Transforming the Blockbuster Workflow with a Total Avid HD Video, Audio, and Networking Solution

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Transforming the Blockbuster Workflow with a Total Avid HD Video, Audio, and Networking Solution

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is one of summer’s guilty pleasures. The follow-up to director Michael Bay’s 2007 blockbuster Transformers, the film has everything that audiences crave in their warm-weather entertainment. “What’s not to love?” says associate editor Calvin Wimmer. “There are giant robots, action, and it’s funny. I just saw the IMAX version. Having that 50-foot screen filled with robots was absolutely amazing.”

As many as five editors Roger Barton, Tom Muldoon, Joel Negron, Paul Rubell, and Wimmer worked for more than a year in post, developing the film’s multiple storylines, numerous visual and sound effects, and non-stop action-adventure. A tapeless HD workflow enabled them to easily share footage and cuts in progress, while handling sophisticated composites and sound effects with clarity and precision.

Each editor dove in and worked on his own scenes, as well as those of others. “I think we've all had a hand in almost every scene in the movie,” says Barton. “It’s really a function of how Michael likes to work. He likes to have different perspectives on the material. You definitely need to check your ego at the door because a scene you may have cut today may be worked on by someone else tomorrow. It’s an interesting way of working. In the end I think the movie is better for it.”

One of their goals was to produce the most fully realized cuts for review and screening at any point in the post process to achieve the director’s vision. “Michael Bay expects everything to be polished in a cut, particularly the soundtrack,” says Wimmer. “You got to have your ‘A’ game and bring it every day to everything you do.” read more...