Acclaimed editor Einar of bicoastal Union has cut many projects shot on location in his native Iceland, yet that country is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the locations and scope of his latest assignment, a PSA for the United Nations Environment Programme’s “Seal the Deal!” Campaign. London, Dubai, Maldives, Nairobi, Washington DC, and Los Angeles were also part of this expansive and meaningful effort, which featured environmental luminaries including: the President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, Conservationist Saba Douglas-Hamilton, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Professor Wangari Maathai, Environmentalist Philippe Cousteau, Musician and UN Ambassador for Peace Midori and Actor/Activist Don Cheadle, all speaking out about Climate Change and the urgency of acting now.

In August, Road Trip Films embarked on a global tour to film the commercial, which was designed to raise awareness for the Climate Conference in Copenhagen this December 2009, or “COP15”. What began as a planned on-camera testimonial from Jeffrey Nachmanoff (Writer/Director of “Traitor” and Screenwriter of “The Day After Tomorrow”), who had been approached by a UN contact in Nairobi, evolved into a global PSA shoot. With only their hard travel costs covered and a three-person crew - director Nachmanoff, cinematographer James Whitaker (“The Cooler”, “Thank You For Smoking”), and producer Michele Abbott (EP, Road Trip Films) - all involved knew that the project’s success would depend heavily on post-production.

Transitioning from production - which met with resistance from all manner of obstacles including bad weather and angry wart hogs - to post was a whirlwind in itself. “We finished shooting the spot on Sept 4th, Einar started editing Sept 7th, and we had to post final spots for the UN to download to their site for Climate Week Launch September 17th,” says Abbott. “So that meant 10 days for editorial and VFX total.”

Additionally, the project was shot on the Canon 5D MK11, requiring a unique conversion process prior to edit on the Avid. “The 5D is a 30p camera, not 24p as you’d traditionally use for acquisition ,” explains Whitaker. “You have to go from 30p to either 30i or 24p* before it goes into the Avid depending on final delivery…it’s a learning curve for many, but with Union the process was great.”

“It was an education working on the spot with Einar, because my background is in narrative film and TV,” says Nachmanoff. “On the one hand, there was no agency, which allowed us complete creative freedom; on the other hand, I came to Einar in early September, needing to get this done right away.” After viewing every inch of footage, Einar had an initial cut together within two days. He and Nachmanoff spent the next few days tweaking it together. “The first goal was to get a nice rhythm with the dialogue and sound and then worry about the background,” Einar recalls. After the first cut, he says, “We agreed the spot needed a push in the middle and the end, so I came up with the idea of overlapping and highlighting moments in montage to make sure they hit home with audience.”

When it came to sky replacements and lining up plates for time-lapse, Einar notes, “Jeff knew what he wanted, and had shot the plates carefully, but he had to deal with sun, fog, rain, and so forth, so Resolution had a lot of work to do to get the spot where it needed to be.”

“This was a challenge, in a good way,” says Todd Iorio of Resolution LA, who, along with Evan Guidera, handled visual effects for the project. “Production was so run and gun, they had to shoot it when they could get it. The result was beautiful and cinematic, but without the techniques and tools to which we have become accustomed. We approached this as more an artistically-driven than technically-driven piece.” To account for light changes between timelapse and other footage, Resolution and Union brought together different plates for background, sky, talent, and time-lapse of clouds, marrying them all together to create a powerfully beautiful spot. “We experimented quite a bit, trying things that might not work in theory but ended up being really beautiful in the final product.”

And how did the UN feel about the final product? “Given the turnaround time, we said the only way we could do this was with minimal back-and-forth,” Nachmanoff says. “Fortunately, our contacts flipped for the rough cut and showed it to their superiors. We hadn’t intended for that cut to be seen by the top brass, but they were really happy with it. When they saw the final polish, they were thrilled.”

“The folks at Union and Resolution were terrific,” Nachmanoff concludes. “We changed the rules and the time frame on them a number of times, and they kept making it work. So hats off to them for rolling with it.”