After three seasons of Heartstopper on Netflix, the beloved characters came back for a movie ending in
Heartstopper Forever, which explores new challenges that lay ahead with Nick getting ready to leave for university and Charlie taking on new responsibilities at school.
Heartstopper Forever began streaming on July 17th.
Editor Todd Downing (pictured) was brought in to cut the project by director Wash Westmoreland. Together, they collaborated on both the film's tone and plot points. Downing recently shared details on his workflow for the project, including the tools he relied on and some of the challenges he faced in wrapping up storylines among the film's characters.
Todd, how did you approach the pacing and tone transition of Heartstopper going from a TV show to a movie?
“It was a delicate balance. The creators of the series wanted something more ‘mature’ since the characters are about to go off to university, but at the same time, you don’t want to go (too far) from the series. It had to feel organically different. I think this is why they hired Wash Westmoreland, a film director, for the finale. He has a history of making films for an adult audience, but with a sensitivity that lends itself to the Heartstopper world.”
Tell us about your editing setup and workflow.
“I used Avid Media Composer, which is what I almost always use. I would get dailies from set and be in contact with Wash almost every day to talk about what they looked like, if he was getting what he wanted, etc. As soon as the shoot was over, we had a good amount of time for his director’s cut before working with the producers, which is always nice. There’s nothing worse than turning in a cut that’s half finished. That doesn’t help anyone.”
Beyond your Avid, did you use any additional tools or plug-ins?
“I was remote when they were shooting and used Jump Desktop for that. It was pretty standard with additional tools and plug-ins: After Effects, Izotope noise reduction, etc.”
In addition to the main storyline, there are side stories that needed to be wrapped up. How did you handle that?
“That’s mostly in the script. There definitely wasn’t enough time to do a deep dive into eight or more characters’ lives, so Alice focused on the Joe and Charlie storyline. This is not to say the others were ignored. They all had arcs as well that tied up nicely - or had some intriguing ambiguity - but just not as much screen time. I feel like she could have written four films, each focusing on all the other characters. There’s so much story for all of them and they are all fascinating characters.”
Let’s talk about the party sequence, and how you showed the same scene from a number of perspectives.
“After they break up at the party, we follow Charlie and Nick’s journeys individually. First Charlie, then the film loops back and shows Nick’s point of view. Our first instinct is basically what we went with though: repeating part of scene that starts with an extreme closeup on car keys and the sound of the car beeping to clue the audience in that we’ve gone back in time. It’s such a specific shot, we didn’t need much more than that. We didn’t want to be too obvious with a Chyron or anything. We wanted to do it more cinematically and let the audience figure it out.”
What sequences did you enjoy cutting the most?
“I really loved editing party scenes and post-break up scenes that looped with a kind of Rashomon effect. Finding our way in and out of each character’s point of view was so satisfying. We got to use really cinematic storytelling. It was less challenging than it was worrying. I think we nailed it quite early in the process, but as the cut went up the ladder, I worried someone was going to say, ‘The audience will be lost! Tell them what they are seeing!’ Thank God, they didn’t.
“Another section I loved editing was the prologue. I’ve never had a prologue before! Checking in with all the characters after a jump in time - some stories being wrapped up, some more ambiguous - felt very gratifying. The camera movements by DP James Rhodes were so well choreographed I could cut them together so the whole thing felt almost like a dance. It was a very satisfying moment in terms of fusing style and storytelling.”