Finely Sliced: Piecing Together Puzzles with Tim Swaby
Tim Swaby is a UK-based editor and partner at production company Spindle. Coming from a background of documentary filmmaking, Tim has spent the last ten years cutting commercials, originals, music videos and brand films. He has a strong reputation for crafting human-focused storytelling, and his work has helped gain multiple awards and accolades from the likes of Cannes Lions, British Arrows, D&AD, Ciclope, Creative Circle, Kinsale Sharks, 1.4, Clios and more, as well as multiple Vimeo Staff Picks.
LBB> The first cut is the deepest: how do you like to start an editing project?
Tim> As an owner of Spindle, I’m in a slightly unorthodox position in that I know about projects from day one when scripts first come in. I’m often involved in the treatment phase - working on the idea with the director and how best to tell it. It means we can collaborate throughout the whole process and are on the same page by the time we get to the edit.
From there, if the schedule allows it, I love to have some time to experiment with the footage myself to start with. But equally I’m happy to let the director dictate how they want to work. It’s a very vulnerable job they have, and I always want to be respectful of that, so whether they want to sit and make selects together or not see anything until a full first cut is fine by me. Whatever happens, there shouldn’t be any ego in the room.
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?
Tim> I kind of fell into editing, but have loved it ever since. There are an infinite amount of ways to cut the same rushes, where every combination has a different outcome and impression on the viewer.
Looking back, I used to overthink my edits and over-engineer them to the point I’d end up having to explain the intention and rationale. But it’s like a joke - if you have to explain why it works its not doing its job properly. Over time I learned that most edits need to land with the viewer on one watch, and so I had to be able to see something through their eyes rather than my own (despite knowing the footage inside and out).
With experience, you naturally develop your ability to tell a story, to the point I now feel I do more on gut feeling. I follow my instincts and stay open to be led by the footage - rather than forcing it into something it doesn’t want to be.
LBB> How important is an understanding of story and the mechanics of story?
Tim> Story is everything. And understanding the mechanics of story can help guide you, or allow you to break the rules. But you need to know the fundamentals.
Personally, I love reading screenplays. I have a Kindle with hundreds of film and TV scripts on it that I read more than books. I think this helps keep story at the front of my mind in the edit, where every cut and shot needs to have a purpose.
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?
Tim> Before getting into film, I played in a band, which I think is pretty common amongst editors. There’s a rhythm to good editing that’s hard to articulate, and can be very subjective. Often the thing I find hardest when a project becomes collaborative is compromising on that inner rhythm. It’s hard to justify to a client that the timing of a cut feels wrong when it doesn’t to them, but there are previous projects that I’d struggle to watch now, simply because of a few frames here and there.
I do love cutting to music, which can really help tie a scene together, and I always add rough sound design in the offline to help build the world and land the intention. Sound is obviously so important to film, but it can also mask problems, so I also like to watch cuts through on mute. I find this different perspective can highlight glaring issues I might have overlooked with sound, and it can help make sure the visual storytelling and rhythm are working.
LBB> Tell us about a recent editing project that involved some interesting creative challenges.
Tim> Editors have to love piecing together puzzles. Every project has its own challenges, but that’s all part of it.
I recently worked on adidas’ Euros campaign - ‘Hey Jude’ directed by Greg Hackett. I got brought onto the project late into the process, and the schedule was super tight, so was getting two to three hours sleep a night and then working round the clock for a week to try and stay on track.
The film reflects on England’s history of football heartache, and there was six days worth of beautiful rushes captured, so we needed to kill a lot of darlings as we wanted to tell the story in a simple, pared-back way. There was also a lot of tightrope walking around legals, licensing archive and commentary, avoiding other brands, juggling talent input (Jude Bellingham, David Beckham, Sir Paul McCartney etc).
Ultimately though, it really felt like a huge team effort to make it. Everyone was pulling in the same direction and poured so much passion into the project. Greg, the crew and everyone from Spindle side, the teams at Johannes Leonardo and adidas, the music and post companies… the list goes on. It was an amazing project to work on where everyone cared about the outcome and fought for it so much.
LBB> How important is your relationship with the director and how do you approach difficult conversations when there is a creative difference of opinion?
Tim> Again, it’s quite a unique setup being a partner in Spindle. For example, Greg is also a co-owner of the company and we’ve been friends since childhood, so we’re now almost telepathic with how we work together. Other directors on the roster I see and work with them all the time - and we have close relationships and it can be very collaborative together.
And as a company we also place a lot of importance on developing new talent, which I think can be useful support for them; having someone to bounce ideas off at anytime in the process. That’s a side I love being involved with too.
When editing, I think it’s all about finding the balance of holding your own but not being protective or stubborn. There’s no room for ego and it’s about navigating the collaboration and seeing things from the other side if you creatively disagree. It needs to be an open space. We always find a way through, and there are always good opinions to be had from other members of the Spindle team too.
LBB> What’s harder to cut around – too much material or not enough?
Tim> It depends on the project and rushes.
I do love a strong confident director vision with less options captured, as long as it lands! I remember a music video I did with Molly Burdett for Arlo Parks ‘Hope’. It was only a one-day shoot and her and Robbie Ryan (DP) came back with an unbelievable range of scenes. It was all only one or two takes per setup but they nailed it and the cut came together effortlessly.
In contrast, sometimes having too much footage can almost create too many possible options and combinations, and can cloud the best way through. Or directors can find it hard to kill darlings and be tempted to unnaturally jam elements in that don’t necessarily serve the story.
However, gun to head, on balance I’d say I prefer to have too much material. It just gives you more options to solve a problem and come out the other side with the strongest film.
LBB> Which commercial projects are you proudest of and why?
Tim> There are loads of projects that I can look back on with pride for different reasons. For example, recently I enjoyed the adidas job I mentioned earlier and also another film I did with Greg for Car-Pass ‘New Life’. As much as the films themselves, I love that we’ve been on this journey together for the last 10 years or so, after randomly falling into filmmaking and just running with it, finding our way as we go!
Then there are smaller projects I’ve worked on where I feel like we’ve pulled something together that exceeds what the budget should have dictated. For example Paralympic Team Belgium ‘The Empty Seat’ by Milo Blake or Sainsbury Centre ‘Dear Art’ by LIAKH.
Or there are also projects I’m proud to be part of that felt like they made some real-world difference. Mayor of London ‘Have A Word’ that I worked on with Molly helped change laws around inappropriate male behaviour towards women. It’s also being shown in schools as part of the UK curriculum, added to UN training packs and more. To be a part of something like that feels special.
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?
Tim> It’s an obvious answer but there’s been push to getting more content out of each shoot. So there’ll still be the main commercial for a campaign, but there seems to be deliverables for days to go alongside it! Durations, ratios etc.
Who are your editing heroes and why? What films or spots epitomise good editing for you?
Tim> I find it quite hard to quantify this. ‘Showy’ edits that stand out are the ones that always get the recognition, but that doesn’t necessarily make them the best. I kind of feel like if you come away loving a film (or commercial) - there’s no way the edit wasn’t good, even if it was invisible. They’re the best editors.
And so it all depends on what the project needs - sometimes it is all about fast, frenetic, big juxtaposition, match cuts, hard cuts, non-linear storytelling… whatever. But sometimes a pared-back simple approach is what is should be.
Similarly, a bad edit can ruin the best of rushes, and a good one can save a project otherwise doomed to failure. I think it’s hard to judge an edit without knowing the situation around it.
LBB> How does editing in the commercial world differ from the film world and TV world?
Tim> An obvious distinction is screen time duration. Every frame counts in commercials so this is a huge driver. Readable, efficient takes that can tell the story economically - without needing to be more cutty than desired. Whereas there is much more freedom in longform around screentime, so it all becomes emotionally and story driven, whatever duration that it decides it should be.
Another area is creative fulfilment. I read Tom Higgins’ Finely Sliced interview and he said something that I thought summed it up well - ‘in film and TV, the story is the product, whereas in commercial, it's based around the product’. This is sometimes easy to forget when you’re ‘craft-focused’. Whatever the project - we’re always trying to make the best film and we can kill ourselves trying to protect that at all costs, but sometimes you need to concede what the end goal is for the client. That’s why we need personal projects and originals are so important - to be that source of creative reward.
LBB> Have you noticed any trends or changes in commercial editing over recent years
Tim> The last few years have been quite ‘transition-heavy’. Don’t get me wrong - I love bold visual storytelling as much as the next person, and there are amazing commercials that lean into this, but it’s also a style has the danger of becoming more of a technical exercise with style over substance. I feel there’s a ‘transition fatigue’ in the air where people are getting a bit done with whip pans, and there’s an increasing desire to return to emotion and story focus.
