Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1062194
www.postmagazine.com 28 POST DECEMBER 2018 OUTLOOK DIRECTORS BALTASAR KORMÁKUR Adrift, Everest, Contraband The Icelandic director and producer first made a name for himself with his 2000 feature film 101 Reykjavik, which he wrote, direct- ed, acted in and produced, and which became an international hit and earned the Discovery Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Since then he's made films both local and interna- tional, including The Sea, A Little Trip to Heaven and The Deep, which premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and was shortlisted for the for- eign language Academy Award. STRENGTHS: "[Post] is the one time when you can sit back and really re-evaluate things and simplify things in terms of not having a huge crew to distract you. So I like to keep it simple, and I know that the most important thing is to have enough time to really let your film show itself, in the editing and then in all the layers you start adding — sound, music, visual effects and so on. With time you can find what's right and what doesn't work, without forcing it all together like Frankenstein's monster to fit a preconceived idea." WEAKNESSES: "I think the big weakness, especially in Hollywood, is that now you're so often at the mercy of a release sched- ule set way in advance. It's like you're on this runaway train that's charging down the tracks and there's no slowing down. The machine is pushing the creative side too hard, and I think then it suffers. So again, it's to do with time — or lack of it. I do understand the business pressures, but there has to be a balance." OPPORTUNITIES: "As you rediscover your film, you can rebuild it in post and allow it to breathe and be the way it wants to be. That's what's so wonder- ful about post. If you're not rushed you can rewrite and re-edit the whole thing if you want, and discover all these new things about the material, simply by moving scenes around and changing the pace and rhythm. It's endlessly fascinat- ing to me. I once spent over two years posting a film, and because we had the time, we were able to keep cutting and changing and adding stuff until it felt completely right. But it's also because I don't have to keep a whole post crew on the project all that time. It was just me and the editor." THREATS: "I think relying too much on digital and all the toys you have now. The danger is you have all the tools and options in the world, but do you want or need to use them all? It's like grading. When all the digital tools were sud- denly available, I was using everything and throwing color around like crazy. Same with editing, when it went digital. Suddenly everyone was cutting like crazy — two, three, four cuts a second. But in the end, it's all about the correct pacing for the film and the people involved. All the fancy tools are just that — tools." OUTLOOK: "I think in many ways cinema and TV are now merging more and more. I love movies and going to the cin- ema, but now with Netflix and Amazon and others, what's the difference be- tween TV and a movie? They show mov- ies on TV. Why can't you now show TV in cinemas? I like tradition and nostalgia, but I don't think it should be a driving force in how we move forward. People will always embrace all the new technol- ogy — and some of it will help and some of it will just fade away, but we still need good stories first of all. That will always be the real driving force" Everest Adrift