Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/44580
scramble to come up with a whole new plan, and working with Julian was a big part of that. I was able to say, 'Here's my scene — can I do this here? Which elements do I need to film overseas?'" POST: Did you do much previz? MCKENDRY: "A lot. Iloura did it all. So I sat down with all my storyboards, which had been done for a totally different kind of shoot, and went over it frame by frame. Can we do this bit greenscreen? Do I need a location in Australia and then we can add on a few build- ings for this shot? That was the really great part of starting post early." POST: Your editor was John Gilbert who did the first The Lord of the Rings. Tell us about the editing process. MCKENDRY: "He's brilliant, and what I loved about Lord of the Rings is it's not domi- nated by all the effects. The story is para- mount, and I was looking for the same thing — invisible effects. We cut on Avid, and he came to the set and we'd discuss it every day. We shot completely out of order because of the actors' availability, so we'd have to go back and check stuff like the skies and backgrounds. You have to be so careful with all that. He also worked with me on the previz, to check the pacing of the chases and so on. A lot were shot in Melbourne, doubling for London. So we needed to replace skylines and buildings and cars. It was like a jigsaw puzzle and we had to cut out all the pieces before we even started shooting." POST: How many visual effects shots were there on the film? MCKENDRY: "We had well over 700, and about 95 percent were done by Iloura and the rest by Dragon DI in Wales, as we'd shot there. When you do period and location work, it all mounts up." POST: What was the most difficult effects shot to pull off? MCKENDRY: "I was very nervous about the London rooftop chase with Jason being pursued by Clive. We shot it in Melbourne, and that one scene encompassed all the problems we had. We weren't really in Lon- don or 1980, and it was full of very dangerous stunts done practically on rooftops 14 floors up. We had time pressure and had to move fast. So in a situation like that, your post guys can be such a help. We had it completely prevized, we shot with three units, one of them rigging cameras on cranes, so you're really maximizing your time thanks to the previz. Then Julian and his crew ran around shooting the backgrounds with digital camer- as, knowing that he'd go to London and shoot matching angles for later on in post. So it all went very smoothly because of the planning and previz. Basically, Julian, John and I became this very tight post team working on all these scenes. There were two shoots really — the physical one, and then the post shoot." POST: Tell us about audio and the mix. MCKENDRY: "It's a huge piece of any film, but particularly a thriller like this where there's a lot of violence. I wanted a lot of subtleties in the music and sound, but when it kicks in it has to be huge. And I didn't want it to just be all '80s tracks, or have Moroccan music when we're there and so on. I needed something to tie very diverse locations together, and the sound became the through-line of the thriller. We did all the audio in Australia; we recorded on the Fox stage and did the mix at the Sound Firm in Melbourne." POST: How important was the DI? MCKENDRY: "Huge, and we did that at Digital Pictures in Melbourne. I'm so used to DIs because of commercials. The great thing is, all the post elements fell under the Omnilab umbrella, who financed the film. They own a bunch of post facilities, so we were able to do it all in one building, which is great. So I could edit, then walk down the hall to see Julian and screen shots, and then go down to see Digital Pictures. That alone saves so much time in post." POST: How did your career in commercials help your film career? MCKENDRY: "For a start, there are not too many toys you haven't used. I know that that's one of the biggest criticisms of com- mercials directors — that they're used to having their toy boxes and unlimited budgets. But the advantage is that you learn so much doing commercials, you get to experiment and try new gear out really early. I started using digital cameras very early on, so it was funny to do my first big film in 35mm. I've been working with the Alexa, so this will probably be my last film shot on film. And thanks to commercials, there wasn't a location or environment that I hadn't shot in before. I'd done car chases and so on. So I think it's been a big help to me." POST: Do you still shoot commercials? MCKENDRY: "Absolutely. I just did a big one using the Canon 5D, so we try stuff and play around. It's a great place to experiment." POST: So what is the state of cinema today? Is film dead? MCKENDRY: "I think so. I grew up with film and love it, and know the difference — but I think a lot of younger kids either can't see the difference or just don't care, as they've never really been around it. So I think the difference between film and digital is becoming more and more irrelevant. For me, it all comes down to this: how do I capture the image? It used to be quite difficult, with all the cabling, monitors and so on. It's not like that now. You have small lightweight cameras that go anywhere. In post, it just cuts out all the back and forth steps. It's just one straight pipeline now." www.postmagazine.com Post • October 2011 13 McKendry says Killer Elite will "probably be my last film shot on film."