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DIRECTOR'S CHAIR www.postmagazine.com 13 POST AUGUST 2015 do it brilliantly — and I don't know how he did it. It's one of the best-looking films I've ever shot, largely thanks to Matty. He's extremely collaborative and makes all these great visual suggestions. We used the new MoVI rig which was amazing. It gave us the flexibility to do these extremely complicat- ed roving shots that you'd almost need to reverse-engineer to figure them out...The combination of the movement, the lighting, the practical look, the docu-style approach and the MoVI moments all helped create this particular filmic language we devel- oped for the movie." Do you like the post process? "I love it and it's my favorite part of the whole movie-making process, because you just have far more control, and it's where the real magic happens. There are days where you're strong and you get the performances you want and all the shots you need, and you put it together and it turns out great. But then there are all those other days where you didn't quite get the performance, you didn't get the shots, and that's where post saves you, especially if you're working with a great editor. You take some of those weaker moments that weren't your best, and you cut around them and make them work and massage them and try a different approach — and I find some of the best moments come out of that collaboration with a good editor. It happened to me with Chris Rouse on The Italian Job, and with Sheldon Kahn on Be Cool, and there are just things you can't dream up when you're writing the script and then shooting it, but then later in post a good editor makes you look good." Where did you do the post? "On the lot at Warners." The film was edited by Billy Fox, whose credits include Footloose, Hustle & Flow, Law & Order and Pee-wee's Playhouse. How did that relationship work? "He cut while I shot through production, and he only came to the set once when we did the big 'Detroit performance,' which we actually shot in LA. I wanted him there to make sure we got all the necessary cov- erage to shoot this huge sequence which included not just NWA performing, but a riot and a big action sequence. Billy's very experienced and a great collaborator and we worked well together. We had a fairly relaxed schedule for the cut. It was actually one of the first times I've had an adequate amount of time, and Universal also gave me 10 weeks for the director's cut." The VFX shots — are they mainly there for the period look? "Right. Image Engine and Outback Post did them, and we used them to enhance the crowds during the huge arena perfor- mances, to enhance the LA riot scenes with fire and smoke elements, and to paint out modern signs — mainly little things. And Shane Valentino, our production designer, was great at finding places where we wouldn't need tons of VFX later." Can you talk about the importance of music and sound to you as a filmmaker? "Maybe it's because I started out doing music videos, but all that is so import- ant to me. I actually have my own music studio at home, and I dabble in music and mixing and editing music and im- ages, and I've done it since I began. So I know Pro Tools and Logic Pro X, and I'm very specific about my approach. Mark Stoeckinger is my supervising sound editor, and I've worked with him for 20 years, since we did The Negotiator, and he's the best in the business. He does all these huge movies, like Mission Impossible and Iron Man, but he'll do my little movies as a passion project. We did all the sound design and mixing at Universal, on the Hitchcock stage, where I've mixed about a third of all my movies.As for the music, it was the first time I've worked with Joe Trapanese, this young composer, and he didn't mind my meddling. I'm very sensitive to how we marry the score with the sound effects, the dialogue and so on. I don't just lay it off to some team in the mix." The DI must have been vital? "We're right in the middle of it, at Efilm, and it's as important as all the sound. It should come together like hand and glove. The audience doesn't separate all these elements, but it requires hundreds of them to create one satisfying experience, and the look of the film helps capture the era, the mood, and helps define a moment emotionally and the objectives of a char- acter in a scene. So the DI is another vital part of post for me." Did the film turn out as you had hoped? "It did, although you always have a vision in your head and then you have to deal with all the realities of filmmaking and budgets and time." What's next? "I don't have anything else lined up. I'm going to need a long vacation after this." Efilm handled the DI for Straight Outta Compton, which was mixed at Universal.