Lauren Brinkman is an LA-based documentary movie editor greatest identified for her work on The Final Dive, a characteristic documentary that premiered on the 2025 Tribeca Movie Competition, and Icarus: The Aftermath, which premiered on the Telluride Movie Competition in 2022. She has additionally edited for numerous streaming shops, together with HBO and Hulu. Previous to enhancing, Brinkman labored in growth at manufacturing firm Lightbox, the place she assisted on titles reminiscent of Tina and LA 92.
The Final Dive, directed by Cody Sheehy and produced by Random Good and Diamond Docs, is about an ex-Hell’s Angel named Terry Kennedy, who turned mates with a large Pacific manta ray named Willy within the Nineteen Eighties. For 30 years, Kennedy picked up his camcorder to movie his adventures with Willy, who gave him rides across the island on his again and taught him a deep respect for the ocean. Now 80 years outdated, Kennedy embarks on a last mission to seek out and reunite together with his greatest underwater buddy. The documentary sees present-day Kennedy dive the distant waters of San Benedicto Island, mind-meld with mantas, escape shark assaults and are available head to head together with his previous and his legacy.
Lauren Brinkman
We talked with Brinkman to seek out out extra about her work on the movie.
How early did you become involved? If early, how did that assist?
Fairly early. The director and I received related a couple of weeks earlier than the majority of principal pictures was shot and solely a couple of 12 months after he initially conceived of the movie. After chatting to Cody for a pair hours, I knew he had discovered a really particular and distinctive story — one which merged adrenaline, coronary heart, soul and thriller. I needed to come onboard.
On the time, Cody was making last preparations to movie the action-adventure backbone of the film — Terry’s two-week expedition to the manta island. Given the character of the shoot, it wouldn’t be attainable to get pickups later. So it was all palms on deck (actually) to place our heads collectively and be certain that they’d seize the constructing blocks I would wish within the edit. I used to be in a position to take a look at Cody’s capturing define and, together with our author/producer, contribute concepts on what was a prime precedence to seize. These few weeks of lead time have been additionally an incredible alternative to familiarize myself with the world of the film as a result of there was a ton to be taught – from “cruising” tradition (aka boat life) to diving practices, manta ray science and Terry himself. We editors should grow to be fast consultants on the world of each movie we minimize, so having time to do a deep dive on this movie undoubtedly gave me a leg up.
Are you aware what it was shot on?
Our cinematographers have been Likelihood Falkner and Johnny Friday. Johnny dealt with the underwater shoots on a Pink Epic Helium 8K, whereas Likelihood filmed above water on an FX6 outfitted with grasp prime lenses. The supplemental cameras we had in play have been a Canon C300 Mark II operated by our director, some diving GoPros, a drone and a few Sony FX3s filming mounted angles on the boat. And naturally, we are able to’t neglect the unsung cinematographer on this undertaking — Terry Kennedy together with his trusty DV camcorder, who equipped our archival footage from the ‘80s, ‘90s and 2000s.
How did you’re employed with the director? How usually was he taking a look at your minimize?
The director and I labored very carefully all through the edit. Cody had edited most of his previous initiatives himself, so this was his first time being totally within the director’s chair. To start with he wished to see issues rapidly, so I turned over small segments as they have been being completed for a fast response. Cody lives a part of the 12 months on a ship in Mexico in Terry’s neck of the woods, and the world of the movie is super-specific to that tradition, so it was a bonus that I got here into this with none background in boating or diving. Any time period I didn’t acknowledge was going to should be defined within the movie.
As soon as we handed the tough minimize part, Cody considered cuts extra sparingly to protect objectivity. After six months within the edit, there was a danger of me turning into desensitized, so it was essential for the director to be that clear voice for the viewers. Viewers check screenings are so necessary for that motive as nicely.
Total, it was a really collaborative course of. We talked regularly about huge ideas, not simply the day-to-day notes. One in all my favourite moments of collaboration was in how the ending scene of the movie got here to fruition. It was a real melding of Cody’s imaginative and prescient and my very own instincts, with every one among us bringing a key a part of the formulation to the desk — finally aided by composer Paul Leonard-Morgan’s magic contact.
Was there a specific scene, or scenes, that have been most difficult?
Probably the most tough scenes to calibrate have been in Act 1. Within the first 10 minutes of the movie, there’s a key archival sequence that units up Terry’s relationship with Willy and his motives for going again out on a mission to seek out him. With that scene, in addition to with the sequence of Terry’s backstory a couple of minutes later, we struggled with the steadiness of knowledge versus runtime. How a lot does the viewers really need and must know? How can we kick off the stakes and arrange these characters with out delaying the story? The “mantas 101” scene with marine biologist Bob Rubin was difficult for a similar motive. We needed to determine on the correct quantity of science to incorporate primarily based on our viewers suggestions, and we selected a extra minimal method to depart extra room for Terry and Willy’s emotional relationship.
One other difficult scene was the chilly open, just because for some time we didn’t have a agency concept of what it must be. We bounced concepts round for months: What a couple of murky underwater sequence? Or Terry on the island? We knew we wished to finally land on this nice sit-down introduction of Terry in an interview setup, however we didn’t know the way to get there. I began taking part in round with a visually impressionistic opening of voiceover and waves, intercut with archival mayhem of Terry’s previous, to ascertain his advanced relationship with the water (a recurring theme of the movie). Quickly after, I got here throughout the present query in our interview setup — “How would you outline friendship?” — and it was like, eureka! That’s it! The apparent solutions are generally the toughest to consider outright.
Cody Sheehy
Did you do greater than edit on this movie?
As a result of I used to be working carefully with the director, it was an natural course of to weigh in on different facets of the movie. I suggested on pickup shoots, isolated in on one and joined Cody and his sound staff for the ultimate combine, however fortunately I didn’t should put on too many hats.
Are you able to speak about your enhancing workflow?
My enhancing workflow modifications with the stage of the edit we’re in. For documentaries, a lot of the work is within the preparation. The primary two or three weeks I’m studying, breaking down paper transcripts, compiling music playlists and watching/marking up footage — key non-editing duties that purchase the AE time to complete undertaking setup. Then, once I’m prepared to interrupt floor, it may be so rewarding to start out with a scene or two that actually defines the movie that everybody is worked up to see. For this film, I began with the present-day dive, when Terry swims with mantas for the primary time in 10 years. It was emotional, it used a few of our greatest ocean glory photographs, and it received everybody jazzed up whereas serving to to set the tone of what we have been working towards.
I do all of that prep work as a result of once I’m constructing a brand new scene, I must have a top-down understanding of all the weather earlier than I begin. I actually don’t like discovering superb footage after the actual fact as a result of it would fully change how I’d have approached the construct. I attempt to choose one of the best footage after which pair it with a music observe that evokes the correct elevated feeling for the movie. Music is a core a part of the method as a result of that’s the place you get so as to add your emotional perspective to the story.
What system did you utilize to chop and why?
There are professionals and cons to any system, however Avid Media Composer is my go-to for characteristic documentaries. In my expertise it’s extra steady at bigger undertaking sizes. In case you’ve ever seen the beast that may be a documentary timeline (to not point out the 1000’s of WIP-timelines hiding within the editor’s private folders), then you definitely’ll perceive why that’s necessary.
For the uninitiated, Avid is regarded as extra steady due to its decentralized structure. (You’ll by no means have to fret about a complete undertaking file turning into corrupted as a result of corruptions can solely occur to particular person bins.) The principles for importing Avid media are additionally stricter, which suggests a extra buttoned-up method to media administration. That is nice for documentaries in the long term, when you might have media coming from all kinds of sources and would possibly want that additional push to remain organized.
Is there a device inside that system that was significantly useful?
Oh, the standard Marker device! The footage for this movie consisted of interviews, two weeks of expedition verité, and 30 years of Terry’s house video. You should utilize transcripts to parse interviews and uncomplicated verité, however low-fidelity archival is tough to transcribe, and there’s no sound in underwater footage, so all of that footage needed to be watched. To kind by way of the whole lot, I constructed a marker library of thematic and visible key phrases, which is rather a lot sooner to construct and search by way of than selects timelines.
I marked up underwater visuals of individuals, actions and mantas (e.g., “Terry excited!” or “tears in eyes”), and naturally, any nice archival moments that needed to be included (“dildo joke #3!”). I particularly wished to seek out visible and thematic “sync factors” between the previous and current timelines, so generally I’d mark photographs that regarded an identical throughout the mediums or photographs the place matching previous and current subjects or themes have been being mentioned.
How did you handle your time?
On this undertaking I used to be initially scheduled for a six-month edit, so there was a ton of stress to maneuver quick. The purpose was to transform the written define into an meeting as quick as attainable to depart probably the most period of time for revisions. The amount of content material was a problem. I needed to begin slicing with no clear concept of what was within the archive, and this was a recreation of fixed catch-up.
We reached the primary meeting in 5 months, however it was filled with clear areas for enchancment and issues to chop. As soon as we hit our first tough minimize at six months, the method began accelerating. By then we have been fairly clear in regards to the form the movie was taking, so we have been capable of slender our give attention to a very powerful parts of the Terry-Willy friendship. The edit took 9 months in whole, after accounting for the weeks I used to be away from the undertaking.
You talked about your assistant editor? Who was it?
My AE was Roxanna Peykamian. She did an incredible job of holding the undertaking organized, helped me put collectively the very detailed marker library, and assembled a number of scenes too. I couldn’t have completed this undertaking with out her assist.
How do you handle producers’ expectations with actuality/what can actually be performed?
I’ve come to seek out that managing expectations is the job simply as a lot as enhancing itself. We work in a collaborative medium. Producers signal onto a undertaking as a result of they consider in an concept and the director’s imaginative and prescient for it. However as you understand, the buck stops with the footage, and the editor’s the one holding that bag. Even when shoots are extremely profitable, the primary meeting of something shall be extraordinarily tough. Enhancing, like writing a script, is a course of to be guided, not managed. It’s a posh means of discovery, failure and seeing what sticks. For that motive, many of the unrealistic expectations I’ve encountered in my profession have been about how lengthy an edit ought to take. (The rule of thumb, in keeping with the Affiliation of Documentary Enhancing, is one month per 10 minutes of completed content material.)
Different expectations that I’ve needed to handle prior to now contain a producer or director imagining one story end result and really capturing one other. This can be a characteristic, not a bug, of documentary filmmaking – real-life topics will be unpinnable on sure points and shockingly extra revealing in different areas, and verité narratives are always evolving or spinning off in new instructions. So long as the footage is shot nicely and there’s sufficient of it, you may sometimes make one other method work to your story. Oftentimes, you even come out with a product higher than the one initially envisioned.
How do you are taking criticism? Do you end up defensive or accepting of others’ concepts (good and dangerous)?
We not often speak about this a part of the job, however dealing with suggestions is a vital (and learnable) talent. A number of the time, my response to notes boils down to a couple questions. Is the tone of the suggestions respectful? Are the critiquer and I on the identical web page and dealing towards the identical objectives? Does the critiquer perceive the enhancing course of, and are they versatile or collaborative of their considering? How a lot effort did I put right into a section, and did I’ve ample time/assets to complete it? If a word checks the above containers, then I can often take it in stride. If it’s an remark that I agree with, all the better.
I can get pissed off with notes that really feel overly nit-picky or missing in consciousness of the story or tempo of enhancing. Coping with notes I disagree with will be tough, too, however often I attempt to pin down the “word behind the word” and discover widespread floor, even when our proposed options don’t look the identical. You possibly can’t make an incredible movie with out a number of suggestions, and which means opening your self as much as the nice, the dangerous and, sure, the ugly! I identical to to remind myself and my collaborators that we are able to parse any disagreement if we’re all working towards the identical North Star.
When somebody who’s beginning out asks what they need to be taught, what do you suggest?
If somebody desires to pursue documentary enhancing, a very powerful lifelong expertise they will develop are their story instincts. Nobody is born a storytelling genius. The one technique to develop it’s by way of observe and, in my humble opinion, a wholesome dose of early failure. I consider one of the simplest ways to construct storytelling power and confidence is by directing your individual documentaries. Go movie one thing. You’ll be taught in a short time what does and doesn’t work within the edit. In addition to that, be taught the technical expertise of enhancing and put your self within the rooms the place it occurs. You can begin as an AE or just encompass your self with different filmmakers, and also you’ll be taught the craft whereas additionally opening your self as much as new alternatives.
