“Also key,” adds Smith, “because we had to develop a large number of robots quickly, we developed a system to generate first-pass weathering for the robot paint automatically, which helped us get the robots into shots much more quickly.” Heavy simulations and atmospherics also needed to be produced. “Even though this is more of a character-driven Transformers movie, we did have our fair share of action and thus explosions. Some of the bigger shots were started late in the schedule, and I think that was the main challenge. There were a few big simulation shots that came together much faster than usual for their complexity.”

For Knight, the editorial process was different going from animation to live action. “You can’t shoot coverage in animation because it’s too slow and costly, so you board everything,” explains Knight. “In live action you shoot tons of footage and then hone it in editorial afterwards. It’s been exciting for me to do it in that way. You find little miracles as you’re scouring through the hours and hours of footage. I’m fortunate that my editor Paul Rubell is extraordinary. We had an instant rapport and were completely in sync with the story that we’re telling. Working with Chediak, we focused on the things I knew that I needed for the sequences. Then we tried to get other stuff to play around with that often times make a difference between a scene singing or just lying there.”

Music has played a big part of every movie that Knight has produced. “We all react, interpret and experience music in a different way. It’s so evocative of emotion. Music is the way that our lead character, Charlie, reacts to the world and processes her grief. For many teenagers, music gives voice to those inarticulate emotions that are rolling around inside of them, and that’s true for her. In this film, music literally gives Bumblebee his voice. Getting the right songs and score was absolutely critical in balancing the tone and emotion of the movie. This is the third time that I’ve collaborated with composer Dario Marianelli. The score is beautiful and drives home what Bumblebee is about.”