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The Zero Theorem

Oliver Peters

The Zero Theorem

Inside Terry Gilliams Imaginative, Involved Post Process

Christoph Waltz as Qohen Leth, on his way to work

ew filmmakers are as gifted as Terry Gilliam

when it comes to setting a story inside a
dystopian world. The Monty Python alum
who brought us Brazil and 12 Monkeys is back
this month with The Zero Theorem. Its the story of
Qohen Leth, played by Christoph Waltz, an eccentric computer programmer who has been tasked by
his corporate employer to solve the Zero Theorem.
This is a calculation that, if solved, might prove that
the meaning of life is nothingness.
The story is set in a futuristic London but carries

22

many of Gilliams hallmarks, like a retro approach

to the design of technology. Qohen works out of his
home, which looks much like a rundown church.
Part of the story takes Qohen into worlds of virtual
reality, where he frequently interacts with Bainsley
(Mlanie Thierry), a webcam stripper he met at a
party but who may have been sent by his employer,
Mancom, to distract him. Gilliam explores themes
of isolation versus loneliness, the pointlessness of
mathematical modeling to derive meaning, and
privacy issues.

I recently had a Skype chat with Mick Audsley,

who edited the film last year. The Zero Theorem is
the third Gilliam film he has edited, following 12
Monkeys and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
I knew Terry before 12 Monkeys and have always
had a lot of admiration for him, Audsley explains.
Hes an extraordinarily interesting director to
work with. He still thinks in a graphic way, since
he is both literally and figuratively an artist. He can
do all of our jobs better than we can, but he really
values the input from other collaborators.

creativeplanetnetwork.com | 09.2014

to view dailies in Romania and then we discussed

these over the phone.
While editing in parallel to the production,
Audsley didnt upload any in-progress cuts for
Gilliam to review. He says, Its hard for the
director to concentrate on the edit while hes still
in production. As long as the coverage is there, its
fine. Certainly Terry and Nicola have a supreme
understanding of film grammar, so thats not a
problem. I was editing largely on my own and had
a first cut within about ten days after production
wrapped. When Terry arrived in London, we first
went over the film in 20-minute reels. That took us
about two to three weeks. Then we went through
the whole film as one piece to get a sense for how
it worked.
Mlanie Thierry as Bainsley, who engages with Qohen using virtual reality technology

The Zero Theorem script was very ambitious

for a limited budget of less than $10 million, so
production took place in Bucharest, Romania,
over a 37-day period beginning in October 2012.
Despite the cost challenges, it was shot on 35mm
film and includes 250 visual effects.
Audsley continues, For Nicola [Pecorini,

director of photography], film allowed him the

latitude to place lights outside of the chapel set
Qohens homeand have light coming in through
the windows to light up the interior. Kodaks lab
in Bucharest handled the [film] processing and
transfer and then sent Avid MXF files to London,
where I was editing. Terry and the crew were able

Making A Cinematic Story

As with most films, the final draft of the script
occurs in the cutting room. Audsley continues,
The film as a written screenplay was very fluid, but
when we viewed it as a completed film, it felt too
linear and needed to be more cinematic, more out
of order. We thought that it might be best to move
the sentences around in a more interesting way. We

and required a lot of temp effects that I layered

up in the timeline. These were some of the more
complex sequences Ive built in Avid, with both
visual and audio elements interacting. You have
to decide how much can you digest, and thats an
open conversation with the director and effects
artists.

Cutting Style

Director Terry Gilliam on the set (at right)

did that quite easily and quickly. Thus, we took the

strength of the writing and realized it in cinematic
language. Thats one of the big benefits of the
modern digital editing tools. The real film is about
the relationship between Bainsley and Qohen and
less about the world they inhabit. The challenge as
filmmakers in the cutting room is to find that truth.
Working with visual effects presents its own

editorial challenge. As an editor, you have to

evaluate the weight and importance of the plate
the base element for a visual effectbefore
committing to the effect. From the point of view of
cost, you cant keep undoing shots that have teams
of artists working on them. The biggest single
visual challenge is making Terrys world, which is
visually very rich. These shots were very complex

Audsley says, I come from a Moviola background,

so I like to leave my cut as bare as possible, with
few temp sound effects or music cues. Ill only
add whats needed to help you understand the
story. Since we werent obliged on this film to do
temp mixes for screenings, I was able to keep the
cut sparse. This lets you really focus on the cut and
know if the film is working or not. If it does, then
sound effects and music will only make it better.
Often a rough cut will have temp music and people
have trouble figuring out why a film isnt working.
The music may mask an issueor, in fact, it might
simply be that the wrong temp music was used. On
The Zero Theorem, George Fenton, our composer,
gave us representative pieces late in the process
that hed written for scenes.

Sound
designer
Andre
a family type of business. Terry is
Jacquemin worked in parallel
supremely in control of his films,
with Audsleys cut and the two
but hes also secure in sharing with
developed an interactive process.
his filmmaking family. The cutting
Audsley explains, Sometimes
room has to be a safe place for a
sound would need to breathe
director, but its the hub of all the
more, so Id open a scene up a bit.
post activity, so everyone has to feel
We had a nice back-and-forth in
free about voicing their opinions.
how we worked.
Much of what the editor does
Audsley edited the film using
occurs in isolation. The Zero
Avid Media Composer version 5
Theorem provided a certain ironic
connected to an Avid Unity shared
resonance for Audsley, who says,
storage system. This linked him
At the start, we see a guy sitting
to another Avid workstation
naked in front of a computer. His
run by his first assistant editor,
life is harnessed in manipulating
Pani Ahmadi Moore. Hes since
something on screen, and that is
upgraded to version 7 software and
something I can relate to as a
From left: Graham Sutton (music editor), Mick Audsley (film editor), Craig Irving (dubbing mixer,
Avid ISIS shared storage. Audsley Twickenham Studios), Terry Gilliam (director), George Fenton (composer), Max Walsh (assistant film editor! I think its very much
says, I work on the Avid pretty dubbing mixer, Twickenham Studios), Andre Jaquemin (sound designer), Ray Cooper (music
a document of our time, about
much like I worked when I used the supervisor/producer)
the notion that in this world of
Moviola and cut on film. Footage is
communication, theres a strong
grouped into bins for each scene. As I edit, I cut the trick is to be fastidious and organized. Pani handles aspect of isolation. All the communication in the
film into reels and then use version numbers as I the preparation and asset management so that I can world does not necessarily connect you spiritually.
duplicate sequences to make changes. I keep a daily concentrate on the edit.
The Zero Theorem is scheduled to open for limited
handwritten log about whats done each day. The
Audsley continues, Terrys films are very much U.S. distribution in September. dv

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