Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/33429
director’s chair ing around with structure and flashbacks a lot, and gradually began working on each section. It’s a lot of work, but fun. We edited at a couple of places in Hollywood — starting off in a rented suite and then ending up at The Post Group.” POST: You used to also edit, true? really effective.You can maybe cheat a bit with the visuals, but if the sound and music aren’t good, it all falls apart. So I always spend as much time as I can on the mix — or as much as we can afford. It’s the bud- get that always tells you when it’s time to stop (laughs).We did it all at Wildfire Stu- dios in Hollywood.” POST: Did you do a DI? CARPENTER: “Yes, the DI was at Modern Digital in Seattle, and the colorist was Tim Maffia. It’s the first time I’d ever done a DI, and it was pretty amazing to me how you can tweak even a single frame if you want.” POST: Did the film turn out the way you hoped? CARPENTER:“Pretty much. It’s never exactly the way you first pic- ture it in your head because things change constantly and you’re al- ways having to adapt and compro- mise, but I made the film I wanted to make.” The film got its DI at Seattle’s Modern Digital with Tim Maffia. CARPENTER: “Yes, I used to do nearly everything myself when I started, because there was no real budget to hire people. I learned editing at film school at USC, so it was partly out of necessity but it was also a lot of fun.” POST: How many visual effects shots are there? Who did them? CARPENTER: “There are quite a lot — about 155 I think. But they’re all very subtle — not huge, obvious effects shots.We’d darken a frame here, highlight something else there, and there’s also a ghost that ap- pears in the story. “All the visual effects shots were done in After Effects by North by Northwest.The VFX supervisor was Jason Payne at North by Northwest.We’d be cutting down in LA and they would send down the shots as they did them, and we’d get on the phone and discuss them as we went.“ POST: Do you like visual effects? CARPENTER: “I do.They’re a great sto- rytelling device, and they can do great won- ders for you. But they can also be a real pain in the ass, especially when they take too long to do and you’re waiting on everything in post and running out of time and money. But this experience was great, and it all went very smoothly.” POST: How important are sound and music to you? CARPENTER: “It’s really hard to over- estimate how much they affect all visuals in any movie, and especially in a low-budget film where you want the soundtrack to be 14 Post • May 2011 POST: How’s filmmaking changed since you began directing? CARPENTER: “So much in some ways, and not at all in other ways.Take lighting, for instance. It’s barely changed over the years. You still have to sit around waiting while the cameraman lights a scene, and it’s no faster today than it was decades ago. “I keep begging DPs to come up with a way to get beautiful lighting faster, but it’ll never happen (laughs). But other areas like sound and editing have gone through this huge digital revolution in the past decade. That’s all become much faster and better, I think.” POST: Is film dead? CARPENTER: “That’s a very interesting question, but I just don’t know.There are a lot of aspects to digital that are very groundbreak- ing, but even if filmmakers are using the latest tools and technology, it seems that theaters and exhibition are still lagging far behind. I saw a comparison screening between digital and film, and it was a real eye-opener to me.The color and shaking and all the flaws of film that you never used to notice were all there, and I was really amazed. I would definitely shoot a film digitally if it was the right project, with the right DP and so on.” POST: Hollywood’s gone 3D crazy it seems.Any interest in doing a 3D film? CARPENTER: “Absolutely none! 3D was a craze when I was a kid, and I just don’t www.postmagazine.com care that much about it. If it’s used for the right movie, it works great, but I don’t want to do it. I don’t think 3D’s going to take over, despite all the talk.” POST: What’s your take on the current state of Hollywood? CARPENTER: “Hollywood’s always the same.They’re always crying the blues, there’s never enough money, ‘We don’t make enough money’ — of course they do! They just don’t tell you about it.” POST: What’s your take on the current state of indie film? CARPENTER: “That’s a whole different story.There is no real independent film any- more. All the distributors are pretty much owned by the studios, and these are tough economic times because of the recession and world events.The world seems to be going to hell, and it’s harder than ever to raise money.” POST: Over the years you’ve worked in a lot of different genres. Do you feel you’ve been unfairly pigeonholed for the most part as a horror director? CARPENTER: (Laughs) “I’ve been called a lot of things over the years, and it doesn’t bother me much now. I’ve done horror, I’ve done suspense, I’ve done sci-fi — it’s all filmmaking.” POST: What are the best and worst as- pects of being a director? CARPENTER: “The best is that you get Carpenter called on Wildfire Studios for all of ’s audio post production. The film was edited on Final Cut. to imagine and then create these films.That’s a pretty amazing thing.The worst is that the actual job itself is very tough, especially as you get older. It’s all-consuming when you’re on a film.You have no other life at all.That’s why I stopped for a while. I needed a break.” POST: What’s next? CARPENTER: “I’m working on develop- ing a couple of scripts.They’re both very inter- esting, but it’s always down to the same thing: Can you raise the money successfully? And can you get enough to make it worthwhile? We’ll see, but I’m optimistic.” The W ar d