Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/691665
DIRECTOR'S CHAIR www.postmagazine.com 23 POST JUNE 2016 showing them what the scene is supposed to be is so helpful." Do you like the post process? "We love it. Prep and production are just so hard, dealing with hundreds of people and issues every day — it's just relentless. And the money's flying out the door and there's a lot of pressure to work as fast as you can and not waste a second, so when you get in a dark room with just a few people and the pressure's off — at least for a while — it's this very calming process that's sane and controllable. In production, every day is a deadline, but in post, especially in the early part, there are no big dead- lines. You can actually stop and think about ideas and the best solutions, and spend all day chasing a bad idea without the house falling down. It's very soothing by comparison." Where did you post? "It was all done on the Disney lot in Burbank — the editorial, the DI, the mix. But of course we worked with outside vendors for all the VFX, including ILM." You had two editors — Jeffrey Ford and Matthew Schmidt. Tell us about that relationship and how it worked. "They were on the set and they'd come on-location with us and set up their edit suite and work. Matt started off as Jeff's assistant, and we have a very close relationship with them, particularly Jeff, and it's very important for us to be able to reference material during the shoot to see if it's all coming together properly, so that way we can see right away if there's additional coverage we need to pick up. We tend to pop into the edit room on a regular basis while we're shooting, and it's a very valuable part of the whole process to start editing a scene as soon as it's complete, while we shoot, and being able to assess cov- erage while in production. Many times we've gone back to correct a scene, pick up a shot — or even a moment or line we felt we could improve. We're constantly refining and tightening stuff. It was a very big, very complex edit — Jeff started on it in April 2014 when we began shooting and we finally locked it a full year later." This is obviously a VFX-driven piece. Talk about doing all that and working with visual effects supervisor Dan Deleeuw, who did Winter Soldier with you, Iron Man 3 and the Night at the Museum franchise. "We love working with VFX and we ulti- mately had close to 3,000 shots, which is huge, and we used a lot of vendors apart from ILM, including Rise, Method, Trixter, Cantina, Luma, Animal Logic, Cinesite and Image Engine. Dan did an amazing job overseeing them all, and the whole VFX process is incredibly creative for us. As they say, you make a movie for the third time in post, and one of the most important tools in a VFX-heavy movie like this is the VFX, and often we'll change story or characters if they're CG while we're developing the film, and then again in post. We'll keep adjusting the storytelling, and we're very hands-on with the VFX and work very closely with Dan. During production we review every shot as it comes in, and there are many stages of notes on each one." What was the hardest VFX sequence to pull off? "The scene at the airport, where all the lead superheroes fight, especially in terms of post and VFX, as there were so many characters — some real that we shot in camera, and many that were CG and creat- ed in post. So we had to combine all those elements. And then there's all the violence and destruction, which you obviously can't shoot at a real airport, so we shot most of it on a studio back lot in Atlanta using a giant greenscreen, and then added all the airport elements in post. So that whole sequence was very much created in post." Can you talk about the importance of music and sound in the film? "They're both critically important to a movie like this, and we worked very close- ly with composer Henry Jackman and our sound team at Skywalker Sound, who created all the amazing sound design. And we start on that before we even shoot, and discuss what we're aiming for stylistically, so they can let their creative juices flow. Then once we're in post, we get far more detailed about what works and what doesn't. Sound makes it all more visceral and intense — and a more emo- tional experience." What's next? "We're already rolling right into Avengers: Infinity Wars Part 1, and then it'll be Avengers: Infinity Wars Part 2, where we're already in early prep and working on the VFX. So, two more huge films. We began in indies, and maybe we'll make another smaller film again sometime, but right now we love making these big, complex films and all the challenges they present." Directors Joe Russo (far left) and Anthony Russo (above with "Winter Soldier" Sebastian Stan). The film called on a number of studios to create its nearly 3,000 VFX shots.