Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/57245
edited in Berlin, and we didn't really know how to edit on 3D as no one had ever done it. So we started on monitors where we'd see anaglyph, the red and green method, using anaglyph glasses. That was a real pain in the butt and hurt, and by the end of each day we'd be tired and wasted. So we decided we couldn't continue like that, and we installed a real state-of-the-art 3D system with two projectors, and linked it to the Avid so we could watch it live. That was very time-consuming to develop. "The faster way was to edit, do the cuts on a monitor in 2D, wait a bit, let it render, and then watch it on a nice big screen, 12-feet by 8-feet. That way, we could see the cuts in 3D, and most of the time we realized we had to do it differently, as all the things I knew had worked in 40 years of editing didn't work in 3D. You had to do different cuts and had to have different priorities. Sometimes a cut works well in 2D because there's a move- ment. But movement in 3D isn't necessarily what pulls you through the cut. So we just had to learn how to cut differently, and we learned by doing it. Eventually, we anticipated how 3D would look, but it took a long time. The edit was the longest ever — a year and a half." POST: Do you like the post process? WENDERS: "It's my favorite part. I love editing. During the shoot I always wish I was already editing, and I don't believe any direc- tor who says they love the shoot. It was a fantastic experience, working with all the dancers, but there comes a moment when you just wish the daily grind of shooting was over, without all that anxiety of schedules and so on." basically done when I said, 'I think we need to see it in 3D and be able to adjust it before we lock it.' But there was no 3D screening room available, and a facility in Berlin installed 3D for us, with a big mixing console. The plan was to just see it once and maybe make a few minor changes. So we began, and the moment I heard the mix that had been perfect in 2D, I realized it just didn't work with the 3D image. "In 3D your eyes are guided in a very dif- ferent way, to the point where the two cam- eras converge — we hadn't done the same sound convergence. So I began to take the whole mix apart and set out to invent the audio depth we needed. Of course, in audio that doesn't exist. You can have surround and a great stereo, but nothing that specifies where the sound is in terms of depth. So redoing the mix took a lot of work and time, and our producer almost had a heart attack." POST: As 3D is an all-digital process, did you even need to do a DI? WENDERS: "Yes, we did one for a mono version for places where they didn't have 3D available, and we did the DI in Berlin." POST: Will you do another 3D film, or was this experience enough? First-time feature editor Toni Froschhammer, a frequent Wenders collaborator, cut on an Avid system. POST: Did you do all the audio post produc- tion in Berlin? WENDERS: "Most of it. I did some of the pre-mixes at a friend's studio in Bonn, but he could only mix with a 2D screen. We were WENDERS: "The opposite — I'm totally hooked. I can't go back. I've made two short films since this, both in 3D, and I will definitely shoot my next fea- ture in 3D. We've only just scratched the surface of what's possible in 3D, and I really want to explore how you can tell a story. I think a lot of directors want to, but the only one who's really shown the true pos- sibilities of storytelling — that's not just action-driven — in 3D is Cameron. I haven't had a chance to see Hugo yet, and I have very high expectations." POST: So is film dead? WENDERS: "I have a hard time saying it's completely dead, but I don't think it's got much of a future now." POST: You've done a lot of music projects, including music videos and the blues film Soul Of A Man, Willie Nelson At Teatro and The Million Dollar Hotel, which stars Mel Gibson and was written by U2's Bono with a soundtrack by U2. Do you have more music projects com- ing up? WENDERS: "Buena Vista Social Club started with a very different plan. Ry Cooder and I went to Havana to shoot all these Cuban musicians as well as musicians from Mali, but then the guys from Mali couldn't get visas. So we ended up just film- ing the Cubans, and it all just happened by default. And ever since I keep thinking about the guys from Mali who never made it to Havana, so I still have plans to make that film one day. But I'll have to go to Mali." POST: I heard you also wanted to shoot Wagner's Ring Cycle at Bayreuth in 3D? WENDERS: "Yes, but it fell apart. The job consisted of staging 16 hours of opera, and I'd have loved to do it. But it's a four-year cycle, and it was only after a long period of negoti- ating that I realized the film rights had already been given to TV, so I'd never be able to shoot it myself. So I had to give it up." POST: Didn't you live in Los Angeles for a long time? WENDERS: "Yes, 15 years, and I loved it. But now I'm back in Berlin, and it's a great city for artists. I feel very creative there." www.postmagazine.com Post • March 2012 13 The DI took place a Das Werk in Berlin. Matthias Lempert handled the mix at Post Republic.