Beast Editor Dean Gonzalez Cuts Green Day’s ‘Heart Like a Hand Grenade’ |
’Heart Like a Hand Grenade’ is a new documentary recording the making of Green Day’s 2004 Grammy Award-winning album ‘American Idiot’. Shot and directed by John Roecker and edited by Dean Gonzalez from Beast, the documentary opened in theatres in the US on 15 October 2015, following the director’s intention that the film not be released until at least 10 years after the album’s debut. |
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Studio SessionsOver nine months, he captured about 350 hours of footage in total, during the studio sessions and at a live concert performed at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles shortly after the album’s completion. “The amount of interesting footage that we had to work with was almost overwhelming and we had to find our way to the story organically. We wanted to really showcase how this album came to life, though we had no way of knowing how massive it would be at the time,” said editor Dean Gonzalez. |
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Photo credit: Marina Chavez |
Breakdown“I edited the project on Avid, and it’s funny but over the last 10 or 11 years, the creative process hasn’t actually changed that much. It’s just much easier now,” said Dean. “Previously It took longer to load in footage and lay things off to master tapes, and the quality wouldn’t hold up as much, but creatively it’s largely the same. I’m at a different point in my career now and I’m a better editor in many ways, but I still love the edit of ‘Heart Like a Hand Grenade’ just the way it is. It really holds up, and I think it’s perfect for the project. |
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“So we broke it down by song. I first organized the different sections of footage – rehearsals, recording sessions and the live concert footage. Then I would further break down each of those sections into the individual songs. This made it easier for me to go back through and look at all the footage from each song, at every stage of filming.” UnfilteredAs well as commercial and long form editing, Dean Gonzalex has considerable music video experience behind him for bands ranging from Aerosmith and the Red Hot Chili Peppers to LL Cool J, Kid Rock, Nicki Minaj and 30 Seconds to Mars. Dean had also worked with Green Day before and did not engage in any special background research before starting on this project. “I knew their music, so I was already well-prepared. I did attend the live concert with the director. We spoke with the band ahead of time to discuss how we were going to shoot it, so that they would be aware of where the cameras would be placed while they were playing.” |
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Editor Dean Gonzalez, from Beast in LA. |
“It can be annoying to have someone with a camera asking questions while you’re trying to stay in that creative flow, so John opted not to do that – many times the band forgot he was even there. A lot of documentaries try to feed the audience one particular viewpoint, but John’s approach was pure and unfiltered. It was an absolute thrill to work on and remains one of the highlights of my career.” www.beast.tv |
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