Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/237968
Tom Hooper on the set of Les Miserables. The director would like to see Hollywood embrace more "dramas and risky choices." STRENGTHS: "The big thing is that post gives you the time to really examine what you've shot and then try out stuff and make changes and then undo things — all the stuff that you simply can't do when you're in the middle of shooting. For example, on Les Miserables, I learned that I really had to make the most of each song's emotion, and I had to pace up the moment before the song, to allow the emotion through and let the audience really connect with the song. So I learned that rather than playing a moment out in advance of the song, we had to be quite disciplined about moving faster to the song, so that it didn't become redundant for the audience. So when Eponine dies on the barricade, the original edit had a very lovely, long sequence of her in pain and suffering before Marius sings 'A Little Fall of Rain,' and it was a great moment and very powerful editing. But then the song wasn't that emotional anymore. So we realized in post that we had to speed the edit up, and you just don't see that while actually shooting. It's only in post that you learn this stuff, in a calm environment." WEAKNESSES: "I think the fact that you can't sometimes just step away from it all for a couple of weeks, to get some perspective. But the way budgets and schedules are now, that's virtually impossible, and I think that a film may suffer a little because of that. Everything's so much faster now." OPPORTUNITIES: "I love the fact that with VFX now you can rectify bad shots, whereas before you were stuck — you couldn't change anything. What you shot was what you had. So that's a great improvement." THREATS: "Ironically, I feel the big threat is all the new technology. It's getting better and better so quickly now, but at the same time post schedules are shrinking, so you actually have less and less time to work on the post." OUTLOOK FOR 2014: "I'm very positive. Two, three years ago when I was in Hollywood with The King's Speech, the Oscars were mainly celebrating indie films. But this past year it feels like the studios have made a number of dramas and risky choices, which are also actually making money for them. That's extremely exciting. It's like the indie sector has reinvigorated Hollywood and the studio system. Two years ago the mantra was, 'Drama is dead!' But that's not true now and Hollywood seems much healthier for it. As for the UK film industry, I think it's also in quite a healthy place. I'm a great supporter of the tax credits and the help we give through the national lottery, as I know just how competitive it is now in the global market in terms of where you shoot films, so I think it's very important that we keep doing all that. And personally, I'm quite interested in doing a 3D project if I can find the right thing. I had a great chat with Ang Lee, who encouraged me to try it, so we'll see." www.postmagazine.com Post • December 2013 19