How the editors of “Eno” used Premiere Pro and After Effects to cut the first generative film

Image Source: Film First.

Edited by Maya Tippett and Marley McDonald, “Eno” is an Oscar-shortlisted documentary about Brian Eno, the visionary musician who produced numerous top tier artists including David Bowie, U2 and Coldplay.

In addition to showcasing Eno’s rich archive of hundreds of hours of never-before-seen footage and unreleased music, director Gary Hustwit and creative technologist Brendan Dawes developed bespoke generative software that sequences a human-coded mixture of scenes, music and interviews to create a film that is never the same twice.

As the first ever “generative” film, Tippett and McDonald relied on Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects to manage Eno’s technical complexity. They had to put aside everything they knew about telling a linear story and learn how to edit in a more module-based, systematic way, relying on features like Speech to Text to weed through archival interviews. Premiere Pro’s customizability also allowed them to channel a “Eno-esque artistic freedom to have fun with the material,” said McDonald.

We sat down with both “Eno” editors for an inside look at the making of this innovative film.

How and where did you first learn to edit?

Tippet: I first learned to edit in camera on a VHS point-and-shoot when I was 12. That’s where the concept of intentionally “cutting” and creating a montage to tell a story clicked for me. It was a tactile way of learning to make movies because I could immediately learn by watching what I had just done in the camera's playback. Later, I turned to the computer, started editing in iMovie, and made many terrible films with my friends while growing up. I always got the most excited and thrilled when I could stay up late, alone, and edit our footage into something to share.

McDonald: My first experience editing was making music videos with my sisters on the family camcorder. We had to do all of our editing in camera — hitting pause on the video camera and the boombox at the exact same time, no easy feat.

How do you begin a project/set up your workspace?

Tippet: I start by watching everything and only noting my emotional reactions; you can never get that first honest moment back. After watching the same footage over and over it's so important to remember what affected you before you get consumed and overly analytical about everything. From there, I start to see what universal themes are coming through in the project and I always try to build a scene or storyline towards those emotional moments. Something I learned from my mentor, Amy Foote, was to write down in a sentence or a word what the movie is about, put it on a Post-it and keep it visible on your desk to return to whenever you get lost. And I always have a notebook at my desk.

McDonald: Setting up a project is the most critical step of editing, from the moment you start to organize the material you are editing. For archival projects, I like to start by creating one bin with all of the footage. Then, meticulously sorting each clip into its relevant topic bin gives me a comprehensive overview of how much footage exists for any given topic.

Tell us about a favorite scene or moment from this project and why it stands out.

Tippet: While editing “Eno,” whenever I hit a wall, I would come across a snippet of Brian’s interview, some non-sequitur that would ring true to my current creative struggle and it would turn into a breakthrough. It was an incredible feeling to have the film's subject, Eno, teaching me how to be a better artist and editor while crafting the film about him and his work. Ultimately, this became a central theme of the film; deriving creative inspiration from such an accomplished artist. We wanted our audience to feel that way after watching it.

McDonald: Thanks to my parents, I grew up listening to a lot of dub and reggae, so of course Lee Scratch Perry was a central figure in my upbringing. As I continued on my own musical journey, it didn’t take long to realize that Brian Eno had worked with all of my favorite musicians: Talking Heads, Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Holger Czukay and Robert Wyatt. When I found a clip of Brian talking about drawing inspiration from Lee Scratch Perry, it felt like a full circle moment in my life; as if I had always been on the path to work on this film! So to me that scene is very special.

What were some specific post-production challenges you faced that were unique to your project? How did you go about solving them?

Tippet: “Eno” was a massive challenge on all levels because we were making the first-ever generative film. “Eno” director Gary Hustwit and data artist Brendan Dawes created specialty software to mimic Eno’s music-making style. This means the film is never the same twice and is built by software from a human-coded mixture of scenes, music, interviews, etc. Because no one has ever done this before, there was a laundry list of technical challenges. Intellectually, from an editing standpoint, it was incredibly challenging because my co-editor Marley McDonald and I had to reorient the way we were trained to tell a story, which is linear. We had to figure out how to edit in more of a module and systematic sense. And since there is so much randomness built into the system, Marley and I had to create many more scenes than a typical documentary, so the software had a variety of material to pull from.

McDonald: Creating a film that changes every time it’s played was a hugely challenging task. We had to come up with a new system for editing. For me, the big breakthrough was realizing that we could rely on what Brian had to say about his process of creating generative art. One of the most complex scenes to cut was Brian explaining what “generative” means, but once we were able to unpack that idea; we were able to cultivate a deeper understanding of what we needed to do to create the film.

What Adobe tools did you use on this project and why did you originally choose them?

Tippet: We cut the film using Premiere Pro and Marley made animations using After Effects. We also used Photoshop as there were many archival photographs and film strips that needed cleaning to animate them. I’ve been working with Adobe software for over a decade and I’ve cut my last few features with it. I also used Frame.io to interface with directors/producers/clients from rough cuts to the final locked cut. It’s a great tool to give and receive notes on, which is a massive part of being an editor.

McDonald: We used Premiere Pro and After Effects for this film. From the outset, the archival material was very playful, and we felt a real sense of Eno-esque artistic freedom to have fun with the material. Both Premiere Pro and After Effects are great tools for this.

If you could share one tip about Premiere Pro, what would it be?

Tippet: Always create your own keyboard shortcuts so the keyboard feels like a third hand to you and the AI transcription (Speech to Text) is a game changer for searching for specific lines in interviews or archival footage.

McDonald: Spend a day messing around with all the different effects it can do. It will pay off when you least expect it.

Who is your creative inspiration, and why?

Tippet: Oh boy… my dad, my mom, my husband, my son, the nature that surrounds me, Brian Eno, Marley McDonald, Amy Foote, David Lynch, John Waters, Herzog, animals, colors, Talking Heads, outsider art, comic books, Mary Ellen Mark, seasons changing, good food, good friends, train rides, cooking, and estate sales.

McDonald: My friends. They make me laugh, think deeply, and help me express my deepest feelings. They are the best artists I know!

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?

Tippet: The toughest thing I’ve had to face in my career is self-doubt. It can still be a battle depending on the day, but getting older and caring less about what others think helps a lot. My advice for aspiring filmmakers is to stay honest with yourself and make things because YOU like it, not for other people.

McDonald: I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned in my career is that no one will tell you to make your films, you just have to get out there and make them. I gained most of my personal filmmaking style through making my own short films, with the help of my friends, on nights and weekends. One bit of advice I’d share is to work on other people’s movies, even if you have to take a job at the lowest level. It may feel like you aren’t where you are supposed to be but if you pay attention to the people you are working with, you will be sure to learn a lot!

What’s your favorite thing about your workspace and why?

Tippet: My favorite thing about my workspace is my 24-hour assistant editor, Mitch (my cat).

McDonald: My favorite thing about my workspace is a ball of onyx under my computer. It was a gift from my dad and makes me think about how cool it is to work with fossilized time.