Behind the Scenes: Editing and Scoring The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin

The Editing Process

• 🎬 The post-production phase involves editors working for months on thousands of hours of footage to catalog and edit.
• 🧩 Assembling episodes is the first step, compiling all material in sequence before the detailed editing pass begins.
• 🗄️ The raw footage storage alone cost nearly $100,000, highlighting the scale of the project.
• 🎭 Filmmaking involves writing one show, shooting another, and editing a third, with editing being crucial for creating rhythm, emotion, and narrative beats.
• ✂️ Editors like Dallas Sonier and Jared Bentley meticulously chip away at footage to refine scenes, making good scenes better or fixing those that don't seem to work.
• ⏱️ The editing process can be laborious and tedious, involving frame-by-frame decisions and precise communication, such as requesting specific frame counts for shots.
• 🔄 The team is currently doing an initial edit but plans for a soft lock to allow for overseas pickups and new scenes before final picture lock.

Crafting the Score

• 🎶 Composer Kyle McCuiston aims for melodic significance and pushing the limits of orchestration tools to create a unique score.
• 📚 A library of approximately 4 hours of music was created before production began, serving as a foundation that has evolved into structured suites.
• 🤝 The score was developed collaboratively, with sketches shared and feedback given throughout location scouting and production.
• 🎻 The musical approach balances high orchestration with authentic, period-specific instruments like the Viking toggle harpa and medieval rebeck to immerse listeners in the world of Merlin.
• 🧩 Scoring episodes out of order presented a challenge, requiring an outline of musical needs and a focus on character motifs and their accompanying melodies and instrumentation.
• 💡 The main theme for Pendragon is based on the abstract idea of uniting fragmented tribes, appearing in the show when characters work towards this goal.
• 🎭 Character themes, like Caris's, evolve from initial soundscapes and textures to more defined melodies that reveal the character's true self.

Discoveries in Post-Production

• ⚔️ Battle sequences, even when filmed, are hard to fully appreciate until edited, and the post-production process revealed them to exceed expectations.
• 🧐 The editing process allows for the discovery of details not apparent on set, especially in complex technical scenes.
• 🎯 Decisions are made frame by frame, requiring the highest level of attention to detail to achieve the desired narrative and emotional impact.