The RSL is a fitting venue for all stories on battles and wars. And, so it was on Wednesday 13th April, when 50 enthusiastic editors came to Paddington, sans costumes, to listen to Emmy nominee Dany Cooper ASE take us through the galactic space voyage of working on a popular sci-fi series. Philippa Rowlands played Wing Commander and led us through a time warp of conversation. We looked at selected scenes from Battlestar Galactica that included opening montages, outtakes, and full battle scenes.

And so we heard how an Australian cut an American Television series in Canada. Dany cut in Vancouver,  her cutting room was situated on the Lions Gate Lot which is also where the series was shot. Dany described her cutting room as the largest and most beautiful she’d ever had, with more glass than the pyramid at the Louvre. 

Dany went through the process of cutting in North America, detailing how rare it is for a director to sit in on an edit, rather – producers and studios dictate the shape of a cut. Dany was contracted for a five day week – twelve  hours a day and it came as a surprise to some when she talked about editing the series on an Avid 7.2 - which she described as “rock solid”. Dany told the gathering that her most creative input came through the initial editors’ cut,  because no one else had time to look through the dailies. At that stage, no one would tell her which takes or performances to use, she said that she was able to just tell the story with the footage and script that she had.

The scenes we watched were mostly vibrant and fast paced, often encompassing jump cuts and juxtaposing situations to heighten tension and excitement. One of the highlights of the evening came when Dany started discussing her rough cuts (without effects and full of greenscreen) and compared them to the final cuts. This part of the discussion gave a really good insight into how visual effects can influence an edit.

Dany talked in detail about her experience working with 80 year old director, Robert Young, who shot his episode so well and so tight that the producers later had virtually no room to alter the structure of the edit. And, it turned out to be one of the better episodes of the season.

In regards to editing in Australia, Dany talked about her support for editors in their endeavours to be involved in all areas of post production. She talked about how editors are often excluded from sound mixes or are expected to go along, without financial compensation. She mentioned we should be able to protect the integrity of our work, Dany felt it was important that we as an editing community fight for our role.

It was a great night and Dany Cooper ASE, who is currently in Australia editing Candy for Neil Armfield, must be thanked for a great insight into working on Battlestar as well as her time. Thanks also to everyone involved in the planning – particularly Philippa Rowlands for organising much of the night.

People in attendance included Henry Dangar ASE, Denise Haslem ASE, Fiona Strain ASE, Frans Vandenburg ASE,  Pete Whitmore ASE, Enzo Tedeschi, Jodie Gallacher, Carryl Irik, Justin Glancy, Anthony White, Walter McIntosh, Simone Cassar, Daniel Lee, Laura Zusters, Karen Pearlman, Pamela Barnetta, Katrina Barker, Bridget Fahey Goldsmith, James Short and Jacqueline Cosgrove.



Emma McCleave.