THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO TRAILER EDITOR MARK WOOLLEN FOR BUSINESSWEEK
A few weeks ago I got to visit the house that movie trailers built: Mark Woollen’s Santa Monica office. Woollen is one of Hollywood’s most sought-after movie trailer editors, and the wall covered in shelves brimming with awards gave me some idea of how successful he’s been. 
I mean, his first large-scale feature trailer was “Schindler’s List.” He did it when he was 22. He did “The Social Network” last year and was cutting “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” while I was there. Impressive stuff.
I love shooting people like Mark — the creative individuals who do the highend entertainment work we all as viewers take for granted. It’s romantic in theory but perfectly practical in reality. He essentially works at a desk just like any other professional. But he’s got a honed sense of timing, storytelling, and visual wit.
For the hour that I worked with Mark, we walked around his office as I shot, my assistant Aaron darting around with a hand-held sidelight, and me keeping my eye jammed up to the camera as I learned more about Mark and clicked away. I wanted to keep the loose, snap-shot approach I’ve been aiming for lately. I like working organically, moving through a space, shooting in motion, working with my subject to put them at ease. And what’s great about shooting with handheld flashes is that when I find a composition that I love, I can simply slow the pace of the shoot, narrow in on a perfect shot, and then as soon as I’m done with it keep moving and keeping it loose.
The shot that Diana Suryakusuma at Businesweek chose was made at the end of the shoot, in Mark’s colleague Chad’s office at his edit bay. Mark was supervising Chad’s work on the “Dragon Tattoo” TV spot that day, and so Mark took a seat to see the changes Chad had been working on. They reviewed the edit and I shot, and their close working relationship was clear to see as they joked around, poked fun at each other, and encouraged smiles and slightly exaggerated responses to what they were looking at on their screens.
They’re great guys. I’m glad that I got to make an image of these tastemakers in the midst of doing their work.
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