Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/221535
director's chair Cuaron says the film's weightlessness was an obvious hurdle. The space debris was also a challenge. 12 by animation. And then it was also a worstcase scenario for a VFX film, as you had to put together all the animation and very precise performances by the actors, and then blend them seamlessly in terms of rendering both the objects and the light. And that whole process took two years." POST: Do you like the post process? CUARON: "I love it, and I love all the stages of the whole filmmaking process, but I'd never gone through a post experience like this before. It was totally unconventional, and at times a little frustrating as progress is so, so slow and labor-intensive. It was also quite scary, because we developed all the technology and had these prototypes, and it was all theoretical. It wasn't until we had all the final rendering — maybe three years into the process — that we finally knew that the theory worked. Sometimes we didn't know if we'd just completely wasted every penny and whether the result would be a complete fiasco?" POST: Where did you do the post? CUARON: "We did it all in London at Framestore with Tim, and they were totally amazing. This film is a testament to their hard work and innovative technology. Then we did all the sound and mixing at De Lane Lea in London, and finally came back to LA to do the big Dolby Atmos mix on the lot at Warners." POST: The film was edited by you, along with editor Mark Sanger. Tell us about that relationship and how it worked. Was he on-set? CUARON: "Depending where we shot we'd have a cutting room on the set. But we didn't have that luxury when we did a couple of scenes at Pinewood, and then for all the location work. There were so many technical aspects to prep before we even began making creative decisions, and Mark took care of most of that. And then we'd sit down later together to do the actual creative editing." POST: There're obviously a huge number of visual effects shots in the film — fair to say it's Post • November 2013 one big VFX shot? What was your approach to dealing with them with Tim Webber? CUARON: "You're exactly right, as every single frame is a visual effect. There's not one frame without VFX. Some are incredibly complicated, and some are less so.Tim, the DP and myself conceptually created all the technology to do it, and Tim is a genius — not just with technology, but he's also an artist. So Tim was very involved right from the start through the four-plus years, creating the technology and figuring out just how to achieve every moment we aimed for. So he was on the set and also working with the actors, to make sure it all went smoothly, because the lighting dictated the technology and vice versa. And in addition to Framestore, he brought in Rising Sun Pictures and Nhance to do some shots. So it was a very big collaboration." POST: What was the most difficult VFX sequence to do and why? CUARON: "The whole film itself (laughs). Some sequences were just more time-consuming in terms of the rendering and number teers to move and guide the actors in their rigs to simulate zero Gs." POST: Can you talk about the importance of music and sound to you as a filmmaker? CUARON: "Of course the irony is that there's no sound in space at all, and we wanted to honor that and be realistic. So the only sound effects you hear in space are the ones where there's interaction with our characters. So if they grab stuff or hit something, the vibrations will transmit to their ears. But the problem with being accurate is that if everything is virtually silent, then in a film that silence eventually loses its meaning and weight. So instead we used music to contrast with the silence, and built that up and then cut abruptly into silence again, to give the silence a bigger presence. And the music also helps to convey the psychological state of the characters, and it was specifically composed for the surround system, in a very dynamic way." POST: The DI must have been vital. How did that process help? CUARON: "It was crucial to the film and the last big link in the whole chain. Emmanuel worked for so long with Steve Scott at Technicolor in LA, and Steve came to London to work on it for a while, and then we completed it in LA. First Steve and the DP work on it, and then I join them, 'til we get the look just right." POST: After all the initial hoopla about 3D there's been a definite loss of interest in the format. How do you feel about it? CUARON: "I can relate to the audience frustration because the truth is, most 3D films are just not designed to be 3D films. They're commercial after-thoughts, and when you don't design it in 3D from the start, you don't exploit all the possibilities and it's usually lame and visually jarring. And often projection isn't very good either. Here, we created a 3D Framestore handled post for the feature. The Dolby Atmos mix was perfomed at Warner Bros. of elements, but others were more difficult from a conceptual standpoint. The scenes of space debris destroying the shuttle were very difficult, with lots of very complex simulations. But then a scene with just one character floating inside a capsule was also very tricky to do, and we ended up using these expert puppe- www.postmagazine.com experience from start to finish, which is totally different and the right way to use 3D." POST: What's next for you? CUARON: (Laughs) "I'm not sure, but I will never, ever do another space movie again. My next film will definitely have people who just walk."