Via ProvideoCoallition, we get an interview with four members of the editing team of Transformers The Last Knight. The team has worked on other big name franchises in the past such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Trek, The Hangover, Gravity, and 13 hours.
On the interview, we get insight of the shooting habits of Michael Bay and the amount of footage available for each scene, out of which the editing team had to pick from as well as the difficulty stitching together such a complex story.
A sizeable team was needed in order to edit three million feet of film. You can read the full interview here.
Max Tower
They need a script doctor and they need a line Producer who is ticking off each scene and making sure it's in the can – there is no point shooting a bunch of usless material and claiming you can fix it in post.
That is what story boards are for – and really they have so little planning that they didn't realise that they missed out GREAT BIG CHUNKS of essential information – now maybe some of that was in the stuff chopped out for time – but all the fluff they left in just goes to show that there is not a lot of common sense on display here – keep the plot essential info – and ditch the darn CUBA scenes – if only because someone had to render some robots doing nothing of importance.
What is really starting to wind me up is the reuse of robot body parts and heads from previous movies to make new characters – it's excusable in the Battle of Chicago (even if it caused continuity issues) but to have them be obvious about it is just weird.
The really strange thing is that they have a bunch of cool stuff in DOTM that they showed on screen for moments that they could put in the newer Movies and people would assume they were new. but if you start kitt-bashing bits of the Wreckers or Shockwave people are going to notice A LOT.
I can only hope that someone makes a list of the errors and ommisions in this Movie and they make a longer version for home release that shoehorns some of the missing important info back in BVS style.
I wish the Next Michael Bay would hurry up and arrive someone who is less obssessed with weird colour timing and who actually shoots coverage and places things in the frame that doesn't make the CGI artist's life a living nightmare trying to fit CGI characters in the base material that was shot.
Also what is with these Movie's obsession of ptting Optimus in the Trailers but not in the Movie (much) – if he's so popular and recognisable in look and voice – then why not use him. – or at least use hime in ways other than shouting his name and insta-killing anything that moves.
Splendic
I edit and work on projects with multiple other editors, but we're always following the vision of the lead editor, and the producers are largely hands off because they trust us and because they know too many cooks ruin the stew.
I feel bad for these guys, even considering they know what kind of shit show they're in for before a single frame is shot. If any of one of them were given the script, all the footage, and just left alone, I have no doubt the movie could have been much, much better.
But, you know, then Bay can't justify his needless overshooting, and dictatorial direction style, and on top of that he's very clearly a back seat editor (watch any of the previous BTS footage). These guys are probably very competent, but are treated like computer operators more than anything else, and the product suffers for it.
Nitro Zeus
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famigami
I wanted to watch the movie about the junkyard, old chicago and the TMNT villain lineup. Instead, I got sidelined to England.
magick
I had to laugh at their difficulty with "such a complex story." There are at least three subplots that added absolutely nothing to the primary story. The junkyard, old Chicago, and the TMNT villain lineup. At least an hour that should have been scrapped to properly flesh out the legend/last night story. I was impressed with Isabella as a young actress, but none of her scenes added anything critical or even important. Actually, I think her story line should have been fleshed out for a separate movie instead of the Bumblebee movie we're getting.
bman29
This is the scene to help jog your memory. It probably was leftover edit room floor material, buuutttt it's still pretty noticeable if you know where to look.
Shizuka
The plot wasn't a mess, it was quite simple but as they said they had 10 hours of film and they brought that down to 2 hours so it no surprise that things are messy to people.
Shizuka
Off the top of my head, elements from Optimus vs Megatron and Transformium.
bellpeppers
Alright, now that you mention it I did get… a vibe?… about that scene. That must have been it.
transformervic1
The submarine shot taken from ROTF where you can even see ROTF Megatron is jarring every time I see it. That ALONE tells me the people working on this movie weren't putting the money where there mouths are.
The final product is such an editorial mistake that it's not even funny. When you have entire scenes that feels like there was supposed to be far more to it than what we got, someone messed the editing up or Bay didn't bother to shoot it.
bman29
Sorry slow to reply. I've been offline. It's during the sub chase sequence and there is a interior shot of the naval crew with commanding officer and its most likely an leftover shot from ROTF. It's not really a big deal, but it does feel cheap. Plus I'm quite certain they've used exterior aireal/city footage from all of the films here and there over the years. It's just the sub interior is pretty specific.
BarricadeLives
ive only seen the film once so i didn't notice that but that is just…inexcusable..
bman29
I've not online since last night, but the scene I was referring to is during the sub chase segment and it's an interior shot of the crew and captain. It's the same naval personnel from ROTF. To lamens it's not noticeable, but to those of us who've watched the films repeatedly it is. Ultimately it's no biggie to me, but feels cheap nonetheless.
I'm not sure about the other scene the guy was referring to seeing TF2 Megs in.
Ephland
I saw the final product, not even going to bother hearing what these people have to say.
YoungPrime
Quote of the day so far! LMAO!!!
prime326
So wow. That was a lengthy but insightful article. My main take away – this was all Michael Bay's fault. I have defended him on these boards since I joined before ROTF. But I can't do it anymore.
He didn't have to follow the script? But whyyyyyyyy?
Improve from the actors – that went well.
And someone actually reviewed the comedy to get the best jokes? So what were the bad jokes that didn't make the cut?
He wanted to bring in Jablonsky early in the process but no Transformers music on a movie called Transformers? – Nooooooooooooooo
And above all else that many editors and how did they not expect it to be an incoherent mess.
Good lord I don't know if it is Bay or Bonaventura who needs to be shown the door first. This never should have gotten past the first edit.
TCJJ
They did a lot of pick-ups, so no, reshoots were definitely done.
I personally didn't find the visuals too hard to comprehend and my eyes are somewhat shitty, but that's just me.
Max Tower
Am I right that this Movie didn't get any reshoots – as if it didn't that would explain why the story isn't well told as they didn't add pick ups to fix the unclear parts – but then the Movie needs to be 20 minutes shorter needs several characters removed completely and needs to be slower in some action scenes – as it still has the issue of dark robots on a dark screen in 3D being hard to visually comprehend.
I don't think a lot of people will really know what is going on in the action scenes in these Movies until 4K+ and 100"+ TV become common place.
as you need that to be able to make sense of the visuals.
I won't blame the editiors – as I suspect their problem comes from Bay shooting "Coverage" and sometimes all they get given is pretty much unusable.
TCJJ
I feel like people are giving TLK too hard of a time (don't get me wrong, it's very flawed, but it still has its merits), but I was personally surprised at how many editors were involved with this film when I saw the credits, and that probably contributed to some of the awkward cuts. I'm actually keen to see a director's cut because I genuinely believe it could improve the overall film.