Editor Sven Budelmann discusses his work on the Oscar-nominated drama, and how his close collaboration with director Edward Berger led to creating a film that is as authentic and realistic as possible
By Contributor
Published: March 10, 2023 Updated: March 31, 2023
Editor Sven Budelmann discusses his work on the Oscar-nominated drama, and how his close collaboration with director Edward Berger led to creating a film that is as authentic and realistic as possible
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
All Quiet on the Western Front originated as a novel written by a German veteran of World War I, with themes including the pointlessness and chaos of war and its long-term traumatic effects on those who survive. It was first made into a film in 1930 by director Lewis Milestone, winning Academy Awards for Outstanding Production and Best Director and eventually being selected for the Library of Congress' National Film Registry. Today that film's editing, by Maurice Pivar, and cinematography, by Arthur Edeson are cited as early examples of filmmaking's recovery from the restrictions of the nascent sound era.
Edward Berger's 2022 edition of the story opened at the Toronto Film Festival and met with universal praise. Today's filmmaking tools help bring the tale to a new level of dramatic visual impact. Director of photography James Friend shot with an array of modern digital cameras, with his main tool the ARRI ALEXA 65, augmented by the ALEXA Mini LF when a more mobile camera was required. Both cameras use CODEX recording technology as part of a proven, rock-solid workflow. The large format sensors at the heart of these cameras helped put the audience through hell, says Friend, who also noted that the two cameras intercut seamlessly. Images were captured in LF Open Gate 4.5K format, with an array of spherical lenses, and cropped to a final aspect ratio of 2.39:1.
Editor Sven Budelmann came onto the project more than a year ahead of principal photography. His first task was to create a mood trailer with Berger to explore ideas and find the right tonality.
The basic approach was to shoot it almost as a documentary, as authentic and realistic as possible, says Budelmann. Instead of standard images of war, we put together images of beautiful nature and underscored that with a destructive score. We knew we could create tension with a combination of violence and beauty.
When it came to the actual edit, we used those silent moments of nature to control the dynamic of violence, because you can't maintain the maximum level of horror. You need to step back. When I finally got the first footage, which was the journey of the uniforms, I knew for certain that this film was going to be amazing.
An example of this tension is the scene where the main character is assigned the task of collecting dog tags from the dead. He steps on a pair of eyeglasses and realizes they belong to his friend, whose body he soon finds. After a long pause in the rain, he begins to cry. The camera tracks back and we cut to a beautiful, tree-lined landscape, says Budelmann. Nature doesn't care what's happening to these people. That helps to give some distance.
Budelmann says that the inherent power of the immersive images affects the editorial decisions at every cut. The quality and beauty are so high that it contrasts with the horrors depicted. We have dead bodies, and fighting, and then we have this beauty. James Friend did such an amazing job - each angle is perfect. Our thought was to use each shot only once. Each shot has a certain place within each scene. There's not much cutting back and forth to a previously seen angle, like in a standard dialog scene. The pace is not fast, so each cut becomes more important.
It's so important that we stay in close contact during shooting The X2X Media Group, owners of CODEX products and services, also facilitated communications and project management on the project through its PIX collaboration tools. For portions of the shoot done at the height of the Covid restrictions, Budelmann was working in Berlin. Meanwhile, Berger and Friend were proceeding with the shoot in the Czech Republic, where an abandoned Soviet-era airfield provided space for trenches and battlefields. An LED volume was also used at Barrandov Studios in Prague. At the end of each day, Budelmann's assistant would upload the day's work to PIX. After viewing the cuts, Berger would call Budelmann and discuss things on his drive home.
It was crucial to Budelmann to have as close an approximation of the final audio as possible. It's so important that we stay in close contact during the shooting, says Budelmann. To me, editing is the most creative part of filmmaking because it's not just about cutting the picture. It's about the whole package and how everything works together - the performance, sound and music. The editing room is the only place where you can manipulate all these elements at the same time. Usually in feature films, the dialogue determines the structure and length of shots. In All Quiet, there's not much talking. The cuts are often determined or affected by other elements - the sound design, for example. We did a lot of sound work in the editing. To get the right timing requires experimentation with every element.
After the shoot wrapped, Budelmann and Berger spent another five months fine-tuning the edit.
Budelmann made his first short films as a teenager, emulating scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark. That led to the opportunity to cut music videos, and by his early 20s, he was editing clips for top performers like Madonna and Garbage. When his directors segued into working on commercials, Budelmann followed, experimenting, and learning at every step. Eventually, he began to get opportuni
Most recent headlines
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
09/05/2025
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Studio Technologies said the Harvard University athletics department has integrated Dante-enabled equipment from the vendor into its broadcast ...
09/05/2025
NEW YORK ITN, a provider of a local linear supply side platform, and Magnite, a independent sell-side advertising company, have announced that they working toge...
09/05/2025
LEEDS, U.K. Nugen Audio has launched a new speech intelligibility plug-in, DialogCheck and offered up quotes from technologists working at places like Netflix p...
09/05/2025
AJA I/O Gear: The Heart of Broadcast Solutions' VEGO Mobile Editing Solution
Brie Clayton May 8, 2025
0 Comments
When working remotely on broadcas...
09/05/2025
What do they teach in an Advanced Adobe After Effects Course?
Roland Kahlenberg May 8, 2025
0 Comments
There aren't many advanced After Effects co...
09/05/2025
Larry Jordan Sits with Trevor Morgan of OpenDrives at NAB 2025
Brie Clayton May 8, 2025
0 Comments
Trevor Morgan, COO of OpenDrives, shares how the co...
09/05/2025
Berklee Popular Music Institute Announces UK Festival Debut and Tour Dates For the first time, BPMI will bring Berklee-affiliated artists and students to the ...
08/05/2025
A sinister fairy infiltrates a desperate family in Kenneth Dagatan's In My Mother's Skin, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Photo co...
08/05/2025
As expected, continued weak demand from key sales markets and declining economic...
08/05/2025
A new three-part series is coming to BBC iPlayer and BBC One
(Image: The Christie Archive Trust)
The BBC has announced Agatha Christie's Endless Night, a...
08/05/2025
For skyward-bound operators, training focuses on the unique aspects of flying ISR missions, including the management of onboard surveillance equipment and the e...
08/05/2025
The cable industry has told the Federal Communications Commission it supports the National Association of Broadcasters' proposal to allow broadcasters to us...
08/05/2025
WASHINGTON The Consumer Technology Association has continued its opposition to mandates requiring that NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 tuners be included in new TV sets, sa...
08/05/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real time visualization, has named Paul Maroni as Vice Pres...
08/05/2025
This year's UK Pavilion in hall 5, once again managed by Tradefair, will provide visitors with the unique opportunity to discuss and be involved in cutting ...
08/05/2025
Rohde & Schwarz will showcase its latest energy-efficient transmitters and 5G Broadcast technologies, designed to support network operators and content provider...
08/05/2025
IRVING, Texas Nexstar Media Group has tapped Bill Nardi as vice president of station operations, responsible for overseeing the day-to-day broadcast operations ...
08/05/2025
SEATTLE LumaTouch is partnering with CNN Academy to improve mobile storytelling techniques and support training across all of CNN Academy's training simulat...
08/05/2025
WASHINGTON The Society of Broadcast Engineers has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission that support a proposal by the National Association ...
08/05/2025
Senior adviser to the United States Agency for Global Media Kari Lake has announced that One America News Network (OAN) will provide newsfeed services for fre...
08/05/2025
EdMon Expands as AI-Driven Post Production Workflows Gains Traction in Sweden an...
08/05/2025
Using Luma Mattes in Adobe Premiere Pro
Graham Quince May 7, 2025
0 Comments
This very quick tutorial shows you how to take an RGB clip and apply its ...
08/05/2025
OpenDrives Unveils Free Your Data' Initiative with New Astraeus Cloud-Nativ...
08/05/2025
Student Spotlight: Grigori Balasanyan The Armenian composer, who was named Boston Conservatory at Berklees 2025 student commencement speaker, talks about his ...
08/05/2025
08 May 2025
VEON Shareholders Re-elect Board at 2025 AGM, Founder Augie Fabela ...
08/05/2025
Comedy and entertainment channel U&Dave bring back their #1 ranked programme of ...
08/05/2025
May 8th, 2025 Press Materials Available Here
Tribeca Festival 2025 Unveils New Premieres Spanning Film and Music
Slick Rick's Victory with Idris Elba a...
08/05/2025
May 8th, 2025 Press Materials Available Here
Tribeca Festival 2025 Announces Lineup for Inaugural Storytelling Summit
11-Day Industry Event Launches with Tal...
08/05/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Vizrt's Nicholas Jameson on AI in Workflows, Pushing Boundarie...
08/05/2025
Creating Alternative Brand Experiences: Live Sports in the Age of Fortnite, Meta...
08/05/2025
PGA TOUR's David Piccolo: Advanced Graphics and Virtual Production Tools are...
08/05/2025
Tech Focus: Advancing Immersion in Sports Broadcasting with AR and Virtual Produ...
08/05/2025
Expect even more chaos this July with Harriet Webb leading the returning cast, p...
08/05/2025
Back to All News
Now in Production: Comedy Action Film Husbands in Action'...
08/05/2025
TenneT relies on Arvato Systems for market communication
Energy industry: Impressive market communication know-how and system integration expertise
G tersloh...
08/05/2025
When Taiki Hamamoto, 22, came across a Hanafuda deck at his local game shop, he was intrigued. He had grown up playing the traditional Japanese card game with f...
08/05/2025
The Liveline is now open , said Joe Duffy earlier today, as he previewed this af...
08/05/2025
RT , in association with the BBC, Screen Ireland and Cineflix Rights has reveale...
08/05/2025
Artificial intelligence is helping identify and treat diseases faster with better results for humankind. Natural disasters like wildfires are next.
Fires in th...
08/05/2025
Calling all wiseguys - 2K's acclaimed Mafia franchise is available to stream...
08/05/2025
As AI use cases continue to expand - from document summarization to custom software agents - developers and enthusiasts are seeking faster, more flexible ways t...
07/05/2025
Discovering music should feel effortless and fun. That's why Spotify continu...
07/05/2025
SBS and NITV mark National Reconciliation Week with compelling premieres recogni...
07/05/2025
SBS commences search for a new Western Sydney production hub location
7 May, 2025
Media releases
SBS has today launched a Request for Expressions of Intere...
07/05/2025
Warsaw, Poland - April 28, 2025 - Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, has released its latest March All Screens Video Landscap...
07/05/2025
LONDON Movie fans hoping to save money by waiting until their favorite new films appear on streaming services will have to wait a bit longer now, according to a...
07/05/2025
MECCA, Saudi Arabia Saudi Broadcasting Authority (SBA) has selected Grass Valley to provide a major technology upgrade of its broadcast facility here....
07/05/2025
Sony and Nevion provide guidance on IP network architecture options for live pro...
Editor Sven Budelmann discusses his work on the Oscar-nominated drama, and how his close collaboration with director Edward Berger led to creating a film that is as authentic and realistic as possible
