“Hi I’m Sevy,” an episode from Magnolia Network’s Hi I’m___ docuseries, focuses on Sevy Marie Eicher, a 17-year-old girl with Down syndrome who breaks down barriers and shares her gift of painting with the world. Her natural talent for art has had a widespread impact on inclusivity in the art world, inspiring hope through her adversity.
Shrader Thomas
Produced by Rabbit Foot Entertainment in association with One Chameleon Entertainment, Hi I’m___ is an original series in which individuals overcome extraordinary challenges, choosing to use their unique experiences as motivation to reach their life goals. It was shot with Canon C300 MKII cameras.
To bring “Hi I’m Sevy” to life, Camp Lucky provided a full suite of post services, including creative editorial, color, sound and finishing. Editor Shrader Thomas, who has worked extensively in docu-content and advertising, took the time to discuss his role in the project.
What is it about editing documentary content that most appeals to you?
All films are ultimately made in the editing room, but none more so than a documentary. We take hours and hours of raw footage and sculpt it into a compelling story. I love the process of finding the heart of the story and helping it beat.
This is part of a series but feels like a stand-alone film. Is there a stylistic format to each, or is the connection the overarching theme?
All the Hi I’m__ documentaries are inspiration stories about people who have overcome obstacles and lived to thrive.
This episode is centered on Sevy — but it’s about much more than that. Can you elaborate on the themes and stories you hoped to help tell?
Even though the focus of the film is Sevy’s story, it really is a story about a mother-daughter bond and how far parents will go to take care of their children. Sevy’s mom, Lisa, is as much an inspiration and as much the focus of this film as Sevy is.
You’ve also edited other types of projects. How does that change when editing a doc?
I really love diving into raw footage and finding the story with a documentary. Narrative film is great, but it’s a different experience. While there is usually a script and footage shot for a fiction-based script, you really find the heart of a documentary in the edit and I love that experience.
How was having experience in both documentary and short form (commercials, etc.) useful in this context?
Although this was a documentary, which typically has an editing window of many, many months, we had a really quick turnaround. Working in commercials and trailers, I’m used to tight schedules, so the blending of the two worlds worked well for me
How closely did you work with the director and producers?
The timeline of this project was extremely tight, so I began editing while Jeff McQuitty (the director) and Jon Michael Simpson (the producer) were still filming. I spoke with them daily — often while they were on location — to discuss the scenes they were shooting and what b-roll we might need based on how the scenes were coming together in the edit.
I sent edits using Frame.io, which allowed them to add comments at the appropriate timecode stamp. I’d review those each evening and then address them in my revision the next day while they resumed shooting. It wasn’t until the filming was complete that we got to spend time in the edit room together fine-tuning and sculpting the story, which we all agreed elevated the final product and was a lot of fun.
Can you describe an especially challenging scene from an editorial or narrative standpoint?
As the documentary was being filmed, the parents’ marriage was coming apart. We knew we needed to address it honestly and respect everyone involved while not causing a huge distraction from the story we were telling. What to include, and how much to reveal, required many conversations with everyone involved, including the network and the subjects themselves.
Documentary filmmaking is a process of discovery, and this was definitely an unanticipated challenge in the making of a layered and heartfelt film.
Camp Lucky also provided color, mix and finish. Tell us a little more about your collaboration with the other aspects of post.
Camp Lucky helped set this project up for success by not only providing color, finishing and full post, but by supporting the staff and resources that made this film possible. We centered the show within our pipeline and used remote technologies to allow the artists to access the media and craft the story. When we moved to color, audio and finish, all these disciplines were also remote, leveraging a singular, centralized infrastructure. We took advantage of virtualized edit rooms as well for collaboration.
How did you get into editing?
I was an Army brat, so I grew up all over the world. From the age of 8, I always knew I wanted to be a filmmaker. After graduating from USC, I immediately started directing and editing commercials, movie trailers and promos. At 40, I left Hollywood and moved to Virginia to farm for three years, but I missed film, so I moved to Austin, where I’ve since been working in television and independent film.
What editing system do you use?
I have spent most of my career on the Avid Media Composer — I always joke that when I started, there were just three buttons. But you roll with the times, and most recently I’ve been cutting on Adobe Premiere. I love how it communicates so efficiently with the whole Adobe suite.
The film is inspiring on many levels and is — in part — about how having the support to create can be transformational. Is there someone who was a mentor to you in your career?
I have always been interested in documentaries. When I was at the USC School of Cinema, my editing professor Kate Amend was an amazing mentor. She showed me how critical the editor was to creating a documentary and helped fuel my life-long obsession.
