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DIRECTOR'S CHAIR www.postmagazine.com 11 POST NOV/DEC 2020 floor above the Fear and The Walking Dead offices. Our sound facility was Warner Bros. Burbank, where we worked with sound supervisors Sebastian Visconti and Jim Gallivan [and] mixers David Raines and Jon Mete. Most of the ADR was recorded at Warner Bros. or In Your Ear Studios in Richmond, VA, which is where the show is filmed. The DI was done at Picture Shop in Burbank, with senior online editor David E. Schneider, colorist Chris Boyer and producer Spencer Strauss." Do you like post? "I really dig post. It's where everything comes together, where you can exper- iment, try different things, see what works and what doesn't. Each element of it — from editing, to sound design, to music, to VFX, to setting the final color — adds so much. And to finally see it all come together on the mix stage, that's probably the most rewarding aspect of the whole creative process for me." Talk about the editing. You have several editors. How did you all work together, and what were the main editing challenges? "They say that the final rewrite of an epi- sode of television happens in editing and I believe that's true. Sometimes a scene or a line that seemed crucial in script no longer seems so crucial, or a story point that seemed clear as day in script suddenly seems vague or confusing. The director's cut is the first time I, as a showrunner, get to see an episode up on its feet, and once I jot down my notes, it's about really getting in there with the editor and playing around with things — making what's not working work, and what is working work even better. "Season 1, I worked closely with our four editors: Maria Gonzales, Jim Towne, Shaheed Qaasim and Sue Blainey. Editing is really its own art form and I valued their opinions greatly. One of my big takeaways from Season 1 is how difficult group walk-and-talks are to edit. With everyone moving, it's almost impossi- ble to match continuity between takes. My lesson for Season 2: less group walk-and-talks!" Can you talk about the importance of music and sound to you? "Music and sound design are absolutely critical. Both elements set the mood and tone of any given scene or se- quence. At the start of post on Season 1, I was fortunate to work closely with The Newton Brothers (Andy Grush and Taylor Stewart) and our music supervi- sors Season Kent, Gabe Hilfer and Henry Van Roden to establish a musical sound that felt different than the other shows. The score the Newton Brothers came up with was really stripped down, less full and orchestral as compared to the other series in the universe. They also used a lot of piano, which just has this sadness and elegance to it, and evokes this ter- rific sense of nostalgia. I really love how it came together." Where did you mix and what did you aim for? "We mixed at Warner Bros. Burbank, on Stage Z, which is also where they mix Fear and The Walking Dead, so the team there has a real sense of the world. But at the same time, they quickly picked up on my personal preferences when it came to the balance of dialogue, music and overall sound design. I really didn't set out to do anything different from the other universe showrunners in that regard, it was just about what sounded right to my ear." There are a lot of VFX and some big sequences. Who did them and what was entailed? "During Season 1, I often told people my favorite spot in the office was 'The VFX Lounge', which was this large suite that the VFX team took over and really made it their own — it felt like someone's living room. The team (which included Tavis Larkham, Garrett Fallin, Michaela Weissburg and Benjamin Mitnick) em- ployed a variety of VFX houses so we could award shots to vendors that played to each of their strengths. Some were great with empties (zombies), others with blood, fire, wounds, animals (wolves and wasps), you name it. "They included Picture Shop, Ghost, Mr. Wolf, FuseFX, Ingenuity, Zoic, Chicken Bone (CBFX), Splice, Rhythm & Hues, and Titmouse (which did Iris's dream and sketch animation in the pilot). Our two in-house artists were Keith Pullman and Miguel Muralles. "We had some really huge VFX set pieces, which included an expansive apocalyptic tire fire (complete with dozens of shambling zombies), a sky full of helicopters, and many, many zombie kills. I realized that one of the more challenging aspects VFX-wise — for me, anyway — were the blood hits, when our characters kill the undead. Getting the amount of blood just right, the viscosity, the trajectory, all of it has to look just right for my brain not to reject it as fake. Our VFX team was really great and quickly picked up on the kind of hits I liked, and were able to get those shots pretty close by the time they showed them to me." What about the DI? How important is it? Who was the colorist and how closely did you work with them and the DP? "During Season 1, I realized what an important part of the post process the digital intermediate is. With so many moving pieces, we relied heavily on our online editor David E. Schneider's skills with fixes, credits and dropping in VFX shots — well over 100 in each episode. Picture Shop also helped integrate the main title into an opening title shot for each episode, which was a fun chal- lenge. Chris Boyer at Picture Shop was our colorist, and he worked closely with DPs Ross Riege, Matt Garrett, as well as myself to set the look of the show. Because the palettes of the other shows are more muted with lots of greys, we wanted to go with more vibrant colors for World Beyond. The green foliage almost looks electric, and the sunsets are incredibly orange and dynamic, and that's all intentional. The color really adds to that sense of awe and wonder our characters are feeling as they experience the world for the first time." What can fans expect next? "This is a series that's designed to grow and evolve along with the characters. It starts from a place of innocence and naiveté, but things quickly stack up and the stakes become huge. It's a grand 20-episode adventure that starts small and gets bigger and bigger. We're planning to go into production for Season 2 in early 2021. I'm excited to get back into it and can't wait for everyone to see where the story is going!" Four editors worked on Season 1.