Inside the Frenetic Editing Style of the Horror Flick 'ICK'

Go Inside 'ICK' and Learn About Horror Editing and Shooting

No Film School: How did you define the look of the film, and did you plan shots knowing about the frenetic pacing early on?

Chancler Haynes: Joseph Kahn definitely plans every frame of his movies/tv shows/commercials/music videos. Almost every frame of this movie was storyboarded. There were some sequences, like the car chase, that I created animatics with his boards within Resolve.These served as shooting guides and pacing guides during filming.

NFS: How did you overcome any on-set issues to get the shots or edits you need?

Haynes: I was indeed cutting on set. Finding spots to sit (or stand) to edit was always a fun challenge. All of the cliff-side scenes overlooking the city were especially challenging for on set editing.

Sometimes it rained so we were working in mud. Most of the time it was 100+ degrees in July and we endured the Houston heat. We found shade when we could, but ultimately fried my laptop in the name of cinema. But all is well, new MacBook, new movie.

All smiles.

NFS: How did Resolve and Blackmagic factor into the way you shot the movie?

Haynes: We were working in real time from day one. We started with a cloud collaborating Resolve Studio 18 project between my system in the Houston AirBnB, Edward's home system, Sam's system at CosmoStreet, and Joseph's home system. Each day I would copy an offline version of that project to use on set. After each day of shooting/cutting, I would send new edit sequences (along with new media) to the cloud so that Edward and Sam could sync the new material with the master cloud ICK project.

By the time we wrapped principle photography in August, we had a very rough assembly of the film.

NFS: What are some strategies when it comes to balancing the movie's radical tone in editing?

Haynes: For editing, it was a gradual adjustment, and it was all based on feeling. We started off with the pacing being pretty straight forward, throughout the process, we slowly began to trim away and tighten things up. We eventually pulled some things back towards the end of post. But everything was driven by the actors' performances which gave the script so much life.

NFS: What is one thing you do to prep an edit that you think everyone should do?

Haynes: After reading the script, you often have an idea of how things might play out on screen. I try to gather as many elements as possible, sound effects, music cues, anything that can help a rough assembly come to life instantly.

This helps especially when editing on set. The actors really enjoy seeing their work come to life instantly. And it informs their work for the rest of the day or the rest of the shoot even.

This article was brought to you by Blackmagic Design, for more horror filmmaking interviews and insights check out the rest of our Horror Week 2024 coverage here!