Resident Evil

Resident Evil editor Joe Murphy and music editor Scott Hedrick join The Rough Cut to discuss the picture and music editorial work behind Zach Cregger's reinvention of the legendary survival-horror franchise. For Joe, the film marks his third consecutive collaboration with Cregger following Barbarian and Weapons, while Scott brings a background as a music editor, score producer, composer and longtime musician to a film where sound, score and silence are essential parts of the suspense. Directed by Zach Cregger and written by Cregger and Shay Hatten, Resident Evil stars Austin Abrams as Bryan, a medical courier whose seemingly routine delivery sends him into Raccoon City on the worst possible night. As the city descends into chaos, Bryan is forced through an escalating series of encounters with infected residents, increasingly dangerous creatures and the larger biological nightmare consuming everything around him. The film also stars Zach Cherry, Kali Reis and Paul Walter Hauser. Rather than directly adapting the story of one of the games, Cregger approaches the movie through the experience of playing Resident Evil — moving through unfamiliar spaces, conserving resources, solving environmental problems and never knowing exactly what might be waiting around the next corner. In our conversation, Joe discusses translating that survival-horror grammar into cinematic pacing, maintaining Bryan's point of view through long stretches of action and exploration, and continuing the creative shorthand he and Cregger developed on their previous films. Having Scott onboard for the podcast allows us to take a look inside a different realm of post-production, hearing his explanation as to what a music editor contributes between picture editorial, the composers, the director and the final mix. We also discuss the score by Hays and Ryan Holladay, the use of low-frequency pulses and silence to create tension, the relationship between music and sound design, and how Scott helped reshape the musical approach to the film's ending.

Joe Murphy is an editor whose feature credits include Resident Evil, Weapons, Barbarian, On Swift Horses, Swallow, Beach Rats and We Summon the Darkness. His collaboration with writer-director Zach Cregger began with Barbarian and has continued through three consecutive features. Across those films, Joe's work has frequently explored character point of view, suspense, shifting tone and the precise control of information required to keep an audience engaged while withholding what may be waiting just outside the frame.

Scott Hedrick is a music editor, score producer, composer and musician whose film work spans music editorial, score production, additional composition and arrangement. His credits include projects such as Resident Evil, Novocaine, Twinless, Thelma and Cabrini. Before moving into film music, Scott spent many years as a founding member and guitarist of the metal band Skeletonwitch. He later studied film scoring at UCLA, bringing his background as both a performing musician and composer into a career that places him at the intersection of filmmakers, composers, picture editors and the final soundtrack.

Visit ExtremeMusic for all your production audio needs. Hear Joe discuss his previous collaboration with Zach Cregger on WEAPONS. Subscribe to The Rough Cut podcast and never miss an episode. Visit The Rough Cut on YouTube.