Netflix’s Dark Desire: a recipe for success – Editor

Last week I had a lovely chat with Mauricio Gonzo Arroyo, music supervisor of the Netflix hit show Oscuro Deseo (Dark Desire in english-speaking countries). To continue our adventure in analysing what elements determined the series smashing success today I am interviewing another professional who’s usually much involved in shaping a project’s soundtrack: the show’s editor.

Luis Zeron – Editor

Oscuro Deseo has been praised for its score. Many of the narrative key moments feature songs that work amazingly well with the pictures. What was the creative process that lead to selecting this extraordinary compilation?

Initially I worked on defining the creative boundaries of the music, which means that I searched in different albums that I thought would match with the idea I had of the series after reading the script. Including tracks that I personally like, tracks that matched with the genre of the series and others that reminded me of emotions that I felt when I read the script. Also the production meetings I had the opportunity to attend with Roberto Stopello from Netflix and the directors Kenya Márquez and Pedro P. Ybarra where really enlightening for me to understand what they were having in mind for the project. 

The process started with a deep research, with the help of Christian de la Vega, senior editor. We started curating different albums in a platform called Music Director. We spent around a week or two listening to all kinds of tracks, sharing them between each other and creating a fine selection of music that we thought would work with the series genre, knowing it was a thriller, and always having in mind the dramatic and sexual component of the story. 

Genre is a good start for me in the process, a clear reference of what I’m doing and where I want to go. When I start a project I always try to look for references in films and series to get inspiration and a guide that can be useful in the editing process. In this case I thought of Brian De Palma’s films and how he addresses music to create suspense, with a classic style, and the choice of music in Oscuro Deseo is very much inspired by this, and very successful I think.

In the first weeks of a project like this, I work deeply on the style and creative focus of the series, in terms of the edit and all the elements involved, and music is one that is very important. I work a lot with the team, which also includes Karina Espinoza, senior editor, and an amazing crew of junior editors. I work in sharing my point of view of the project with the team and looking forward that every member understands what we are doing, the type of story we want to tell, and the creative rules we are following. I believe each protect has it’s own creative rules as every story is a world on its own. Once everybody understands what we are doing, after some weeks of very hard work, the rest is enjoying the process and flow. 

By the time the scenes start coming into the editing room from the shooting we already established the creative rules of music, we even have selected carefully a good amount of tracks we can work with. More than 90% of the music came from the library of Music Director. Which means the amount of work on curating the music was huge and really well executed.

The editors (senior and junior) have the freedom to work with the music we selected and I work as a filter deciding wether the music fits with the style or we need to look for a better option of every specific track. I’m very tough a this point and we try and search as many times we need until we find the perfect match of music for the scene. In many cases we have more than one option for each scene. I love working with music I think is a great way to be inspired, to develop rhythm and feel emotion. 

This process also involved other members of the crew including Tonalli J. Villaseñor, creative producer, who helped develop the creative line of the series and was a valuable support, and Martín Hernández with his amazing sound team. We were in constant communication, sharing ideas looking to bring up the best series posible. 

A very high amount of the music we used in our cuts got into the final versions of the different episodes which speaks for the high quality level of work we did in the cutting room, as a team and also the work we shared with the sound department. It was a really rich process to work with all these talented people.

Are there specific places (online or offline) where songwriters should push their music in order to get the attention of editors and filmmakers?

I think today there’s a great opportunity for song writers to get involved in film and series. There are many platforms where they can share their work and also a great demand from the thousands of projects that are produced around the world.

Today there’s no boundaries, we can be working with music written and produced in the other side of the world. It is an exciting moment for artists and filmmakers because we really have the opportunity to work across borders. This is reflected in the music we selected for Oscuro Deseo, tracks that came from many different places, and at the same time it is great to see that they perfectly fit a very specific style and genre. 

For Oscuro Deseo, Music Director was the source for the music. We found amazing albums on its catalogue. Music of high quality and storytelling-driven, which are very important characteristics when you are looking for music.

Through this process we had the opportunity to work with very talented composers, like you Giovanni, and I’m happy to see that this has open many creative opportunities and conversations around what we love to do, that is telling stories.

Are there specific elements that songwriters should keep in mind when writing songs that they hope will be placed on Film/TV?

Storytelling is one important aspect of it, they have to keep in mind that we are using their tracks to tell a story. A story has a beginning, a middle and an end, stories have ups and downs, in every story we have specific emotions we need to share with the audience, and also we are alway looking for rhythm. 

Work on different versions of one track, sometimes we need a track to be shorter or longer. Sometimes we need the track to be simple, and some other time we need it to be sophisticated. If you find a tune that shares emotions that speaks to you, having different versions of it is really helpful.

Do song lyrics play a key role when you select tracks to use on a show/film?

I think good lyrics are very important, most of the time we are looking for music that matches the emotion of the scene and other times we are looking for songs that are opposite to create an anempathetic effect. But in each case you need good lyrics, well written, poetic, inspiring, strong and deep.

Do you ever keep music that was only intended for the temp score on the final cut?

It depends on the project and wether we will work with a composer or with catalog music. In the case of Oscuro Deseo most of the music we used on the edit is in the final version of the episodes.

Thank you so much for participating in this interview, we are honoured to have you!

Many thanks for this opportunity, is an honor to collaborate with you.

Luis Zerón has edited series for Netflix and HBO, feature films, documentaries, music videos, and commercials. Based in Mexico City, he is a member of the AMAE (Spanish association of editors). Luis is currently Lead Editor for the Netflix series “Oscuro Deseo” which will be released in 2020.

He has also worked as Lead Editor and Editor on projects like “Yankee” (2019) produced by Netflix and Argos, “Ingobernable 2” (2018) produced by Netflix and Argos, “El Chapo” (2017, seasons 1 and 2) for Netflix and Story House, and “Sr. Ávila” (2016, seasons 2 and 3), an International Emmy® Award-winner produced by HBO and Lemon Films.

His feature film work includes “Restos” (2012), directed by Alfonso Pineda Ulloa, “Puebla Sinfonía Inaudible” (2010), a feature documentary directed by Juan Manuel Barreda, and “The Marching Quixotes” (2016), a feature documentary directed by Florencia Davidzon. Luis has edited commercials and corporate films for leading brands like Coors Light, Nintendo, JW Marriot, and Tecate, as well as music videos for artists like the popular Mexican group Moenia. 

He has also worked in the editorial department of series and films including “Map of the Sounds of Tokyo” (2009) directed by Isabel Coixet, an official selection at the Cannes International Film Festival, “Sobre Ella” (2013) directed by Mauricio T Valle, “Volando Bajo” (2013) directed by Beto Gómez, “After Darkness” (2018) directed by Batan Silva, and “La Sagrada Familia” (2009) a series produced by Mediapro Barcelona and TV3 Catalunya. 

He has a Master of Fine Arts in Media Arts from Maine Media College, a Masters degree in Film Editing from ESCAC Barcelona, and a BA in Communication from the Universidad Iberoamericana, in Mexico. He also teaches editing at Universidad Anáhuac in Mexico City.