Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1468810
Jackass CONTINUED FROM PAGE 32 Tech CONTINUED FROM PAGE 53 Tools mix on an Avid S6? Re -Recording Mix Technician L uke Schwarzweller at the Fox Studio Lot — who's worked on films like "West Side Story (2021)," "Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker," and "Jojo Rabbit" has a new go-to called mfChangeNote. "It's a very small, standalone software. You just load in a change note and it allows you to simplify the changes to get rid of redundancies. You can choose to conform certain parts in the change note and you don't have to do the whole thing. It runs outside of Pro Tools, but you can allow it to execute the conform within Pro Tools as well," he said. mfChangeNote (mfchangenote.com) was originally created by veteran sound editor Malcolm Fife, MPSE, for personal use back in 1990 when films were moving to digital. Fife was handling foley for shows that had video-film hybrid workflows "and 60 C I N E M O N T A G E Matt Kosinski: Maybe the attitude comes through the unique mix of influences that go into "Jackass." There's the punk rock element. There's skateboard culture, there's extreme sports culture. Knoxville brings this outlaw-country flavor. And of course "Looney Tunes" is a huge part of it. The legacy guys always bring so much to the table, and this time around the producers did a great job of bringing in the new cast and making sure that they blended in, while bringing their own style into the mix. Sascha Stanton-Craven: When the show started, with skate culture suddenly getting an expression on MTV, it was a sub- version of masculinity as it was understood at that point—the way that they show their bodies and mess with their bodies, even down to Pontius' Bunny the Lifeguard. There's a lack of caring about those norms or rules that is a big part of the attitude. As culture has moved, I think the way that they have maintained relevance is by not posturing. Sascha Stanton-Craven: It worked for them in the beginning because it is genuinely who they are. And they are still those guys. You can't hide who you are when you're terrified for your nuts. CineMontage: From how many cameras are you generally getting footage? Matt Kosinski: It could go from five cameras to 15. In hidden camera bits, they'll put GoPros all around the room to make sure that we're well covered. And then there's a bunch of camera guys and hides. Even a normal bit, you're going to have two or three main cameras, maybe a behind the scenes camera getting more intimate shots. Then a couple of cameras just getting slow- mo, which you can speed up and use as a main camera if you have to. You do need to be ruthless with cutting the footage because you're going to leave a lot of great stuff out and a lot of great angles out. You need to cut it in the way that's going to maximize how funny the scene is and keep the mo- mentum going. You're not going to be able to use 95% of the footage. For the hidden camera bits we did, I think Probst and I had some leftover instincts from cutting "Bad Grandpa," which competed with our style here because "Bad Grandpa" had a story. It felt satisfying to live in those pranks for a long time, get to know the marks, and follow up on their reactions after the prank. So, our first cuts for a lot of the hidden camera pranks in "Jackass Forever" reflected that style initially. When we watched it as its own scene, it was really funny to explore what the marks were saying after the fact, and Irving having funny conversations with them. But when you put it in the movie, where everything else happens at a break- neck pace, it was funny, but didn't work for the style. Matt Probst: Another important ele- ment of "Jackass" is the flow of the movie. A lot of thought is put behind the order of when we see things. You find the balance of how everything flows together, where you need to put the big laughs and quieter moments. It's a roller coaster and you need that mood the entire time, but you don't just do loopy loops; you've got to go up high, and then you go for the big drop, and then you do the loop, and then you go into the tunnel. It's a ride but has to be well crafted; otherwise, you're going to lose people or exhaust them. There's a reason why people keep coming back to it because of this flow. Matt Kosinski: You do get into funny conversations because you might be like, "We've got to spread out the penis bits a little bit more evenly so people don't get exhausted." You don't want too many gross-out gags next to each other, and you don't want too many things where people get seriously injured next to each other. And you want to make sure you are trying to create a balance for the cast. You don't want to go too long without seeing Steve-O pop up and you don't want to lose track of what Jasper's thinking. Matt Kosinski: We do have a big board in the office with stickers like, a pink sticker means a gross gag, a green sticker means a music-driven gag, or a red sticker, a penis gag. So, we can see the layout of the movie and start moving cards around and getting it working on paper. Then we go back and refresh the sequencing within the film. Sascha Stanton-Craven: The complex formula of short, gnarly bit with a dick with- out Steve-O, versus long bit with Steve-O. It's a beautiful mind map. ■ Rob Feld is a freelance writer who specializes in movie and TV post-production.