How did you get involved in the project?
Rachel Fleit, the director, and I have known each other for years through a mutual friend. I’ve always admired her work and hoped to collaborate. We live very close to each other, both in Brooklyn and Amagansett. I was out one day grabbing lunch and I ran into her, and she told me about Sugar Babies. Our conversation naturally evolved and I joined the team as the editor. It seemed like everything aligned perfectly.
What attracted you to it?
The film exposes the struggle of what it is to be born with limited resources in this country. Poverty does not discriminate. We follow a resourceful, young woman creating opportunities for herself and others.
What scene sequence are you most proud of and why?
Without giving away any spoilers, one of my favourite scenes is an intimate and tense moment between two of our subjects, where I chose not to cut at all. Instead of breaking up the tension with edits, we see the moment unfold in real time – the stillness made it incredibly powerful, and added to the emotional weight of the moment.
Did you introduce any new techniques using any interesting tools?
I was intrigued by the creative possibilities of using visual effects and sound design to enhance the narrative. I experimented with mirroring and artificial glitches to reflect the characters’ divided life – one on her phone, and one in reality. I also used Adobe’s Speech to Text feature, which I’d only used once before on another project. It was a great tool for finding and managing dialogue and structuring narrative throughout the documentary. I also played with different audio mixing techniques in the Audio Effect panel, which was a slightly new approach for me.
What did you use to cut your project any why?
I used Adobe Premiere pro to cut Sugar Babies. It’s a pleasure to work with and it’s versatility allowed us to work at my office, in my living room and a few times outside on my deck near the beach. During the editing process, Rachel would camp out on my couch and use my TV for our monitor. The project incorporated footage from multiple sources, including iPhones, social media clips, various cameras, and Premiere Pro made it seamless to work with this mix without having to go through extensive conversions. I also utilized After Effects for tasks like removing unwanted signage and Frame.io to make notes on postings.
What was the most challenging aspect and how did you overcome it?
The biggest challenge was managing and organising several years worth of footage. Speech-to-Text transcription was incredibly helpful in streamlining the storytelling process. I was able to search for specific moments in massive amounts of material. There was a lot of handheld, verité-style shooting following multiple characters and many locations. Shooting outside, unwanted noise would occasionally make it into the background. I relied on warp stabilisation and audio clean up tools in Premiere Pro to enhance clarity.
What was the biggest learning curve?
There is always a learning curve to every project. It feels like pottery – you start with a lump of clay, and then you remove and sculpt and excavate to discover the story lying within. The best documentaries are about more than the story. Finding that meaning and figuring out how it reveals itself within a structured narrative is always a learning process (which is not easy and often uncomfortable).
I find meaning and feeling in music. It’s an emotional landscape and always an important part in my process. In editing Sugar Babies, Rachel and I contrasted the diegetic music the characters listen to with the delicate, inner “music” of the community. Wynne Bennett (the amazing composer) then took these ideas beautifully to the next level. She blew us both away!
