Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/69535
POST: Tell us about audio and the mix. How important is it in your films? FRIEDKIN: "My earliest influences were from dramatic radio, which really no longer exists. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was no TV — just radio, and these great dra- mas had amazing sound effects that drew on the listener's imagination, which is the most important thing any artist can draw on. I know how much sound effects influenced Orson Welles when he created Citizen Kane, since he also did radio shows and really understood the power of that. So I see the soundtrack as a totally separate process from the film, and for the last dozen of my films I've done all the sound in post — and not just Foley and so on, but everything. "In the scene where Joe blows up the car, I took out all the ambient sound, and just left the Foley noises in. I think that works like a close- up on a camera — it focuses your attention. I did the same on The French Connection. We went out and created all the sounds for that chase after we'd shot the film. On this I did all the mixing at Todd-AO with sound editor Aaron Levy. He did Bug, and is the best mixer I've ever worked with." [Levy mixed using an Avid ICON 24-fader D-Command.] POST: You did the DI at Technicolor [Laser Pacific]. Are you a big DI fan? FRIEDKIN: "Huge! I love it. The image is so clean and looks just like what I see through that Eastman Kodak's no longer making 35mm, and even when 35mm is stored as carefully as possible, it still deteriorates. Look what happened when Paramount went to their vaults to make the Blu-ray of The Godfa- ther. It had completely deteriorated and they had to spend over a million dollars to restore the negative. Of course, we don't know how long digital will last since it's still so young, but we do know that 35mm doesn't last." POST: Will you shoot digitally from now on? FRIEDKIN: "Absolutely. I love the digital cameras. The newer ones are so full of bells and whistles it can take a bit of getting used to, but once you do, the results are magnificent." POST: You started directing back in the '60s, and now film- making has been going through this big digital evolution. What's your take on it? FRIEDKIN: "By the end of The film was mixed at Todd-AO on an Avid ICON D-Command. the viewfinder when I'm lining up a shot. There's no dirt or scratches or splices or deterioration, and sadly 35mm has a death notice on it from the day it's born." [Bryan McMahan did the DI grading, with the film-out done at Technicolor Hollywood. They also provided the digital cinema master.] POST: So you think film is dead? FRIEDKIN: "Yes, I'm afraid it is. We know this year, over 80 percent of theaters will have converted to digital exhibition, and the only way you'll still be able to see a 35mm print will be at some art cinema, a university or teaching program. It's like the change in music, from vinyl to CDs and then MP3 files. Film may stick around in little pockets, but the fact is, it's gone. I also know for a fact that the studios are trying to get rid of 35mm as quickly as possible, and I'm happy about the change. I love CDs as opposed to LPs. A lot of purists don't like CDs and prefer to hear all the scratches and flaws on a vinyl record. I don't. I far prefer to hear a clean recording. And in terms of image, I've worked with prints for over 40 years. I've printed all of my films and worked with all the color timers, and they're geniuses. But look what you have to deal with each time in the process itself. "You have the water that goes into the developer, and that water supply from the Valley is changing constantly — by the second. The power for the printer fluctuates all the time, too. So you'll often, for no reason, sud- denly get blue frames or green frames while you're making your prints, and this just doesn't happen with digital. Once you decide on the look of those frames, whether you want it sharp and colorful or desaturated, that's it. It's not going to vary. "I remember that we had so much trouble getting a decent print of The Exorcist. I wasn't happy with the print so I moved the negative over to the old MGM lab, and we had a timer there, Bob McMillan, who's timed so many great-looking films — Days of Heaven, Close Encounters of the Third Kind — and he was like a master painter. He basically painted each frame and did a brilliant job. That's why the film turned out looking so great. But without an artist like him, you're facing all these vari- ables. That's why I embrace all the new tech- nology and digital cinema." POST: What's your view of Hollywood today? FRIEDKIN: "The zeitgeist is changing again. It changed when I came along in the '70s, and the older style of films like The Sound of Music were on the way out. Easy Rider changed all that, and then Star Wars had a huge impact. Ever since, that's been the template — extravagant special effects, in service not of plot or characters, but of the entire visual experience itself. It's all about the huge visual and aural experience now." www.postmagazine.com Post • June 2012 13 Killer Joe got its DI at Technicolor (formerly Laser Pacific) with colorist Bryan McMahan.