'' Close Encounters '' is the first collaboration between film editor Michael Kahn and Spielberg . Their working relationship has continued for the rest of Spielberg 's films . Spielberg said that no film he has ever made since has been as hard to edit as the last 25 minutes of '' Close Encounters '' and that he and Kahn went through thousands of feet of footage to find the right shots for the end sequence . When Kahn and Spielberg completed the first cut of the film , Spielberg was dissatisfied , feeling " there was n't enough wow-ness " . Pick-ups were commissioned but cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond could not participate due to other commitments . John A. Alonzo , László Kovács , and Douglas Slocombe worked on the pick-ups . Lacombe was originally to find Flight 19 hidden in the Amazon Rainforest , but the idea was changed to the Sonoran Desert . Spielberg also took 7.5 minutes out from the preview
Flight 19
Flight 19
Close Encounters of the Third Kind