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BITS & PIECES www.postmagazine.com 11 POST MARCH 2016 1.888.615.8729 NASHVILLE / NEW YORK / LONDON LOS ANGELES / PARIS / SALT LAKE CITY / HAMBURG TALKING WITH: THE THIRD FLOOR'S CHRIS EDWARDS ON PREVIS Chris Edwards, CEO/creative director of The Third Floor, established along with five other founders, the studio in 2004 in LA, realizing the benefits of previs and how it would help directors, as well as many other departments involved in a project, get a clear vision ahead of shooting of what a scene should look like, how it would play out, and what they would need to pull it off. The advantages were plenty, including savings in both time and money. Here, Edwards shares with Post how he came to launch The Third Floor and his thoughts on previs. "In many other industries outside of entertainment, visualization and rapid prototyping have been used extensively to hone in on not only the artistic vision, but also the technical details and logistics of bringing those buildings or products to life. Until the early 2000s, Hollywood didn't have a cohesive process of this kind to fully visualize the director's vision in ad- vance of the shoot and post production. "In animation, however, there was a director-driven process called 'rough layout' that defined the framing and basic shot order of each sequence. I experienced the advantages of layout first hand at Walt Disney Feature Animation, where I was a lead layout artist for several years. At Disney, the layout reels inspired the voice and animator talent, and they were able to raise their game as a result of understanding the context of their performances. "It may seem as though live-action films are a completely different endeavor than purely-animated films, but these days many of the most suc- cessful films are digitally enhanced and shot in layers — a complex logistical puzzle that can be streamlined when all departments are working from a common visual script that can be provided via previs. And, the beauty of the previs process is that it can represent the collective wisdom of all the department heads, the director and the studio simultaneously. "After we completed the previs for Star Wars: Episode III on the 'third floor' of George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch house, we were inspired to see how much of a direct impact the previs work had on the final imagery. And, at that moment, we knew many filmmakers could benefit from the same level of creative and technical support, and The Third Floor Los Angeles was born." For more on Previs, check out our feature on page 32. The Third Floor CEO/creative director Chris Edwards.