Some say the most important part of what makes a film truly great<\/strong> is not the director, the studio, or the big name stars \u2014\u00a0it’s the post-production process<\/strong>. Just ask any editor<\/strong>. They’ll likely tell you the same.<\/p>\n Film editors<\/strong> may not get the attention on the red carpet, but it’s a well-known industry\u00a0fact that film editing can make or break a movie<\/strong>. The old adage of “when it’s done well, you hardly notice it<\/strong>” gets thrown around a lot, and while the adage certainly rings true, I assure you there are moments within each of these Academy-nominated films<\/strong>\u00a0that will make any aspiring video editor rewind and rewatch again and again.<\/p>\n Let’s meet this year’s nominees, admire their amazing work, and get a peek behind how they worked their craft<\/strong>.<\/p>\n While Amy Adams may have been snubbed<\/a> for\u00a0best actress<\/strong> for her role in Arrival,<\/em> Joe Walker<\/strong> was an obvious nomination choice and is\u00a0perhaps the frontrunner to win the category<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Honing his chops editing for television and the BBC<\/strong>, Walker has worked his way up in Hollywood as a\u00a0partner<\/strong>\u00a0of\u00a0Arrival<\/em><\/a> and Sicario<\/em><\/a> director Denis Villeneuve<\/a>, a partnership that continues\u00a0on the upcoming\u00a0Blade Runner 2049<\/em><\/a>. In an interview with Deadline<\/a>, Walker gives insight into the challenges and freedoms of working on a project<\/strong> which featured CGI aliens.<\/p>\n We set about telling the story in the most powerful way we could and what was at our disposal was quite a considerable amount of freedom. There\u2019s the freedom of the aliens, for example. All I had to work with from set was a blank screen. Sometimes there would be a guy in a green latex suit holding a pole with a ball on it \u2014 never a good look \u2014 and it was of no help to me in terms of timing.<\/p>\n We had the freedom between all those three worlds \u2014 we had to construct all those screens and television news reports, and write news articles and pick archive, and just feather that story in.<\/p>\n Many things were just grabbed moments that were sort of very emotive and beautiful, a hand touching a baby\u2019s hand in a cart, or an out-of-focus shot of a horse in a stable. They could have gone anywhere. Trying to build that into the narrative and marble this narrative through with these little glimpses of a memory, if you like.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You can also watch a podcast interview <\/strong>(below) from\u00a0Cinema Pla’net<\/a>\u00a0in which Walker talks about his career and working on Sicario<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n
\nArrival<\/em><\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Joe Walker<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Post-Production](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Joe-Walker.jpg\" "\\"Post-Production")
\nImage via ProVideoCoalition<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n