Menna Wakeford
- Art Department
- Cinematographer
- Editorial Department
Menna Wakeford is the co-director of Everyfield Films - a production house that specialises in documentary film and the fast turnaround market of live sports broadcasting. Clients include Sky Sports, BBC, F1TV, BT Sports, Channel 9 (AUS) and The North Face.
Menna studied Fine Art and worked as graphic designer for several years before going back to university, gaining a first-class degree and PGCert.
She has worked as a camera op, producer and director but has "come to feel most alive in the edit - where I can be a creative, but also a nurturer.
I think the biggest misconception about the role of an editor is that it's a technical job, after the main production work has been carried out. But an editor can be a major storyteller of the film.
We're responsible for combining the directors vision with the hours of footage that was filmed, to find the most impactful way to convey a story. Rooting around to find the best content (a treasure hunt!), setting the tone and pacing, crafting cuts that may tell more about the story than the words, considering the way music and sound may land - sometimes even restructuring the whole story in the edit. I love this idea that you're not supposed to notice the edit - you're meant to feel it.
But collaboration is key. I love how Walter Murch puts it - that it's an editor's job to get a reaction from the director in order to spark dialogue that will "lead to something better than either of us could have come up with individually".
I love this journey - the collaboration and the dialogue involved in forming the arc of the stories and characters to create something special."
Menna studied Fine Art and worked as graphic designer for several years before going back to university, gaining a first-class degree and PGCert.
She has worked as a camera op, producer and director but has "come to feel most alive in the edit - where I can be a creative, but also a nurturer.
I think the biggest misconception about the role of an editor is that it's a technical job, after the main production work has been carried out. But an editor can be a major storyteller of the film.
We're responsible for combining the directors vision with the hours of footage that was filmed, to find the most impactful way to convey a story. Rooting around to find the best content (a treasure hunt!), setting the tone and pacing, crafting cuts that may tell more about the story than the words, considering the way music and sound may land - sometimes even restructuring the whole story in the edit. I love this idea that you're not supposed to notice the edit - you're meant to feel it.
But collaboration is key. I love how Walter Murch puts it - that it's an editor's job to get a reaction from the director in order to spark dialogue that will "lead to something better than either of us could have come up with individually".
I love this journey - the collaboration and the dialogue involved in forming the arc of the stories and characters to create something special."