Finely Sliced: Why Graham Patterson Is Addicted to Creative Challenges
Graham discovered his passion for music and storytelling at an early age, with an early love of film and the guitar and drums serving as a foundation for his rhythmic approach as an editor. As a multidisciplinary filmmaker, he artfully weaves together key story beats to craft dynamic narratives that take audiences on a journey, regardless of length. Notable work includes the arresting music video 'Sugar' for Sufjan Stevens, which earned him an AICP Award for 'Best Music Video' as well as a Ciclope Award, Webby Nomination and inclusion among IndieWire’s 'The Best Music Videos of 2020' line up. His astute eye for detail can also be seen in his work for clients such as Dior, Vogue and Zegna and in spots and music videos featuring celebrity talent including Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber, Avril Lavigne and Travis Barker.
Originally from North Carolina, Graham navigated his way out of his high school troublemaker tendencies by discovering an unexpected passion for storytelling and filmmaking that quickly got him to clean up his act. He immediately took a hands-on exploration of every aspect of the filmmaking process, focusing on directing and editing in film school, embracing a holistic approach of seeing projects through from start to finish. While hosting bi-weekly film festivals, Dirt Poor Filmmakers’ Festival, with fellow University of North Carolina at Wilmington film school alumni, he discovered his penchant for editing while cutting together the weekly promos for the festivals. He made his way to NYC in 2015, working with a production company for two years before making the move to Modern Post in 2017, where is currently an editor. Outside of the edit bay, he is constantly hungry for creative inspiration, spending his free time reading screenplays, playing the guitar, watching films and serving as a mixologist, testing out new creative cocktails for thirsty co-workers.
LBB> The first cut is the deepest: how do you like to start an editing project?
Graham> If there’s a treatment, that’s a good place to start. Really drinking that in and absorbing the wording, tone, stills and video references, like what photographers or directors or campaigns they’re choosing to reference, all help me understand implicitly what they’re going for. I’ll usually do a brief scan of the footage before the creative kick off where the director, agency or client give their thoughts on what their intentions were, and what they want the film to feel like, sound like, etc. Then I’ll go through and start pulling selects. I always like to try to listen to music that aligns with what the sound of the film wants to be, but I’ll often try out different musical directions, things that feel unexpected that might add some new meaning or say something different about the footage, gaining different perspectives. Sometimes you hear a track that totally goes against the grain, but adds something great contextually that’s better than what the footage seemed to be explicitly asking for. By the time I’m through all of the footage, I have a pretty strong opinion about what will and won’t work.
LBB> Non-editors often think of editing just in technical terms but it’s integral to the emotion and mood of a film. How did you develop that side of your craft?
Graham> I think most editors quickly find that the technical parts of editing are the easiest. Anyone can put two clips together and by definition become an editor, but the difficult part comes from developing style and taste and standard of excellence. I consider myself to be really lucky to be at a place like Modern Post where there’s so much room to bring creativity to the table in editing, where creatives and agencies are coming to us not just as editors, but as creative partners.
To be a good editor you have to have, among a handful of other qualities, a really strong sense of association and emotional intelligence. Particularly with the kind of work we do at MP, you have to be able to look at footage and be totally honest about how it makes you feel. If something is trying really hard to be serious, you need to be able to watch it and say, huh, these are models trying to act, and it’s not quite coming off, but the artifice is really strange and interesting. Then you can play into that artifice or camp it up or to make it feel sincere or odd or whatever best benefits the films.
All of these things come with time, and you just start to kind of trust the internal voice that gets stronger and more clear over time, and while that’s developing you stock up on the technical tools that enable you to actualise it all.
LBB> How important is an understanding of story and the mechanics of story?
Graham> I come from a film background. I went to school for film studies, so I’ve always felt really strongly about the mechanics of storytelling, and obviously for editing it’s the name of the game. Particularly in the kind of work I do with mostly commercial work and music videos, one thing that I’ve had to develop is to be brutally honest with myself whether or not the story is working in the way that it was intended. Often you’re doing a disservice to a film when you try to tell the story exactly as it was written, with exactly the tone and style that might have been intended. Then comes the fun part in figuring out what is working, what elements of the footage are cool or fun or unique, then shining a light on those things, bringing in the right sounds and tone, and building the film around them. Like anything filmic in that way, I think it’s obviously important to learn the rules before you break them, but it’s so much more fun to break the rules once you’ve gotten the hang of them.
LBB> Rhythm and a sense of musicality seem to be intrinsic to good editing (even when it’s a film without actual music) – how do you think about the rhythm side of editing, how do you feel out the beats of a scene or a spot? And do you like to cut to music?
Graham> It’s a pretty mandatory thing for any editor to have a good sense of rhythm. Most of the editors I know play some sort of instrument or at least have a fixation with music, I grew up playing drums which I think helped. In terms of editing, each film is kind of its own island. With some films it’s about constraint, trying not to cut, taking a back seat, and the cuts then become more precious and significant and powerful. Other films it’s the opposite. With films where the editing is a bit more present, I again try not to be too obvious, too incessantly on beat - it’s generally more interesting to have a sense of syncopation and subversion. Maybe setting up your audience with some cuts on the beat before subverting it and throwing off the pace, I think that’s what keeps the viewer interested. It all kind of comes back to that voice that’s telling you what’s cool and what’s not.
LBB> Tell us about a recent editing project that involved some interesting creative challenges.
Graham> Every edit brings its own creative challenges, and I’ve kind of become addicted to it. You have to love solving puzzles to be an editor. I’m working on an edit right now with a legendary director, he works with top stylists, DP’s, hair and makeup, so the quality of the footage is always top notch. For this film it’s very much about silhouettes and styling, so the models are very statuesque, all framed similarly, a photographic kind of approach, but all begs the question of how to make it into an interesting film. How to force movement and dynamism that give it a reason to be a film while respecting the photographic nature of the footage.
LBB> In the US we know that editors are much more heavily involved across the post production process than in Europe - what’s your favourite part of that side of the job?
Graham> I think my approach to editing is just as much about sound as it is visuals, so I really love the sound design and mixing process. If I weren’t an editor, I would probably be doing sound design. It’s a skillset I really push on up and coming talent as something that will take their edits to the next level. There are a couple sound guys I like to work with and I get really fixated on seeing that side of the job through, so most of the creatives I work with embrace that and include me in that process, which I’m always grateful for.
LBB> What’s harder to cut around – too much material or not enough? (And why?)
Graham> See above! Not enough material. Obviously getting twenty hours of footage and fitting all of the good stuff into a :30 can be difficult, but I’ll always take it over not enough footage.
LBB> Which commercial projects are you proudest of and why?
Graham> I really like the Equinox film that just came out, I think CCO Michael Scanlon the team at Chandelier and director Zhong Lin did a really great job with the campaign and captured strong footage (DP Stuart Winecoff doesn’t miss) that made my life easy and made the editing process a blast. Fabien Baron’s ZARA Man campaign from 2022 with Kodi Smit-McPhee was this insane production they shot in the desert in Jordan, that film was really incredible to work on. Honestly, all of the projects I’m the most proud of come down to me being provided great footage and creative by incredibly talented people, so I’m grateful to work with strong collaborators.
LBB> There are so many different platforms for film content now, and even in advertising something can last anything from a few seconds to a couple of hours. As an editor, are you seeing a change in the kind of projects you’re getting from brands and agencies?
Graham> I’m not really seeing a change in the kind of projects, but certainly a change in the process and demands. I could probably include this in the “creative challenges” category, but creatives are being forced to churn out more content in an ever-shortening amount of time. What used to be a three day shoot with a handful of prep days is becoming a single shoot day with stills and motion and twice the deliverables, and so they have five minutes with the model in a certain setup before she’s being pulled into her next look, then you’re looking at a couple minutes of footage that’s meant to end up as a :30 deliverable, which always makes things difficult. It makes you really appreciate productions that are given the proper time to realise their vision.
LBB> Who are your editing heroes and why? What films or spots epitomise good editing for you?
Graham> I have lots! I grew up loving Sally Menke. Thelma Schoonmaker too, she’s just unbelievable, to have her longevity and still make films that feel young and fresh and daring and bold is truly awe inspiring. Hank Corwin bringing a whole new language to film with 'The Big Short,' I’ll never forget watching that film for the first time and thinking 'you can do this??' In terms of my world of editing, I’m lucky to work with an editing hero in Will Town, his standard of excellence, instincts, retention of references, collaboration, communication, all top notch. Then plenty of others, Joe Guest, Carlos Font Clos, Gordon Von Steiner, Jamie Foord, Lorin Askill - so many others, there’s so much talent out there right now, it’s really inspiring.
LBB> How does editing in the commercial world differ from the film world and TV world?
Graham> I equate it to a sprint versus a marathon. I have projects that are in and out in a week. Sometimes in and out in a matter of hours. Each day you kind of have to reset and pull from a different set of references and use different muscles, then bang it out and move onto the next one. I really enjoy the creativity of it, but would love to cut a feature at some point!
LBB> Have you noticed any trends or changes in commercial editing over recent years?
Graham> I guess maybe people are starting to get a lot smarter with the way they think about how people are watching their films. As much as I love a sexy cinematic aspect ratio, it’s never going to get the right engagement on Instagram or TikTok, so it’s fun watching creatives find interesting ways to lean into the new formats. I’m obviously really interested in how AI is going to affect the process. I just cut a film where I sourced a litany of different voices in AI all saying the same thing to build a kind of sound wall, something that I wouldn’t be capable of doing before, so I guess I’m sticking my toes in with a necessary amount of trepidation. It’s all strange and exciting and scary, but you gotta keep up with the times!
Check out Graham's reel here.
