Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/246736
had one of the shortest posts I've ever had, which was added pressure." POST: The film was edited by Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers, who were Oscar nominated for Silver Linings Playbook. Tell us about that relationship and how it worked? RUSSELL: "Jay was actually assisted by Crispin, who also worked on my last two films, and Alan Baumgarten. Jay didn't visit the set and edited in Santa Monica. He can explain how it works." (See sidebar) POST: How many visual effects shots are there in the film? RUSSELL: "We used a surprisingly large amount — over 600 — for two reasons; First, the characters wear sunglasses a lot, so there were a lot of pesky reflections from the fill lights that we constantly had to get rid of. Then, we also had to do quite a few period adjustments, such as with cars on the street, and backgrounds. We also ran into a situation with the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan that's under construction right now, so we had to do a lot of work with existing plates to remove all the scaffolding." POST: Who did them and how did you approach them? RUSSELL: "We realized that the best way to deal with them was for us to create our own in-house team, headed by Jay. So we then combined that with various vendors for specific visual effects. We used Zero VFX in Boston, and Lola in Santa Monica did a lot of Olympus Sound provided audio post for the film. Efilm handled the DI. make up and hair effects, and Crafty Apes also did some shots." POST: Can you talk about the importance of music and sound to you as a filmmaker? RUSSELL: "I can't over-emphasize just how important sound design and music are to me. The environment of sound from scene to scene and moment to moment is very specific, and we create enormous layers of sound. There are different kinds of silences, or dog barks in neighborhoods when there's chaos, and I like to use ambience to actually create enormous tension that you can then suck out of the room, which we do in a very dramatic way right at the start of the film. We did a lot of interesting things in the mix to Editor Jay Cassidy "I met David through dailies on Silver Linings, and as I was hired after they began shooting it, I never actually even met him until post, as he was shooting in Philadelphia and I was in Santa Monica. But I heard a lot of talk about his methods, and how he runs these long takes with re-sets. So you hear a lot of discussion in between the takes, and it's a very interesting way to meet a director as I felt as though I was on the set. I felt like he was giving me instructions at the same time. "After I began working on this last March, Crispin came on a month later, and then Alan came on a couple of weeks after that. We broke the film down into different segments and then each of us really focused on those segments through all of the post. Because there was so much material, that way of handling it just made the most sense. Certain scenes did go back and forth between us, but we kept it pretty consistent in terms of each of us dealing with specific segments. "We cut on Avid at Tribeca West and it was great place to work — and Michael Mann was down the hall, Oliver Stone was next door, and they were also doing Hunger Games there. So Jennifer was back and forth. And we only really finished cutting and post at the end of November." layer in sounds to create moments of energy at the start and end of scenes, when something momentous is about to happen. So as two characters end a conversation and you leave the room and go outside, we used sounds that don't necessarily belong to either environment, to make a dramatic point." POST: Where did you mix? RUSSELL: "In the cutting room a lot, and then we went to Olympus Sound, which is John and Nancy Ross' mixing stage, where we also did the last two movies. Myron Nettinga mixed all the effects with John, who's our supervising sound editor and also a part of our team. We get into a rhythm of doing mixes at screenings for ourselves, and it's a set up where everyone's involved. Jennifer, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner will come, and they all give notes — and I'll take notes from anyone to help advance the final film." POST: The DI must have been vital. How did that process help? RUSSELL: "It's extremely important. We did it at Efilm and you have to watch your dailies very carefully or they move sideways at the 11th hour — which happens with the mix too. For the most part we loved the look of the dailies, but you have to mother them and preserve the look. I love rich color, I love redness in people's faces. I do not like things to feel cool. So with Jay and colorist Yvan Lucas, we sit there and go over it all frame by frame." POST: What's next? RUSSELL: "This is the fastest I've ever made two films, as we were prepping this while still finishing Silver Linings. So that was a first for me, and I marvel at filmmakers like The Coens and Woody Allen, who never seem to slow down. I need to take a break now and figure out what's next." www.postmagazine.com Post • January 2014 13