Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1512899
www.postmagazine.com 15 POST NOV/DEC 2023 OUTLOOK O O OUTLOOK O OUTLOOK FILMMAKING Harrison Ford, and it's actually him giving the performance. It's not CGI or motion capture. That's amazing, and a gift for everyone if we embrace it properly." THREATS: "While AI oˆers all these exciting new possibilities, it's also scary in terms of stuˆ like deep fakes. When we get in our cars or fly in a plane, we trust the technology and the people in charge of them: the driver or the pilot. But AI is a bit diˆerent, and we have to make sure it doesn't run away from us. But I don't think we can ignore the huge changes on the horizon. It's going to happen, and we have to find a way to deal with it." OUTLOOK: "I'm very excited about the future, and we'll see where AI takes us. The truth is, there's always some new technology that makes people get a little crazy, but in the end, it's still all about telling stories. And in terms of how we watch movies, I think that the audience is finding a balance between traditional platforms and streamers, and that they can have both now. They can go out to see a movie in a big theater [on] the weekend, or they can stay home and stream it. And I think more choice is healthy for the industry." SAM HARGRAVE Extraction franchise Sam Hargrave—cut his teeth as an award-winning stuntman, stunt coor- dinator and second-unit director on such record-breaking, box-oŸce hits—as Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, Suicide Squad, Captain America: Civil War, Atomic Blonde and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 & 2. STRENGTHS: "It's where the magic blooms. All the raw footage you bring to post has potential, but it's not a film. Usually, when you watch that first rough cut, you just want to crawl somewhere and hide forever. You think you're the worst director ever. What have I done? What am I doing with my life? But then if you stick with it in post, it starts to come together, and I think one of my strengths is persistence and attention to detail. I love the sound mix, and I go through every single sound eˆect. So in an action scene with explosions, I go through every whoosh, every hit, every shell dropping. I have a very specific way I want it to sound. And post allows me the time to really pay attention to all the details." WEAKNESSES: "Sometimes you can get too many cooks in the kitchen and too many opinions about what is the best version of the film, and the best way to get there. So you have to play nice, because there are a lot of people who do have a say, as they've put money into the film. As much as I like to say, 'This is my movie,' it's not only my movie. I'm responsible for bringing it in on-time and on-budget, but you have to work through the post process together, and hopefully you have great partners, like Netflix and The Russos' AGBO company, who are open to discussion and don't bring down the hammer and say, 'You have to do it this way.' "The other weakness is that sometimes it's both a blessing and a curse having enough time to really mess with all the details. You can overwork a scene or an eˆect. It's the same as when you're shooting and realize Take 3 was better than Take 21. In post, you sometimes revert back to an earlier version, where your instinct was speaking to you, be- cause if you sit with it too long, you start trying too many things just to make it diˆerent." OPPORTUNITIES: "For me, the big one is visual eˆects and postvis. All the technology available now allows you to make a big, complex action set and stunt performance far safer, and even more realistic. You can get more performances and more committed ones as you can put down stunts mats and use wires, as it's so easy to erase all that later in post. And you also get more longevity out of your stunt performers. They can do more falls, more jumps and so on, and you can enhance it all digitally and replace the pads so they look like concrete. I love that opportunity to elevate all the action. And from the storytelling standpoint, sound design in post is 50 percent of the whole process, and one of my favorite parts of post. Once you start adding sound design, music, Foley and the rest of the soundscape, it elevates all the visuals and can really magnify a moment in a truly-magical way." THREATS: "Maybe it's AI. We'll see. Another threat could be if people con- tinue to do these oners — and if they're Sam Hargrave with Chris Hemsworth during the shoot for Extraction II.