Alone Insider: Interview With Lead Editor Jonathan Brown

Given that “Alone” participants film themselves for most of their waking hours, are you drowning in footage?

Generally, participants film eight to 10 hours a day, with two to three cameras so they can get multiple angles. But post producers organize everything really well, so we don’t drown in all that footage. Before editors see anything, it all gets transcribed, so we actually start by reading what’s happening. Usually, an episode’s arc is pretty easy to craft around participants’ daily tasks: They’re building their shelter. They’re scouting for food. As time goes on and they’re needing to conserve energy, they become very selective about activities. The more daunting thing, editorially, is when they’re just sitting in their shelters, talking.

What’s the most fun stuff to edit?

A lot of participants now come in knowing their schtick—and bringing their personalities—which helps us have fun with the edit and music. They shoot “MTV Cribs”-style tours of their shelter. Some people do elaborate fake commercials, almost like an infomercial. One participant pretended she was a weather reporter out there. Roland Welker from Season 7 had a song called “Rock House” that he did a whole metal version of, acapella style. Plenty of people try to be badass, but it doesn’t land as well as the guys who can laugh at themselves.

How does this differ from editing a traditional show shot by professional camera operators?

In a traditional show, you usually have a director with a grand plan, and everyone from the set to the editing room all works from that plan. So, it’s pretty straightforward to get an episode from point A to point B. With “Alone,” you have a blank canvas. Each scene or episode can go any number of ways. Because there’s no shot plan, editors can craft something totally unique in how they use a bite or score a scene. Everyone is allowed their own creative input.

What are some of the biggest editing challenges?

Every scene has some kind of issue in post. Maybe the participant’s mic is off, or they didn’t hit the “record” button. Sometimes we only have one angle, especially on some of the crazier action, when they’re chasing a bird or an animal and they don’t have time to set up three cameras, and all we have is from their GoPro.

We often have to find different ways to tell the story. We try to mix and match footage shot from multiple angles at different times of day. Maybe they shot their face while walking earlier that day. Generally, if they’re wearing the same clothes and the weather isn’t too different, we can mix and match without disrupting continuity, but we're always careful to make it true to what actually happened.

Any footage that’s off limits?

If participants sing a pop song or quote a famous movie line, that can’t be easily be cleared, rights-wise, for usage. I’ve had to pull plenty of fun scenes that include some pop culture reference.

Can you talk about the music on “Alone”? It’s very distinctive.

From the first season, we’ve had a no-drum rule—no drum sets, just a few tribal drums here and there. That directive has really helped us avoid sounding like other survival shows. It evolved from there that we went the more electronic route to build tension. Sometimes we’d use a beachy marimba-type sound for lighthearted scenes. When I start scoring a scene, I want to find something new sounding—a little ominous, a little tense, a little different—then pivot to something more fun. There’s a lot of fear and euphoria, so we want the music keying off those emotions.

Any memorably shocking footage? What about footage that took your breath away?

It can be shocking when people start getting desperate about food. In Season 7, Callie Russell hunted down a porcupine, then discovered it had spots on its liver—and she still ate it. Eating porcupine is crazy enough, but this one was definitely questionable.

The most intense moments came when we shot in the Arctic, when the lakes froze over and there were complete whiteout conditions. We’d be watching participants try and survive out there, try to go ice fishing when they can barely see a few feet ahead. In the million-dollar season, Roland’s stationary camera was filming him in a whiteout, lost on the ice. The footage showed him coming into and out of frame, as he struggled to find his way back to camp or the camera. It’s insane that they can survive out there in those conditions.

Alone