As an editor of live-action films, how did you end up in the world of animations?

László Csáki’s first chalk animation, “Days that Were Filled with Sense by Fear” was my first non-live-action work. We were cooperating intensely with Laci at the beginning of our career, so it was somehow obvious that if he ever makes an animation, I am going to edit it. Later, in 2004, József Fülöp (the rector of MOME, and the Head of the Animation Department) invited me to be a lecturer for the animation students. My task was basically to teach them how to reflect constantly on the editing process while planning their films, and to make them understand the relevance of the cuts for the dramaturgy, the narration and the rhythm of the films; I have also tried to demonstrate how much the editing can change a live action film or an animation. At the same time, of course, I also had to learn a lot about animated films, because they are made very differently from live action films. Since 2005, I have also supervised graduation films. I feel honoured to have all these exciting tasks ever since and I am absolutely happy to be part of the animation team.

What is the job of an animation editor? 

Whereas live-action filming involves overshooting and a lot of discarded footage. The same would be luxury in the case of animation, the production of which, therefore, is a lot more carefully planned. When do you join the working process?

Once the first animatic based on the storyboard is ready, I take a primary look at the project. At the first meeting, we discuss the director’s intentions, the characters’ motivation, and the dramaturgy. I need to be aware of everything that is not yet on screen but will be pictured in the final version. At this point, we can already estimate where we need different, less or more shots. As soon as the corrections are done, we start editing. Meanwhile, a basic version of the sound is prepared, this influences the rhythm of the film, so the image must be adjusted. This process is repeated until we have an animatic which we declare finished, and then they can start animating. We meet again after a few months, when we see complete, coherent scenes, already moving and coloured. All these have an impact on the editing. 

There is a commonplace saying: that the editing of a film is well done if it is imperceptible. Is that also true for animations? How about the animations which only have one sequence?

I think this is true for every film regardless of the genre. There is something wrong with the film if the viewer concentrates on the cuts. With one-shot animations, this is more complicated because you can hardly change anything subsequently, and the inner rhythm must be planned accurately before the production starts. This is more or less the same thing as editing, but in this case, I don’t have to do anything, I am all talk.

What are your criterias for the evaluation of the children’s films in the competition?

I really don't know. I've never been on a jury before. I really like children's movies, so there's bound to be some kind of intrinsic value system.