Editing a feature-length film often takes more time than shooting and has never been a simple task.
Does the film's rhythm match the director's intent? Are the characters vivid and lifelike? Is the story clear and coherent? Are there any hidden subplots? If not, can editing create one?
When it comes to editing, it's impossible for every shot to be flawless.
Perhaps a shot includes impassioned speeches, witty remarks, humorous banter, sarcasm, flirtatious glances, or a stunning surprise appearance.
If the standard for selecting shots were merely the actors' performances, then editing would be a fairly simple job.
But that's never the case. In Transformers, the actors' performances only rank relatively low on the list of considerations. Duke and Mike Dawson also had to think about how the protagonist's partners performed, whether the camera angles were appropriate, if the lighting was just right, and whether the weather conditions met the requirements…
Once the initial versions of the special effects by Industrial Light & Magic were completed, temporary dialogue, music, and sound effects had to be inserted into the sequence of shots.
The film was gradually taking shape, shedding its rough edges step by step. However, the footage shot on set didn't always match Duke's desired effect. A shot that was only 30 seconds long might turn into a two-minute sequence once special effects were added.
In Duke's view, the difficulty at this stage lay in how to carefully select the live-action footage while showcasing the Transformers' full power through special effects, and how to ensure that the Transformers and the actors appeared coordinated and natural after the effects were applied.
At the Transformers studio, daily production started in the morning with a review by the relevant department heads. The approved material was sent to Duke, and once he gave the green light, a few of his assistants would send the approved parts to the audio-visual tech department to be assembled into actual movie clips.
If someone wasn't interested in this kind of work, the process would definitely be extremely dull.
But Duke maintained tremendous enthusiasm for each day of post-production. Every workday morning, he would gather all the department heads together and discuss the production of several scenes that day in the fastest and most concise way possible.
There was one point that Duke emphasized almost every few days. He demanded tight control over the scenes to allow more screen time for the Transformers.
As the special effects continued to be completed, Duke became increasingly busy. Gone were the days of casually chatting over coffee like during the Oscar nominee luncheon. Even department heads had to race against time to communicate with him.
"Duke wants to see us take initiative, tirelessly exploring day and night for better results."
As an Oscar nominee for Best Editing, Mike Dawson once said in an interview, "He'll sit in front of the system and string together the selected shot fragments in sequence. Suddenly, these scattered parts come to life, glowing with spirit. He remembers every shot ever filmed—more vividly than we do. He has a pair of precise eyes and a strong sense of rhythm. Working with him, we have to do our best to keep up with his pace. Duke is very decisive, but he also welcomes good ideas from others."
Without a doubt, the final cut of Transformers would set a record for the most special effects shots ever used.
After Warner Bros. added further investment, the film would include over 2,000 special effects shots, all handled by Industrial Light & Magic. Their technical strengths environmental modeling, lighting, physical effects simulation, and the integration of CGI characters with real environments were on full display.
Among all the special effects shots, the most difficult one to handle was the group transformation of Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet. Duke used two cameras to shoot the material from different angles, and then ILM merged it into a CGI sequence.
Outstanding special effects visuals also required equally excellent sound effects to match.
At first, Duke only planned to repeatedly modify the film clips without generating sound effects using 5.1 surround sound.
The Transformers studio did have a 5.1 surround sound system, but since they were constantly racing against time to modify the visuals, there was no time to worry about the audio track.
However, if issues arose with the audio later and required backtracking, it would definitely add a massive workload. So Duke came up with a compromise.
The crew extracted and split the 24-track audio files, creating left channel, right channel, and surround mixing files, or stored them as low-frequency files with rougher sound quality, then categorized these along with the corresponding visuals.
When needed for 5.1 surround playback, they would retrieve the original sound files that matched the visuals and merge them together.
This approach proved to be seamless in execution.
In addition, the military had representatives stationed at the Warner Bros. studio to keep up with and provide feedback on Transformers' progress.
This also indirectly highlighted the influence of Duke's film. Anyone in America with a bit of sense knew that Duke was making a truly mass-market film one that would reach countless people worldwide through big screens, the Internet, DVDs, and televisions. Since the Pentagon had sponsored his film, it was only natural that the military's image be portrayed positively.
In this regard, Duke had always maintained a good reputation. He had cooperated with the Pentagon for years and was not foolish enough to think the Pentagon was filled with idiots.
Even in North America, tanks and fighter jets weren't things you could casually borrow. If you wanted to use them in a film, you had to work with the military.
During post-production, Duke also ensured that the U.S. military was portrayed as grand and positive.
Whether in the battle scenes, dialogue, or uniforms, the film reflected the values of today's U.S. military. For example, in the film, soldiers referred to the Transformers as "non-biological extraterrestrial life forms," showcasing the military's fondness for using verbose and peculiar tech jargon.
Perhaps because they were highly satisfied with the crew, the Pentagon even sent people to participate in several promotional events for Transformers at a comic convention in New York in February.
"Director Rosenberg is responsible for the Hollywood aspect of the film. We handle the military parts, and our cooperation has been very smooth."
Colonel Paul Schiller from the Pentagon's Public Affairs Office even gave a special interview to CNN. "Cooperation between the military and the entertainment industry helps make the military look more human. We're not just here to protect the country, though that's our top priority. This film will help the public understand that the military also has a human side. Wherever protection and help are needed, we'll be there."
Although the colonel's words were full of American exceptionalism, this was, after all, propaganda aimed at North America.
Of course, the main focus of the publicity campaign was still on Duke. Even though he wouldn't stay in New York for long, he still took part in the promotional event and accepted an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair magazine. Making this movie was important, but promoting it was equally so.
Since Duke had given an extremely limited time for the interview, the female reporter sent by Vanity Fair didn't beat around the bush once she sat down opposite him and got straight to the point.
Pointing at the huge promotional poster, she asked, "So the film's main theme is 'a boy and his beloved car'?"
"My colleagues and I worked very hard to ensure the storytelling perspective genuinely came from the child's point of view," Duke said, arms resting on the chair's armrests, speaking rather quickly. "But from the start, I also added military elements to make the film tougher, more intense, more thrilling."
The female reporter glanced down at her notebook and asked again, "Did you ever consider who the target audience for this film would be?"
"I used to think it would mostly appeal to kids and young people in their twenties."
These were thoughts Duke had during production. "The military sent some people to help us. On the first day I worked with them on set, I actually felt a bit embarrassed…"
He mimicked a greeting gesture. "I said to the forty or so soldiers, 'Hi everyone. I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but please imagine a 40-foot-tall robot standing here. He's about to take off and then land over there.' They immediately asked, 'Which robot? Starscream or Megatron?' I was the one shocked instead how did these military guys know about that? That moment made me realize the Transformers had a much broader impact than I'd ever imagined."
Pointing at Optimus Prime and the truck in the poster, the female reporter said, "You changed Optimus Prime's design, and a lot of Transformers fans were outraged. There were even rumors you received death threats?"
"No, I only received a lot of very interesting feedback."
Although someone had indeed mailed something like that to the studio, Duke didn't take it seriously. "They said things like, 'Damn you, Duke Rosenberg, you've destroyed my childhood dreams; Duke Rosenberg, I'm going to kill you.' I kind of understand how they feel. You know, people always look back on their childhood with affection and nostalgia."
At this point, Duke couldn't help but laugh. "To be honest, their minds are stuck in the cartoon. Very few people seriously think about what Transformers should actually look like because they're unwilling to let go of childhood memories."
"Duke, earlier this year, a few European directors criticized you for being unambitious…"
Seeing the time was about up, the female reporter asked a sensitive question. "They accused you of not making films at all, but rather of destroying the art of cinema."
"I don't see it that way. I'm proud of the filmmaking style I've chosen."
The media did hype up the event earlier in the year, but Duke had been busy with the post-production of Transformers and couldn't be bothered to respond. Besides, those so-called European directors might have been using the opportunity to promote themselves.
Duke thought seriously for a moment and then added, "In life, I'm pretty optimistic. People who attack me don't truly understand me. They think what I do isn't art. For example, this morning a foreign Hollywood reporter came to me and directly asked, 'Don't you plan to move toward art films, to make something more meaningful?'"
He spread his hands. "I said, 'Are you kidding me?' The Optimus Prime image hanging behind me took an entire team of artists working tirelessly. Compared to shooting a low-budget art film in southern France, making an action blockbuster is much harder. Take Optimus Prime, for instance making a nonexistent object appear to have a soul and intelligence, that's the essence of art. Strangely, many people think it's just a cheap trick."