Cuppa with UNIT Editor – Bryan Farrar

We sat down for a chat with Bryan to discuss all things UNIT. Here's what he had to say…

Q>What inspires you and drives you as an Editor?

Bryan> It’s the idea. You can be ‘big picture’ about things, but it’s easy to get caught up in the little details of things… after all, that’s what editing is all about. You do a lot of due diligence when putting something together: going through different takes, order of shots, order of scenes, music. In the end, going back to the idea helps point you toward making the best creative choices. And it’s the people you’re working with - the inspiration they put into you and you pull from them. It’s a bit of a circle really.

Q>How is it being part of such a creative artist team?

Bryan> I’ve pretty much always worked in full service post houses, surrounded by people more talented than me. I think that’s a pretty good place to be - being part of a team helps keep you striving for better. You’re no more (and no less) than a cog in the bigger creative machine.

Q>Tell us about your experience from working from the start of your career through to now at UNIT?

Bryan> My first job after leaving college was working on an ITV soap opera. It was digitising, making VHSs for Execs and preparing turnover for online. I was thinking about this the other day while I was making viewing MP4s and preparing turnover for online!

Q>What first inspired you to get into this career?

Bryan> I loved drama series like Cracker growing up, as well as lighter things like those 80s and 90s ad classics. Quite a varied diet of stuff that captured my imagination.

I found the 1970s Soviet camera and lens my dad used to take pictures of us when we were kids in the loft a few years ago and my mum was excellent at cutting the ad breaks out of her video recordings of Through the Keyhole with Loyd Grossman. So maybe I suppose my parents were an unknowing part of my inspiration.

Also my English teacher at school. He was a legend. He knew exactly how to engage kids and keep their interest.

Anyway, I bought an adapter for that lens and now I take pictures of my niece with it.

Q>Tell us about any key UNIT historical creative highlights?

Bryan> A few years ago, I got to work on a short documentary series for Vanish and the British Fashion Council about sustainable fashion called Generation Rewear. The episodes had to come together quickly. It was rewarding and featured some genuinely interesting characters and stories.

Q>What are you watching / film in cinema / reading / listening to right now? 

Bryan> I’m terrible for starting a series and never finishing them… Monsters, Beef, Black Doves, even The Wire (I made it through six of those though).

I did finish watching Sky Atlantic’s Lockerbie recently and there were some very moving performances in it.

I’m reading Gary Stevenson’s book about his life as a City Trader and East London boy “done good.”