Paul O’Reilly Provides Top Secret Editing for Sam Smith’s Bond Theme Promo
At 00:07 on 5th October, Sam Smith releases the
official music video for ‘Writing’s on the Wall’ containing exclusive new
footage from the long-awaited Bond film, Spectre. The promo, directed by Luke Monaghan (Riff
Raff), was edited by Homespun’s Paul O’Reilly. The editing operation had to be kept
as covert as the spy himself to keep the plot line of Spectre under wraps.
Relocating to the secure facilities at Pinewood – Paul was
required to complete all work at the studios and the film footage had to stay
on site for the duration.
“Obviously there was incredibly tight security on the
footage we were given,” explains Editor Paul O’Reilly. “Initially we were only provided
with the footage from the official trailer to make the first cut. However we
were given the unexpected but wonderful privilege of meeting Sam Mendez and
Barbara Brocolli. We were all understandably nervous for them to view our work
but they were lovely - really positive about our ideas - and after a pitch with
them and their production team they granted us an additional 40 minutes of
footage to help support the narrative of the music video.”
The footage of Sam Smith, taken by Luke Monaghan, was shot
in Rome in key locations for the Bond film. Creating unique challenges, the
footage provided had a limited amount of frames per shot so had to be carefully
curated to slot into the music video, without revealing too much of the film’s
plot.
“The extra footage gave us an opportunity to intertwine
moments that really spoke to the narrative of the song and Luke’s footage. It’s
been an amazing project to work on. An unforgettable experience, with some
rather unforgettable rushes!”
