Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/237968
direc to rs OUTLOOK Directors SWOT Thanks to some global blockbuster sequels — including Iron Man 3, Despicable Me 2, and Fast & Furious 6 — it was a very good year for Hollywood. And audiences, happy to forget the weak economic recovery and dysfunction in Washington D.C., headed to theatres in healthy numbers. Here, four top directors — Danny Boyle, Tom Hooper, Andrew Niccol and John Moore — tackle Post's SWOT questions and air their views about the year ahead. Danny Boyle Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, 127 Hours, Trance Won the 2009 Oscar for "Best Director" (Slumdog Millionaire) The Anglo-Irish Boyle started off directing theater and producing and directing TV series for BBC Northern Island before making his feature film directorial debut with Shallow Grave in 1995. all your material at length and try out every idea that pops into your head, but to be honest, post sometimes feels like it's just too long. I like to get it all done quickly and keep everything fresh." OPPORTUNITIES: "There are so many, like the new Dolby Atmos system. We mixed Trance with it and I was so impressed, and although most of the time audiences won't hear it because it's not yet in many cinemas, all that's changing soon, and that's a phenomenal development and opportunity." THREATS: "Time and money are always the main threat to post, especially when you're working with a lot of visual effects. It's getting so much faster, but you still need a lot of resources to do it properly." OUTLOOK FOR 2014: "Last year was such a strong year for movies, so it's hard to say. I'm pretty hopeful about cinema in general, although it faces a lot of challenges. People can access material in so many different ways now, and so many people are moving into TV. But you've got to keep that unique experience of going to this huge dark theater with a 40-foot image in front of you and amazing sound." By I a i n B l a i r Danny Boyle's Trance was mixed in the new Dolby Atmos format. STRENGTHS: "It's where you really create your film. All films are made in the editing room, and in that sense it doesn't really matter what you've done or not done with the shooting and sets and acting and set pieces and so on — it all gets made in post, through the whole edit and sound and VFX process. And the whole romance of film is based on the shoot, the actors and their performances, the DPs and all their work, but it's in post where it really happens. That's why I love post so much." WEAKNESSES: "Probably it's the length of the process. Sometimes you feel like it lasts just too long. It's lovely to be able to consider 18 Post • December 2013 www.postmagazine.com Tom Hooper Les Miserables, The Damned United Won the 2010 Oscar for "Best Director" (The King's Speech) The Oxford-educated Hooper, who got his start shooting commercials and such hit TV shows as Prime Suspect, East Enders, Elizabeth I and John Adams, made his feature film debut with the 2004 drama Red Dust.