An interview by TuneJar writer Hugh Barton with renowned Los Angeles video editor, Hal Honigsberg.

Hugh: You’ve cut everything from major motion pictures to award-winning commercials. What is your process? Is it the same across all media? (give examples, they go a long way, such as your piece in Across The Universe)

Hal: I purposely have no set approach to new projects. by not having a specific methodology I can find new solutions each and every time. whether I’m working on a special effects commercial, a dialogue piece for a film or a music video, I like to treat each project as an individual and unique challenge. most times the reason is simple… the elements I’m given and the way they were shot differs each time. So allow those images to lead me to their final destination.
For instance, when I began cutting a segment for the film “across the universe”. I was given the song “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite”, shown some storyboard frames and supplied with four hours of individual elements on a green screen; Eddie Izzard singing, blue people dancing, acrobats, contortionists, a brass band.
I approached the segment knowing that I had to get the best performance possible and then imagine the ‘room’ around Eddie. By making the performers surrounding Eddie either larger or smaller I could create the illusion of space and distance. but I also needed to create a sense of interactivity between the performers that wasn’t specifically intended by the director. Nothing was strictly storyboarded as a sequence.
I spent two months modeling this segment with the artistic designer, Kyle Cooper. We had to constantly alter the segment for music changes, director revisions and design alterations of the background. The saving grace was that it was supposed to be an acid trip sequence; so traditional laws of nature could be broken at times. This allowed me to create a very organic and loose cut in the end
In contrast, I did a series of HP commercials several years ago where people swiped picture frames in front of their faces to capture still shots of themselves. The director, Francois Vogel had created this illusion for the spot and shot over a dozen scenarios. We worked together methodically compositing each and every one of the shots before choreographing the segments together so they would flow and build in interest. The music, The Kinks “Picturebook” acted as a backdrop that threaded the scenes together. So, in this case, the picture led the cut. We would trim and model the shots only slightly to mesh with the music.

Hugh: You were a Dj for a while. Has it influenced the way you work?

Hal: Only in the sense that it has made me unafraid to mix music tracks when creating a scratch track for commercials.
An example of this is a Visa spot I’m am currently completing for the Olympics. I couldn’t seem to find the right piece of music that would emotionally support the imagery so I decided to combine three tracks that I had. each had it’s own merit but none of them alone did the job.
So i ended up using the cello sustain from one piece as the intro which then segued into a choral piece. I ended the spot by layering some bass drums over the choral piece which gave the ending weight, impact and a sense of historic importance.

Hugh: When does music enter your process?

Hal: Right off the bat. when I see boards, I hopefully hear the music and sfx that will reinforce the images. If nothing comes to mind I start searching my music library, asking friends and co-workers what they are listening to, the internet (love pandora!), listening to the radio (mostly NPR and KCRW).
I’ve always felt that music and sound in general are half the spot. it supports and at times creates the mood. music is the backbone that holds up the body of images.

Hugh: How much influence do you have with a director about music?

Hal: We both tend to have input. Many times the director has their selections that they would like me to try and I always supply my own choices.
In the case of commercials, the agency often has great tracks that they’ve found as well. It always comes down to ‘may the best track win’.
From my experience, it’s often the most democratic process but also the most subjective one.

Hugh: The Toyota “Harmony” spot is very intriguing. It looks like one continuous shot. How was it done?

Hal: This was the launch spot for Toyota’s ‘Why Not’ ad campaign, the largest in the company’s history. So there were high expectations but little time to make their air date. The intention of the ad was to depict Toyota’s strive toward being ‘green’ conscious. To depict this a Prius was constructed by three people from twigs, mud and leaves and then decompose over time. the shot needed to look like one 360 degree continuous revolution. Many CGI approaches were submitted by several directors. In the end the agency decided to go with the approach from Bob Richardson (Martin Scorses’ DP) and Erik Joiner of Tool. Their approach was to shoot everything in camera without effects. they wanted to shoot it naturally since that was the point of the ad in the first place. So they ended up shooting the 360 degree turn in a dozen parts (30 degrees at a time), capturing different stages of the construction and ultimate decay of the ‘car’ .
Since each 30 degrees had five to eight takes each we decided to use them all for the first section of the people building the car. I inter-cut this section 2-3 frames at a time to emulate a time-lapse look. Once the car was completed and ultimately decays, the cut simplifies into straight dissolves merging together the 30 degree shots.
I thought it was nice how the spot visually began in a much more violent, staccato fashion and then released into a smoother, quieter look. Since the music was very soft and organic it acted as a contrast to the picture at first and then let the picture join the rhythm of the music.

Hugh: Is there a particular spot that represents the way you approach things? That “made you?”

Hal: I think I found my ‘voice’ doing music videos. did hundreds of them in the 90’s. red hot chili peppers, janet jackson, r.e.m., greenday, tom petty. during that period music videos were a great experimental breeding ground for new directors and editors. at the time we were given pretty much free reign. so each one was an invention and an opportunity to try out new tricks and create a visual vocabulary. We would submit some pretty outrageous shit to the record labels and they would actually go for it… and MTV actually ran music videos all day back then! I reference that freedom and excitement to this day.

Hugh: Do other forms of art influence what you do?

Hal: Oddly enough cooking. It might not be considered a high art, but I’m always fascinated and impressed by people who can take an array of ingredients and then uniquely combine them into something totally unexpected. I guess, in many ways, it not a lot different than editing.

Hugh: What inspires you?

Hal: Being with inspired people. knowing that not everything has been done yet. that there are always new things to be explored and discovered.

Hal Honigsberg is the owner of Chrome editorial in Santa Monica, CA www.chrome.tv.