuts and I attempt to ship him stuff on the finish of each week. We ship him cuts and VFX to evaluation over the weekend.
Early on, I noticed that no information is sweet information from Francis. Before the pandemic, I used to be used to working with him immediately on set. When I began sending him cuts remotely, I wouldn’t hear something. Every every now and then I might e-mail his assistant and say, “What’s going on?” She would reply, “No, everything’s great. He even showed people on the set. You’re doing well.” So I finished asking.
It’s not that I used to be self-conscious. I used to be simply hoping for notes. Once I noticed that was going to be the sample, I knew that he trusted me to shepherd the film till he might are available in and make the ultimate selections.
MF: How do you will have your modifying room arrange? What do you should be productive and cozy for six to 18 months of reducing?
Mark Yoshikawa: It’s completely different so far as the technical side of every challenge. Take Slumberland for instance. It’s a Netflix movie, so we knew it was going to be primarily seen on TV and stereo. We had a TV and stereo arrange within the room till we began getting 5.1 mixes from Jeremy Peirson, our sound designer. But Hunger Games was going to be an enormous theatrical IMAX film, so I took a web page from Alan Bell. He had a projector over his head, so we bought the most important display screen we might match on a wall.
I’ve bought a three-monitor setup and I work on my Avid at an adjustable standing desk with the projector over my head. In this case, we had been in a pleasant large house, so there was a sofa in entrance and I might decrease my desk to make eye contact with Francis if I wanted to. Francis and the producers would watch the display screen and I might do all my work behind them. For sound, we had been reducing in 5.1 from proper from the beginning.
MF: You had been on location throughout Mockingjay. Is it higher so that you can be near manufacturing or do you wish to be faraway from the motion?
Mark Yoshikawa: I don’t thoughts being faraway from the motion. It’s all the time good to be on set for the primary week or two, particularly in the event you don’t know the individuals that you just’re going to be coping with. But I don’t should be on set for the whole shoot. Even although I like being on set, I all the time really feel like I’m not doing a lot whereas I’m there. It’s a chance to lose time once I ought to be again within the reducing room.
I like working at house remotely throughout manufacturing. First of all, I can work at any time. I can nonetheless have dinner and even lunch with my spouse if I wish to. I like to have the ability to stroll upstairs and downstairs. But after they wrap taking pictures, I believe it’s invaluable to be modifying within the room collectively.
You hardly get the director’s time throughout manufacturing anyway. That was one of many issues on Slumberland. I deliberate to go to Toronto for the shoot as a result of there was one other wave of COVID. Canada was particularly strict throughout that point, so Francis mentioned, “Look, you should just cut from home. I’d hardly be able to see you in a normal situation. And because of the COVID protocols, I couldn’t see you anyway. Let’s just do remote co-editing.” Up till that time, he had all the time needed his editor on set. I ended up simply sending him cuts after which him giving me again notes.
After he wrapped, all of us bought again to the reducing room. That, to me, is the most effective hybrid state of affairs. Stay at house or minimize remotely as an alternative of on set throughout manufacturing. You know what it’s like. It’s just like the submit workplace. You’re simply coping with sorting, reducing, and making an attempt to get issues collectively. You don’t want the distractions of being on set. But when you’re sitting down with the director, particularly for these ten weeks, you must be in the identical room.
MF: For this movie, you virtually should serve two audiences. You have The Hunger Games devotees who wish to see how Snow’s origin story connects to the Katniss Everdeen films. But you even have an viewers that has by no means seen the opposite movies. They don’t have a transparent image of what the Hunger Games are, why they exist, or how they work. Did you will have that in thoughts when you had been reducing? Did you attempt completely different variations to ensure each audiences can be happy?
Mark Yoshikawa: We tried to inform the story as its personal piece. I’ve heard that individuals who weren’t conversant in the books favored this film in and of itself. They most likely knew that Snow was going to develop into the villain within the later films, however they loved the movie as a result of it’s so epic and sprawling by itself. Those newcomers loved the film simply as a lot because the followers.
We needed to make a brand new mythology whereas honoring sure Easter eggs and callbacks that will delight the followers. Most of these callbacks had been additionally already within the ebook.
MF: When I’m doing interviews about sure franchises, often Star Wars or Marvel, I’ll ask if there have been any belongings reused from movie to movie. Did you will have any media belongings, most notably sounds from the earlier movies, that you just introduced ahead? Or is every part on this movie model new?
Mark Yoshikawa: There had been just a few issues from the earlier movies, particularly from the sound and music world. The music continues to be James Newton Howard. He got here again and we temp tracked a whole lot of the unique Hunger Games rating. We had 4 films price of temp tracks to play with.
I often love to do the primary go of the music myself. After I’ve achieved a primary minimize, it helps me in sure sections, particularly throughout montages or emotional scenes. We had a whole lot of belongings that we introduced in and we tracked it with James’s music, which was all later improved and changed. But a number of the themes stayed. We felt like they labored so long as they weren’t Katniss-specific.
I used to be stunned by what number of of my unique concepts stayed in. They all turned completely different preparations as a result of it was sixty-four years earlier. The music on this movie is extra analog than the unique films. There had been no digital devices used on the rating. This rating has a extra tactile feeling.
On the sound facet, we had been lucky sufficient as a result of Jeremy Peirson, who’s achieved all of Francis’s films, was on Catching Fire and the Mockingjay films. There had been sure sounds that he put in there, most notably the mockingjays. Not to provide something away, however there’s an enormous climactic sequence on the finish that includes mockingjays singing.
I mentioned to Jeremy early on, “Do you still have those mockingjays? The ones from Part One in the quarry when Katniss starts singing?” He had to return by means of all of his stems and unarchive a whole lot of these parts, however he discovered them. I used to be capable of get these and begin taking part in with the mockingjay tweets. That was a really particular sound asset that Jeremy dug up.
MF: You mentioned the primary minimize was about 4 hours. The closing runtime, if I’m not mistaken, is 2 hours and forty minutes. That means you needed to lose 90 minutes of the film. Which scenes or story factors did you spend time refining or eradicating?
Mark Yoshikawa: We misplaced a whole lot of intros and exits. You can all the time come right into a scene later and go away earlier. Some of the video games turned shorter. We realized that in all the opposite movies the video games are the spotlight, however on this film, they’re only a piece. In a way, you already know what’s going to occur. You know who would possibly win as a result of it’s a prequel.
“You can always come into a scene later and leave earlier.”
This film additionally has 24 tributes and 24 mentors. That means there have been 48 most important characters that we needed to set up. Normally, the Reapings would have been a a lot larger deal, however we had to make use of a montage to get by means of them rapidly. You nonetheless notice who’s essential, whose face you should comply with, and the names you should acknowledge. We undoubtedly needed to shorten all that expository setup.
Certain scenes wanted to come back down, just like the classroom scene. That scene had a whole lot of exposition and philosophizing about nature. It’s Viola Davis as Volumnia Gaul versus Sejanus Plinth (Josh Andres Rivera). It’s the authority of regulation versus individuals’s freedoms and rights. There was a whole lot of that within the ebook and sadly we needed to lose it. It simply slowed the scene down.
MF: Hearing that you just may need tightened the video games is attention-grabbing due to one scene specifically. I think about it one of the vital pivotal scenes within the movie. It’s the place Coriolanus has to rescue Sejanus from the Hunger Games area.
It’s arrange like a traditional motion set piece. You have Dr. Gaul, who tells Coriolanus what the implications will likely be if he doesn’t succeed. She explains that she’ll freeze the feed of the published so he can carry out a feat with out anybody realizing. It’s a comparatively quick scene. Other films would have dragged that out a bit bit extra. Can you break down the mechanics of that scene in addition to the character beats? I really feel like that scene is the primary time Coriolanus exhibits his darkish facet.
Mark Yoshikawa: That’s a very good instance of a scene that began comparatively lengthy. He wakes up and will get the project from Dr. Gaul then walks by means of the quiet area. The darkness and the eerie sound of him strolling on the gravel was modulated. It might have been a protracted, tense horror film second. But we bought him by means of rapidly as a result of the film was working lengthy. We knew that we would have liked to get to the meat of these moments.
Coriolanus speaking to Sejanus was the primary scene they shot. The pictures of him strolling across the destroyed area was a pre-production shoot, however him speaking to Sejanus was the primary scene that they shot.
That dialog was once longer. There was a bit bit extra forwards and backwards. The creepiness that’s pervasive within the state of affairs, the creaks and sounds within the distance, and that child Bobbin (Knox Gibson) attacking them is traditional horror. It’s the soar scare piece of the movie.
But it’s attention-grabbing to have Coriolanus flip darkish there. He has these warring angels and devils in his life. There’s Sejanus and his cousin Tigris making an attempt to maintain him on the nice facet. Then there are individuals like Grandma’am and Dr. Gaul that push him towards darkness.
When he hits that child, he hits him twice and the child falls to the bottom. Francis shot it two methods. In one, Coriolanus hits him and he’s horrified by what he did. He drops the hammer and runs away. You don’t know if the child died till the subsequent day. But we discovered that we would have liked to start out hinting in regards to the path he would take. We wanted to see Coriolanus ship that third dying blow. He even admits afterward that he felt highly effective at that second. Once we put that in, we mentioned, “Okay, we know this is the direction that we have to go.”
We began laying these seeds all through in order that it wasn’t such a change on the finish. That’s the trick with prequels. You know the way he’s going to finish up however he begins in such a unique place. You don’t need it to really feel like a sudden shift on the finish.
MF: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is damaged up into three components. You have The Mentor, The Prize, and The Peacekeeper. The movie will get progressively darker all through as Coriolanus Snow takes his journey to the darkish facet. Any comedy that exists within the movie is solely within the first two components. It primarily comes from Lucky Flickerman (Jason Schwartzman), the host of The Hunger Games broadcast.
Humor has all the time been a tough factor in The Hunger Games due to what a darkish idea it’s. Were you and Francis cautious about letting the movie develop into too darkish or presumably utilizing humor in ways in which would appear mistaken on this very grim actuality?
Mark Yoshikawa: We knew it was a darkish movie, a lot darker than a number of the different movies. The humor in the course of the movie was written in. Jason Schwartzman was so humorous. They let him write a few of his strains with Michael Lesslie. We knew the movie was going to want some levity within the center. It was additionally taking part in off of him being an ancestor of Caesar Flickerman, who was performed by Stanley Tucci within the different films.
Also, it exhibits how The Hunger Games turned such an enormous spectacle afterward. Jason Schwartzman begins out as this humble weatherman. But by the top, he’s taking part in it up and understanding the spectacle of all of it, identical to Stanley Tucci did as Caesar.
As far because the humor, they let Jason go wild. One of the issues as an editor is you get to see the outtakes. Sometimes the editor is the one one who’s ever going to see them, particularly if the actor is ad-libbing. When Jason was doing ADR, I advised him how enjoyable it was to look at him doing completely different bits.
But you’re proper, we needed to modulate him as a result of typically it was simply too glib and too sarcastic, or it was simply ruining the second. You don’t wish to joke about dying an excessive amount of. But it’s additionally displaying the distinction in perspective between The Capitol and the truth of what’s taking place.
MF: That closing half, The Peacekeeper, is the darkest a part of the film. It’s the part that connects to the earlier Hunger Games films. I think about that that part was essentially the most tough half to edit, contemplating the tone shifts even darker. You can’t give a brief shrift to that despite the fact that you’re being delicate to the runtime. Was that the case? What had been the belongings you targeted on in that vital closing chapter?
Mark Yoshikawa: In the taking pictures schedule, they shot that area first after which they went out to Poland and shot all of half three on the similar time. So I had extra time to work on half three. It’s my favourite a part of the film. You have these vistas and these stunning environments. It’s completely different from the remainder of the movie.
Filming places for Ballad included the Monument to the Battle of the Nations in Leipzig and the Centennial Hall in Wrocław.
At that time, the characters are additionally having their ethical dilemmas put to the check. You’re seeing Lucy Gray in a unique setting. You know what the video games are, however you don’t know the place you’re going partly three. When Coriolanus will get out to District 12, you don’t know what betrayals is likely to be taking place or what all people’s motivations are.
One of the most important challenges in regards to the movie was modulating the romance, the Romeo and Juliet side of the Snow and Lucy Gray relationship. We realized that half three appeared off. Their relationship both appeared to develop too quick or the flip of what occurs on the finish was too abrupt. Their relationship didn’t really feel earned. They didn’t really feel like they had been the place they need to be emotionally partly three.
Early on, we had way more romance. They had been a lot nearer in components one and two. There was a scene within the zoo when he pulled away from her. Originally, they kissed and we felt like that was too early for them to kiss. We needed to be sure that the romance was plausible and that they had been these star-crossed lovers. But when the turns began taking place on the finish, it felt too sudden. They had been so believably in love. We needed to tone that approach again to make the flip work.
As a consequence, there was lots much less romance, much less romantic music, and extra scaled-back moments of romance. We put in additional wariness early on in order that partly three, that hesitation labored. When the flip occurs on the finish, you perceive the motivations a bit bit higher.
MF: As darkish because the movie might be, one thing lightens issues up a bit: singing! And with Rachel Zegler in a lead position, you may add an American Idol side to The Hunger Games. How had been these parts achieved? Was it pre-recorded and performed again on set? Was it a reside on-set recording?
Mark Yoshikawa: This was one of the vital wonderful elements of the film. Rachel sang each scene reside. We did pre-records and we had them out there on set. We had the instrumental pre-records too. She had come proper off of one other film and the very first thing she did was go into the studio and report all of the musical sections.
When we bought on set, we determined to maintain an open mike and see how she did. She mentioned she didn’t wish to lip sync and he or she didn’t wish to sing to playback. She mentioned she might do it. She did each single take of each single musical scene reside. Not solely that, however she was precisely in key each single time.
As an editor, I might minimize between takes and never have to fret about rhythm, tone, and pitch. Everything that’s in there’s her singing proper into the microphone on stage or onto a increase mic off-screen. She’s wonderful.
Her voice didn’t even waver on the finish, apart from possibly within the snake scene, when she has to belt it out. That could have been the one time when her voice bought a bit fatigued. She was spectacular.
MF: You talked about James Newton Howard, the composer. Other than Hunger Games creator Suzanne Collins, I don’t assume there’s anybody from the forged and crew who has been a relentless all through the franchise apart from him. I may very well be mistaken, however I believe he’s the one one connected to each single Hunger Games film.
Mark Yoshikawa: There’s Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson, the producers. They had been on from the beginning. But so far as the submit manufacturing facet, James Newton Howard has seen all of it.
MF: Producers don’t rely, Mark. I’m simply kidding. Please don’t take me critically, ever.
Going again to the rating, one of many issues I observed is that there was a whole lot of it. Except for some darkish moments, the rating was all the time current. Did it really feel that option to you? Was that one thing that you just, Francis, and James needed to do?
Mark Yoshikawa: We had a whole lot of music at the start. Toward the top, we realized that there could have been an excessive amount of music in sure spots. Something that you just study as an editor is that you just’re going to reside with the choices you make within the combine stage endlessly. Earlier within the modifying course of, you will have the posh of repenting your sins. If you took one thing out and also you needed to place it again in, you may all the time return and do it.
But within the combine stage, if there’s an ADR line or a bit of music that you just take out or put in, that’s it. That’s what’s going to come back out. When I’m going to a premiere, I typically really feel remorse for one thing that we left in or took out on the final second. A whole lot of occasions it’s one thing that we didn’t put in.
Near the top of this movie, Jeremy Pierson and our music editor Steve Durkee, had a sense that there was an excessive amount of music in sure spots. So we took a whole lot of it out. Because I used to be so used to it, it felt empty to me. But once I watched it final week on the premiere, it was the primary time I ever mentioned, “We made all the right decisions. Francis was right, we did not need music in these spots.”
It’s all the time tough as an editor. You get used to sure sounds and music. You should belief your collaborators and your director. He was proper.
MF: Your Mockingjay co-editor, Alan Bell, is large into VFX. He does issues in Fusion for temp VFX. Do you additionally do a whole lot of VFX or is that one thing you permit to different individuals?
Mark Yoshikawa: I’m not like Alan Bell so far as the VFX facet of issues. He is wonderful. I might watch him work reside in Fusion after we had been engaged on Mockingjay. He would do it proper there within the reducing room. I do my justifiable share of results in-house however my first assistant Fulvio Valsangiacomo is superb at inexperienced screens and monitoring.
One factor that I bought superb at throughout Mockingjay was doing monitor comps. I imply having completely different layers and reducing out the outlet, however then utilizing a unique layer to edit what’s taking place on the TV. There are so many pictures of individuals reacting to what’s taking place on screens on this movie. You wish to have the flexibleness to vary what’s on that monitor with out having to do a whole lot of renders. It’s nice to have the ability to play with one layer that’s being performed on the monitor and one other layer for what’s taking place within the foreground.
MF: Clearly, Alan is a unicorn on the subject of visible results. Did you decide up some other modifying strategies from Alan?
Mark Yoshikawa: I all the time thought it was humorous that I had come out of the Terrence Malick world proper earlier than Mockingjay. I observed Alan would minimize dialog very tight, and that’s the antithesis of what occurs within the Malick world. I all the time felt prefer it was very, very fast reducing.
“I noticed Alan would cut dialog very tight, and that’s the antithesis of what happens in the Malick world.”
Now, I’ve grown to know the strategy of reducing for dialog and getting the tone of the phrases proper. That is one factor that I keep in mind feeling, is that Alan shined a lightweight for me on find out how to minimize dialog.MF: Since The Hunger Games has lots to do with mentors and also you simply occurred to name-drop Bob Leighton and Richard Chew, I can’t allow you to go with out asking about them. What did you study from them?
Mark Yoshikawa: Richard and Bob are nice. While I used to be an assistant developing, I used to be bouncing forwards and backwards between the 2 of them. With them, I realized find out how to run a reducing room and find out how to have an easygoing mentality about approaching a minimize methodically. I additionally realized about respecting your director, making an attempt to see his imaginative and prescient on display screen, and trusting your instincts.
Richard was a very good buddy and an amazing mentor. I couldn’t have requested for a greater one. Bob was laid again. I additionally labored with Andrew Dickler throughout these days. I additionally met Alan throughout that point.
I discover that you could’t essentially train instincts, however you do should belief your instincts. Because these Alan movies are comedies, typically he would watch us to see what we had been laughing at. You should belief your instincts but in addition be certain that they translate to different individuals. Those guys are the most effective. Richard, Bob, and in addition Hank Corwin. I realized lots from Hank.
“You have to trust your instincts but also make sure they translate to other people.”
MF: You might do lots worse than studying from these three guys. Let me ask you certainly one of my patented terrible final questions. This is a query that’s in step with the vacation season, albeit in a really twisted approach.
In The Hunger Games, the gamers might be gifted issues that may assist them in fight. They get water, meals, weapons, stuff like that. If modifying was like The Hunger Games and also you had been competing within the reducing room, what would you wish to be gifted by your mentor?
Mark Yoshikawa: I might say Sugarfish sushi. That can be the one factor you possibly can fly in. As an addendum to that, possibly going out to Sugarfish. That’s what I’m pondering of. You would be capable to see the daylight and have lunch exterior.
MF: You’re a straightforward man to buy, Mark.
