The intricate tapestry of Prime Video’s latest sci-fi thriller, Mercy, unfolds within the confines of a near-future judicial system where artificial intelligence dictates the fate of the accused. In this high-pressure environment, defendants are granted a mere 90 minutes to prove their innocence. This unique premise, centered around a protagonist confined to a chair before a colossal monitor, armed with access to a deluge of camera feeds and databases, presented the film’s editorial team with an unprecedented set of challenges. Director Timur Bekmambetov, known for his visually dynamic approach, tasked his editorial collaborators—Lam T. Nguyen, Austin Keeling, and later the acclaimed Dody Dorn—with orchestrating a cinematic experience where multiple, often amplified, screens became a primary narrative device. The sheer volume of visual information, sometimes encompassing over 20 simultaneous camera feeds, necessitated a meticulous and innovative approach to post-production.
The Genesis of a Complex Visual Narrative
The script for Mercy was meticulously dissected and distributed, with editors Lam T. Nguyen and Austin Keeling initially dividing the workload into approximately 25 distinct sections. This division, however, was fluid, fostering a collaborative environment where every segment of the film underwent dual scrutiny. "Once we had finished a pass, we would just trade back and forth," explains Keeling. "By the end, Lam and I had touched every single part of the movie. It was not like I edited this scene and Lam edited that scene. We had both worked on all of it." This integrated workflow ensured a cohesive vision throughout the editing process.
The arrival of Dody Dorn, an editor with an impressive filmography, marked a pivotal stage. Dorn reviewed the existing cut and provided targeted notes, primarily focusing on refining the film’s opening and closing sequences, particularly those depicting Chris Pratt’s character outside the central interrogation chair. "When Dody Dorn came in, she watched the cut and gave us notes on specific sequences," Keeling elaborates. "We tweaked a few things, but mostly she worked on the opening and the end sequence when Chris Pratt is out of the chair. It was like Dody was working on one thing on her own, and Lam and I were working on the rest of the bits. Then we would all meet together, have notes, and adjust." This layered approach allowed for specialized refinement while maintaining the overarching narrative flow.
Orchestrating the Visual Onslaught: The Role of Assistant Editors
The immense task of managing the film’s visual complexity was significantly eased by the dedicated efforts of assistant editors Jack McKee and Alison Chang. Their proactive organization of the vast amount of footage proved critical from the outset. "Jack and Alison were keen on organizing the files before we even started, like stock footage in stock footage folders and daily footage in daily footage folders," states Nguyen. "Austin and I have done a couple of these screen life projects where it could get so hectic and you get lost in the weeds of the files, so that was critical to organize first." This foundational organization prevented the editorial team from being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of assets.
Despite meticulous pre-planning, the production presented continuous "learn as you go" scenarios. The editorial team frequently encountered unforeseen additions to the visual material. "We thought we would have all the material, and then they dumped more cameras on us, and suddenly there would be five more body cams and some things we had never seen," Keeling remarks. This constant influx of new elements, coupled with the integration of extensive graphics and animated widgets, created a dynamic and often unpredictable workflow. "And then on top of all that, the graphics, all of the different animated widgets. There were so many things on top of just the footage that we had to juggle. It was tough because, ‘This document appears in scene 47. Do we put it in scene 47 or do we put it in documents?’ We were constantly shifting as we went and learning how to handle the onslaught of so much material." This adaptability was paramount to bringing the film to completion.
The Unseen Dance: Editorial and Visual Effects Collaboration
In a production where the narrative is in constant flux, the concept of a "locked cut" becomes a fluid aspiration rather than a definitive endpoint. This dynamic nature placed significant demands on the editorial department, with continuous alterations often causing ripple effects for other production teams, particularly visual effects. "We worked really closely with the visual effects team, and Timur wanted to keep making changes all the way up until the very end," notes Keeling. "You’d think something was locked and the visual effects team would be happy and moving forward. But we’d be like, ‘Oh, sorry, guys, we made a million changes.’"
This iterative process underscored the critical importance of daily, transparent communication between the editorial and visual effects departments. "We had a great amount of support from the whole visual effects team," Nguyen shares. "The three or four visual effects editors, the visual effects supervisor, and the visual effects producer had to communicate daily with each other. What changes were made on every edit had to be communicated. They were always tasked to make sure that they’re paying attention to our little details, little movements, and little camera focus. It had to be exact, so we had to communicate that." The partnership with DNEG, a prominent visual effects company, was instrumental, necessitating the development of a new turnover workflow to accommodate the film’s unique demands. This collaborative synergy ensured that the intricate visual elements seamlessly integrated with the evolving narrative.
Directing the Gaze: Crafting Point-of-View Sequences
A significant challenge and creative opportunity in Mercy lay in constructing the film’s numerous point-of-view (POV) camera angles. When the protagonist, Chris Raven (Chris Pratt), observes Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson) or the information she presents, the audience sees precisely what he sees. However, the raw footage often consisted of simple shots of the actors against a bluescreen. The editorial team, in essence, became virtual set designers and cinematographers. "What was unique about this film is that we essentially created all of the POV camera angles that you see," states Keeling. "Anytime Chris Pratt’s character, Chris Raven, is looking at Judge Maddox [Rebecca Ferguson], and we see what he’s looking at, we created that camera because what we were given was just a shot of Rebecca Ferguson on a bluescreen. We had to put her into the chamber, put all of the material around her that she’s pulling up [files and windows], and create a camera within that wide shot to direct the audience to look at what Chris Pratt’s character is looking at."
This process involved meticulously compositing Rebecca Ferguson into the sterile, screen-filled environment of the interrogation chamber and then animating camera movements within that composite to guide the viewer’s attention. This created an immersive experience that transcended static filming, allowing the narrative to dynamically shift focus based on the character’s gaze.
The Art of Focus: Employing Editorial as a Cinematographic Tool
Beyond constructing POV shots, the editorial team employed sophisticated techniques to manipulate focus, a function typically handled by the cinematographer or camera department. In Mercy, elements like the chamber background, the actor’s performance, and the plethora of on-screen data all needed to exist within the same frame, often requiring selective emphasis. "There’s the chamber background, Rebecca Ferguson, and all of this material in the same level of focus," explains Keeling. "We separated those into different layers and manually applied a Gaussian blur effect to certain levels, and then animated that with keyframes to go back and forth between different levels of focus. If we wanted Rebecca Ferguson to be what he’s focusing on, we’d blur out all the screens in the background. Then he moves his focus to one of the screens, and suddenly Rebecca goes into a blur, and these things come into sharp focus. This is something we don’t normally deal with as editors."
This innovative application of visual effects, particularly Gaussian blur and keyframe animation, allowed the editors to dynamically direct the audience’s attention, mirroring the psychological state of the protagonist and enhancing the narrative’s intensity. This blurring and sharpening of elements within the frame became a crucial editorial tool, augmenting the storytelling beyond simple shot selection.
Previsualization and Storyboarding: Building the Blueprint
The production of Mercy benefited significantly from extensive previsualization (previs) undertaken before principal photography commenced. This allowed the filmmakers to map out complex sequences and establish a visual roadmap. "The production team used that as a blueprint and would rely on us as we rolled edits, like, ‘How’s this looking? Is this working in the edit?’" remarks Nguyen. Director Timur Bekmambetov emphasized the importance of centering the story’s focus on the screen, a principle that the editorial team then translated into visual language. "I remember we had a meeting with Timur, and he’s like, ‘Everything that we need to focus on in the story is centered on the screen.’ Then we used the blur effect to focus the attention of the audience even more."
While storyboards provided a foundational visual guide, the dynamic nature of the film’s environment—particularly the precise layout and interaction of the multiple screens within the chamber—required significant on-the-fly collaboration. "There’s a huge chase through a building in downtown Los Angeles, and we wouldn’t have footage for that yet, so we would use the storyboard," states Keeling. "There wasn’t necessarily an exact storyboard to illustrate what that layout would be for every setup of how the screens were positioned in the chamber. A lot of times, the storyboards we were getting were more the action footage and close-ups of things that we hadn’t gotten shot yet. The layout of the screens in the chamber ultimately came from Lam and me and Timur working together in the editing room." This blend of pre-planning and in-the-moment creative problem-solving was essential to realizing the film’s unique visual architecture.
Iterative Design: The Editor as Animator
The editorial process for Mercy was characterized by a high degree of iteration, transforming the editing suite into a virtual animation studio. "We built out the sequences wide to get a feel for the story first, and then we did the dynamic push, pulls, and zooms," remarks Nguyen. "The pro is that we could make changes in the edit without actually physically going to reshoot something. The con was breaking down the puzzle, recreating the shot, and reanimating again. We were almost like animators, redrawing everything again. Every change was almost starting from scratch by taking the fundamental elements that we already have." This constant refinement, while offering creative freedom, demanded significant time and computational resources. The editorial team relied heavily on Adobe Premiere Pro to manage the complex layering and animation required to accommodate these continuous adjustments.
Navigating Diverse Visual Styles and Formats
The film’s narrative structure necessitated a variety of visual presentations, from expansive action sequences to intimate character moments. "There’s a chase through downtown, in a hotel in Hollywood, and on the beach," Keeling observes. For these larger-scale sequences, the team often created separate timelines to meticulously edit the action before integrating it back into the on-screen displays. However, more immediate interactions, such as FaceTime calls, were kept within the main timeline to preserve the real-time feel of Chris Pratt’s performance.
The climax of the film, a multi-faceted sequence involving a truck chase and an ongoing investigation, exemplified the editorial team’s ability to manage parallel storylines. "Austin and I would switch tasks," remarks Nguyen. "I’d do the investigation and Austin would work on the truck chase. Then we would swap so we made sure that you could track the investigation part and the same thing with the truck chase. Then we had to intercut them, but at least the stories and subthemes are there." This parallel editing approach ensured that both narrative threads were compelling and coherent, ultimately converging in a dramatic fashion.
The Constraints of Performance and the Expansive Coverage
Chris Pratt’s central performance, largely confined to a chair, presented a unique challenge in terms of camera coverage and maintaining visual dynamism. The editorial team actively influenced on-set shooting decisions to ensure sufficient material for their needs. "Lam and I were on set during production, so we were definitely like, ‘Hey, can we get some wide angles here? Can we get a different aerial down?’" laughs Keeling. "We made a whole wish list that they printed out. We got a lot of the stuff that we requested. But yeah, the nature of the film is this chamber piece between two characters sitting in a room. What was lucky is we had the freedom to create these camera angles from the POV and introduce all of these other elements around Chris; that’s how we made sure it was never stagnating too much in just shots of him."
The sheer volume of captured footage was staggering, with scenes often utilizing a multitude of cameras: security cams, drone cams, dash cams, body cams, and main cameras. Keeling recalls one instance where a scene was shot entirely on a cellphone, held by someone walking through a location, simply to capture a specific angle. This abundance of material required extensive sifting and organization to extract the most impactful shots.
The Crucial Role of Color Grading and Virtual Production
The diverse range of footage formats demanded meticulous color grading to ensure visual consistency. The editorial team consulted real-world camera specifications to achieve accurate replications. "We used research footage of what the real camera looks like to make sure that the replication was accurate," reveals Nguyen. "And the grading, oh my god, I didn’t envy the colorist, as he had to grade each layer within a piece of footage. That meant he had to break it up, color the five different screens, grade each one individually, then we put it back in, placing the final look over Chris or Rebecca Ferguson." The Director of Photography, Khalid Mohtaseb, also provided input, ensuring that only the footage within the chamber maintained a high-resolution, IMAX-like quality, while external footage was intentionally degraded to enhance the cinematic contrast when transitioning back to the central narrative.
Virtual production played a significant role in the chamber scenes, utilizing LED volumes to display previsualized content. "I would just say that the volume was cool because we had made that previs before production started, tweaked it, and got it down to a good place," states Keeling. "And they took our previs and actually put that up on the volume so that when there was a scene that Chris was talking to a FaceTime image, it would actually pop up in front of him. It was nice to see our work being translated onto the volume stage and used as essentially a guideline for the way they shot the movie. That was an exciting thing that we had never done before, so it was cool." This integration of editorial previs into the virtual production workflow streamlined the shooting process and ensured that the visual elements were seamlessly integrated into the live-action environment.
The Human Touch: A Testament to Craftsmanship
In an era increasingly defined by artificial intelligence, the editorial team of Mercy proudly emphasized the human element behind the film’s creation. Nguyen notes the film’s genre-bending nature, blending sci-fi action thriller with murder mystery, all while maintaining a traditional cinematic pace. "It’s a sci-fi, action thriller, but it’s also a murder mystery with clues to track. It’s keeping the pace as a normal, traditional film while also doing all this extra work with visual effects and animation and keyframing." He concludes with a statement of pride: "In the end, what we really wanted to express was no AI was used in the final version of this film. It’s all done by the human touch with editorial and visual effects, so that’s what we feel most proud of." This declaration highlights the dedication and skill of the human artists who crafted the complex visual and narrative landscape of Mercy, underscoring the enduring power of human creativity in filmmaking.
