Editor and producer, Tory Stewart, used Premiere Pro to share the powerful story behind “Conbody VS Everybody”
Having premiered multiple feature-length films at Sundance, Academy Award-nominated director Debra Granik shares “Conbody VS Everybody", a documentary series shining a light on the uphill battle of reestablishing one’s self in an often unforgiving society, where barriers endure for those who have been incarcerated.
The film follows Coss Marte who is building CONBODY, a gym inspired by workouts he developed while in prison. The gym, committed to employing trainers who were formerly incarcerated, is not only helping people get in shape, but also helping the employees enter back into society after prison.
We spoke with Tory Stewart, editor and producer of “Conbody VS Everybody” who used Adobe Premiere Pro to bring Coss’ story to life.
“Conbody VS Everybody” premieres at Sundance on January 23.
How and where did you first learn to edit?
I first learned to edit in high school. I had a crash course in editing Super 8 and MiniDV over the course of a few months, and it was a vivid introduction to the art of editing. After moving to New York, I interned and worked as a post-production assistant. From there, I learned important workflow and technical skills on the job thanks to very generous and encouraging colleagues. I also took the six-week “Art of Editing” course at the Edit Center, and I’ve been editing ever since.
How do you begin a project/set up your workspace?
First, I get all my organizational elements in order including choosing a project name; setting the nomenclature for cards, clips, bins, sequences, etc. — making a plan for storing original media, transcodes, exports, etc. — and making sure all my window arrangements, preferences, and shortcut keys are up to date and ready to go. I also plug in my gaming mouse and check that it is communicating with the necessary software. On the analog side of things, I always have a healthy stack of post-its, legal pads, and .38 pens.
Tell us about a favorite scene or moment from this project and why it stands out to you.
One of my favorite scenes from this project is a scene where Coss and his friend visit a mentor. It was a long conversation between the three of them, spanning several subjects, and we needed to do some heavy lifting without the scene becoming muddled: convey backstory, present-day logistical hurdles, emotional reflection, and introduce a new character in the form of a letter read aloud.
On top of that, we eventually felt that it was a rich moment to hear some voice-over from Coss, which we integrated at the tail end of the scene. It’s a great example of a scene that could be cut many different ways and one that changed time and time again depending on the structure of the piece. It’s a testament to the patience of the participants and the resourcefulness and care of our DP and sound recordist. They all helped give me the coverage I needed to craft a rhythmic, dynamic flow of dialogue and reaction shots within a static, locked-down setting.
Image source: Sundance Film Festival
What were some specific post-production challenges you faced that were unique to your project? How did you go about solving them?
Some of our challenges were related to keeping years worth of footage and ancillary materials organized and maintained through the ebbs and flows of working on the project including significant stretches of time early on when I was functioning as my own assistant editor. I love workflow and organization, so it wasn’t an unwelcome task, but you can’t help but agonize and ask yourself if you might be forgetting something, doing something wrong, and/or missing an important step when you’re on your own.
At one point, we started coming up against the limits of what could be contained in a single Premiere Pro project, which presented the challenge of functionally (i.e., splitting media and cuts between multiple projects without encountering duplicate clips, trouble linking, confusing redundancy, etc.). Luckily, this challenge coincided somewhat with the introduction of the Productions workflow in Premiere Pro. This was huge for us and allowed me to re-consolidate the disparate projects into one Production and maintain that organization with the help of our dedicated assistant editors. It also facilitated a smooth remote workflow during times when we weren't working in the office together.
What Adobe tools did you use on this project and why did you originally choose them? Were there any other third party tools that helped enhance your workflow?
We transitioned to Premiere Pro after about a year of filming and editing based on recommendations from other editors. Knowing that the workflow would be similar, we adapted quickly. Since then, we’ve been working with Premiere Pro and its ancillary tools — Prelude, Bridge, Media Encoder, and Photoshop. Once Frame.io landed on the scene, we started using it right away to share cuts. We used an earlier version of Premiere Pro to avoid disrupting the foundation of our project, so we weren’t able to use the integrated Frame.io panel in Premiere Pro for very long. However, we continued to use Frame.io as our primary method for uploading and sharing material throughout the editing process.
I also use NeoFinder to keep track of assets, Keyboard Maestro to write macros that I can map to shortcut keys, a Logitech mouse, and the accompanying software to map shortcuts to my mouse buttons. We used Resilio on this project to keep our remote drives synced up with our local storage.
Image source: Sundance Film Festival
If you could share one tip about Premiere Pro, what would it be?
Take the time to set up shortcut keys, track arrangements, workspace configurations, and explore new features with each update. Virtually every function in Premiere Pro can be assigned to a shortcut key, and the time this saves truly adds up. Switching quickly between track arrangements that favored different needs, and having workspaces that prioritized different panels depending on where we were in our workflow, were big time savers. It takes time at the beginning, but it’s worth it.
Who is your creative inspiration and why?
I’m lucky to be surrounded by so many talented filmmakers here in New York. One of the reasons I love editing is that the community is profoundly supportive and generous with time and resources. I wouldn’t have gotten my start in editing without people taking the time to not only answer my questions, but also encourage me to ask them in the first place and offer lessons and insights into the editing process that I wouldn’t have known to ask about. I’m inspired by the creativity and tenacity that I see in my community of editors, and the collective willingness to share work, give feedback, and get excited about storytelling technique.
What’s the toughest thing you’ve had to face in your career and how did you overcome it? What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers or content creators?
One of the toughest things about this business is staying patient and open during the early stages of career building. It can take a good long stretch of what sometimes feels like flailing before you start to even out and begin to feel more stable and confident in your abilities. Everyone has their own path, and it’s a lot more complicated than simply sticking with it.
That said, staying porous, asking questions, making connections, going into gigs with an open mind, and nurturing your creativity and love of film in your off hours is some of the advice I’d give. I think there’s more of an emphasis on mentorship, community, resource-sharing, and career sustainability within the field than ever before, and that’s been heartening to see.
Share a photo of where you work. What’s your favorite thing about your workspace and why?
I don't have a current photo of my more spacious office set-up, which is a lovely space with a large window, lots of plants, and room for three monitors. However, a lot of this project was edited in my home office built in a closet (my “cloffice"), which is what's pictured here.
My favorite thing about this little space is how cozy and unexpected it is — it functions like a cozy cave and inspiration box. As long as I keep my workspace tidy, I can throw up anything and everything I want on the walls around me without thinking about it too much — quotes, images, art, etc.
Image source: Tory Stewart, “Conbody VS Everybody” editor & producer.