Vision Quest: The Making of The Tree of Life

Trevor Hogg chats with visual effects supervisors Dan Glass and Bryan Hirota about the creation of Terrence Malick's latest, The Tree of Life...

Considered by many to be an enigma because of his reclusive nature and the long gaps between his films, American director Terrence Malick returns to the big screen with The Tree of Life (2011). Partly autobiographical, the story revolves around a boy growing up in the 1950s American Midwest whose relationship with his strict father and nurturing mother haunts him into adulthood. Featuring a cast of Brad Pitt (Se7en), Sean Penn (Mystic River), Jessica Chastain (Jolene), Joanna Going (Inventing the Abbotts), Jackson Hurst (The Mist), Fiona Shaw (Fracture), Crystal Mantecon (The Waiter), and Tamara Jolaine (Tough Love), the drama ignited worldwide curiosity when word came out that it included footage involving the formation of the universe. Could this be the resurrection of the mysterious project Q which was to explore the origins of life on earth? Given the responsibility of creating the nonexistent imagery was Visual Effects Supervisor Dan Glass, who has worked with the likes of Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins) and The Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Speed Racer). “My first discussions with Terry began about four and a half years ago and they were very vague and rather roundabout,” states Glass. “I remember one of the things that we talked about was trying to find a common language and approach. I asked, ‘Can you list the music that you imagine behind these sequences? Can we approach it from that angle?’ And he sent me a CD with a ton of music that was the type of stuff that he could imagine emotionally playing across these works.”

Even though Dan Glass points out that each movie production has its own unique set of creative challenges, he readily admits that Terrence Malick “was like no one else I’ve ever worked with or imagine I will work with again.” The native of London explains, “If I sat down to write out what I thought would be ideal for a director of a visual effects film, especially a lot of complex visual effects, he would probably not tick any of the boxes. Whilst you can say that was the challenge it was also very much the best and the most exciting thing about the project.” One of the big differences was the source material. “The script, if you can call it that, was really more like a set of notes that he has written and built up over some 35 years. He has been working on this project since the 70s. And we actually have negatives that he shot in the 1970s that we incorporated into the movie. So it really becomes a lifting of notes and ideas.”

“The first person we brought on was a very versatile Digital FX Supervisor by the name of Brad Friedman,” states Glass. “Brad helped build a small team in Austin to work closely with the director, editorial and myself to interpret, previz and ultimately complete many shots for the production. This team was critical as an experiment lab right next to Terry at all times to evaluate, to try things out. Production also set up a Research department gathering tons of imagery and scientific data for reference, and included a garage workshop where they would shoot chemical experiments and various things from Petri dishes to fluids in tanks; that was in conjunction with the stuff we did on a bigger scale with Doug Trumbull.”

Of major importance for the VFX Supervisor was the selection of the visual effects companies. “The way we had to approach the film was really very piecemeal,” says Dan Glass. “Aside from bringing in many people I have worked with over the years, that I trusted greatly to be able to interpret what was needed, we also brought in some very fine artistic sensibilities from several companies from around the world that approach things in a particular non digital fashion.” A plan was implemented to distribute the visual effects workload. “The material was divided into four broad categories we termed Realms: Double Negative in London handled the majority of the Astrophysical Realm led by supervisor Paul Riddle, journalist Michael Benson consulted and provided extraordinary source imagery from actual probes and telescopes. He and a colleague initially selected and stitched the images together, cleaned them up, and created huge resolution images of 30,000 pixels which we then broke into layers and dimensionalized over very slow exploratory camera moves. For the Microbial Realm we hired a small London boutique company called One of Us headed by Tom Debenham and Dominic Parker that do beautiful work; they have their own little studio where they shoot practical pieces and elements and combine them with very photographic looking CG. We also commissioned work from Peter and Chris Parks [Image Quest 3-D] who are a father and son duo in England…They do these richly detailed visual flows of colour which are very hard to describe and can imply things at any scale. We then had a couple of things that arose later in the schedule that really needed a very fresh approach.” Glass brought on Method Studios to help. “I knew some of the people there who had worked at BUF many years ago, and I loved that company and the way they worked which is very creative and collaborative. Also, because of their commercial background, Method were a hive of ideas rather than anything that just came with a particular process or specification for how to work.” Evil Eye Pictures based in San Francisco handled material principally in the Contemporary Realm including the live action segments of the film.

Regarding the topic which has garnered a lot of Internet attention, Dan Glass answers, “I can confirm that there are dinosaurs.” Given the responsibility of bringing the prehistoric animals back to life in the Natural (History) Realm was Frantic Films under the guidance of Mike Fink, which took on a new name after commencing work on the project. “I came onto it after it was already underway at Prime Focus,” states Bryan Hirota who served as a visual effects supervisor at the VFX facility. “The company worked on it for maybe eight months.” Hirota goes on to say, “Terrence Malick is notoriously secretive…I don’t know much about this movie. I don’t really know how the work fits in.” This is not surprising to Glass. “I would sometimes deliberately misguide the intention,” he admits. “An animator would want to know, ‘What’s the purpose here? What’s my motivation?’ So I would deliberately misguide a little and push in one direction and say, ‘Now adjust it and do this,’ just to try to get that zone where you have a little bit more of an ambiguity and something that’s more animal than human in its characteristics.”

“We used a tremendous amount of practical and scientific work,” reveals Dan Glass. “Terrence Malick would insist that every frame be attached to some amount of live action or practical content. It’s fantastic. I love that as an approach. Doug Trumbull, who is a good friend of Terry’s, came on board to help and consult in setting up a series of practical shoots that we did. We did three in all that we called the skunkworks and which were done over long weekends in Austin, some of the techniques dating back to 2001 [1968]. Techniques that Doug had used but then incorporating many of the things he has developed or worked with over his career, we would capture this terrific library of abstract, strange forms, and shapes. Those contributed to elements or in some cases the majority of an image within the movie; we would augment it with additional detail…mixing it up so it was never really clear what scale, or what was the origin of the material. Where it wasn’t possible we would include aspects of the ‘real.’”

An important part of the production for The Tree of Life was the effort devoted to portraying science realistically. “We were always very respectful,” emphasizes Dan Glass. “For example, to do some of the cosmological simulations of very early space there’s obviously little that we could have shot practically for that. But we paired up with some of the leading scientists in their respective fields, like Volker Bromm who specializes in Population III stars, the first to theoretically form in the Universe. So there’s this very deep, rich science behind the imagery…we also had the help of Donna Cox and Robert Patterson of the NCSA [National Center for Supercomputing Applications], who would take a base simulation, and start to create visualizations which were then fed to Double Negative, guided visually by contributions from a concept artist called George Hull. We would craft the thing into…picturesque imagery based on literal science.”

Questioned on how a unified look was achieved, Glass remarks that was not something Terrence Malick desired. “He preferred the idea of a patchwork quilt. If he shot something on a Super 8 camera, then an IMAX camera, then on a digital camera or…in space you might have something based on magnetic resonance imaging or infrared photography from the Hubble, each would have its own character, and that in his mind would lend to authenticity because you weren’t trying to smooth it, shape it and make it conform.”

Known for his stunning cinematography, Terrance Malick wanted to make the most of the imagery featured on the screen. “We had one shot we were working on for the longest time that was nearly two minutes long,” says Dan Glass. “It is there to give you time to take in what you’re looking at. Part of his focus is always rich, detailed images, generally keeping as much depth of field as possible so it gives your eyes plenty to wander around and take in.” After spending many months finessing a shot, Terrence Malick, Dan Glass and his visual effects team would view the end result in one of the theatres in Austin. “We’d reach a stage where we were happy with it,” says Glass. “Then sometimes weeks later he’d ask, ‘Can we put that back up again? Let’s think about this again.’ And he’d consider trying to experiment on another track. There was always this element of the piece continually evolving and developing, which was very different to what you normally have a chance to do in a lot of the bigger visual effects pictures where it can all too often be a case of ‘That’ll do. That’ll do. Move on. Move on.’”

Bryan Hirota observes, “Malick, it seems to me, needs to see stuff, and then brings his film to life in the editorial process; it’s not necessarily clear to him exactly where his film is going to take him. It’s like a process of discovery for him.” Informed of Hirota’s comment, Dan Glass responds, “With Terry… his vision is strong. He knows where he’s going but because his goal is much more esoteric, it’s less tied down to any literal representation. That’s why the editorial process is critical to him, even with his live action; he shoots a lot of footage that can play in many different contexts, and some of his favourite moments are things where they’ve yelled, ‘Cut!’ and the actors almost break character. Those are the pieces he’ll love. Similarly, in the visual effects…you’re working for days, weeks, sometimes months trying to make something so precise. And yet for Terry that could work against the very organic nature of the material so we had to spend more time to free it from itself.”

“Each shot is unique and crafted as such; they’re really approached from every angle as an individual piece,” says Dan Glass. “At one point we were approaching 60 minutes of footage that we were completing, of which somewhere between 12 to 15 minutes was ultimately used.” The IMAX format was chosen because they wanted to retain an incredible level of detail. “All of the work in Tree of Life is done to 5 1/2 K resolution…There’s a genuineness to that; it’s really trying to more closely represent the photography of the real thing. And the music and sound I would say are tremendous. The sound design I was really bowled over by, in terms of how it helps emotionally taking you through the piece.” Summarizing the final cinematic experience, Glass states, “It’s a very powerful movie about memories, emotions, and our place in the world.” As to what he thought The Tree of Life was going to look like, he confesses, “I don’t know in some ways what I was expecting it to be...I think the thing that was constant throughout the experience of working with Terry was that you know not to expect anything. There’s always something mysterious to be found.”

Vision Quest: The Tree of Life & The Big Lie
Image Conscious: A conversation with visual effects supervisor Bryan Hirota
Image Conscious: A conversation with visual effects supervisor Dan Glass

Visit the official website for The Tree of Life.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

Kerzel-Town: Director Justin Kerzel talks Snowtown

Director of the outstanding Snowtown - Justin Kerzel - took some time out of his well deserved Cannes-paign to talk to Blake Howard about the experience of his masterpiece...

BH: Snowtown feels like a scientific experiment, it creates/portrays the conditions that a serial killing troupe can exist. How much did the setting and local cast affect what your decisions during the shoot?

JK: This was a film, which needed to be told from the inside out so we were incredibly informed by what the environment and people were telling us it wanted to be. Many ideas came from being there and really observing the pretty unique psychology of the place. Definitely some of those round table conversations about paedophilia in the area came from very real workshops about the subject matter. Sexual abuse is a very passionate and prominent problem in the area and some of those arguments and ideas were really sculpted from people’s real thoughts and ideas.

BH: For me, this film gives Lars von Trier's stunning Dogville (the fictional nightmare commentary of smalltown incestuous human impulse and ignorance). Did you have any directorial or filmic influences in mind when you were filming?

JK: Not really. I didn’t watch many films at all as I really wanted to be not influenced by anything else other than the real community and landscape we were filming in. I guess the way Michael Haneke rarely shows what is causing the violence in his films, where the film is more about how the characters respond and relate to the violence around them is a real inspiration to the structure and psychology in Snowtown. In terms of Australian films I think there is a really strong heritage of muscular dark crime films which goes all the way back to Wake in Fright, Romper Stomper, The Boys and Chopper. I do think there is something very particular about how we portray violence and masculinity on screen. I’m sure these films in some unconscious way affected our approach to Snowtown.

BH: When I think about Henshall's performance - the contrast between his sweetness (in true socio 'psycho'pathic form) towards those he cares and the clinical artistry of his brutality is memorable to say the least. How much did you fashion Daniel's performance and how much did he bring to the character?

JK: To Daniel and I it was really important that the audience understood how this man came to be trusted and let in to this community. Through our research we discovered that John was a bit of an everyman, someone who was very sociable and present within the community. So at the beginning it was important for Dan to find an ease in the community and develop very genuine relationships with the other cast. He spent 10 weeks in the area and started to find the skin of the John character. He put on 10 kg and spent as much time possible with the family especially Lucas and the boys. I didn’t want Dan to read too much about serial killers, it was important that he just be very present and intimate with the other characters and approach the role on a very real and human level.

BH: Where you ever conscious of distancing yourself from the Australian True Crime T.V interpretations that seemingly glamorize serial killers?

JK: Well there had been a couple pretty sensationalist documentaries about the murders, which I thought, were very one-dimensional and more like a body count film. I also didn't want to glamorize the violence like in some true crime TV but instead make it very real and confronting. When I read all the transcripts I was shocked by the brutality and I wanted its horror to be extremely truthful, not distorted but visceral and affecting.

BH: How long do we have to wait for your next film?

JK: Hopefully next year I will be making a film with my brother Jed who did the music with Snowtown. It’s a black comedy and obviously very different from Snowtown.

After Snowtown - my ticket's already bought.

Read Blake's review of Snowtown here.

Blake Howard is a writer/site director/podcaster at the castleco-op.com.

Image Conscious: A conversation with visual effects supervisor John "DJ" DesJardin

Trevor Hogg chats with visual effects supervisor John 'DJ' Des Jardin...

“2001: A Space Odyssey was my inspiration in 1968 when I was seven years old; it freaked me out even at such a young age because it seemed so real,” states Warner Bros. Visual Effects Supervisor John “DJ” DesJardin whose fascination with science fiction saw him attempt to translate his mental images into cinematic ones. The native of Wisconsin attended the University of Michigan with a particular career path in mind. “I actually went there with the intention of being a marine biologist of all things because they had really good science programs. During my freshmen orientation they started talking about the film program there and I immediately switched. It was like something went off inside me and said, ‘I could go to school, practice this thing I’ve been doing off to the side, and do it for real.’” With the school lacking such items as optical printers, the film student teamed with a friend who was well versed in electrical engineering to build the equipment he needed.

After graduating, DesJardin headed to Los Angeles in hopes of working for Douglas Trumbull’s visual effects company; upon arriving in the city, he discovered that the facility no longer existed. “I had a list of all the effects or graphic houses in Los Angeles and I just started calling all of them up; in June a company called Video Image called me back.” The company specialized in computer and motion graphics, as well as 24-fame video playback which involved syncing up graphics for motion picture cameras. “Greg McMurry and Richard Hollander were two of the partners in that company and they had built Comp C, which was a really sophisticated computer-control camera, for Douglas Trumbull. They did a lot of the crazy traffic lights in Blade Runner [1982] and a lot of stuff in the original Star Trek: The Motion Picture [1979]... That small place grew into a pretty decent mid-size visual effects company called VIFX that continued all the way through until the end of the 90s when it got bought by Rhythm and Hues.”

Technically, the first movie John DesJardin did anything for was 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), when he helped Greg McMurry shoot an insert on a computer screen for one of the spaceship control panels. DesJardin was pleased to see the end result in the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey. “It was a pretty big deal to get high resolution imagery done for a movie. That’s why you have these certain landmark films, I think because places were setup for them but it was still an expensive concern to get the right imagery into the movie and make it look very good.” DesJardin learned quickly that making a living in the small industry was going to be difficult. “There were more than a few times where if the job we were bidding on didn’t come in for VIFX, I was going to be out of a job.” A major turning point was the release of Jurassic Park (1993) when studio executives realized that digital visual effects could add production value to their movies. “They see it as a tool that can be used from pre-production all the way through post-production; it’s not just a post-production concern, which was certainly what it was a long time ago.” Digital visual effects can prevent a lot of potential problems. “If you can previz a lot of what you’re getting into, it’ll answer a lot of questions and give somebody a common frame of reference departmentally throughout the entire production so that everybody knows what we’re trying for.”

“I almost want to say temperament more than anything,” replies DesJardin when asked what is essential to being a successful visual effects supervisor. “Can you keep yourself regimented, and disciplined to be able to get through what you’re going to have to go through to get something done? Can you keep your ideas fresh? Can you be a nice person?” DesJardin points out there are a lot of key elements involved in making a movie. “If you walk in thinking visual effects are the most important then you forget about writing, directing, the actors and everybody else. There are a lot of bigger concerns…so just be concerned about what you need to be concerned about and just be a nice person; just be pleasant about it because it’s a pretty lucky job to have. You’re not mining sulfur, your lungs are not filling up with sulfuric acid and you’re not dying when you’re 30. Have a little humility, keep your head down and do the work. That I think is the most important thing about being a visual effects supervisor.”

Contemplating what makes a great visual effect, John DesJardin remarks, “One that withstands the test of time maybe, I don’t know… I don’t even know if anybody can make those anymore. It seems like the shelf life is pretty short these days because we’re always doing them and then moving on.” Two recent movies stand out to DesJardin. “I went to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World [2010] this year; I had so much fun with that movie. The visual effects, while they weren’t realistic and were never meant to be, were fun. They were such an intrinsic part of that movie and it got a visceral reaction from me; I loved that. Then there is the tsunami at the beginning of Hereafter [2010] and that is a really great opening. So what am I suppose to say is better? Am I suppose to say that the tsunami is better because it’s a real tsunami and Scott Pilgrim didn’t have it? Scott Pilgrim wasn’t made to have that tsunami effect, it was made to have sound effect words coming out of the drum kit or something like that. That was what it was made for and because of that, that is a successful visual effect that I think is great.”

Working on The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003) was a massive undertaking for John DesJardin. “The scope of it was huge and we were going to be required to really push things and do almost every kind of effect you could think of up to that point in the visual effects evolution. I think that I felt like that so much by the end of it, that I actually wanted to quit. I came out it and I started looking at projects coming up after that and it was like, ‘I just did that. And I did that too.’ And if I was looking for anything fresh in terms of the exact imagery I was going to have to do, I wasn’t finding it.” While he was considering a career change, DesJardin co-founded Velvetelvis Studios. “It’s more of an umbrella production company for projects that I like to do that aren’t directly related to my visual effects job. It allows me and my partners to play around with making graphic novels, [and] video games.” The career change never happened. “Richard Hollander called me and asked, ‘Can you help me out? I just need somebody who knows something, to do this shoot on Friday Night Lights [2004] in Texas.’ I thought, ‘I’ll do that. Make a little cash.’ Kind of like the mafia – you tried to get out and they pull you back in.”

DesJardin had a fateful encounter arranged for him by Anne Kolbe, the Vice President of Visual Effects at Warner Bros. “I was coming to the end of The Kingdom [2007] with Peter Berg and didn’t have much to go on,” remembers DesJardin. “Anne called me and said, ‘I’ve got this project that I want you to interview for but I can’t talk about it.’ And I said, ‘Alright, I’ll go to the meeting.’ She didn’t tell me who it was with or what it was for. It was that secret. I walked into Zack’s office not knowing it was Zack Snyder. His assistant Celeste told me, ‘Yeah, you’re going to be meeting with Zack.’ And I suddenly realized – Zack Snyder! He did Dawn of the Dead [2004] which I saw when I was in Texas shooting Friday Night Lights, and I really loved that movie. That remake was great. And then I realized that I had seen at another facility… some imagery from 300 [2006]. I’m a Frank Miller comic fan and I had the graphic novel 300 for years. The images that I was seeing at the facility were just like that graphic novel. And I thought, ‘If that’s the same Zack Snyder, that guy is cool.’ So there I was meeting with him for Watchmen [2009] which was amazing to me.” A couple of months later the filmmaker, who was also born in Wisconsin, contacted DesJardin again. “He liked me enough to give me a shot at doing Watchmen. What can I say? [We have] similar backgrounds in terms of parts of the U.S. where we grew up,” enthuses the visual effects supervisor. “Our pop culture references are all the same. I think every time we are on the set talking about something it is reduced to some kind of analogy with a line in Star Wars [1977] or something like that.”

When discussing the attitude Zack Snyder has towards visual effects, John DesJardin observes, “It is just a natural part of his language. He is not afraid to try a lot of things that I think other people might be hesitant to try.” Trying to recreate the JFK assassination in the opening of Watchmen was a problem because the right filming location could not be found. While standing in a parking lot a solution came to DesJardin; it involved retaining a small portion of the action, with the rest being constructed digitally. “I went to Zack and I drew a sketch. I just said, ‘I think you won’t be afraid of this based on what you did on 300. Here’s the picture. Tell me if you’re afraid of it and I won’t do it.’ I didn’t have to say a word to him; he looked at the picture and said, ‘Go do it.’ That’s just it with him. He is ready to take these often fun and amusing leaps of faith to try to do something crazy and that makes the work and the relationship fun.” As for Christopher Nolan (Inception) collaborating with Snyder on Superman: Man of Steel, DesJardin remarks, “Let’s just say that my point of view is I think that’s a really good marriage. The two of them being responsible for that project, I think it’s really cool and from the fanboy side of me I’m excited about it.”

The IMAX format is not viewed by John DesJardin as making his job more complicated. “We’ve being dealing with that for a long time and they have their own proprietary ways of zooming things up to the resolution bit that are really good, so that doesn’t impact us too much. 3D definitely does. I keep hoping with each project that we have to do 3D for, that there’s a little more forethought every time because I think it really crunches you at the end of the visual effects process.” As for his attitude towards the 3D technology, DesJardin pragmatically says, “This is the time I’m living in right now. I’ve seen it come and go in the past as a fad but it is sticking for awhile this time. I’ve just got to swim in it.” The Warner Bros. Visual Effects Supervisor views himself as having been fortunate with his career. “I’m in a position that I probably dreamt about being in way back when I was growing up in Michigan...It was always like, ‘Man, I wish I could be in a position to really make that type of imagery and guide it creatively.’ That’s where I’m at right now.”

Many thanks to John DesJardin for taking the time out of his busy schedule for this interview.

Read more of Trevor's interviews with Bryan Hirota and John "DJ" DesJardin as they discuss Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch.

Visit the official website of Velvetelvis Studios.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

Image Conscious: A conversation with visual effects supervisor Dan Glass

Trevor Hogg chats with The Tree of Life visual effects supervisor Dan Glass...

As part of Method Studios’ plan to expand its involvement in making visual effects for movies, Dan Glass was hired to be its Senior Creative Director; the decision paid immediate dividends for the Los Angeles-based VFX facility as Glass was presented with the Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Live-Action Commercial. “It was a different challenge for me last year to try my hand at commercials,” says the British-born Glass who oversaw the production of the 2 minute 15 second television spot called Halo Reach: Deliver Hope. “It was enormous fun, a pleasure to push the creative boundaries on a short schedule, and a tribute to the team I’m now involved with.”

Having to combine artistic sensibilities with technological expertise is not a foreign concept for Dan Glass. “My mother is an artist; still to this day she does a lot of printmaking and painting,” says the native of London, England. “My father is more of the scientist; he was a PHD chemist. In a way it was a great fusion for a lot of what I now do. My father got myself and my brother a computer to play with at home. I would hardly say I was one of those closet computer geeks who locked myself away for days or weeks but it definitely helped that I could gain a familiarity with it and learn some of the fundamentals. Then with my mother’s artistic sensibilities I was constantly encouraged to explore music and the arts; ultimately, that led to me choosing architecture, as a pursuit at college, which has a fantastic combination of skills. Within that you obviously learn about things like light and space, all of which feed into what we do within crafting an image.”

Venturing into the visual effects industry during the early 1990s was like exploring a new frontier for the architecture graduate. “It was a very small field,” recalls Dan Glass. “There was a certain amount of technology and software that existed within television and commercials but it dealt with broadcast video. Equipment that was dedicated to the resolution and level of quality that we needed for film was very scarce.” A lot of creative energy was spent crafting fundamental technical tools. “At the time I joined [the Computer Film Company] all of their machines were custom built; they had figured out how to scan film into the computer and record it back out, and all of the processes in-between. CFC [which became Framestore] had built and designed their equivalent to a Photoshop or a Paintbox. The way we had to work back then was more akin to a computer programmer.” Glass explains, “You had to key in and program every little detail including moving an image to another frame buffer and swapping colour channels – all sorts of the intricate details. Thankfully, now, computers take care of an enormous amount of that as we advance but it was great training. You really knew what was going on and how it was working.”

“My first credit was the very memorable Muppet Treasure Island [1996],” chuckles Glass who was a Visual Effects Compositor on the movie. “After many years on the box as a compositor, I began a freelance supervisor career on the film [Thir13en Ghosts, 2001]. From there I was fortunate enough to follow a freelance pattern that never saw me out of work.” A long-lasting creative partnership for Dan Glass was forged with The Wachowski Brothers when he got the opportunity to serve as a Visual Effects Supervisor on The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003). “Those films seem to have gained a slightly dubious reputation which I don’t completely understand. Any sequel that follows such a successful and original first movie is always going to be challenged,” remarks Glass. “They were extremely successful financially as sequels. When I re-watch them I still enjoy them immensely…To me the projects that appeal to me are the ones that are able to keep my interest throughout the whole making of them. That takes a special kind of project. It has to have a pretty rich diversity with what it’s trying to do or it can be very hard to sustain that stamina through what can be a many-year process. The Matrix sequels were pretty insane for the level of ambition, the volume of work and the content we had to produce. There was never a moment when any of us were bored. Every aspect of the technology was challenged at some point in that production. That’s why it’s probably been a career builder or certainly a career experience for so many people.”

“I’ve always kept an open mind,” responds Dan Glass when asked what has enabled him to survive in an industry which is in constant flux. “The universal thing is that you are there to work with and for the director; you determine and translate what it is they’re after and manage that through the restrictions of budget and time.” Another major skill for a successful visual effects supervisor is the ability to corral the companies and the team of artists in a way that brings the project “to a place where you’re getting the best possible result. Every director and every production is a little different. I would doubt that there’s any individual who can fit perfectly into every situation. I think what’s really part of it is trying to find the right pairing.” As to how he would define a great visual effect, Glass states, “I think it’s a lack of self-consciousness to me. I’m trying to use that term to capture a broad range of things. Clearly there are visual effects that standout and could almost be used to sell a movie. I’m not saying that’s wrong if they fit within the context of the story and the film.” Key examples of this for Glass are Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Avatar, and the science fiction tale which established The Wachowski Brothers as international moviemakers. “The thing I thought was extraordinary about the first Matrix was there was an effect that we still talk about to this day; it made such an impression on people but completely made sense within the film.”

“The difficulty of incorporating visual effects into a photoreal environment,” reveals Glass, “is that the closer you get to portraying familiar reality like a human being, the easier it becomes for the viewer to point out discrepancies.” As for the other end of the visual effects spectrum,” he states, “If the stylized reality is clearly defined then that can be a little more straightforward potentially because you’re playing with something that isn’t familiar to the viewer, so you can make some of your own rules.” Contemplating whether the gap between computer-generated imagery and practical effects has lessened, Glass believes that the greatest hindrance is not technology but time and money. “I think the opportunity that we get to really finesse things to that level is very rare.”

“One of the biggest things that we’re likely to see in the next five years is in the increase in render speed,” states Dan Glass. “With the advent of GPU rendering we’ll have these incredibly near photo-real or even photo-real renderings that can be virtually interactive and that in itself will lift some of the artistry…You don’t want artists’ time to be spent waiting for things. The more that process speeds up the more you have time to actually design and develop ideas and push things visually.” Glass is not completely sold on a major visual effect currently sweeping Hollywood. “3D, while I’m not saying it’s only a fad, I think that the mechanism is a little bit more of a gimmick still. Ultimately, its presentation is a cheat on the eyes.” There is also the matter of the image quality. “It is dim because you effectively lose a lot of brightness because you’re wearing polarized lenses, so that cuts out half of the brightness of the image. And with the digital projectors that currently can’t reach the brightness of film projectors, you get even less brightness… There have been some great uses of 3D, but there’s unfortunately been quite a few films I think would have been better without it.” On the other hand, Glass views releasing movies in the IMAX format as being a more genuine pursuit as it is about preserving the visual detail.

The days of having to be more of a computer programmer than an artist are over. “What I find very exciting about the time and place we’re at with visual effects right now is that technology has become a much more malleable form,” enthuses Dan Glass. “As for what the future holds for him, Glass states, “I’m continuing my partnership with Terrence Malick [The Tree of Life] which is a fantastic relationship; I consider him to be a great friend as well. And I will also continue to work with some other filmmakers that I’ve been close to, most notably The Wachowski Brothers; we’ve been developing tests and are working on some things now.”

Many thanks to Dan Glass for taking the time out of his busy schedule for this interview.

Halo Reach: Deliver Hope:


Check out fxguide for an interview with Dan Glass about the making of the Halo Reach commercial.

For more from Dan Glass, check out Vision Quest: The Making of The Tree of Life.

Vision Quest: The Tree of Life & The Big Lie

Visit the official website for The Tree of Life.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

Image Conscious: A conversation with visual effects supervisor Bryan Hirota

Trevor Hogg talks to Sucker Punch and The Tree of Life visual effects supervisor Bryan Hirota...

One of the recent additions to the staff of Pixomondo is veteran visual effects supervisor Bryan Hirota; he has worked on over 50 films starting with Demolition Man (1993) as a computer graphics designer. “My Mother has a Masters of Fine Arts; she has always done paintings and drawings,” states Hirota. “My Dad has an engineering background. I’ve been exposed to a mixture of both.” The early exposure to the arts and practical analysis has served him well. “You have to be able to approach stuff with an artistic sensibility because you’re trying to create imagery that evokes emotional responses. But at the same time if I am leading a group of artists...I’m also responsible to come up with the technical approaches that we are going to take to solve the problems to achieve the atheistic look we want.”

After graduating from the University of California, San Diego with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, the native Californian found himself working in the early stages of the visual effects industry. “Everyone figured out stuff as we went along,” he informs me. “The industry in L.A. was funny from the early 1990s to 2000; it was like a boom industry… If you could patch a computer you would get a bunch of money. It seemed like a never-ending gravy train. Around 2000, that was when London and Sydney started to be viable places to send work.” The trend has expanded to north of the border fueled by provincial government incentives and the studios wanting to financially benefit from them. “Every company under the sun is opening a facility in Vancouver trying to take advantage of these global tax credits.” There are other reasons for the movement away from Los Angeles. “You’ll have local companies in Australia or in England or in Canada that have grownup by getting more and more work and have become quite savvy at what they do.” Hirota observes, “A big difference now is on an artistic level; you have this opportunity to travel the world and go to work at all these different places. It can be a little daunting depending where you are on the food chain if you don’t want to do that.”

“I’m a visual effects supervisor on the facility side,” remarks Bryan Hirota. “You need to work with your client to fully understand the vision they want to achieve; then you have to pivot 180 degrees inside the facility and work with the team that you have there, whether it be the technicians and or the pure artists, to convey the message of what the director’s vision is and to also be able to construct a workflow and a work methodology that will enable that project to get done.” Keeping an open mind is critical for success. “When you start a new project you really have to evaluate it. I’m sure that the tools and the approaches that you have used before are applicable; if they’re not, quickly identify at the start of the job which ones aren’t. You need to make sure when you get underway that you have tackled all of the creative and technical issues which may come up.”

Questioned as to how he would define a great visual effect, Bryan Hirota answers, “There are certainly the kind of spectacle visual effects that just blow your mind away with the sheer audacity of what’s been attempted and what’s been achieved. The sheer volume of high quality work put into Avatar [2009] is mind-blowing.” Hirota adds, “At the same time there is a film like Inception [2010] which isn’t overtly in your face with their effects as a movie like Avatar but the work is so integral and important to telling that story.” As to what approach is easier when incorporating visual effects, he informs me, “In some ways being given the stylized stuff is easier because no one can say, ‘That doesn’t look right.’...You have less keystones to latch onto when you’re dealing with a stylized world; it’s a tradeoff. You win some you lose some when you decide to go for a style versus reality.” In regards to whether the gap between practical and CG effects has lessened, Hirota believes, “There is a certain physical reality that’s afforded things that are actually real in front of the camera. Will that always be the case? I’m not sure. Up until five, maybe ten years ago spaceships in movies were still always done using models with fiber optics in them. Nobody does that anymore. I don’t know that you can say that the spaceship in the new Star Trek [2009] or the mothership floating around in District 9 [2009] look less real than Star Wars [1977]… I think if you can shoot something with a camera in real life you’re better off doing that because it’s going to look real.”

Past collaborations are a major factor in getting repeat assignments. One such person for Bryan Hirota is Warner Bros. VFX Supervisor John DJ DesJardin whom he met while starting out at Video Image MVFX; he most recently worked with DesJardin on Sucker Punch (2011) and Green Lantern (2011). “If you can find a group of people with whom you have a good relationship…it’s better to bring them back together because doing any one of these movies is really hard. It is hard from start to finish…It is like being in a foxhole in a war. You want to have people down in that foxhole whom you trust.” Contemplating whether there is more artistic license developing an original concept, Hirota says, “I don’t know if you have more creative freedom. I guess in some ways you do because on a sequel you are beholden to what has come before you. On my end of things, I don’t think it effectively matters what the material I’m being handed is. You look for ways to make whatever you’re doing as great as possible. I think the overall challenge is the same.”

Creating visual effects has been made difficult with movies being released in the IMAX format and 3D. “IMAX, because of the increased resolution, exposes more problems,” states Bryan Hirota. “3D, you have more data because you’re dealing with two eyes and then the added burden of, if you’re looking at something in stereo, you can’t hide problems.” As for the future of the visual effects industry, he remarks, “It will only continue to globalize.” Reflecting on how he has been able to survive for so long, Hirota says, “The technology and the tools have evolved so much in the past couple of decades; it is really an ever changing field…I’ve been lucky that there’s been plenty of things for me to do; that has kept me interested enough to be hammering away at this year after year.”

Many thanks to Bryan Hirota for taking the time out of his busy schedule for this interview.

For more from Bryan Hirota, check out Vision Quest: The Making of The Tree of Life.

Read more of Trevor's interviews with Bryan Hirota and John "DJ" DesJardin as they discuss Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

Cutting Edge: A conversation with film editor Michael Kahn

Trevor Hogg chats to three-time Academy Award-winning film editor Michael Kahn...

While in California producing some commercials for a New York ad agency, Michael Kahn was offered a job at Desilu, the production company owned and run by television stars Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. “I was the male secretary for a fellow named Dann Cahn,” comments the three-time Academy Award-winning film editor who assisted the editorial supervisor responsible for the celebrated comedy TV series I Love Lucy (CBS, 1951 to 1957). “Eventually, he said, ‘If you want to get ahead in this town you’ve got to get into the union.’ He got me into the union and then I started assisting a fellow by the name of John Woodcock.” The assignment with Woodcock saw Kahn working on his first television series The Adventures of Jim Bowie (ABC, 1956 to 1958). “It was a wonderful time to be in the editing business because we had fourteen or sixteen shows on the air. Some were comedies and some were dramas.”

“A friend of mine, Jerry London, got a chance to work on Hogan’s Heroes [CBS, 1965 to 1971]; he did the pilot. He said, ‘If you come with me as my assistant, after the fifth or sixth show I’ll make you the editor.’” The editorial supervisor for the World War II comedy series was true to his word, and Michael Kahn spent six years editing over 130 episodes and working with a variety of directors. “I was able to learn a lot from that show; it was a career maker for me.” The military sitcom led to his working with Oscar-winner George C. Scott (Patton) who was making his theatrical directorial debut with the drama Rage (1972). “When he was doing his first show, directing and acting, he said to a friend of his who was a writer, ‘Could you get me that editor. I don’t even know his name, who works on Hogan’s Heroes.’ That’s how it went, believe it or not.” Scott and Kahn would go on to collaborate once more for the adventure tale The Savage Is Loose (1974). “What a wonderful human being he was,” states Kahn fondly. “I really enjoyed working with him.”

Comparing the attitude of movie directors with their counterparts in television, Michael Kahn observes, “In the old days, the directors would shoot a big long master, then they would cut and the editor would just lay it in. But when TV started, the TV directors shot a lot of footage because they realized they had more control of the film when they were through with it.” 1976 turned out to be a big year for the film editor as he won an Emmy Award for his work on the ABC TV movie Eleanor and Franklin and he would have a fortuitous collaboration with filmmaker Irvin Kershner and director of photography Owen Roizman on The Return of a Man Called Horse. Both Kershner and Roizman recommended Kahn to a young director looking for a film editor to help him with a science fiction picture. When asked by Steven Spielberg as to whether he was a good editor, the New Yorker said he had no idea but those with whom he worked kept asking him to come back. Kahn got the job and headed off to Mobile, Alabama where he assembled Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).

Close Encounters of the Third Kind led to Michael Kahn receiving his first of seven record-setting Oscar nominations for Best Editing, six of them resulting from his work with Steven Spielberg. “I just remember I had a lot of fun,” recalls Kahn of the swashbuckling adventure Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) which awarded him with his first Oscar. Questioned about the opening twenty-minute action sequence, the film editor explains, “In the old days when the trains went across the country they just had that track. They had this long cowcatcher in the front that would push any sheep or cows off the rails. So when a motion picture starts you want to start it with a cowcatcher, something that the audience can grab onto.”

“When I’m through with a film I try to forget everything about it so when I go to the next film I’m not carrying any excess [mental] baggage with me,” reveals Michael Kahn who was lauded with two separate 1988 Oscar nominations for Empire of the Sun and Fatal Attraction; before the latter thriller could be released its concluding scene had to be altered by co-editors Peter Berger and Kahn because of the negative reactions occurring during the test screenings. “It really was an incredible ending but the people were promised by the wife when she said, ‘If you touch my husband again, I’ll kill you.’” Thinking further about the film in which Glenn Close (The Big Chill) plays a psychotic lover spurned by the character portrayed by Michael Douglas (Wall Street), the film editor adds, “They have an argument at one point and I recall she says, ‘I will not be ignored.’ It is a great line in the film. She just wanted to be with him. The audience probably didn’t feel all that much for her because she was taking a wife’s man.”

“We were finishing Jurassic Park [1993] as we were starting to shoot Schindler,” recalls Michael Kahn who had to edit two Steven Spielberg films at the same time. “I took a [work] print of Jurassic Park. Whenever the Lucas people wanted to send us something they sent it over the saucer [satellite dish] and we would see it in Poland.” Kahn states that the 1993 World War II holocaust tale, which led to him being presented with his second Oscar, was the most difficult picture on which he has ever worked. “Schindler’s List was very hard because we were in Poland and we went to the [concentration] camps. The horrific subject matter left the film editor feeling emotionally drained. “When I came home I felt really overtaken with the travail of these people.”

Like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Saving Private Ryan (1998) features a dramatic opening sequence; unlike its predecessor, an actual historical event is recreated – the Allied troops landing on the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day invasion. “The first twenty or thirty minutes of Private Ryan had so many different camera techniques being utilized; I had a lot of ways I could go with it,” says Michael Kahn of the dramatic introduction which has been praised for its brutally realistic depiction of battlefield combat. For his efforts on the World War II picture, Kahn was rewarded with his third Oscar.

“You don’t edit from knowledge. You edit from intuition,” says Michael Kahn who views himself as a creative collaborator. “Some directors don’t like you to edit until they are ready to run it with you; then what you have to say is minimal because he tells you what he wants and you sit there and type out the visuals. But that’s not editing… I want to make a contribution to the film.” Kahn acknowledges that the man behind the camera is the one who reigns supreme when it comes to the final decision-making. “You have to get the director’s ideas. We don’t work in a vacuum.” The film editor adds, “I think if the director can have a good point of view and you can be in synch with him it can be wonderful. The only problems I have had in this business, to tell you the truth, are when you go in to try to fix a film… Those directors are really very unhappy with you having to come in to play with their picture.” When I ask him to whom he answers when there is a creative dispute, the post-production specialist replies, “It is up to the producer and the director to mitigate. Some of these fellows want to leave it four hours long. You can’t make an impression on them. They have a set view and they feel that’s the way to go. And that’s the way they should go if they feel that way, but not only is it an art medium it is also a commercial medium.”

The collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Michael Kahn continues to thrive; they will be releasing two pictures in 2011, the motion-capture animated tale The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn and the cinematic adaptation of the World War I drama War Horse. In regards to editing the first installment of the proposed trilogy based on the comic book series created by Hergé, the task was made easier as Kahn received dailies featuring the animated characters and settings. There was one thing that the footage lacked. “It had to go down to Weta in New Zealand and they would put in the mouth and eye movements; with some of the more difficult animation pieces, they would complete it.” Moving onto the War Horse was not a problem for Michael Kahn. “We went to England. He shot the film. We put together here in Hollywood. It worked well.” Though he has not read the book, Kahn did attend the stage play in England. “People responded very well in the theatre. It was nice to see and of course the horses are not real but after awhile you think they’re real.” In explaining the story set during World War I, the New Yorker remarks, “The horse really doesn’t decide where he’s going; it’s just how life takes him. It’s a lot of fun to see. Those English actors are awfully good and so were the horses. The horses were beautifully trained. For an editor there were a lot of match [frame] problems with the horses but the shooting was so good that I got everything I needed.”

In between the two films he worked on with Steven Spielberg, Michael Kahn served as the third editor on Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides which is also scheduled to be released in 2011. “I had just finished with Jerry Bruckheimer trying to fix Prince of Persia. They liked what I did and they wanted to keep me around for the start of the Pirates of the Caribbean. So I spent a month or two just helping out the two other editors. They kept me there until Steven started. I never even saw the director. He was in Hawaii and I was here in the States.” Explaining his contribution to the fourth installment of the high seas adventure franchise being helmed by Rob Marshall (Chicago), Kahn states, “We would give him a first run through of a sequence; he had someone there who would make changes in Hawaii. Then it came back to us; we showed it to Jerry Bruckheimer who accepted or didn’t accept the changes.”

As for future projects with Steven Spielberg such as the biopic about Abraham Lincoln, Michael Kahn says, “It is my understanding they are going to start the film, just like they say in trades, at the end of this year which is September or October… If it goes I will work on it with Steven.” In regards to his also working on Robopocalypse, the cinematic adaptation of the science fiction story penned by novelist Daniel H. Wilson, the film editor remarks, “I was told in the trades that he was going to do that right after Lincoln which would also be an overlap.” The possibility of his having to assemble two films at the same time does not unnerve Kahn. “I think our minds have a capacity to do more than one thing at a time.”

When it comes to impressive movies he has recently seen, Michael Kahn mentions Blue Valentine which stars Michelle Williams (The Station Agent) and Ryan Gosling (Fracture) playing a couple whose marriage falls apart. “It’s no fun seeing that picture but you want to see it; the acting is great.” Another one that stands out to the film editor is the psychological thriller Black Swan with Natalie Portman (Beautiful Girls) portraying a professional ballerina. “You see the unraveling of this woman. This is not what I would call entertainment but it is something people can relate to because it hits a nerve of truth. It was the same thing with Schindler; people want more reality, especially, the older people.” What has yet to impress Kahn is the current 3D technology. “The picture is much duller. It can’t capture enough light. I was watching Avatar and I took my glasses off a number of times and I was able to see the colours so much better. That’s a problem they have to solve.”

“You should see as many pictures as you can,” advises Michael Kahn to aspiring film editors. “If you like them, you ask, ‘Why did this picture work so well? What elements in it made it work so well?’ If it’s a bad picture, you ask, ‘Why didn’t it work? What would I have done as an editor to make it work?’ But that’s after you’ve seen the picture.” Having completely converted to computer editing, Kahn observes, “The editing hasn’t changed because we’re doing it digitally. Editing is editing. The decision of what to do takes the same amount of time, except, we get there quickly.” Contemplating his career, the film editor says, “What have been very important for me over the years have been my assistants… They have been wonderful because you don’t have time to answer the phones. You don’t have time to do the mechanics of the editing room. And if you have an assistant who can take care of all of that then your only responsibility is to sit and edit.”

Many thanks to Michael Kahn for taking the time out of his busy schedule for this interview.

For more, be sure to check out Trevor's article "Editor Michael Kahn reflects on his work with Spielberg" from Post Magazine.

American Cinema Editors Lifetime Achievement Award Tribute to Michael Kahn...


Filmmaker Edgar Wright has posted his thoughts on the tribute video, which you can read here.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

Master & Commander: Peter Weir Returns with The Way Back

Concluding our Peter Weir Blogathon, Trevor Hogg explores the making of the acclaimed filmmaker's latest epic, The Way Back...

In my quest to learn more about The Way Back, a World War II prison escape and survival epic, I spoke to two cinematic artists who have an unwavering sense of loyalty and respect for their countryman and colleague Peter Weir. “About a year before it actually started shooting, Peter talked to me about the film and I read the script,” states two-time Academy Award-nominated film editor Lee Smith from an edit suite in London, England. “They had a couple of changes of people who were going to finance it…and then we slipped into a weather situation. Where they were going to shoot it was going to be too cold and they had to wait for the weather to be [more] advantageous.” Oscar-winning cinematographer Russell Boyd was happy to leave behind the confines of the Napoleonic British warship which played a pivotal role in his last teaming with the internationally acclaimed director. “It was nice to get out onto different locations,” states Russell from his home in Sydney, Australia. “We shot in Bulgaria for about three months then Morocco and finally India.”

The $30 million independently-funded production features Jim Sturgess (21), Colin Farrell (Minority Report), Ed Harris (Pollack), Alexandru Potocean (The Whistleblower), Gustaf Skarsgård (Trust Me), Dragoş Bucur (The Other Irene) and Sebastian Urzendowsky (The Counterfeiters) playing seven prisoners who escape a Siberian labour camp in 1940, and befriend a young Polish girl portrayed by Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones); it is loosely based on Slavomir Rawicz’s memoir The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom. “I read the book which the film is based upon,” says Lee Smith who was given the responsibility of assembling the footage as he did with the seafaring Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003). “When I got to Bulgaria I read a couple of other smaller books on the life and times of people who had gone through those [Siberian prison] camps.” There has been controversy over the historical accuracy regarding Rawicz’s account of traveling 4,000 miles on foot to India. “I think that was in Peter’s mind as well,” remarks Russell Boyd when I inquire as to whether or not the accuracy debate influenced the project being given a name different from that of the memoir. “He wasn’t out to tell a factual story; he adapted it from the background of the book.”

What the director did want to achieve was an authentic atmosphere for the picture. “Peter did a lot of research on the gulags,” explained Russell Boyd, “and he came across [information] that they were lit by one single light, like a domestic household bulb in the middle of these long barracks; he wanted me to try to emulate that. I couldn’t completely or otherwise it would have fallen off into complete blackness…but I tried to keep it as natural as possible.” One of the locations with which Russell was intrigued was a cave which proved to be so treacherous that Peter Weir injured his knee. “It was fairly late in Bulgaria and then we had the three or four weeks in Morocco and then India, so he did find it pretty difficult to get around. It certainly didn’t stop his drive or his ability to direct the film.” One particular example of Weir’s resolve occurred while in Morocco. “The characters that are still part of the story encounter this big sand storm and special effects had setup some huge airplane engine-like fans that can blow either wind or sand towards you. The day we were scheduled to do it…a real sand storm blew in and Peter was saying, ‘We must shoot! We must shoot in it! We’ve got the real thing happening.’ But it overcame us totally and we laid down our tools for a half an hour to let it pass through; it went through as quickly as it came. Once it was gone we continued with special effects blowing sand at us.”

“The snow in The Way Back is real snow,” emphasizes Lee Smith. “I remember shooting on a stage in Bulgaria. It was colder on the stage than it was outside.” Upon being told the remark made by his colleague, Russell Boyd cannot help but chuckle. “The reason for building the forest set was that there were a lot of scenes in the forest after they escape,” states the native of Victoria, “all sorts of things ranging from mid-winter blizzards through to a few scenes shot in the spring. There were also scheduled a lot of night exteriors in the snow which can be extremely difficult to shoot, not only because they’re physically demanding but also just getting equipment out in the right spot. The decision was taken to build a forest set on stage. What that gave us was a light from above which we call a space light, great big balls of quartz lights with a silk surrounding. They give a lovely soft light and we hung sixty of those up in the lighting grid. As the trees went in and they switched them on for me, this is a month before he [Peter] does the shooting, I realized that the trees were stealing a lot of my light so we doubled…the space lights. Being able to shoot a lot of those scenes in day or night or in snow was very flexible for the scheduling, and for production to be able to manage things very carefully for us.”

“It was bearable but it was really hot,” remembers Russell Boyd when recalling the time spent conducting the principle photography in Morocco. “We were gone by the time high summer came along.” Russell adds, “I’d rather be hot than cold so I enjoyed it more than the snow.” A problematic situation for the cinematographer and his camera crew occurred during what was supposed to be a brief one day shoot in India. “It was a busy morning as I was shooting some atmospheric stuff, and then in the afternoon shooting the scene where the guys march into India to freedom. The following day we had a scheduled day off; it poured with rain to the extent that there were a lot of mudslides in Darjeeling and a number of people lost their lives. Also, at that time our entire unit base was washed out. The next day we started shooting and it rained by lunchtime and we had to go home. So we went back the following day to finish shooting, hopefully, and got rained out again and the third day we went on to complete it.”

“The opening scene in the movie is very powerful,” marvels Russell Boyd of the late addition Peter Weir made to the script while on location filming. “It was one of the last things we did in Bulgaria, where he [Jim Sturgess] is being interrogated and forced to sign a piece of paper saying that the allegations against him are true and the allegations have come from his young wife who had been tortured.” The short scene which makes use of dramatic close-up shots also made an impression on Lee Smith. “As soon as you take a sequence seriously, you feel that you’re really there and this is really happening; you can only begin to try to imagine how incredibly difficult it would have been [to be] interned at that time,” observes Lee. “I think the combination of sound effects and music that subtly play in the background give you an idea of the horror it would have been in one of those prisons.” The concept of nature being the central antagonist, emphasized during the prison camp scene, fascinates the Sydney-born film editor. “One of my favourite moments is when they say, ‘It’s not our guns or wires that will keep you. It’s Russia itself.’ It’s where they are. It is such a remote place what is the point of escape? Where would they go? And if the locals don’t round them up for the bounty then surely they’ll perish through fatigue, starvation and cold. I thought that was a bit of a genius thing to play on.” Russell Boyd was impressed with an intelligently-used storytelling device that appears at the halfway point of the picture. “The introduction of Saorise Ronan in the film was a masterstroke I thought,” enthuses the cinematographer. “One of my favourite scenes in the movie is where she runs across this frozen river which you remember is in the trailer. To me it really put the picture on a different level…it pushed the story on much faster. It will give an audience a great feeling that this young girl is [able to] capture the affection of this [group of] harden ex-gulag prisoners.”

Not being able to crosscut between different storylines during the picture resulted in a major creative challenge for Lee Smith. “I think it was nice to stay with them,” believes Lee. “Once you’re walking, there is nowhere else to go and I think that adds to the vibe of the film. You’re as isolated as they are, and cutting back to the camp or back home to the loved ones, I think, would have broken that spell.” The film editor adds, “The great thing with films is that you can go on a journey with the people that you are interested in watching. You almost feel part of them. I certainly felt pretty parched as I got through that desert.” Working with a large principle cast of seven actors was creatively challenging. “Not everyone can have every line and every reaction to every moment,” acknowledges Lee Smith. “It definitely adds a layer of complexity when you have an ensemble cast for a fair chunk of the film.” To help him get a better assessment of the footage, Lee Smith delays incorporating a particular cinematic element. “We run without music the first time just to get an understanding of the film.” He goes on to explain, “My theory is that the longer you can resist putting music on a movie, the more you analyze and the more brutal you are on the images. Music is the great glue that can stick sequences together.”

“[The Way Back] is what I would call a fabulous piece of adult entertainment,” says Lee Smith. “It’s just a movie I would thoroughly enjoy watching. It’s not easily marketable because you can’t pin it to another movie.” When I ask if the unrelenting depressing nature of the story will hurt the picture at the box office, Lee tells me, “I’ve seen it with audiences who loved it and applauded at the end of it. I’ve been to a lot of test screenings in my time and you don’t often get that.” Upon assessing the commercial appeal of the epic tale, Russell Boyd remarks, “I rather believe that certain audiences will go to any film that a certain filmmaker might make. Peter Weir would have an inbuilt audience I would have thought for whatever sort of film he makes.” Lee Smith realizes that there are serious financial forces at work which may well deprive “accessible art” directors like Peter Weir of the opportunity to make films. “At the end of the day movies are expensive to produce and basically they do have to make money. It depends on how brave the people are who are funding the projects…We’re in an age of economic rationalism and I think it’s killed a lot of our thinking.” Despite the changing cinematic landscape, Russell Boyd has unwavering faith in his colleague of over thirty-six years. “One thing I don’t think Peter would ever do is deliberately take on a film that he doesn’t have a one hundred percent emotional attachment to.”

Visit the official site of The Way Back and read our review here.

Thanks to Russell Boyd for supplying the images for this article.

Peter Weir Blogathon

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

The Weir Way: Russell Boyd and Lee Smith Talk About Peter Weir

Continuing our Peter Weir Blogathon, Trevor Hogg chats to film editor Lee Smith and cinematographer Russell Boyd about their experiences working with the acclaimed director...

Although he had not made a film since the seafaring Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), internationally acclaimed director Peter Weir had no trouble recruiting willing collaborators for his latest effort The Way Back (2010). “Since 1975 I have shot more than thirty movies,” states Oscar-winning Australian cinematographer Russell Boyd from his home in Sydney. “I enjoy the work and I enjoy making films but I would have to say having done six films with Peter he does spoil you a little bit more than other projects [do].” The feeling of admiration felt by Russell is mutually expressed when I talk to two-time Academy Award-nominated film editor Lee Smith who is currently working on a project in London, England. When I bring up the subject of The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) and the casting of Linda Hunt as the dwarf cameraman Billy Kwan, I get a glimpse of the youthful enthusiasm he would have displayed three decades ago as a twenty-year old movie industry rookie. “Genius piece of casting,” declares Lee without hesitation. “I was a first year editor on that one also did the sound, working in the Philippines on location. I was a young guy and it spurred me to work with him as many times as I could. It was a fantastic experience.”

Russell Boyd agrees with Lee’s assessment of the daring decision made by Peter Weir to cast Linda Hunt who received an Oscar for her performance. “It was an extraordinary bit of casting by Peter. He actually had somebody else picked out for the role but for some reason he didn’t think it was going to work out. It was quite a last minute thing. He disappeared and flew to Hollywood. We were about four or five weeks out of shooting which is a very intense time… A few days later they had recast that role and Linda was going to play it; a woman playing a man but it certainly worked out well.” The political thriller which stars Mel Gibson as an ambitious Australian journalist in 1960s Jakarta, Indonesia, and Sigourney Weaver as a British intelligent agent left a lasting impression on the film’s leading lady. “I worked with Sigourney on a small film in New York called Company Man [2000]; she said to me, ‘Peter was the reason I continued acting.’ She felt in such good directorial hands with him...I thought that was a great mark of respect she paid Peter.” Explaining Weaver’s comment further to me, Russell says, “I think when actors work with Peter they respond to the fact they are working with somebody really great who can steer their characters.” The cinematographer goes on to give an example of the subtle and crafty approach employed by the director. “Peter will often leave his video village and come over to an actor and just say, ‘Look try this. Just think that. Just put that little thing in there or do something or the other.’ He just speaks gently to the actors and they respond. He is probably one of the great masters of getting a good performance from an actor… There is a great ambience on the set and Peter exploits it; he talks to his actors as one professional to another.”

The two pictures of which Russell Boyd is really proud are Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and Gallipoli (1981) for they put early Australia on the cinematic map. The strange period tale about a group of schoolgirls who vanish upon entering a mysterious rock formation served as the first collaboration between the director and the cinematographer. “Peter has always liked to experiment, using different lenses and heights in getting a shot, and with the speed of the camera,” remarks Russell. “He likes [to use] slow motion a lot just to heighten one little mannerism or a little movement. In Picnic at Hanging Rock when the girls were crossing the river we shot in thirty-two frames which gives it that slight motion effect.” Gallipoli is a World War I drama which stars Mel Gibson and Mark Lee as two friends who tragically end up on a Turkish battlefield. “I don’t think Peter set out to make a war film but of course it is about war. He was very clever in the way where the characters told the story instead of it being a big battle epic… Essentially, it was also a story about Australia coming of age, which it did. A lot of the young guys went off to wars in some of those early scenes thinking it is going to be a picnic, it is going to be a great time over there but of course the way it was they were getting fired upon with real bullets and a lot of them lost their lives. I think it woke Australia up from a slumber from the Victorian-era life and that is certainly part of Peter’s story as well.” A particular sequence that stands out to the both of us is when the stranded Gibson and Lee have to cross alien landscape of the Outback. “That was Lake Torrens in South Australia which is a salt lake and it hadn’t rain out there for years and years; it is one of my favourite scenes in that film. Those scenes really set Peter up as a masterful storyteller. Just the way he used that eerie, odd, strange location – got some great visuals to enhance the story of the two guys crossing the desert.” As for the dramatic concluding shot, the native of Victoria, Australia informs me, “Peter may have been inspired by [war photographer] Robert Capa but we didn’t actually talk about it. I know he wanted to finish the film with that freeze frame and it is a great ending.”

“Peter likes to do a lot of research and loves to share it with the necessary people so usually six to eight months before, we start on the prep,” says Russell Boyd. “In fact with Master and Commander because it took so long to get going, I think I was talking to him for eighteen months before it started.” The Napoleonic war epic provided film editor Lee Smith with the opportunity to take over the reins from his mentor William Anderson for the first time. “In Master and Commander we always stayed on The Surprise,” remarks Lee. “We never ever jumped to the French boat until we actually boarded [the vessel]. I thought that was really cool. A different film, for example, would have had you suddenly in a scene in the French boat with the French captain getting the news about spotting The Surprise on the horizon in subtitles, and they would have all run up and looked through their telescopes but Peter said he wanted to stay with the guys on the boat.” In comparing the film with Peter Weir’s latest effort which takes place out in the Siberian wilderness, Lee observes, “I would say The Way Back was somewhat more challenging because… there are only so many glorious vistas you can cut into a movie and you need to make sure you can keep the audience with you as you’re going through that journey. Whereas Master and Commander was probably more dialogue driven, and held in the confines of the ship, which is still a very interesting visual place to be.” The Sydney-born film editor adds, “Each film has its own unique way of coming together… With Peter’s they are always a visual feast.”

“If I’m involved I can throw in my ten cents worth as to why shoot morning or night in that location or maybe not use that location but another one for another reason,” says Russell Boyd. “It’s not a collaboration, it’s probably a gentlemen’s agreement when we settle on something. But Peter always has great ideas about why a particular location is going to be useful for his stories. I would have to have a damn good reason to get him to change it but he’ll certainly listen if I pipe up well enough.” Weir is not adverse to the idea of seeking advice from those around him. “Peter does like to get some feedback because he doesn’t feel that he’s the auteur filmmaker, he’s not doing it on his own.” Russell amends his comment by saying, “Nevertheless, I for one and I think most of the people who work with him, trust his judgment so completely that nobody would ever argue with him and say, ‘No, no, no! We can’t do it that way! This is the way we have to do it.’ You just wouldn’t do it to Peter.”

“Peter is always incredibly conscious of his story and he does change it frequently,” reveals Russell Boyd. “One of his approaches when shooting a scene is not to do many takes but to do more different setups which gives him a lot more flexibility in the cutting room.” Lee Smith generally finds himself left alone in the edit suite while the principle photography is taking place. “Mainly Peter would only watch sequences if I had any concerns about them,” states Lee. “On The Way Back he did watch a couple of chunks of the film but sometimes that’s just if time permits. Generally speaking he concentrates on keeping focused on what is coming and what he is going to do next.” Weir’s tendency to experiment with a movie soundtrack by incorporating noises such as earthquake tremors and submarine sonar pings appeals to the film editor who is also a sound designer. “He has a lot of ideas and is very interested in creating moods through sounds which makes him a very exciting director to work with.”

“I think a director owes it to his audience to entertain them but also to observe the honesty of the story,” believes Russell Boyd. “He can’t treat the audience with disdain. He has to respect them all the time. One thing I know about Peter is he does think a lot about the audience and how they might react to a particular scene, which has helped me in my approach to cinematography.” Boyd goes on to make a startling revelation, “For a short time he thought The Way Back may not have gotten a big theatrical release… We were going through the laboratory looking at a print and he said it may go straight to DVD. I was horrified. Fortunately, it has gathered a lot more interest since then. I think the [world premiere at the] Telluride Festival gave it a boost.” The cinematographer recognizes, however, that the climate in the movie industry has changed. “There is now a huge sway to ultra visual effects films with spaceships and aliens from different planets; all sorts of visual trickery which will get eighteen to twenty-four year olds into the cinema. I think what he feels, I don’t know if he is right or wrong, is that the studios are banking on those types of films more and more… There is always a market for very small market films – five to ten million dollars… The Way Back is not really a huge audience film therefore it was hard for him to get $30 million out of somebody to make it.” Russell Boyd is very quick to point out, “Peter is not in it for the glory… He would never take a film if he is not convinced that it is something he should do.”

Many thanks to both Russell Boyd and Lee Smith for taking time out of their busy schedules for these interviews. Read more here...

Picture Perfect: A conversation with cinematographer Russell Boyd
Cutting Edge: A conversation with film editor Lee Smith

Peter Weir Blogathon

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.