Eddie Hamilton ACE, editor of Top Gun: Maverick, has shared the full Avid Media Composer timeline, which is available for download as high-res images. Check out this amazing art form that was crafted from 830 hours of footage.
Eddie Hamilton ACE is currently editing the next chapter in the Mission: Impossible film series. Prior to that, Eddie cut Paramount Pictures’ Top Gun: Maverick, directed by Joe Kosinski, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation for director Christopher McQuarrie. Other credits include Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, X-Men: First Class, and Kick-Ass for director Matthew Vaughn. After 23 years in the industry, Eddie has made over 20 feature films (both independent and studio) in a wide variety of genres as well as award-winning television series, documentaries and short films. Eddie specializes in Avid Media Composer, and has been using this NLE since 1994. For example, he has given presentations on Media Composer at NAB and IBC. Eddie is a Fellow of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, American Film Editors and BAFTA.
There is no doubt that in Top Gun: Maverick a great amount of effort and attention to detail has been invested during the editing process. The film is a perfect example of a precise combination of storytelling and technology. We wrote a lot articles on the innovative cinematic techniques used to shoot the film. It appears Sony VENICE cameras inside the jet recorded between 20 minutes and 40 minutes on each flight. There were six VENICEs inside each plane, so do the math – A ton of footage! And that makes the rough cut really really rough and tough. Additionally, Top Gun: Maverick was filmed for about a year, which is a long time for the main stage of photography. According to Eddie, Tom Cruise was the dominant factor even during post-production (obviously) – he had the final say on how the film is cut. Eddie says Tom expects his editors to work hard and give their all to the process.
There were 830 hours of footage on Top Gun: Maverick. Eddie said he watched everything meticulously, to make sure all the best shots were in the final product. In a fascinating interview per NoFilmSchool, Eddie describes, “We go through the scenes dozens of times, just to make sure everything is locked down and the flaw is nothing less than perfect. Additionally, you stitch the sequences together around the main characters of the story, filtering out the less important parts that aren’t crucial to the story.” Eddie pointed out that everything flowed around the story, and not just creating a puzzle of beautiful pictures. Recently, Eddie shared the complete Top Gun: Maverick timeline as downloadable high resolution images (= art forms), which you can find these images spread in this article. Download the timeline here.
