‘1923’: How Helen Mirren’s Rifle-Toting Performance Set the Pace for the Series’ Best Shootout
Putting together any action sequence during editing can be challenging, but for “1923,” editor John Coniglio found the shoot-out at the Dutton family ranch to be particularly challenging.
“It’s an action sequence, and it unfolds over acres and acres of real estate on the Yellowstone ranch,” Coniglio explains, “There are many different storylines and characters that all have to be kept alive.”
As with any editing job, it’s about putting the pieces of the puzzle together. The guiding force was about what this scene needed to say. “It starts at the top of a hill where the first shots are fired, then moves down a hill, across a field, back to the front of the lodge, into the back of the lodge, and down the road. In the distance, the bad guys are approaching in cars,” Coniglio says.
All the while, Helen Mirren’s Cara Dutton, the family matriarch, is up in the attic with her rifle, giving cover. It was Mirren’s performance and lines that would ultimately hold the key to Coniglio’s edit.
Coniglio says, “Helen Mirren with a hunting rifle or with a double-barrel shotgun, as she weilds in the episode, is seriously bad ass when she wants to be. All of these pieces and moving parts have to come together, and build and escalate to the point where you have a few good guys that can push back a whole bunch of bad guys in retreat, winning the moment.”
Coniglio began with the basic assembly, piecing together the raw dailies and working with the picture and production audio. “Then you’re amplifying and adding in gunshots, and building it all out, adding the music which really supports everything.”
With the sequence anchored in action, Coniglio was mindful of how pacing kept the heart rate. “It’s taking all these elements of visual, picture, sound effects and music, and based on the script, you’re building it.”
Another decision Coniglio had to consider was how many times he’d cut back to Cara in the attic and the men on the roof. “It was all about what was necessary,” he says. “Initially, it was longer and that just came down because I watched it and brought it down and crystallized it. Performance is one of the things an editor really needs to keep in mind, and staying out of the way of the performance.”
Mirren’s performance became central to this scene. “This is largely action, but the drama is from that performance. You don’t want to step on that. Cara in the attic was a mix of humor and drama and how she delivered her lines.
Music was the last piece of the puzzle to go into the scene. Coniglio says he worked with music from the previous season, “because we have the cues that are written for certain characters. So, I can take those and cut to the new sequence, and it supports the action.” He adds, “It was a good way to check to see if everything is working well, if the music lies right in. If it does, and the cuts are working, it means the edit is probably in good shape.”
As for how long he spends on a scene? Coniglio spent three days on the scene. “I’m not a fast editor. I will usually work on something and set it aside and come back to it. So this was shot over time, and as parts of it came in, those were all fleshed out.”
Watch the scene above.
“It’s an action sequence, and it unfolds over acres and acres of real estate on the Yellowstone ranch,” Coniglio explains, “There are many different storylines and characters that all have to be kept alive.”
As with any editing job, it’s about putting the pieces of the puzzle together. The guiding force was about what this scene needed to say. “It starts at the top of a hill where the first shots are fired, then moves down a hill, across a field, back to the front of the lodge, into the back of the lodge, and down the road. In the distance, the bad guys are approaching in cars,” Coniglio says.
All the while, Helen Mirren’s Cara Dutton, the family matriarch, is up in the attic with her rifle, giving cover. It was Mirren’s performance and lines that would ultimately hold the key to Coniglio’s edit.
Coniglio says, “Helen Mirren with a hunting rifle or with a double-barrel shotgun, as she weilds in the episode, is seriously bad ass when she wants to be. All of these pieces and moving parts have to come together, and build and escalate to the point where you have a few good guys that can push back a whole bunch of bad guys in retreat, winning the moment.”
Coniglio began with the basic assembly, piecing together the raw dailies and working with the picture and production audio. “Then you’re amplifying and adding in gunshots, and building it all out, adding the music which really supports everything.”
With the sequence anchored in action, Coniglio was mindful of how pacing kept the heart rate. “It’s taking all these elements of visual, picture, sound effects and music, and based on the script, you’re building it.”
Another decision Coniglio had to consider was how many times he’d cut back to Cara in the attic and the men on the roof. “It was all about what was necessary,” he says. “Initially, it was longer and that just came down because I watched it and brought it down and crystallized it. Performance is one of the things an editor really needs to keep in mind, and staying out of the way of the performance.”
Mirren’s performance became central to this scene. “This is largely action, but the drama is from that performance. You don’t want to step on that. Cara in the attic was a mix of humor and drama and how she delivered her lines.
Music was the last piece of the puzzle to go into the scene. Coniglio says he worked with music from the previous season, “because we have the cues that are written for certain characters. So, I can take those and cut to the new sequence, and it supports the action.” He adds, “It was a good way to check to see if everything is working well, if the music lies right in. If it does, and the cuts are working, it means the edit is probably in good shape.”
As for how long he spends on a scene? Coniglio spent three days on the scene. “I’m not a fast editor. I will usually work on something and set it aside and come back to it. So this was shot over time, and as parts of it came in, those were all fleshed out.”
Watch the scene above.