Keith Henderson edited Episodes 104 and 106 of Apple TV+’s Silo. The show stars Rebecca Ferguson, Common, Harriet Walter and Chinaza Uche, and tells the story of the last 10,000 people on Earth and their mile-deep home that protects them from the toxic world outside.
No one knows when or why the silo was built, and any attempts to find out leads to fatal consequences. Juliette (Ferguson) is an engineer who seeks answers about a loved one's murder and stumbles onto a mystery that goes far deeper than she could have imagined.
According to Henderson (pictured), he cut the show from his home in Los Angeles, though production took place on stages in London.
“Our AP Ben Brafman was between time zones,” he recalls. “VFX were being done by a couple of vendors, I believe. They were involved early since much of the world was added after the edit. We worked with a lot of blue screen and imagination. There were look books for some visual designs and previs artwork that we could reference.
“We had a fully staffed post crew in London to manage scheduling and that is also where (editor) Asher (Thornton) and Hazel (Baillie) - the editor working on Episodes [1, 8 and 9] - were working. Dailies would get to Asher and he would confirm everything was complete. He would folder out material for different episodes and prepare dailies for Hazel. At the end of his day he would synch to mirrored drives in the US, and we worked off of those.”
Henderson’s assistant Alexis Seymour was in Texas, and would get a jump on the dailies.
“Most days, I would have material to view when I woke,” he recalls. “Cutting was through Jump, and screenings and work sessions were through Evercast. Zoom meetings were vital to help create continuity through the teams. Early on we tried to schedule at least one group meeting a week between London and US. Eventually we brought on a third editor, Jean Crupper. She was working here in the States, as well. Jean and I have done a number of projects together over the years, and that was helpful for continuity as well.”
Henderson says EPS supplied the gear and housed mirrored drives and all the emulators.
“I had a very basic remote set-up,” he recalls. “At home, I already had two 41-inch monitors for cutting, and a basic computer surround sound system, along with my laptop at my side for Zoom calls and other interruptions. The rental company supplied me with a Mac (desktop) tied directly to my home internet, and an additional client monitor that I used for full-screen playback.”
Project management was one challenge the editing team faced.
“Asher set up my original project, since I was on from the beginning of photography,” he explains. “When I started working with Alexis, chasing down cuts or sharing bins was cumbersome. I like my projects to be episode specific, like an ‘Episode 4’ project, and within that I can have some folders where material from other shows can be found. Ultimately, I reverted to what I like, but it made for some confusion. This was also the first time I worked with Alexis, and we had to develop a rapport. I think the mirroring also contributed to some file management challenges.”
Being remote, says Henderson, also took some getting used to.
“Unfortunately, I still hold onto a lot of how I worked before the pandemic, and many things have changed. I still like to have access to my lined script, which means we were updating a PDF to get something to resemble what I am used to seeing.”
There were also challenges due to the nine-hour time difference.
“When sharing cuts, I didn’t have the benefit of watching with people in the room and sensing how things played the way I am used to throughout my career,” he explains. “Being on from the start of production, I was able to screen the dailies while (EP) Morten (Tyldum) was shooting the first three shows. This also gave me a chance to see early cuts, and in some cases, put together some sequences for them when they got jammed. I have worked with (EP) Graham (Yost) on a number of projects over the last couple of decades, and I have a sense of his rhythms, but this was a whole new series being shot oversees, cutting remotely with a nucleus that is in London.”
Looking back, Henderson describes Silo as a unique project.
“Much of the environment was added as episodes got close to locking,” he recalls. “The sets were massive and the production design was inspiring, but often we were working with blue screens. The world needed to feel lived in. All the environments of the series had to get some soundscape with the location being underground and the varied levels of the silo having their own distinct character. VFX, sound design and music all played a huge role in the overall vibe of the series. Making sure we carried that across the series was vital.”