Film Trailer Editing: Finding Fulfillment (transcript)

Based on the sources provided, here is the transcript for the podcast episode featuring Yuhei Ogawa.

Yuhei Ogawa: It was very cutthroat and it's just the way it was. There will be times where like you spend a whole week cutting something and then you just told like this is wrong. You got to start over. There were a lot of like disappointments, you know, like what am I doing wrong?

Host (Wesley Slover): This is the Collab Collection, where we collect stories and useful insights about creative collaboration. I'm Wesley Slover. I became aware of today's guest through his podcast, Creative Kind, a show revolving around kindness in creativity. The podcast is lovely and, probably unsurprisingly to listeners of the Collab Collection, his passion for the interpersonal aspects of creative work really resonated with me.

But my curiosity was peaked when I learned he had years of experience working as a film trailer editor, a field that I'd always thought to be highly competitive and pretty brutal. So, I reached out to Yuhei Ogawa to hear about his career and gain some insights into how that led him to make a podcast about kindness.

Yuhei Ogawa: It took me like two to three years after we moved to LA to actually like break into the trailer industry. I kind of knew about like how tight-knit the trailer industry was.

Host: Before moving to LA, Yuhei had cut his teeth as an editor in Boston working on the show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. He used his experience in reality television to find work editing ads for TV shows with the goal of one day becoming a film trailer editor.

Yuhei Ogawa: I remember back in like 2003 saw the trailer for Matrix Reloaded or Matrix Revolutions or whatever and I'm just like, this is my dream. I want to cut something like this. So that's kind of always been the back of my head. I even remember actually like looking up some of the trailer agencies back then and remembering Trailer Park's name. And I was like, one day I will work for a company like this.

Host: He was able to leverage his experience to work for Trailer Park, one of the major trailer agencies. While they didn't hire him for film trailer editing initially, he got his foot in the door working on the TV side of things.

Yuhei Ogawa: They had like a film marketing department and then there's like a broadcast promo department. I was called for the broadcast promo department. My hope was that by working with them and kind of getting close with them, I can express my interest in getting into more of the film marketing side of things. And that's kind of exactly what happened. Eventually, I landed in the theatrical department of Trailer Park. They offered me full-time positions. So, I took it and yeah, I was like fully in the trenches.

Host: Working in trailers would be demanding, but Yuhei knew this going into the job.

Yuhei Ogawa: I met this guy, he was a very seasoned film marketer. He was a creative director at the time, but like he started in the business editing and so he really understood the business. When I told him that I was really interested in getting into movie trailers and stuff, he basically told me, "Why would you want to do this? Like you would just be miserable." That was his way of warning me just like, know what you're getting into. I really appreciated that because it definitely kind of raised my regard a little bit.

So I distinctly remember like when I started at Trailer Park, I was asked to come in on a weekend and I had plans with my family. I said no, I can't. I remember like the producer being like very taken aback by it—like this guy saying no to me. This guy say no to work. I mean he didn't say anything, but he really sounded surprised that I said no. I was pretty proud of myself in that moment. But over time, I definitely got kind of ground into this machine that was film marketing, for sure.

Host: When Yuhei was at Trailer Park, his job was to be one of several editors who would all cut trailers for the same movie. Then those would be presented to the studio. The name of the game was options: craft a lot of ideas so the film studio could choose the one they liked most.

Yuhei Ogawa: I think at one point there were like 50 to 60 editors working at Trailer Park. It was massive. Definitely one of the biggest trailer agencies back then for sure. So we could afford to put like up to seven editors on one campaign and just give seven different takes on a trailer or teaser to the client and then the client can just pick and choose. We just had to keep turning things out, you know, because clients will come in expecting to see five different options or whatever and that's kind of how they built their relationship.

Host: Yuhei would get assets for the trailer, then go off to his dark little editing bay rather than having a lot of communication and direction up front. Each editor would take a crack at it, and if it wasn't what the studio was looking for, their trailer would get killed.

Yuhei Ogawa: Editors really have to be autonomous. They really have to kind of figure out their own approach and just kind of run with it. You know, could be a good thing. You do get a lot of like creative liberty, but like there will be times where like you spend a whole week cutting something and then you're just told, "This is wrong. You got to start over." There were a lot of like disappointments, you know, like "What am I doing wrong?" Like so again, it was very cutthroat and it's just the way it was.

Host: He understands that it was just the business model and that there were good reasons for the process to be set up this way, but Yuhei feels like there were times when more communication would have really helped.

Yuhei Ogawa: Some of the worst moments were like four or five editors go into their room, cut stuff, and they realize that what they're cutting is really similar, but you don't know that until you show it to the producer, like the creative director, and they just tell you to change things because it's too similar to Editor A's cut or Editor B's cut.

And that's another thing that's funny is that like if you're working with the same title as the person next to you, you can hear everything this person is using and I was like, "Oh s***, like they're using the same sound bite or like wait, what is that sound bite? Like I want to use that." Get a little sound bite envy or music envy. "Oh, that music sounds awesome." So, it was just not a great environment mentally because you're constantly kind of questioning your decisions in your head based on what you hear around you.

Host: There are reasons why not all the editors had a direct line of communication—they were giving a lot of options and there wouldn't have been time for a lot of back and forth. But it's frustrating if you're working on something and given direction but don't have a clear idea of why you're doing it. The "why" helps to inform those decisions.

Yuhei Ogawa: It's always hard when you just get notes, you know, like in an email print out or something from a producer and like, "Hey, this is what you have to do." And I'm just like, "Why?" Like, you have no context of the right nuance of where this note was coming from. Those small things matter, right? It's not always easy to just kind of translate that from the call to a piece of paper. So, having the opportunity to actually like directly talk with the client, it made things so much better, so much more transparent.

Host: As Yuhei became more senior at Trailer Park, he began to be invited into more conversations, and it made a difference.

Yuhei Ogawa: There are moments where I'll be in the conference room with other senior editors to be able to kind of talk through some of our editorial decisions in each of our cuts, and those are always great because you can also kind of start to see the studio executive as a person, as a collaborator.

Host: After more than five years at Trailer Park, Yuhei left and is currently freelancing as a creative director and editor working on film and TV marketing.

Yuhei Ogawa: Trailer Park really kind of forced me to do some soul-searching in a way. Working at a place like Trailer Park was like—I basically reached my goal but I wasn't necessarily happy all the time, and that made me question why that is. You know, even if you finish something as cool as a Marvel trailer, I knew that wouldn't make me feel fulfilled. And so I've been just questioning about like, "So what does fulfill me? Like what does make me happy?" and it took a long time.

Host: This soul-searching sparked the idea for a personal project around the theme of kindness and creativity.

Yuhei Ogawa: Didn't really kind of become clear to me until like 2022, 2023—pretty much after the lockdown and just the whole sense of community, how we treat each other, the power of micro-actions.

Host: He knew he wanted to create something for himself, not a film studio client, but he wasn't sure what form this project would take.

Yuhei Ogawa: I just didn't know back then like what medium to put that on to. I always thought that because I'm an editor, an audio and visual guy, that I have to make like a documentary or like a video series—a YouTube series or something like that.

Host: But he's always had a love for audio storytelling, so he decided to make a podcast. But getting started with your own project can be hard. There's not a clear direction and it's a lot of work on top of everything else going on in life. Fortunately, Yuhei had some help.

Yuhei Ogawa: Basically, my friend kind of dared me to do it. Like, he's like, "You know, I know—I've noticed that you've been talking about this for years and I'm kind of sick of it. Like, if you're not going to do it, I'm not going to let you talk about it ever again." That's kind of like—I'm paraphrasing it, but that's basically what he said. And I'm just like, "You know what? f*** it. I'm going to do it."

He even like offered to do like a little like test recording with me—little Q&A. He pretended to be the interviewer and like I was the interviewee and just like, did like a little whole thing. And I don't know, I really appreciated that moment. Like you really need a friend like that to really kick you in the butt and just give you that nudge.

Host: So yeah, from there on he just started reaching out.

Yuhei Ogawa: All of like 2024 I was just interviewing people. I wasn't really editing. It was definitely an experiment. But once I just started talking to people and realizing how forthcoming all these people were about the really personal stories, I knew there was something there because I felt it.

As I was talking to these people, I really wanted other people to listen to these stories. In a way I kind of felt the pressure—and not pressure but in a good sense—"Man, these people really shared me their personal stories. Now I have the responsibility to really get this out to the world."

I felt like this was my way of giving back. This was my way to contribute in the sense that, you know, hear the stories of these really aspiring, kind, creative people. Right now I'm just focusing on the creative industry because that's what I've been part of for the past 20 years. But honestly, in whatever industry that you're in, try to be kinder to everybody that you interact with.

It's the way that we get better. I think the world gets better and it makes the work better too. When your teammates feel safe enough that they can give any kind of ideas, you will get the best creative because everybody's not afraid to just express, "Hi, hey, I have this crazy idea." That's how you get the best creative. It's about really taking care of people, making them feel safe in the environment that they're in so they can just naturally, organically come up with the most creative ideas.

Host: Yuhei's podcast is Creative Kind. We've included a link in our show notes. It's a wonderful podcast and I think it would really resonate with listeners of the Collab Collection.

This episode was written and produced by me, Wesley Slover, with help from Jake Merritt. It was mixed by Trevor Richardson. Our artwork and branding was created by Audrey Havey. She's a phenomenal collaborator and I cannot recommend her highly enough.

If you have any thoughts on collaboration, we would love to hear from you. Send us an email at the collab collection at sanctis.audio. The Collab Collection is a project of Sanctus Audio, a sound and music design studio. Hear our work at sanctis.audio. And if you could use a sonic collaborator, hit us up.