Moviescope 31

movieScope 31

31

Movies From An Insider’s Point Of View

31 Nov/Dec 2012

Side By Side Has film lost the battle with digital?

Cross-Media Why storytellers need to think bigger BFI Fund Director Ben Roberts on the future of UK film

9 771751 135006 Nov/Dec 2012 £4.95

Seven Psychopaths

Hollywood Costume

Deborah Nadoolman Landis takes us on a personal tour through costume history

www.moviescopemag.com

seven

PSYCHOPATHS

Director Martin McDonagh on shooting in LA, staying true to his vision... and why he doesn’t take any Shih Tzu

MS31 Cover.indd 1

14/10/2012 14:34:35

MS31 IFC Ad.indd 2

17/10/2012 18:01:18

Issue 31 November/December 2012

Contents

24 Fps 06 Location Focus

With the BFI highlighting China as one of the world’s most important filmmaking territories, we explore the opportunities offered by Chinese co-productions.

10 Industry Insider

Analyst Michael Gubbins explains why any successful film education programme needs to put more emphasis on audience participation.

12 Skillset Trainee Diary

Costume trainee Nicole Pitchers explains how the Skillset Film Trainee Placement Scheme has been invaluable to her burgeoning career.

14 Script Talk

Danny Munso explains why adaptations are a great choice for screenwriters looking for studio success, and how to do justice to the source material.

16 Ask the Agent

Literary agent Julian Friedmann tells us why he’s so impressed with the BFI’s new five year plan, and what it could mean for the future of the industry.

18 Finance and Funding

BFI Film Fund Director Ben Roberts tells us what increased development and production investment will mean for UK filmmakers.

30 seven psychopaths

“My attitude was always, even before the first play, that I would never change a word for anyone else."

Writer/Director Martin McDonagh www.moviescopemag.com

MS31 p001 Contents Editorial.indd 1

1

17/10/2012 19:30:12

Contents Issue 31 November/December 2012

Features

Insider's P.O.V

26 Singular Visions

22 Christopher Kenneally 58 Theatrical

The Hunt director Thomas Vinterberg and The Master director Paul Thomas Anderson tell us why they will never compromise in their stories or approach.

30 Seven Psychopaths

Director Martin McDonagh discusses why he always looks for truth in his work, and stars Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken introduce their crazy characters.

42 Hollywood Costume

As the V&A launches its ambitious Hollywood Costume exhibition, curator and designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis gives us a personal tour.

50 Skywalker Sound

Sound designer Gary Rydstrom (Lincoln) on why inspiration can often come from surprising places, and why authenticity is his top priority.

54 Aces High

How the aerial filming company is helping TV, film and commercial projects of all sizes reach for the skies.

2

MS31 p001 Contents Editorial.indd 2

The maker of documentary Side by Side discusses the film vs digital debate.

28 Ben Wheatley

The Kill List and Sightseers director reveals why he’s attracted to the extremes of human nature.

38 BIFA Roundtable

As the British Independent Film Awards celebrates its fifteenth anniversary, key members discuss the changing UK filmmaking landscape.

48 Nadia Stacey

The make-up artist/designer (Sightseers, Tyrannosaur) writes about how her role is crucial to creating great characters.

52 Drew Jones

The VFX artist writes about how his team is responding to the challenges of the digital revolution.

56 Sean Stewart

The cross-media storyteller presents his guide to successful transmedia filmmaking.

Reviews Editor Nikki Baughan and critic James Mottram discuss Thomas Vinterberg’s compelling The Hunt, starring Mads Mikkelsen as a teacher falsely accused of child abuse.

You will find more and extended theatrical reviews on our website, www.moviescopemag.com

“We are all extreme and unique in our own way. It's what makes us human.

Normal is a construct; I want to go where the story goes."

Director Ben Wheatley www.moviescopemag.com

18/10/2012 07:33:41

MS31 p003 Ad.indd 19

14/10/2012 21:42:01

Editorial Issue 31 November/December 2012 And so we have arrived at the last issue of 2012. As always happens at this time of year, thoughts turn both to looking back over the last 12 months and to the possibilities of the year ahead. And, if the experts are to be believed, 2013 will be a truly momentous year, with digital replacing celluloid as standard industry practice across the entire workflow, from shooting to post, delivery to exhibition and archival. It’s a monumental shift, with far-reaching creative and financial implications that have yet to be fully appreciated.

The people who understand it best are, of course, those found within these pages; the myriad professionals working across all areas of the industry. Documentarian Chris Kenneally has captured many of them in his fascinating new documentary Side by Side, which explores the film vs digital debate through a series of illuminating interviews with filmmakers of all disciplines. It is a truly compelling watch, and Chris spoke to us about the making of the film-and what he learned along the way-which you’ll find on page 22.

At the time of writing, Side by Side had yet to have a confirmed UK release, but will be premiering at the BFI Southbank on December 6. If you are in London, and care about film in any way, I urge you to get tickets.

I also urge you to seek out Seven Psychopaths , Martin McDonagh’s anticipated follow up to his remarkable debut In Bruges . Although the stellar cast—which includes Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson—is a big enough draw in itself, McDonagh is undoubtedly one of the UK’s most exciting new talents. I was lucky enough to sit down with him for a full and frank discussion about his astonishing screen career, during which he talked honestly about his move from playwright to filmmaker, his thoughts on modern Hollywood and his endless search for honesty in his writing. It was a fascinating interview and I’m thrilled to be sharing it with you—the conversation kicks off on page 30.

Indeed, this issue is—as ever—full to bursting with phenomenal filmmaking talent, all keen to share their experience and expertise; directors like Ben Wheatley (Sightseers ) and Paul Thomas Anderson ( The Master) to VFX artist Drew Jones and costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis, whose Hollywood Costume exhibition at London's V& A museum is another must see. This abundance of riches is a timely reminder that, whatever the future of the industry may hold, it’s the talented individuals involved that will continue to drive it forward. And we will be there every step of the way.

Nikki Baughan, Editor

movieScope magazine Ltd Bridge House 105 3 Mills Studios Three Mill Lane London, E3 3DU United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 845 094 6263 Twitter: @movieScopemag www.movieScopemag.com Publisher & Editor-In-Chief Rinaldo Quacquarini Editor Nikki Baughan Online Editor Tom Seymour Sub Editor Naila Scargill Art Director Simon Edwards Cover Photograph Seven Psychopaths © Momentum Pictures

4

MS31 p001 Contents Editorial.indd 4

Creative Consultant Jaime Biazotti Litho Pensord Press www.pensord.co.uk Subscriptions +44 (0) 845 094 6263 or visit www.movieScopemag.com Advertising Media Pack available online at: www.movieScopemag.com or by calling +44 (0) 845 094 6263 movieScope is published bimonthly in January, March, May, July, September and November by movieScope Magazine Ltd. Subscription: 6 issues for £20.79/$37/€30 plus shipping. movieScope is available from all good newsagents across the UK, Europe and USA. Visit movieScopemag.com for an interactive map to locate an outlet closest to you. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system without the express written permission of the publisher.

The opinions expressed in movieScope Magazine articles and advertisements are those of the individual authors and advertisers respectively and should not be considered in any manner as expressions of the management or official policies of movieScope Magazine Ltd. For information on reprints and syndication, please contact Editor-In-Chief@movieScopeMag.com The title “movieScope” and logotype are registered trademarks and service marks of movieScope Magazine Ltd. Copyright 2012. All Rights Reserved.

Contributors Stephen Applebaum is a freelance writer and critic @grubstreetsteve Nikki Baughan is the editor of movieScope. @rollcredits Anton Bitel is a film writer and academic. @AntBit James Clarke is a freelance film writer.

Simon Edwards is a freelance film critic and movieScope's art director.

Julian Friedmann is joint Managing Director of Blake Friedmann Literary Agency. www.julianfriedmann.com @julianfriedmann Michael Gubbins is a journalist, consultant and chairs the Film Agency for Wales. @michaelgubbins Drew Jones is head of feature VFX at Method Studios. www.methodstudios.com Christopher Kenneally is a documentary filmmaker. www.sidebysidethemovie.com Mustapha Kseibati is a filmmaker. www.mustaphakseibati.com @MKseibati Chris Laverty is a writer who specialises in costume. www.clothesonfilm.com @Clothesonfilm James Mottram is a freelance film writer and author of four books on film. @JamesMottram Danny Munso is a screenwriting expert. @dannymunso Chris Patmore is a film journalist and the editor of www.filmandfestivals.com @krisht Rinaldo Quacquarini is the publisher and editor-in-chief of movieScope and shareholder in EnderLegard.com. @movieScope Limara Salt is a freelance film writer. @yourturnheather Naila Scargill is movieScope’s sub editor and editor of Exquisite Terror magazine. www.exquisiteterror.com @exquisiteterror Tom Seymour is a film critic and movieScope’s online editor. @TomSeymour Nadia Stacey is a British make-up artist/designer. @nadias1977 Sean Stewart is an award-winning crossmedia writer and co-founder of Fourth Wall Studios. www.fourthwallstudios.com Hugo Wilkinson is a freelance film critic.

www.moviescopemag.com

17/10/2012 19:30:21

MS31 p005 Ad.indd 19

14/10/2012 22:26:54

24 Fps Location Focus

Eastern Promise

With BFI research having targeted China as a territory of significant importance, we present our guide to Chinese co-production.

The British Film Institute’s recently launched Film Forever five-year plan contains a new international fund, which will not only increase funding for the British Film Commission but will also facilitate an ambitious new international programme to be led

by Isabel Davis. The focus will be on supporting inward investment and film exports, as well as maintaining and growing existing relationships in Europe and the USA. Equally as important will be advancing relations with Brazil and China which have, as the BFI’s chief executive Amanda Nevill explained at the plan’s launch, been chosen after a great deal of research as the fastest growing global film sectors.

Indeed, in September the UK and Brazil signed a co-production treaty, negotiated by the BFI and Ancine, the national cinema agency of Brazil. And with China seemingly becoming more open to international co-production, the BFI is also keen for the UK film industry to expand into this potentially lucrative eastern market. But what can international filmmakers wishing to take advantage of Chinese coproduction opportunities hope to find?

Even though China’s film body, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), is now encouraging international co-production, those looking to qualify as such must ensure they follow a stringent procedure.

This is particularly true following the announcement earlier this year that SARFT have tightened the criteria needed for a film to qualify as a coproduction. Any international film that wishes to be counted as such must now ensure that one-third of the film’s total investment comes from China, that a Chinese actor or actress is cast in a major role and that major scenes are shot in the country.

6

MS31 p006 Location Focus.indd 6

Simply put, this is to crack down on those productions that the Chinese government see as exploiting the system—simply casting a Chinese actor in a minor, specially written role, for example—to achieve co-production status. In a statement, Zhang Pimin, deputy director general of SARFT, said that the authorities are concerned about foreign productions using this loophole, and will be carefully considering future projects to ensure all criteria are met.

“An American story [containing] one Chinese element and one Chinese actor—it is a disgrace they call it a co-production,” Pimin said.

One of the victims of the new rules is Expendables 2 which, despite having Chinese investment and featuring Chinese actors, was released in the country as an imported movie. Speaking about that decision to China.org.cn, Zhang Shao, the president of the film’s Chinese partner Le Vision Pictures, asserted that the team “didn’t consider ourselves to be co-producers and therefore didn’t assume to enjoy co-production status from the very beginning. We understand the authority’s concern, and will certainly abide by the policies and regulations.”

Those regulations also normally require that the Chinese government approve of the finished script before shooting begins, and have approval of the finished movie (although it is possible for a film to retroactively become a co-production at a later stage). From the earliest stages of a story pitch, sensitivity to potentially offensive themes is crucial; figures of authority such as policemen and politicians must always have integrity, for example.

Similarly, any potential Chinese coproduction partner will be looking for projects that have a direct appeal for

Top: Jason Statham in The Expendables

2, which lost its status as a Chinese co-production due to the introduction of stricter criteria

their domestic audience. Speaking on a panel at the Toronto Film Festival’s inaugural Asian Film Summit earlier this year, Bona Film Group COO Jeffrey Chan said that although a common theme pitched for co-production projects is foreigners coming to China, international filmmakers needed to do more careful research into what Chinese audiences would respond to. “It’s a very, very narrow market in terms of box office; it’s even narrower than Hong Kong in terms of audience tastes and preferences,” he said.

Also fundamental to a successful co-production is ensuring you have the support of the right Chinese partner. Writing about his experiences shooting Mission: Impossible III in Shanghai in 2006, production supervisor Matt Birch underlines the important role that the China Film Group played in the shoot. “Politically we were guided appropriately from CGF through what could have been a landmine of issues,” Birch writes on the China Film Co-Production Corporation website. “CFG was integral in assisting our production with department head referrals, local casting and coordinating the rental of three restaurants in Shanghai that our US caterer was able to utilise during our photography in China.”

Indeed, a combination of finding the right subject matter and coproduction partners was key to a successful shoot for Keanu Reeves’ directorial debut Man of Tai Chi, which is co-financed by China Film Group, Village Roadshow Asia, Wanda and Universal. Shot earlier this year in locations throughout Beijing, Hong Kong and Macau, the film tells of a young martial artist and has a wealth of Chinese names on the cast list, including The Matrix’s Tiger Chen, so guaranteeing it local appeal.

www.moviescopemag.com

18/10/2012 07:35:46

Speaking at Toronto’s Asian Film Summit, that film's American producer Lemore Syvan described the experience of shooting in China as “extremely efficient and cost-effective”, thanks to lower wages and an increased crew.

It’s clear, then, that major Hollywood studios are determined to make inroads into China. “The opportunity to get further involved in the Chinese market and to bring Chinese films to audiences around the world is important to Universal,” David Kosse, president of Universal’s international division, said in a

MS31 p006 Location Focus.indd 7

Right: Warner Bros' Cloud Atlas is another high profile American/Chinese co-production

statement released when Man of Tai Chi's distribution and financing partnerships were announced.

Indeed, a plethora of upcoming largescale movies have been mounted as Chinese co-productions, including Walt Disney’s Iron Man 3 and Warner Bros’ Cloud Atlas—although there has been some debate about whether these films will retain their coproduction status, given SARFT’s stricter new rules.

That Hollywood is keen to become a co-production partner with China is, however, entirely unsurprising,

18/10/2012 07:35:56

One To Watch

24 Fps Location Focus

James Thomas Camera Trainee

given that, for those who meet the requirements, the rewards are potentially huge. Firstly, it gives them guaranteed access to China’s huge audiences and, by extension, huge box-office returns.

Chinese co-productions are considered as domestic products and so can bypass the country’s strict foreign film quota, as they are not included in the 34 international films that the government allows to screen in the country’s cinemas each year. Additionally, co-productions are entitled to a higher share of the box office than films that fall within that quota.

“A co-production can command around 38 per cent of box office, as opposed to 13 to 25 per cent available for imported films,” Mathew Alderson, a Beijing-based parent at Harris & Moure Attorneys, told The China Business Review. “The Chinese authorities also require that around 55 percent of total box office is taken by domestic films so a certain return on domestic films is guaranteed.”

It’s certainly a strategy that worked for American director Rian Johnson; having switched part of the story for his most recent film Looper (below) from France to China, in order to qualify as a coproduction (before the new criteria were put in place), he has seen the film dominate the box office in both countries. And while initial reports that the movie made more money on its opening weekend in China than in the USA were later revealed to be an embarrassing ‘accounting error’, due to officials mixing up yuan and dollar amounts at several sites, there’s no doubt that Chinese coproduction is a potentially lucrative deal for those who can get all the elements just right.

Further Information

SARFT www.sarft.gov.cn China Film Co-Production Corporation www.cfcc-film.com.cn/en ●

James has five years’ experience as a cameraman, and has recently completed a placement with the Skillset Craft and Technical Skills Academy where he worked as Video Assist on Mike Newell’s Great Expectations. He is currently working as camera assistant alongside Focus Puller Simon Hume on All You Need is Kill, starring Tom Cruise.

What training have you received?

I’ve known that I wanted to work in the industry for as long as I can remember; with no one to ask for guidance, I spent hours on the UCAS website searching for appropriate courses—particularly as I wanted a degree as back up if I didn’t make it in one of the toughest industries in the world! I attended Staffordshire University, which gave me a great technical grounding for digital filmmaking—but I knew I needed to learn more. I came across an internship at a film studio in the Philippines, which I did for 6 months; this gave me a better understanding of on-set procedures, and my first experience on and understanding of 35mm film. In the last two years, I have constantly tried to take jobs—both paid and unpaid—which I thought I could learn something from.

What kind of projects attract you?

Ones where we really feel part of it; CGI-heavy films can get a little boring unless there is real life action to go along with it, or projects where there is a real message behind the story. I try to go for ones where I’ll learn something new, and recently worked on my first 3D and 35mm films. Both were great experiences.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given as a camera trainee?

While I was in the Philippines, I was told by a two-time Oscar winner in the sound department that it doesn’t matter what you end up doing, just try to learn from the best. If you want to be the best it’s the only way.

Tell us the most significant moment in your career so far.

When I finally felt like I could afford to move to London as I was getting enough work; of course as soon as I did I was struck with terror that I wouldn’t be able to pay my rent, but 6 months later I’m still there and managing!

You’ll die happy when…

I feel like I’ve done what I set out to.

Supported by Skillset Craft and Technical Skills Academy (www.craftandtech.org)

8

MS31 p006 Location Focus.indd 8

www.moviescopemag.com

14/10/2012 14:50:21

MS31 p009 Ad.indd 19

14/10/2012 22:30:12

24 Fps Industry Insider

Education and Participation

Michael Gubbins explores why any successful film education programme requires a much higher level of audience participation.

There is an understandable obsession in film about how it is possible to get young people to appreciate cinema. Every study shows that the audience for art-house and independent cinema is getting greyer, and the voices have become a little more insistent in recent years—perhaps, in part, because the percentage of youngsters as a proportion of the total population has been growing.

In Germany, the average age of the population is now 43.7 but in 1970 it was just 34; in France, it is 39.7, compared to 32.5 four decades ago.

Perhaps the ageing process has exaggerated fears that have always been there; that youngsters will reject culture in favour of frivolous pursuits.

Today’s discussions certainly have echoes of the scare around rock ‘n’ roll. The dramatic increase in choices of leisure activity, the strength of Hollywood franchises and a general fear that maturity no longer means putting away the childish pursuits of youth has been focusing the minds of policy-makers on how to refresh the roots of film culture.

The biggest concern of all may be that the viewing habits of younger generations are changing in a way that fundamentally challenges the traditions of film; chiefly, that YouTube clips and multitasking—engaging in more than one media activity simultaneously—is drawing young minds away from the concentration needed to appreciate great cinematic art.

The European Union has recently commissioned a major report to study the way that young people consume film. But, more importantly, there has been renewed attention on film education. France has generally taken the lead in such initiatives, perhaps reflecting the unique importance of cinema in the shaping of their national

10

MS31 p010 Industry Insider.indd 10

Below: The Class generated a great deal of debate about the French education system

identity. The self-image of France and how it is seen abroad owes a great deal to the big screen; deep thinking, passionate, cool, etc. The image of the French abroad is similarly wrapped up in the moving image. There is a pantheon of French auteurs, whose work deserves critical appreciation, and of course an auteur theory to give an intellectual framework to cinema study. It is a serious political issue in a country which is built on a clear sense of the citizen within a unified republican culture.

Film education, then, is no small matter in France. Interestingly, a Palme d’Or winning film, Entre les murs (The Class), generated much debate about how far

the multicultural French school was moving towards multiple identities and rejecting cultural values.

In the UK, there is less angst around this issue. Film has an important place in our culture, a fact documented rather well in a BFI-commissioned report entitled ‘Opening Our Eyes'. What that work shows is that there is a strong affection for film in Britain, if a lesser sense of the importance of British film.

The neglect of great historic work of British cinema would never have been tolerated in France. Interestingly, US director Martin Scorsese has been playing a key role in drawing attention to the importance of the UK’s own greats; such as Michael Powell, whose name would still mean little in the average classroom.

So far, film education has tended to be more about encouraging a love of film that it is hoped will translate into more cinema-going. Under chairman Greg Dyke (overleaf) The BFI is thankfully giving education a more serious look, and is currently considering tenders for a new education body, unifying a varied group of services. Hopefully, the result will be greater attention on understanding tomorrow’s audiences.

It will perhaps play a role in a broader and more ambitious interpretation of film education, particularly as providing essential media-literacy skills will be so important in terms of jobs and social mobility in an increasingly audiovisual economy.

But the weakest part of film education currently represents the biggest opportunity, and that is the unprecedented access to equipment for making and distributing film. Back in the 1960s, a bright young minister for information in the UK named Anthony Wedgwood Benn annoyed the establishment by suggesting that

www.moviescopemag.com

14/10/2012 15:00:25

One To Watch Anthony Woodley Director

television and radio was destined to be the people’s medium: ‘Broadcasting is too important to be left to the broadcasters.’ The idea was more than just another piece of lefty Utopianism.

Some of the pioneers of radio and television envisaged a two-way process of communication.

The democratisation of broadcasting never happened, however, for a number of reasons. One was indeed the vested interests of broadcasters. Lord Thompson, who won one of the first franchises for commercial independent television, famously called it a ‘licence to print money’. The more high-minded ideals of public broadcasting, in the UK and much of the world, spoke of a top-down mission—in the case of the BBC, the founder Lord Reith described its duty as to ‘educate, entertain and inform’. Between these two competing visions, television became something that, to a greater or lesser extent, was for the people, but quite deliberately not from the people.

Film was never seen in those terms.

The cost of the raw materials, the limited ways of screening film and the growth

“The BFI is giving education a more serious look, and is currently considering tenders for a new education body.”

www.moviescopemag.com

MS31 p010 Industry Insider.indd 11

Anthony is an up and coming director with an eye for the design side of film; his original training was as an art director. His graduation film, Love Inc, which he co-directed, won best screenplay at Sheffield No-Limits Film Festival and has also won the Southern Royal Television Society Award for best student drama and was nominated for the National Awards. Anthony’s first feature film Outpost 11, a sci-fi steam punk thriller with Bernard Hill, has just been completed and is currently being sold internationally. He has two feature films lined up for next year.

of specialist skills mean that film was necessarily something created by professionals for an audience. It was never the people’s tool, even if it has sometimes been the greatest medium of popular sentiment.

The digital age has changed that relationship between content creator, producer and audience. We could now realistically live out Benn’s sixties dream; we could all now be broadcasters, and perhaps social networks, YouTube, etc. means we already are. Of course, the Internet is a gargantuan demonstration of how democratisation creates vast quantities of content and a tiny proportion of quality. But in a sense that does not matter. People who pick up musical instruments as children normally abandon them when they realise that tickling the ivories or scratching with a horse-hair bow will never reach professional levels. On the other hand, research shows that even a rudimentary understanding of how an instrument is played can lead to a lifetime’s appreciation of great music.

Filmmaking may be too important to film culture to leave to the filmmakers. ●

What training have you received?

I graduated from the University for the Creative Arts and studied Film Production. This was a really good place to study and a lot of my crew are people I met there. I also learnt a lot just making films and surrounding myself with film-makers and film sets.

What kind of projects attract you?

I like the slightly odd, I like to make films that raise questions and challenge audiences. I think the strange and the bizarre bring the best out in me.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given as a director?

Cast properly and find the right actor for the role; it just makes the whole experience on set run smoother.

Don’t just cast your mates or people you have worked with before. Also, I know it’s obvious but planning is essential; the more time you put into pre-production and your script, the better your film will be. Someone once described film making as rounding up cats on horseback—this is also poignant for me.

Tell us the most significant moment in your career so far.

Possibly directing Bernard Hill; he had such a presence.

I really felt like he should have been directing me.

The RTS award is also cool and my first Cannes was brilliantly surreal, like a visit to a lunatic asylum.

You’ll die happy when…

When I get my Palme d’Or and become the first president of Earth, but in the meantime to see Outpost 11 in the shops for all to enjoy will be a good feeling. www.facebook.com/pages/Outpost-11/225515860851326

11

15/10/2012 07:36:00

Promotional Feature Creative Skillset

Trainee Diary: Costume Design

Costume trainee Nicole Pitchers takes us behind the scenes of the Skillset Craft and Technical Skills Academy’s Trainee Placement Scheme.

The Film Trainee Placement Scheme, managed by the Skillset Craft and Technical Skills Academy, provides young filmmakers with paid work experience on a current film that has contributed to the Skills Investment Fund.

Below: Costume trainee Nicole Pitchers

Here, costume trainee Nicole Pitchers explains how her time on Richard Ayoade’s The Double, alongside costume designer Jacqueline Durran, and with costume designer Odile Dicks-Mireaux on Pascal Chaumeil’s adaptation of Nick Hornby’s A Long Way Down have proved invaluable to her career, How did you get involved with the Skillset trainee placement scheme?

I completed a work experience placement on the BBC Two Drama Dancing on the Edge, directed by Stephen Poliakoff, and was fortunate enough to have my name put forward for the scheme by the programme’s costume supervisor.

What department are you working in?

I work as a trainee within the costume department.

Who do you work most closely with, and what have they taught you?

I work most closely with the costume designer and the costume supervisor, who have taught me a range of skills including the importance of continuity, on-set etiquette, costume care, interpreting the designers vision and how to apply my own ideas of creativity.

What are your main responsibilities?

As a trainee I have had the opportunity to gain experience in all areas of costume from buying, taking part in fittings, crowd dressing, standing by on set, costume alterations/making and administrative tasks. No two days are ever the same, which makes my job much more exciting and unpredictable.

How would you say your skills have developed during this placement?

I have gained a much wider knowledge of how the industry works and feel much more confident in a set environment. A lot of my role involves sourcing and buying all around

12

MS31 p012 Skillset Trainee Diary.indd 12

London, meaning I have gained a huge bank of costume sourcing knowledge which I will use for years to come.

Is the placement scheme what you expected, and has anything in particular taken you by surprise?

Being part of Creative Skillset, for me, has been as successful an experience as I hoped it would be, and I have been fortunate enough to have two very enjoyable and rewarding placements. The two costume departments that I have worked with have exceeded my expectations; they were very welcoming and, despite being a trainee, I have felt a fully valued member of the teams.

What has been the most exciting, inspiring or positive moment during the placement?

What I have found the most inspiring has been working directly with two award-winning costume designers.

I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to observe their design process, from initial ideas to realization, and the advice they have personally given me has been invaluable.

What is the most important piece of knowledge you’ve taken from the placement?

Not to underestimate the importance of networking and being nice to the person stood next to you—you never know where your next recommendation may come from!

What are your career plans now that you have this experience?

To continue to develop my skills within all aspects of the costume department and use the contacts that I have gained to forward my career within the film industry.

Find out more about the Skillset Craft and Technical Skills Academy at www.craftandtech.org l

www.moviescopemag.com

17/10/2012 16:31:35

MS31 p013 Ad.indd 19

17/10/2012 18:04:49

24 Fps Script Talk

Adapt to Survive

Danny Munso explains why more writers than ever are turning to adaptations, and why courage is needed to make them great.

If you are a regular reader of this column, then you have already heard my cries of anger about how difficult it is to get an original screenplay made in Hollywood. While it is frustrating to those of us who write scripts, it is nonetheless a stark reality of working in the modern industry. If you have an original idea, independent cinema is probably your best avenue for seeing it up on the big screen. For those of you who have studio-writing aspirations, you had better learn to adapt to your surroundings… and learn to write adaptations.

Almost anything can provide source material for a great adaptation: novels; short stories; comic books; plays; even great journalism. For those who are prepared to give adaptation a try, here are some tips to get you started.

Not Every Book Should Be Turned Into a Movie Just because that bedside read that you finished in six days was a compelling read doesn’t mean you should immediately investigate obtaining the rights. The first question you should ask yourself after finishing a book that you loved isn’t ‘should this be turned into a movie?’ It should be ‘am I the right person to turn this into a movie?’ Just like each original screenplay should be the singular vision of that author, so should an adaptation. Yes, you are going through someone else’s work. But if you don’t have a personal connection, then you shouldn’t try and write it. It will come off as a hollow representation of the source material, a paint-by-numbers recreation of what was already on the page. If you are not going to bring something unique to the situation, you are better left sitting it out.

Something to pay particular attention to is the inner monologue of the novel’s protagonist. If the novel is told in first or third person, then either the author or

14

MS31 p014 Script Talk.indd 14

Top: F. Scott Fitzgerald's celebrated novel

The Great Gatsby has been adapted many times for the screen; director Baz Luhrmann will next bring it to cinemas in 2013

the characters themselves are letting us know how they feel about things.

This isn’t easily translatable to film. In a movie, we need to identify with the lead character immediately, without the benefit of the pages of information we have in the novel.

One of my favourite novels is Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and while the film version is very good it had no chance of ever truly capturing the stark brutality of the novel. McCarthy’s prose is told in first person by the father; we understand that character and, by extension, the world he is trapped in, better than we ever could in the movie.

The Road is a worthy adaptation, but the book you want to adapt might not be so easy. You don’t want to use the crutch of voice-over for your entire movie—that hardly ever works. Your job is to express what the author is writing in a visual way. That could involve inventing new scenarios to help us better understand your lead character. It could mean additional, revealing dialogue not featured in the book. If you’re hitting roadblocks to a solution, it’s possible that book is better left on the shelf.

Think–and Look–Outside the Box When someone thinks of a film adaptation, they immediately jump to films based on books. Clearly, novels are

the most popular and accessible way to find a great story. But that avenue is becoming more closed off to amateur writers than ever before. Nowadays, when a great novel is published its film rights have often been sold before it ever hits bookshelves. So even if you find a book that you think would make a great film, it’s possible someone else already has the rights.

So where do you get your ideas from?

The answer could be right under your nose. If I were to list the following films— Dog Day Afternoon; On the Waterfront; Adaptation; American Gangster; Urban Cowboy; and Saturday Night Fever— would you know what they have in common? They were all screenplays based on either newspaper or magazine articles. Journalism is increasingly becoming an avenue for screenwriters to discover new and exciting stories.

With the rise of the Internet, there are more and more stories being told all over the world. While it may be an arduous search to find one that interests you, they are certainly out there.

Get Over the Greatness; Keep the Spirit If you’re adapting something, chances are you love it. This is a dangerous feeling to have as a screenwriter. You have to get over how good the source material is. As the screenwriter, you are going to have to rip that world apart before putting it back together again.

Some characters may need to be combined for the purposes of the script; others will be deleted altogether. Plot points that seem important in the source material may not make the final draft at all. What you are looking to do is keep the overall spirit of what you’re adapting.

You are telling that story in a different way and placing the pieces in different places, but the feeling the audience gets from your movie should be the

www.moviescopemag.com

18/10/2012 07:37:14

same one that got you excited about the material in the first place.

The most popular example of this is Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and his upcoming film adaptations of The Hobbit. If any films ever represented the possibilities of adapting, it is those. Obviously, Jackson was working with a phenomenal story written by J.R.R. Tolkien, but he and his co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens brought that world to life beyond Tolkien’s vision. Whether it was inventing new characters to fill thematic needs, turning a three-page battle

MS31 p014 Script Talk.indd 15

scene into a 30-minute film epic (The Battle of Helm’s Deep) or lifting short passages from Tolkien’s appendices and transforming them into great love stories (as they did with Aragorn and Arwen), it is a masterclass in remaining faithful to the source material, yet exploring new and greater possibilities.

Similarly, the great Paul Thomas Anderson was excited about the possibilities held by the novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair upon completing it. As he sat down to adapt it as a writing exercise, he ended up finding a different story than the one told in Sinclair’s

Above: Peter Jackson's The

Hobbit is an adaptation that 'explores new possibilities'

pages. Though his resulting screenplay, the brilliant There Will Be Blood, was clearly inspired by Sinclair’s work, it shared very little except the setting and a few character traits. His film’s legendary protagonist, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), could be seen as a composite of a few characters from the novel, but it’s even closer to a completely original creation. Same with preacher Eli (Paul Dano), who is not in the book at all. Very little is. Anderson used Oil! as his jumping-off point to the story he wanted to tell. Don’t be afraid to do the same if inspired to do so. ●

14/10/2012 15:09:50

One To Watch

24 Fps Ask the Agent

The Five-Year Fix

Julian Friedmann explains why he is impressed by the BFI’s plans.

In a recent TEDx talk, I quoted the silly joke about British films having a beginning, a muddle and an endand I got a laugh from the audience.

The more I think about the launch of the BFI’s five-year plan, the more I realise that there is much truth in the joke. Images of Stalinist bureaucracy come to mind when five-year plans are talked about, but refreshingly the BFI seems, remarkably, to be trying to empower audiences.

There has always been a series of mantras in the film and television industry. ‘I will know what I want when I see it’ is the most irritating response a producer can give to a writer (or agent) enquiring about what the producer (or broadcaster) is looking for. ‘Audiences don’t know what they want, until they see it.’ And the most notorious, William Goldman’s ‘Nobody knows anything’.

Actually audiences do know what they want, and they are remarkably consistent. There are and always have been exceptions which prove the rule (another annoying mantra); who would have guessed that Fifty Shades of Grey would have been so popular with the mainstream, for example? I personally suspect that the book— which is about to be knocked off the top of the best-seller list by a classic police procedural, which audiences never tire of—has something important in common with Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time; that a high proportion of those people who bought either book never finished it.

Back to the BFI, and their plan is not simple. They have prioritised three areas: education and audiences, filmmaking and film heritage. Culturally this is clearly a good thing. We have an extraordinary heritage, so let’s make it far more accessible—which means someone can state that ‘He

16

MS31 p016 Ask the Agent.indd 16

who does not learn from his mistakes will be forced to repeat them’.

Education is clearly a good thing; in my area (scriptwriting) I have branded across my forehead the words of Christopher Vogler: ‘We have a generation of kids who are film-literate but not script-literate’.

Without script literacy, the passion to write will usually produce scripts that fail. I recall old mantras about the importance of giving young people in the film industry the room to fail.

I never understood that, when they could be shown how to succeed. The new London Screenwriter’s Festival is a beacon of practical progress in the attempt to connect writers with the industry.

But the most important announcement by the BFI is the increase in funding that is being made available. Many of us grieved at the closure of the UK Film Council, which did lay important groundwork for the present situation, and indeed many of the key people in the new BFI were at the UKFC. Increasing the pot is, however, great news and bodes well.

Ever since we left Eurimage, and tax breaks were geared to bringing inward investment and not helping smaller British producers co-produce with non-UK companies, it has been a very un-level playing field. So it is good to hear that Ben Roberts is committing up to £1m for coproduction. We need to go to the table of producers with more than just a script, although by emphasising the importance of that script we still have a great asset—many brilliant writers.

If the BFI can grow a generation of smart and script-literate producers, the return on investment will be exciting and we will no longer have to muddle along. ●

Gavin Humphries Producer

Gavin has run Quark Films since 2006. He most recently produced The Curse for Film4 and the BFI—winner of the Illy Best Short Film Prize in Directors’ Fortnight at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Other credits include the BBC Wonderland film Boy Cheerleaders and feature doc The People Vs George Lucas.

What training or mentoring have you received?

Our industry is ever evolving, and is also one where you have to be a master of several trades to survive. I’ve had some great opportunities over the last five years courtesy of Creative Skillset—supported initiatives such as Inside Pictures and iFeatures. I also benefited from their company development grant, enabling me to hone my business and management skills, which are very important.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given as a producer?

A very experienced producer once advised me to always work with people you admire and who can bring something to a project you can’t. I suppose you should make sure they feel the same way about you too! It sounds obvious, but it's not always the reality. I also believe there’s no such thing as a stupid question. As a producer there’s a tendency to feel you have to know everything—and sometimes it’s necessary to pretend—but there’s no harm admitting when you don’t. I also encourage people I work with to feel they can ask me anything. Know your weaknesses as well as your strengths.

What kind of projects attract you?

I admire and work with filmmakers who aren’t afraid to tackle stories in a truthful, honest and of course engaging way. My taste is eclectic although usually revolves around directors with a distinctive vision, whether that be Pedro Almodovar, Ridley Scott or Francois Ozon. Strong and complex characters are attractive too. That said, I also love comedy and hope Tina Fey might consider a collaboration one day…

Tell us the most significant moment in your career so far.

From completing my rather lengthy and slightly pretentious film school application to winning a prize at the Cannes Film Festival, there’s always a milestone, big or small, worth celebrating. That’s why I love my job.

Supported by the Skillset Film Skills Fund, as part of A Bigger Future 2 (www.abiggerfuture2.co.uk)

www.moviescopemag.com

14/10/2012 15:14:35

MS31 p017 Ad.indd 19

14/10/2012 22:32:41

24 Fps Finance and Funding

BFI Film Fund As the BFI unveils its five year plan, Film Fund Director Ben Roberts explains how he will be managing its Lottery investments.

What are your responsibilities as Director of the BFI Film Fund, and how much money do you have to distribute per annum?

I’m responsible for strategy and delivery on all the BFI’s Lottery investments across film development, production and distribution. I’m also responsible for the BFI’s new international strategy, which will help ensure a strong, united UK film brand in the international marketplace. At the moment we have £18m per year to invest in development and production, which will rise to £24m per year by 2017. We have £4m per year for distribution, and a total of £1.2m for international activity.

You were previously the CEO of Protagonist Pictures and also served in international acquisitions at Universal; how do you think this past experience will help you run the UK’s biggest public film fund?

Well this role has quite a broad remit overseeing development and production through to distribution and international sales, so I think a background spanning each of these areas is important in order for us to make sympathetic decisions. One key aspect I wanted to bring to the role was a market perspective that will connect with, and be responsive to, industry needs.

There will be investment for both development and production; how much is planned for each? And why is investing in development important?

At the moment we spend roughly £14m per year on production, making around 20 awards per year, and around £4m on development, which this year has been spread across around 150 awards.

In Film Forever, we’ve highlighted development as a key area for investment and an area in which we can make a real impact; this is one of the riskiest areas of the industry financially, and so development money can be

18

MS31 p018 Finance and Funding.indd 18

Above: Ben Roberts, BFI Film Fund Director

Opposite page: Calvary, Ginger & Rosa and Great Expectations have all received BFI Film Fund support

hard to find. Development (be it talent development or feature development) is the bedrock of a strong creative industry, and cultivation and support is needed to keep bringing new voices and producers through.

We’ll continue investing directly in script development, from early stage projects right through to those that need late-stage pre-preproduction support. And we’re always challenging and exploring the most effective ways to work with and develop talent directly, no matter where they might be based within the UK, which we’re doing through our New Talent Network from next year.

We’ve committed just over £2m a year to the network, which will work closely with emerging writers, directors and producers across the UK, and we’ll also be working closely with Creative England and our partners in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to deliver on-the-ground support.

We’ll spend our production and development funds according to where they are most needed, but you can assume that production and development funding will both continue to rise over the next five years.

Will the development and production strands remain completely separate, or will a film that has received development funding automatically receive production funding?

We receive around 300 production applications per year but invest in around 20 projects, so we can’t and don’t make any commitments around ‘automatic’ funding. All applications are rigorously assessed and debated within the fund. The guiding principle in any decision-making is the strength of the project—we want to support and champion excellence in filmmaking, whether that’s from a first time director or producer or from an established, worldclass filmmaker.

At the press launch of Film Forever you said that you didn’t think that commercial appeal and critical appeal can’t co-exist. Can you clarify what you meant by this.

There is a long line of films that have connected with audiences because of—not in spite of—their creativity and originality, and we shouldn’t underestimate the appetite of cinema audiences for strong, distinctive films, even at a very mainstream level. If a film finds its audience, whatever the size and make-up of that audience, then I would consider it ‘commercial’. So, I don’t think the cultural and commercial are mutually exclusive.

What can British filmmakers supported by the BFI Film Fund expect, and what advice would you give any filmmaker hoping to receive BFI funding?

I want us to provide a friendly, knowledgeable and supportive home for all the filmmakers we work with. We’re here to help them make their projects the very best they can be, so we’re always available to give advice or make suggestions, but we also give people the space they need. It all depends on the needs of the filmmakers and the project, but we’re very much here to help.

I would encourage anyone wishing to apply for funding to get their material in the best shape before coming to us, make a strong argument for your material and highlight the strengths of the elements in place. Be ambitious but realistic. It makes no odds if your project has a first time filmmaker or an award-winning director, all applicants use the same application form and all applications follow the same rules and processes. We read everything that comes to us. What we are looking for is excellence.

Sixteen short films have just received production funding through BFI

www.moviescopemag.com

17/10/2012 17:18:18

Shorts 2012; do you think shorts are a good training ground for new directors? Will there be similar initiatives in the future?

Shorts are really important. They’re a calling card that filmmakers can use to help launch future projects, and they provide a professional training ground both in terms of developing ideas and working with a cast and crew to bring that vision to life. The 16 shorts we recently announced are exciting because they’re helping people with some experience to progress in their careers, hopefully helping those filmmakers to cross the difficult bridge between shorts and features. We’ll be delivering further shorts schemes through the New Talent Network and these will be for entry-level filmmakers and filmmakers with more experience.

The BFI Film Fund will strongly encourage producers and distributors to work more closely together; why is this important?

We’re going to be running pilots to encourage joint ventures between producers and distributors, helping

www.moviescopemag.com

MS31 p018 Finance and Funding.indd 19

17/10/2012 17:18:30

24 Fps Finance and Funding

One To Watch Zam Salim Writer/Director

them to work closely from an early stage to help maximise a film’s potential in the marketplace and incentivise distributors to get involved with independent UK films by helping to minimise their risk. The plan is that the distributor’s fees will be shared with the producer (and held by the BFI), which they can their draw down for use against future filmmaking activity.

Will the BFI Film Fund be focusing on co-production and export opportunities? Will it be important, for example, to fund films that can be sold internationally?

We’re allocating in the region of £1m next year (2013/14) for UK coproductions with British elements, but also which give UK filmmakers the opportunity to forge relationships and work with talent from around the world.

We’ve tied together all our international activity—which includes inward investment, export, co-production, talent and skills, policy, cultural cxchange and public diplomacy—in our international strategy. We’re working closely with partners in the nations and regions, the British Film Commission, and trade bodies including FEUK, DUK, PACT on this wide-ranging strategy, and all BFI

20

MS31 p018 Finance and Funding.indd 20

international activity is now overseen by our Head of International, Isabel Davis, who works within the BFI Film Fund and reports to me.

For more information, visit www.bfi.org.uk/ about-bfi/policy-strategy/film-forever

Zam has experience in writing and directing shorts, commercials, documentaries, and TV dramas, and his first feature film Up There won the top prize at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February 2012. He has also won a number of other awards for his work in a range of different fields, and has been nominated for two BAFTAs.

The Impact of Funding

What training have you received?

I went to university where I studied the theoretic aspects of cinema. After this I did a series of menial jobs before ending up in a scheme for the long term unemployed. There I was given access to basic film kit, and we started making short films; I wrote scripts that worked with the budgets and locations we had, so that was a great discipline.

I really recommend making no-budget shorts as a way to both discover your craft and your voice; as you’re not exposed to pressures from funders concerning deadlines and budgets, you can just keep going until you’re happy.

What themes do you like to explore in your work?

I like the idea of taking something fantastical and putting it into everyday terms. I also think I’m moved by the idea of personal responsibility, how we ought to relate to others, and how we don’t always have the vocabulary to express ourselves.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given as a writer?

Keep at it. It’s as simple and as shockingly blunt as that.

There are no magic solutions, unfortunately. I also like that piece of advice from David Lynch; listen to the idea. This held me in good stead when I was thinking about converting the idea of Laid Off the short into Up There the feature.

Tell us the most significant moment in your career so far.

I think it was a night many years ago when I kept going with something—well beyond the point I would have usually stopped—to get it absolutely right. It was a real eye-opener in terms of knowing that I could do this. The first day of the Up There shoot was also pretty significant; it was the moment I discovered whether everything I’d been writing for months might actually work.

You’ll die happy when…

I’ve got a few more features under my belt. I’m really keen to improve my writing, and really communicate something to others. And raise a few laughs along the way, obviously.

Filmmaker Mustapha Kseibati (below) tells us how BFI Shorts funding is helping him make Mohammed, a comedy about a young kid who uses his older brother to make friends.

“The funding I have received will allow me to be a little more ambitious and really push my vision. In the past I have made films with smaller budgets, but this will allow me to make a longer film and push the action along with the aesthetics.

“Having the support of the BFI is amazing; it’s so much more than just funding. Being selected from over 1,000 applicants is a massive seal of approval from some of the most experienced and talented people in the film industry. It also means guidance, development and support in helping me bridge the gap to feature filmmaking.

“Initiatives like BFI Shorts are vital in helping find, nurture and support the best in British upcoming and established talent. The British film industry depends on it. We need to be able to give audiences more choice, with more strong voices from a social perspective.

“My advice to any other filmmaker would be to be bold in your vision and build on your previous work. Be yourself and don’t try to imitate anybody else; make the films you want to. Don’t be afraid to be pigeonholed in a genre if it’s what you love to make. Play to your strengths, learn and build a strong team around you. Above all else... keep making good films!” www.mustaphakseibati.com ●

www.uptherethemovie.co.uk/trailer.html

www.moviescopemag.com

17/10/2012 17:18:34

MS31 p21 Ad.indd 19

14/10/2012 22:41:30

01

Insider's Point of View Christopher Kenneally: Documentarian

Side by Side While the digital revolution continues apace, there is still much debate about whether film has a place in the future of moviemaking.

Here, documentarian Christopher Kenneally talks about why he felt the time was right to capture the industry's thoughts on this fascinating subject, by interviewing over 70 influential filmmakers.

You’ve made your career as a post-production supervisor on a diverse range of films; what inspired you to make this documentary?

I’ve been post supervising movies for the past 14 years, and have also been making documentaries and short films during this time. I’ve worked with some amazing folks on both the creative and technological

22

MS31 p022 Insider POV Doc Maker.indd 22

side of things, and I’ve had a chance to see the technology of filmmaking change first-hand over these years. We really are at a moment of great change in the industry and I felt it was something worthy of documentation.

How did Keanu Reeves get involved in the project?

Side by Side would not have happened at all without Keanu.

He and I were working on a movie called Henry’s Crime; Keanu was the producer and lead actor and I was the post production supervisor. A lot of the discussions and questions that you see in Side

by Side came out of discussions Keanu and I were having while working together; he was really curious and fascinated by the change that was taking place in the industry. He had seen a doc that I had made a few years ago called Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating, and he asked if I’d like to work with him on a film about the impact of digital technology on moviemaking. I said, ‘Absolutely when do we start!’

There are many incredible people involved in the documentary; why is the film vs digital debate sparking such passion?

Digital technology is replacing a way of making movies that has been around for over 100 years.

It’s amazing to think that the basic

mechanics of filmmaking haven’t changed much; you can take a piece of four-perf 35mm film from 1900 and play it in a current film projector. So a lot of people have decades of experience working with film, and have become experts in this craft. Businesses and workflows have been built around film technology, and now all that is changing. This is having a huge impact on a lot of people and businesses, and I think people are really excited to share their opinions on what this means.

Was it important to get a really wide range of filmmakers involved?

Keanu and I wanted to tackle this topic from a lot of different angles, and felt it was important to get interviews and opinions from a wide variety of people involved. We interviewed some top directors and cinematographers, but also took time to interview the technicians at the lab, scientists,

www.moviescopemag.com

18/10/2012 07:42:50

Below: The Side by Side team of Chris Cassidy, Justin Szlasa, Chris Kenneally and Keanu Reeves

Bottom: James Cameron is one of the most proactive supporters of digital filmmaking

Opposite page: An IMAX film negative

editors, actors and others who are affected by this change.

Everyone was really honest and free with their opinions and stood by them.

Were there lots of interviews that didn’t make the doc? And, if so, do you plan to make any of them available?

Yes. We interviewed over 140 people and about 70 made it into the final cut. Also, each interview we did was about 40 to 60 minutes long, so we have a lot of material! We are trying to figure out a way to make all the interviews available as a resource for those interested in delving in a little deeper. There is talk of a series of books and, of course, video, and you can see some outtakes on the Tribeca Film website.

We did a whole series of really interesting short clips that didn’t make it into the movie. (www.tribecafilm.com/videos/?sortBy =-startDate&11963=1030576) What was the consensus among the people you interviewed about the future of filmmaking?

Most people realize that digital technology is growing and has

www.moviescopemag.com

MS31 p022 Insider POV Doc Maker.indd 23

improved a great deal since its early days. There are still a huge number of film lovers and hopefully those people will continue to have the choice of using film for as long as they want, but I think most people believed that digital is the direction that moviemaking is headed.

And did anything surprising emerge during the course of filming the documentary?

I thought that the people who had been working with film for decades and had the most experience with film might be more resistant to the new digital technology, and I thought that the younger generation wouldn’t really care about film. But it didn’t actually break down that way. It wasn’t a generational thing. There were older DPs who were so excited about digital and younger folks who were really film lovers. So it had more to do with individual personalities and preferences than age or anything else.

I think viewers will be surprised and a little bit scared when they watch the section on archival. There are definitely issues with digital storage and obsolescence that still need to be solved. Many experts believe that film is the safest way to store moving images.

A lot of time is spent with James Cameron, who really is a pioneer

of new filmmaking technology.

What do you think drives him?

There are certain people who are always pushing things forward and developing new tools and new ways to make images and tell stories. Cameron has always been one of those people. Even when he was shooting film he was using digital technology for visual effects, and many of the milestones in the VFX industry were Cameron creations. He also pushed the virtual camera and 3D technology to a new level with Avatar. I think it is storytelling that drives him; I don’t feel that he is using technology just for a gimmick, but rather to elevate his story and express his ideas better.

What are your personal feelings on 3D? I don’t love 3D right now. There are moments when it is great, but there are many times during 3D movies that I’m not enjoying it. I think it will get better and better.

23

18/10/2012 07:42:58

Below: Lana and Andy Wachowski are just two of the filmmakers interviewed in the documentary

Bottom: A Technicolor film developing lab in LA

The technology and the craft will improve, and I think we are going to see some amazing 3D over the next few years.

In the film, there are are interesting comparisons drawn between the Dogme generation and today’s low-budget filmmakers; do you think such grassroots filmmakers play an important role in the industry?

Digital technology is such a great tool for independent moviemakers.

The cameras that are available today can give you an amazing image for a low cost. You can shoot with small crews. Editing and post production, even distribution is in the hands of almost anyone. I think having independence and freedom is a huge advantage for artists. Hopefully new types of movies and original works will be created because of this freedom.

Independent filmmakers have always embraced new technology and have used it in unique ways; it’s really interesting to see how the science and art push and inspire each other.

Why isn’t the same merit given to today’s low-budget

24

MS31 p022 Insider POV Doc Maker.indd 24

filmmakers as their Dogme equivalents? Is it because technology has lowered the bar in terms of skill and quality?

I’m not sure I agree with the premise of the question. There are some great independent, lowbudget movies being made today.

There are great series on the web that are really pushing the art form forward. The technology has made it easier and there is a lot more material out there today.

That means that there are more bad movies out there, but there are also more great movies being made. It takes a little effort by the viewer to sift through this and find what they consider good, but to me that is a small price to pay.

Side by Side took a year to make, from November 2010 to December 2011. Did anything change in the film vs digital debate during that time?

Things were changing constantly as we were making this doc.

Kodak declared bankruptcy, all major film camera manufacturers stopped making film cameras, exhibition grew to over 50 per cent digital in the USA, the Alexa camera

was just coming out and the Red Epic came out… so we were right in this moment of change. I think we set out to make this doc just at the right time.

And have things changed even more since you finished making the film?

Technology is constantly changing.

Fuji has now stopped making film; new digital cameras are coming out; more theatres are forced to convert to digital projection; more movies are now digital all the way from capture to exhibition. And this is happening worldwide.

What do you hope the film will achieve-spark more debate, raise awareness, etc.?

I remember when we were editing and watching back the section where we see the clip of Collateral and [colourist] Stefan Sonnenfeld and [cinematographer] Dion Beebe talk about the colours of the night sky in Los Angeles, and how they achieved that look. It really helped me see these images and that movie in a different way. I hope Side by Side will give people something to think about, and will make

people enjoy movies on another level. My hope would be that the doc excites people about cinema and inspires them to watch some great movies—whether shot on film or digital.

Finally, you shot Side by Side on digital; what are your personal feelings about digital filmmaking, and the place of 35mm moving forward?

We had a low budget, a small crew, a short amount of time to set up and we travelled a great deal so digital cameras just made sense for this project. Personally, I love film. Everything that I grew up watching and everything that inspired me to make movies was shot on film. I think that digital technology is going to take over.

Film will still be a choice for a certain level of directors and DPs. It’s sad to say, but I think the newer generation is not going to have a choice and film will soon be replaced.

Side by Side will have its London premiere at the BFI Southbank on December 6, 2012. For more information, visit www.sidebysidethemovie.com l

www.moviescopemag.com

18/10/2012 07:43:03

MS31 p025 Ad.indd 19

17/10/2012 18:06:59

Feature Singular Visions

Singular Visions Thomas Vinterberg The Story Matters The Danish director explains why he’s returning to the controversial subject matter of 1998’s Festen—in which a father is accused of molesting his children—with The Hunt, which stars Mads Mikkelsen as a teacher wrongly accused of abusing his best friend’s daughter.

“This children’s psychiatrist knocked on my door back in 2000 and said, ‘You did Festen?

There’s another film you have to do.’ He had seen that there is one kind of victim portrayed in Festen, and he showed me another kind of victim. Which is, in a sense, children being victims of their own lives. Imagine that a child [tells] a lie. Then this huge theatre appears in front of them; this whole case appears around them, and they end up believing

26

MS31 p026 Singular Vision.indd 26

it’s true. It’s what they call added memory, and they will end up suffering from this in similar ways to people that actually suffer from real happenings.

We read many cases [of this], but I have to say our film has nothing to do with any of these.

It’s drama. It’s fiction. We had to, at some point very early on, step out of the real world and into our world. We actually just wanted to make a story about love. About fatherhood. About friendship.

And maybe about the loss of innocence of some kind.

[By choosing the subject of child abuse] I’m not trying to create impact in a constructed way. I just think that this breach of innocence that can happen towards children is the only thing that can make people take the law into their own hands. In [The Hunt] I have a main character [Mikkelsen’s Lucas, left] who is good and believes in the good in other people. He’s very stubbornly civilised, which in a way is either very much me or very much Scandinavian or somewhere in-between. His moral standards are high, and that has been challenged.

I did not find it interesting to play with the doubt [of Lucas’ innocence], because then we cannot devote ourselves to him.

I wanted to go on a journey with him, and go through this exact experience knowing that I had done the opposite 14 years before [in Festen]. I guess the reality is somewhere in-between these movies. The problem is that audiences are trained to be suspicious, so it’s

very difficult. Every time we had an angle that could make Mads look like a child molester, we had to change it.

This film was not shot in the same sexy kind of style [as Festen]. In that sense, I guess I grew older, or grew away from that. But what I have always pursued is the purity. We’re trying to do that as much as we can, the cameraman and myself.

Trying to make the scene vibrate as if it would happen even without our camera there.

I have learned that I am not, at the moment at least and maybe for the rest of my career, a form experimenter. Kubrick died around the time I did Festen, and I saw Von Trier a lot; they both reinvent the form every time they make a movie. I thought I should do the same thing for a while, and I found that’s not where my thing is. I’m occupied with human fragility, and the highest goal for me is to create characters that stand.

Then you have created life.”

Thomas was speaking to Stephen Applebaum. The Hunt opens in UK cinemas on November 30 ●

www.moviescopemag.com

18/10/2012 07:46:49

Although compromises are made throughout the industry on a daily basis, there are some filmmakers who simply refuse to compromise their vision. Over the next few pages, Thomas Vinterberg, Paul Thomas Anderson, Ben Wheatley and Martin McDonagh explain why they are determined to make their films, their way.

Paul Thomas Anderson Perfecting The Look The Master writer/director explains why he will stop at nothing to get the right aesthetic, even if it means shooting in 65mm. Text: James Mottram Following his early films Boogie Nights and Magnolia, writerdirector Paul Thomas Anderson swiftly gained a reputation as a Hollywood maverick, partly through his elaborate camerawork-with its audacious tracking shotsthat drew comparisons to such veterans as Martin Scorsese and Robert Altman. “Boogie Nights was a story that needed lots of frenetic energy,” he says, “but at the same time you probably feel more of a desire to show off when you’re younger.”

Now aged 42, Anderson is no less radical, albeit in a different manner, as he harks back to a bygone era for his new film.

Set in 1950, The Master— which won him Best Director at the Venice Film Festival—is an elegant examination of the relationship between two men: an alcohol-dependant former US Navy sailor (played

by Joaquin Phoenix) and the leader of a self-help movement (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a character loosely inspired by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology movement.

In the days when digital is all the rage, The Master has been shot on 65mm film and projected in 70mm—the first feature film to do so since Kenneth Branagh’s 1996 version of Hamlet. “These

www.moviescopemag.com

MS31 p026 Singular Vision.indd 27

cameras are still used a lot for visual-effects plates,” notes Anderson. “Chris Nolan has used them from time to time on some of his films, Terry Malick used them a few times on The New World.” But of late, only Ron Fricke’s Samsara, an experimental collage of images set to music, has used these cameras to shoot a whole project.

Working with cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr. for the first time (after his long-standing relationship with Robert Elswit), Anderson claims that when he went to visit technicians at Panavision, he didn’t go in with the intention of shooting on this increasingly rare format. “It’s usually [reserved for] this epic thing and I knew we weren’t doing that—I didn’t know what we were doing but I knew it wasn’t that. But we pulled those cameras out and we started testing them and the results spoke for themselves… it was just one of those things that felt right and looked right.”

Given the era The Master is set in, Anderson understandably wanted something that felt as if it sprang from the 1950s, citing “that great look” achieved by such Hitchcock classics as North By Northwest and Vertigo, which were shot in VistaVision.

“We didn’t really think it through, though,” he laughs, “because the camera broke all the time and made a lot of noise. You can still hear the camera rolling in the film; we just put fan noises over it, so you couldn’t tell it was the camera.”

Aside from being unreliable and noisy, the cameras were also “as big as a desk”, which put paid to any notions Anderson might have had about repeating those frenetic camera stunts from his earlier films. “I have to say, if you’re working

Above: Paul Thomas Anderson and Joaquin Phoenix on location during the filming of The Master

with a camera like that, as those older directors did, you’re not going to be throwing it off buildings and moving it around so much. You get yourself into this classic thing. And it’s great to work within those parameters.”

The Master opens in UK cinemas on November 2 ●

27

18/10/2012 07:46:53

02

Insider's Point of View Ben Wheatley: Director

Normal is a Construct

As the director of Down Terrace, Kill List and Sightseers, Ben Wheatley is carving out a career for himself as one of the UK’s most exciting independent filmmakers. During a short break from finishing his next film, A Field in England, he chatted to movieScope about why he is so fascinated by the extremes of human nature. Interview: Nikki Baughan Sightseers, Ben Wheatley’s follow-up to the award-winning Kill List, stars Steve Oram and Alice Lowe (who also co-wrote the screenplay) as Chris and Tina, a couple whose very British caravan holiday soon turns into a manic, bloody rampage against those who would spoil their idyll…

Films like Sightseers and Kill List are impossible to ‘pigeonhole’ as a particular genre; how do you go about pitching such ideas?

I don’t generally pitch as such.

Sightseers was already in development and Kill List was a finished script. I can scrape up

28

MS31 p028 Insider POV Director.indd 28

an ‘elevator pitch’, but they are not much of an indication of how the films will turn out.

Did the script for Sightseers evolve at all during production?

There was a script but it was rewritten by Amy Jump. She added new characters and dialogue, and we then improvised a lot on set. Amy and I then edited the improvisation and scripted elements together.

Like Kill List, Sightseers is very extreme but grounded in the everyday; what appeals to you about the extremes of human nature?

I think we are all extreme and unique in our way. It’s what makes

www.moviescopemag.com

14/10/2012 16:13:56

Director Ben Wheatley (bottom) says that when he makes film like Kill List and Sightseers (opposite page and

below), he is just following the story

us human. Normal is a construct; I just go where the story goes. I also think that any story where you can’t predict the ending of after watching the first five minutes of the film is a good thing.

Sightseers is also very British; how do you think it will translate to an international audience?

I’ve watched Sightseers at Cannes, Sitges and Locarno [film festivals] and it plays really well; the characters are British but they are also universal.

Your films can be both shocking and hilarious; why do you think horror and comedy work so well together?

I think they are natural bedfellows.

Slapstick humour is the comedy of injury and hurt; a lot of humour is rooted at the expense of someone else. With the balance of violence and farce you just find a way through in the cut; it takes time and patience.

You seem unafraid to take risks with story and content; why do you feel confident to do so when other filmmakers seemingly don’t?

I don’t see them as risks; it’s the only way I know how to tell a story. I couldn’t speak for other filmmakers; all I know is that as soon as I shot my first professional job my snarky attitudes towards other people's work disappeared. Shooting anything halfway decent is very hard and there are many factors that can hobble a project.

Have their ever been instances where you’ve had to compromise your vision?

I’m pretty pragmatic with my ‘vision’. The making of the film and how the production is set up

www.moviescopemag.com

MS31 p028 Insider POV Director.indd 29

is as much a creative act as the filming and editing. I know going in what I can and cannot do.

In terms of editorial, I have had control over my projects.

You have been given great support from Film4 in particular; how has this helped you to develop as a filmmaker. And how do you think independent filmmakers could be better supported in general?

Working with Film4 has been great. It has given me the opportunity to work on a broader canvas. They are very patient and supporting.

Generally speaking, I think there should be more low and micro [budget] schemes. What’s needed is the equivalent of Play for Today; lots and lots of activity, new writing and new directors. From that the new national cinema could emerge.

What’s next for you?

A Field in England, which is a period piece set at the end of the English Civil war. It involves treasure, magic, mushrooms, magic mushrooms and giant Black Dots.

We are also working on a big sci-fi film called Freak Shift.

You’re becoming something of a poster boy for independent British filmmaking; are you comfortable with that?

If it makes people look at me and say ‘if he can do it then I can', then I’m very happy with it.

Would you ever want to make a studio movie?

Sure, why not. It’s not about me wanting to make one though... it’s about whether they would want to make one with me!

Sightseers is released in UK cinemas on November 30 l

29

15/10/2012 07:44:34

Feature Singular Visions: Martin McDonagh

Truth and Movies Four years after his debut In Bruges became a cult classic, playwright-turned-filmmaker Martin McDonagh returns with his blistering follow-up Seven Psychopaths. Here, he sits down with movieScope editor Nikki Baughan for a discussion about the film, the importance of truth and why he’ll never compromise on the stories he tells.

Seven Psychopaths stars Colin Farrell as a struggling screenwriter whose decision to accept his actor friend Billy’s (Sam Rockwell) help sees him embroiled in an LA underworld populated by a medley of quirky characters, including Christopher Walken's dognapping Hans (below)…

So, I hear you've been sitting on the Seven Psychopaths script for quite some time...

It was written after I wrote the script for In Bruges, but before I made it.

They were both ready to go, but I

30

MS31 p030 Martin McDonagh.indd 30

knew that I didn’t have the skills to have [Seven Psychopaths] be my first film, because the canvas was so much greater. In Bruges is more or less three characters talking in one set, and I knew that stuff from the theatre. Here there were so many flashbacks and shoot-outs and car chases, as well as a larger cast of characters, so I thought it was better to start off with something smaller.

Seven Psychopaths is certainly a bigger film, set in the sprawling city of LA. How easy was it to write?

To write in the American vernacular wasn’t too tricky, because I had been trying various pieces over the years in that kind of idiom. The challenge was more juggling so many characters, and going back in time to the story flashback and trying to make that fit as a whole.

So that was a bigger thing to get my head around, but it only took about two months to write.

And is that how fast you normally write?

For a film script, it’s usually between about five weeks and two months.

Do you sit down, bang it out and then go back and rework it?

Well, I go back to the pub! I won’t say a script is finished until it’s really finished, and then I don’t really do redrafts of it. In Seven Psychopaths, pretty much what you saw on screen was in the script. There was hardly any improvisation; after Sam [Rockwell] tells the campfire story, when the boys are commenting on it afterwards, some of Christopher’s [Walken] stuff is improv. And Sam threw in a few extra lines. But I would say that the dialogue is 99 per cent from the script.

Christopher Walken has this off-the-wall persona; is he easy to direct?

Yes, he is. He’ll give you five completely brilliant, but very different takes. He’s not someone

who you want to give a whole load of direction to, because he’ll just give you a load of stuff. And you only realise when you’re watching it back in the edit suite that he’s given you everything you needed.

In this film, location is clearly as important as it was for In Bruges. Did you intend for LA to be another character?

Yes, and I’m glad it comes across that way. Cinematographer Ben Davis and I were trying to see a little side of Los Angeles that maybe we hadn’t seen before.

Such a clear location makes it easier to ground a story; Billy’s apartment does that. It’s got that beautiful view of downtown LA, but it’s a rundown wooden shack. It is somewhere that a down-at-heel actor would live, so it grounds his character.

Although the action takes place in the suburbs, LA is always glistening in the distance, tempting the characters. Does the film speak to your own experiences in Hollywood?

Not really. Luckily, I’ve never had to go through any of that Hollywood meeting bullshit, because Bruges was based out of Europe and after that people wanted to make this film. The main company was Blueprint, who is London-based anyway. Colin’s character [Marty] isn’t based on any of my specific Hollywood experiences, but his opinions on trying to look for some kind of peace and love in writing

www.moviescopemag.com

14/10/2012 16:32:12

and in the world is probably something I share.

I also got the sense that Marty was always looking for the truth in his characters, even though they are extreme personalities.

Is that important to you?

Yeah. For In Bruges, it was about creating a character that had done something horrible, and how truly someone who is

MS31 p030 Martin McDonagh.indd 31

fundamentally decent would react to that. That’s what made it quite so sad and melancholy, I guess.

Similarly, in Seven Psychopaths it’s how a decent person like Marty would react to the craziness he has to deal with. It’s a little gory in places, but I also try to treat the violence as horribly as it is in real life. It’s about trying to find the truth in that, too.

You have assembled an incredible cast; did you write the script with these actors in mind?

Not really. I think I may sometimes have had Sam’s voice in my head, writing a particular kind of American younger crazy male.

Aside from that, it was more a dream cast fell into place, especially with people like Christopher and Tom Waits and

Harry Dean Stanton. They were my heroes from when I was a kid.

I used to stand on set sometimes and go, oh my God, these people are in my film. I better not fuck it up.

Were they all on board from reading the script?

Yeah. Obviously I knew Colin [from In Bruges], Christopher and Sam I did a play with in New York

14/10/2012 16:32:23

Feature Singular Visions: Martin McDonagh knew them from there, and Woody [Harrelson] I met in Dublin about 10 years ago. Tom and I almost worked together on a musical project a few years ago which fell through... They were all my first-choice people, really. We just sent them all a script and they all said yes!

It’s another great performance from Colin; you seem to coax something from him that I’ve not seen another director do…

Some people say that, but I’m not sure that’s true. I think it’s more about a good script combined with someone who lets him do what he wants to do! It’s not about being a movie star, or about having to make 100 million dollars either; it’s about some kind of truth or integrity.

You’ve worked with the majority of your actors before. Are you intentionally building up a group of regular contributors?

I hope so. It’s like a little repertory company. Also, Zeljko Ivanek, who plays Woody’s main henchman, was in In Bruges too; he was the guy who gets punched in the restaurant. Michael Stuhlbarg, who is with Michael Pitt in the opening scene, also did a play of mine. I know most of the guys from other places, and I’d like to work with them again. I also want to do more work with Brendan Gleeson. My brother [John Michael McDonagh, director of The Guard] is doing a second film called Calvary with Brendan right now in Ireland, actually.

Does it make it easier when you’re surrounded by people who know your style and how you work?

Definitely. Especially when they are supposedly big stars, because it could be really scary otherwise! But the first day on set, it was like a family. And then when the new people come in they see it’s like a family, so it relaxes them.

There’s no starry behaviour at all from anyone… well, apart from me!

Olga Kurylenko and Abbie Cornish are also in the cast, but the film inhabits such a maledominated world that their roles are small. Were you intentionally trying to say something about females in Hollywood?

Not really! Christopher does have that line about women parts being underwritten and poorly crafted, which is kind of like a get-out-of-jail card. But that’s not really good enough, if I was criticising myself. Abbie and Olga are both fantastic; there was a lot more to both of their parts in the script, and we filmed a couple more scenes with Abbie and Colin about the breakup of their relationships. But we ended up focusing more on the Sam/ Colin relationship, which made Abbie’s character take a bit of a back seat.

I loved Billy’s line: ‘In Hollywood you can kill women but you can’t kill animals…’

That’s definitely a comment on Hollywood! There was an early version of the script where the

dog didn’t necessarily come to a happy end, and I got so many notes on that. But not a single one about any of the women who get shot in the stomach or head… not a single one! It's terrible!

Your characters do always seem to find themselves in these extreme circumstances. Do you ever feel under any pressure to compromise your stories?

No, never. My attitude was always, even before the first play was on, that I would never change a word for anybody else. And luckily with each passing piece of work it’s been accepted and liked by a certain amount of people. So I have never seen any reason to compromise or change.

When you’re setting up a project, you have to let the studio or whoever is giving you the money know that that’s what it’s going to be, and if they don’t want to work that way then you’ll go with someone else. Or you balance the money, so that no one has a bigger say than anyone else. [Seven Psychopaths]

“There was an early version of the script where the dog didn’t necessarily come to a happy end, and I got so many notes on that!"

32

MS31 p030 Martin McDonagh.indd 32

Above: Woody Harrelson as dog-loving mobster Charlie, with henchman Paulo (Zeljko Ivanek)

Below: McDonagh on set with Colin Farrell

had money from CBS in America, but also from Film4 and the BFI, so no one had any casting vote over anything. And even if they had I wouldn’t have listened to it! If they know what you are like, they have got a choice to work with you or not.

You started off writing for the stage; how does this translate to writing for the screen?

There are certain fundamentals that are the same; I approach the dialogue in the same way, for example. I think there’s just a bigger scope when you are writing a film script. There are different places to go, you can jump around in time and in geography.

A scene can be two sentences long or one image long, whereas in a play it’s usually like eight pages of dialogue between two or three or four characters. Early on it was much harder to get my head around how to write a film. They are almost like jigsaws as well; you have an image and another image and it’s hard to get your head around the bigger picture. But now I feel a lot more confident about that stuff.

You came to filmmaking quite late, compared to these very young directors who blaze onto the scene and then often fade away. Do you think being a bit older and perhaps wiser has helped?

I am lucky to have 10 or 12 years of working in theatre. During that

www.moviescopemag.com

14/10/2012 16:32:30

MS31 p033 Ad.indd 19

14/10/2012 22:44:04

Feature Singular Visions: Martin McDonagh

time you get to know actors, how they work and what you respect about their job. The first day on In Bruges I was terrified; I didn’t think I knew anything about anything.

But I realised that those 10 years of working with actors had given me more than most directors have, which is a respect for what actors do and a knowledge of how to translate what’s on the page to them with honesty. I think that’s probably palpable in both films, that the actors are being truthful.

They are having fun, and there’s a joy to it, but when they are in the darker places they are really into it.

Did you also get to know yourself better as a creative force when writing for stage?

Yes, I think that’s true. It gave me the confidence to know when to stand up and fight, and when to be accommodating.

It’s certainly worked, as you’ve had a stratospheric screen career trajectory. What do you attribute that to?

Let’s go with luck! And bribery… No, I think it’s just a natural progression.

The first play developed into being able to do the second and the third, which made me feel confident enough to try and do a short film [Six Shooter]. Certainly, the whole thing about the short film was very lucky. The idea that I would make a good short and achieve an Oscar out of it is crazy— although I’m not complaining!

When it got to In Bruges, I felt more like I had to pull my socks up and learn how to do it properly.

34

MS31 p030 Martin McDonagh.indd 34

So then it becomes less about luck than about a love of films. I always loved films more than I did plays, anyway, but I didn’t want to start trying to make them until I had some kind of confidence to do so, and had some kind of authority that they wouldn’t be screwed around with. But Seven Psychopaths hasn’t come out yet, so I don’t know if it will be destroyed by the critics!

I don’t think so…

You might be the only one who likes it!

With some films I am, but not in this instance I’m sure!

Going back to your career-did you find that making Seven Pyschopaths was easier after the success of In Bruges, or did that add additional pressure?

I think it made the making of it a little easier. I was nervous in the prep, but on the first day of shooting when I was talking to the actors I felt really at home.

To make one film and not do a second one, that could have just been a blip, but now I’ve done a second I feel that I am a filmmaker as well as a playwright now.

Also, some of the early reviews of Bruges were pretty mixed, particularly in America, and it developed a cult following on its own accord. So I don’t worry about that now, either. In that sense I feel in a better position now because I’m protected against it because I realise it doesn’t matter.

So the opening weekend is of no importance to you?

No. In five or 10 years from now, if people still like it then, that’s what matters. So, whatever happens next should be easier. But I am going to take a few years and not do anything anyway!

Is that just so you don’t get burnt out?

No, it’s because I’m really lazy! I swear to God. Also, I want to travel and have fun. And when I say take four years off, of course I’ll still be writing.

So what’s the future? Would you write or direct for other people?

No, no, no. Because it takes so long to do one, I think you should only tell your own stories. And I’m confident that I will keep coming up with the stories. I couldn’t do anyone else’s.

I’ve got this one script that’s ready to go with a strong female lead, but I won’t be doing anything with that for a few years. It’s called Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri.

That sounds like the title of a dime store pulp novel…

That’s what I’m going for! It’s got a strong 55-year-old female lead. It’s going to be really cool!

It’s going to be the antithesis of what Seven Psychopaths is about, a kind of old-school Joan Crawford type.

So now you’ve made Seven Psychopaths in LA, have you got a taste for making films in the USA? No, not necessarily. My next one is set in Missouri, but it’s as much the antithesis of LA

McDonagh describes his stellar cast, which includes Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell (left and below) as being 'like a family'

as Brixton is! Because I liked what happened with Bruges so much, finding a town that hadn’t really been seen in films before, I kind of want to explore the world and find other places like that and set stories there. I had a long weekend in Bruges, and by the time I came back to London I had the whole story in my head.

Now that you’ve established yourself as a filmmaker, writers and directors are going to start to look to you for inspiration…

Oh God, no!

They will. It’s inevitable. What advice would you give to those grassroots filmmakers?

My advice for writers is tell your own story and be true to it. Once you’ve got it right, don’t listen to too many outside opinions. And don’t write for a market, or make films for box office, or tell stories to make money. Just stay true to yourself.

You’ll know when it’s right. I’m my own worst critic—or best critic if you like—so I will just stick at it until I’m sure it’s not crap. And then I won’t listen to anyone else…

Seven Psychopaths is released in UK cinemas on December 7 ●

www.moviescopemag.com

14/10/2012 16:32:37

MS31 p035 Ad.indd 19

17/10/2012 18:12:41

Feature Seven Psychopaths

Christopher Walken is Hans For all the illustrious casting in Seven Psychopaths—everyone from Tom Waits to Woody Harrelson—Christopher Walken is arguably the most symbolic.

Having played in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and the Tarantino-scripted True Romance, not to mention so-called postTarantino films such as Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, coming into Martin McDonagh’s universe seemed like a natural fit for the silver-haired star.

“The thing I suppose they might have in common is big chunks of very intelligent dialogue,” he reasons. “It doesn’t happen that much in the movies, where actors have plenty to say and it’s all interesting. Most movie scripts don’t have a lot of interesting dialogue.” It helped that Walken was already familiar with McDonagh’s linguistic dexterity, having performed—along with Sam Rockwell—on Broadway in A Behanding in Spokane.

Despite Psychopaths being just McDonagh’s second film after In Bruges, Walken remains suitably impressed. “He certainly knows a lot about movies and he knows how to make them. He made this on a rather limited budget. He had a limited amount of time. He was very prepared, very practical. He obviously had the movie in his mind’s eye. And that was apparent.

I wasn’t always sure of where it [the movie] was or what I was doing, but I knew that he did, and that’s very important.”

This is doubtless Walken being modest; his portrayal of Hans, who flicks between dog-napping and caring for his cancer-stricken wife, is the film’s beating heart.

A mixture of poignancy and humour (he gets laughs for his very unique pronunciation of the word hallucinogen), Walken makes no attempts to mythologise his approach to playing the role. “I read

36

MS31 p036 Seven Psychopaths Cast.indd 36

it out loud until it sounds right. I’m not very good at figuring things out, but I do kind of know when they work.”

Likewise, despite the film being set in the world of budding screenwriters, Walken confesses he’s no scribe. “Writing has always been a bit mysterious to me. I’ve tried it. I think you really have to love doing it, otherwise it’s too hard. It’s just laborious. But I think that if you’re good at it, it must be

some sort of pleasure. I’ve spoken to Martin about how do you do what you do. And he says, ‘Oh well, I just go wherever I am, and I take my pad and pencil and I just write.

I’ll just go outside somewhere.’ And I said, ‘You can write outside?!’ And he said, ‘Sure.’ It’s a gift.”

Now 69, Walken—who would be the first to admit he’s made a career out of playing psychopaths—believes Hans represents a shift for him. “As I get

older, I’m getting different things.

I’m playing uncles and fathers and grandfathers.” He recently just finished A Late Quartet, in which he plays a cellist who suffers from Parkinson’s disease. “I took that part because I don’t get offered parts like that very often,” he says. “It’s almost like another step, another place to go. Maybe I’ll start getting things like that.” And not before time, you might say.

Text: James Mottram ●

www.moviescopemag.com

14/10/2012 16:38:23

Sam Rockwell is Billy For Sam Rockwell, taking on Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths was a “no-brainer.”

He and co-star Christopher Walken were on Broadway together in McDonagh’s play A Behanding in Spokane, making a reunion a delicious prospect.

“People show up for Martin.

He’s a special, special writer/ filmmaker,” says Rockwell.

“Even Abbie Cornish, who is an accomplished young actress in her own right, she showed up for a very small part… You wouldn’t get somebody like Abbie Cornish in a part like that normally.”

While Cornish (left, with Rockwell) stars as the weary girlfriend to Colin Farrell’s alcoholic LA screenwriter Marty, Rockwell features as his best friend Billy Bickle. An out-of-work actor, with a penchant for punch-ups and dog-napping, it will come as no surprise that this Hollywood wannabe takes his inspiration— like so many actors—from Robert De Niro. “There’s definitely a little bit of Johnny Boy in Mean Streets, and Travis Bickle in there,” says Rockwell, who admits that he, as a “cinephile of those American films of the ’70s”, loves to reference the era.

Understandably, Rockwell was thrilled to reunite with Walken, who plays Billy’s dog-napping cohort Hans (and, of course, famously collaborated with De

MS31 p036 Seven Psychopaths Cast.indd 37

Niro on The Deer Hunter). “Chris is one of my idols,” he admits. “I’ve been a big fan. Watching him on film, from when I was a young boy, he was a teacher for me, just like De Niro and Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman—all those people.

So, unconsciously, I’ve learned from Chris watching him on film before I knew him.”

Yet for all Seven Psychopaths’ leanings towards ’70s Hollywood, its depiction of LA’s underbelly— smart-mouthed gangsters and hit men litter the story—feels like it belongs to another era. “Like Grosse Point Blank and Pulp Fiction, I think this is another reinvention of that genre,” says

Rockwell. “I think that Martin’s pulling it off very well in this movie too. And that’s not easy to do. To be funny and poignant and also have sex and violence!

It’s a nice cocktail.”

Unlike Billy, the 44-yearold Rockwell has managed a successful acting career, zipping between Hollywood blockbusters (Iron Man 2, Cowboys and Aliens) and independents (Moon, Welcome to Collinwood). “The only power an actor has is the word no. That’s really all you have,” he says. “You don’t really have control over your career. You like to give yourself the illusion that you have control. All you can really say is no

to things. And you can say yes to what’s available. You know what they say—you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans!”

Upcoming in A Single Shot (a “downbeat” thriller he likens to Blood Simple) and Better Living Through Chemistry (a midlife crisis tale of a pharmacist who has an affair; a “kind of a naturalistic Nutty Professor”), Rockwell’s immediate plans are quite simple: recharge the batteries. “I’m not even sure what that means— eating ice-cream and drinking too many gin and tonics, sleeping late and going to movies!” he laughs. “I’ve got to refuel!”

Text: James Mottram ●

15/10/2012 07:49:51

03

Insider's Point of View British Independent Film Awards

Celebrating British Film

As the British Independent Film Awards celebrates its fifteenth birthday, directors Tessa Collinson and Johanna von Fischer, nominee and jury member Jodie Whittaker and advisory committee members Mia Bays and Jim Wilson discuss how the UK’s film landscape has changed during that time. Text: James Mottram Celebrating its fifteenth birthday this year, the British Independent Film Awards—or BIFAs, to give it its popular name—has become a major date in the awards calendar for homegrown cinema.

If it’s where movies like Slumdog Millionaire and The King’s Speech first picked up a Best Film award before beginning their path to Oscar glory, this is only the tip of an increasingly important industry iceberg.

With the BIFAs also supporting the emergence of such talents as Duncan Jones, Asif Kapadia, Clio Barnard and Shane Meadows, to name but a few, it’s proven itself more than just an annual red-

38

MS31 p038 Insider POV BiFA.indd 38

carpet event. Rather, it’s been at the heart of the evolution of the British film industry over the past decade-and-a-half, drawing attention to smaller-scale films that might otherwise go unnoticed.

To discuss this, movieScope’s James Mottram was joined by BIFA directors Tessa Collinson and Johanna von Fischer in London’s Soho House. Also present, for what proved to be a lively round-table debate concerning the past, present and future of British film, were actress Jodie Whittaker (a former BIFA nominee and now jury member) and producers Mia Bays and Jim Wilson (both members of BIFA’s advisory committee).

How did the British Independent Film Awards start?

Tessa Collinson They started with a number of people in the industry feeling there was a need for an awards ceremony that represented independent British film, particularly as BAFTA was growing and moving into a more international arena.

Elliot Grove, who had started the Raindance Film Festival already, then founded the Awards in 1998.

Johanna von Fischer It was to fill in that gap of British-made movies that BAFTA wasn’t really catering for any more, because of the fact that they’re looking at

all the films that were released in the UK. Jodie, when did you first become aware of the BIFAs? Jodie Whittaker When I was nominated for Venus. Then, a few years later, in 2009, I was asked to be on the jury, and I became quite psychotic about it! I went to town! I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed watching everything and having this month where everything else stopped—even though I was filming at the time— to cram in all the shorts and the nominated features.

Cast your minds back to 1998…

What was the landscape for British film like then?

www.moviescopemag.com

14/10/2012 16:55:22

(From left) Writer James Mottram, producer Jim Wilson, actress Jodie Whittaker, BIFA director Johanna Von Fischer, producer Mia Bays, BIFA director Tessa Collinson and movieScope editor Nikki Baughan enjoy a lively discussion about the British film landscape

Mia Bays I was at the Film Consortium, and the atmosphere was that everyone was a bit embarrassed about British film.

Jim Wilson But in another way it was the boom time—that was the feast to the famine we’re now in.

My memory of the late ’90s was that this was the clover period. I came back to join FilmFour and it was the flush of the lottery money, of Cool Britannia… There were films coming out of our ears!

Mia I don’t know if we were as proud of what we were doing then.

Jim But I do think that the industry was flush, and lots of films were being made. For BIFA, like any embryonic institution, we weren’t taken very seriously.

We had to fight to get attention because people didn’t know if we were real.

How have things evolved since then?

www.moviescopemag.com

MS31 p038 Insider POV BiFA.indd 39

Johanna Probably from about 2004 it’s seemed to have got stronger and stronger, and healthier and healthier, from our point of view. Every year people were saying to us it’s the end of the British film industry, and then the next year here would come all these amazing films.

Jodie Because the industry is still hard, and it is still incredibly difficult to make a film, there is a guerrilla feeling about it… There’s a lot of risk-taking now. I think that’s what I find exciting when you’re watching all the different types of films—you do have Slumdog Millionaire or The King’s Speech, but you also have Strawberry Fields or Treacle Jr. All these things that are made possible without a star and a campaign that will see it to the Oscars.

Mia, you’ve been involved in the Microwave scheme which has

funded films like Shifty and Ill Manors on £100k budgets. How has that helped filmmakers?

Mia The whole point of the scheme was to give people a break—and utilising the skills of people that are much more experienced to help them. We have lots of high-profile mentors.

Ben Drew was mentored by Pete Travis, for example. It’s a few days they spend together, but it makes all the difference. And that just really helps the quality of the movies. We can’t take the credit entirely for the micro-budget boom but it’s certainly helped.

So, what else can be done to help young British filmmakers?

Mia We definitely have a problem…

There’s a lot of support with new talent; there’s a massive focus on debuts. What is hard is the second and third film. And I think we need more attention

in that area, with public funds.

The problem lies in that the ‘new talent’ definition stops as soon as they’ve had their first film.

Lots of amazing filmmakers did huge apprenticeship, when you look back. Go back to Ealing, and those days, when you could make a B-movie or a 30-minute film… you got to practice a lot more. A lot of our amazing filmmakers didn’t find their voice until their sixth film. So I think that’s a problem.

Jodie I think that’s terrifying. If you are a debut [filmmaker], and you make the film and it isn’t Attack the Block or Tyrannosaur, and it doesn’t get that attention, but it’s still good… It’s incredibly cutthroat!

Johanna We had a guy called Louis Tisné come and talk to us; he’s trying to set up a mentor programme for second- or thirdtime directors. And he gave us

39

14/10/2012 16:55:34

Actress Jodie Whittaker (below) and producer Jim Wilson (bottom left) engage in some animated debate about British film. (All images © Gregory Davies)

the statistic that 60 per cent of first-time directors never make a second film. And it’s not always about quality. You hear stories about someone getting the next really big film, and then that film dies and, four or five years later, nobody is talking about them any more.

Mia The statistics used to be way worse. Around 2000, it was like 80 per cent of British film directors never made a follow-up.

Tessa Maybe if you get an award it does help. A lot of first-time directors pull in all their favours to make their first film, then find themselves making a second, larger-budget film and are faced with tough competition when trying to get funding. But, having said that, if you look at BIFA debut directors, they’ve not done too badly.

Shane Meadows, Lynne Ramsay, Kevin Macdonald, Asif Kapadia— these were all debut people. John Crowley, Annie Griffin, Anton Corbijn, Steve McQueen, Duncan Jones, Clio Barnard, Paddy Considine—they are kind of doing OK! Still, in the case of someone like Paddy Considine, for example, you knew he was going to make a good film…

40

MS31 p038 Insider POV BiFA.indd 40

Jodie Oh! Not a given at all! I think that slightly undermines his achievement in what he did do.

As an actor, if someone said, ‘In eight years time, you’ll know how to make a film’… You don’t enter a set with that mind-set.

But what concerns me is less the Paddy Considines of this world, but those working in the British genre industry, which is not very well supported.

Johanna But if an award ceremony does recognise that genre, I’d say BIFA does. Look at Neil Marshall and The Descent.

He won Best Director in the year of The Constant Gardener. So I think sometimes those kind of films do show up…

Jim Let’s be fair. That’s also a cinema culture thing, one that’s bigger than BIFA. If you go to the Independent Spirit Awards, which is our sibling equivalent, or the Césars… Award ceremonies celebrate film as an art form. I don’t think that’s a dirty word. So they tend towards dramas, and a certain type of filmmaking, and they tend against—in a very general way— overt genre filmmaking.

Johanna But one of the nice things about BIFA is that it’s a small group and we do debate everything. We do have big discussions about those films.

Jodie It’s not exclusive either.

There may be a vigorous debate about whether The Inbetweeners is [viable]. It might be an incredibly profitable film, but is it a very good film? Is it an excellent piece of cinema, and therefore do people want to nominate it? I don’t think that’s BIFA being against a certain type of filmmaking.

The BFI’s recent Film Forever plan emphasised three key areas: education, audiences and archives. Do you think they are on the right track for supporting British film?

Johanna Personally, I think education is really important, particularly around film. I think Film Education and Film Club are brilliant schemes and really, really important. If you haven’t got someone like I did in my life who was passionate about film, it opens so many doors. It’s not just about getting all these people into media and the film industry.

It’s actually about breaking boundaries. I think film has such a wide reach. And if you can get people into the art of it at a young age—rather than just the celebrity experience or watching what their friends are watching—then it’s really worth it. So education is big.

Jodie With education, you are told that the Odeon and the Vue aren’t the only cinemas around. You can go to your local Picturehouse, and that will show the film that you’ve been talked to about by a peer. That’s really important

as well. It isn’t just what’s on at the multiplexes. Keeping an independent cinema going… it’s so devastating to think how many are closing. They can’t advertise on television and they can’t do two-for-one deals, because they can’t afford it.

Mia Yet I think there is a disconnect between about what the industry does champion all the time and what people go and see.

Tessa There’s no getting away from the fact that an awards ceremony like BIFA helps highlight those films without a large marketing budget to a wider audience. For example, at the 2011 BIFAs previous winner and nominee Daniel Craig presented Best Film… and the winning film was Tyrannosaur. That association through press coverage and Internet searches with someone as high-profile as Daniel might make someone out there take a look at a film they might never have considered otherwise.

The 2012 BIFA nominees will be announced on November 5, and the awards presented on December 9. www.bifa.org.uk l

www.moviescopemag.com

14/10/2012 16:55:50

MS31 p041 Ad.indd 19

14/10/2012 22:50:02

Feature Hollywood Costume

The Power of Costume Five years of planning has gone into the V&A Museum’s epic Hollywood Costume exhibition, which celebrates the multi-faceted role of costume design throughout movie history.

Here, curator Deborah Nadoolman Landis takes movieScope’s Chris Laverty on a personal tour of the exhibits, and explains why costume is so much more than just making clothes.

Deborah Nadoolman Landis is the closest costume design has to living royalty. She has costumed countless films, including Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Blues Brothers and Coming to America (for which she was Academy Award nominated), stood as two-term president for the Costume Designers Guild, is a senior lecturer for UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), and has written several books on her craft.

Yet for the past five years one project has dominated Landis’ life: curating her costume design exhibition for London’s V&A Museum. “I’m so frigging exhausted,” she laughs. “It’s like we’ve been in rehearsals and now we’re going to open on Broadway. Wait till you see it—you’re gonna flip out!”

Undoubtedly the only display of its kind, ever, Hollywood Costume is much more than a celebration of gorgeous frocks from the movies—though Landis admits this is why some people will turn up. “Why wouldn’t they?” she muses. “But that’s not what this exhibition is about. It’s about narrative, storytelling and the creation of real people.”

Indeed, Hollywood Costume is something of a sneak attack, encompassing the history,

42

MS31 p042 Hollywood Costume.indd 42

creation and meaning of costume from script to screen via countless cinematic milestones like The Wizard of Oz, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Atonement.

Or as Landis puts it during movieScope’s own personal tour of the exhibition, “this show is a complete bait and switch”.

The exhibition is divided into three parts: Act One: Deconstruction, Act Two: Dialogue and Act Three: Finale.

Each contributes to telling the complete story of costume design.

Deconstruction opens with a fullsize cinema screen, and revealed immediately beyond is something that Landis insists is fundamental to every single role in filmmaking: the screenplay-pulled apart and highlighted for all mentions of costume. “That’s our Google map,” she gestures. “I honour the

www.moviescopemag.com

18/10/2012 07:50:01

screenplay and the screenwriters.

My passion is costume, but do I sit at home with my Singer sewing machine sewing up costumes?

No. Do I start a clothing line at H&M? No. What gets me going is reading a script.”

The first plinth is a roll call of classic movie costumes: the green curtain dress from Gone with the Wind; Landis’ own Indiana Jones outfit from Raiders of the Lost Ark; Charlie Chaplin’s complete costume from The Tramp… “The Chaplin costume is actually on loan from the Chaplin family,” Landis explains. “They had everything-the vest, the trousers, the patchwork shoes— but not the hat and cane. Last December I noticed coming up at Julien’s Auction House was a hat and cane. I called Darren Julien up and he made loaning

www.moviescopemag.com

MS31 p042 Hollywood Costume.indd 43

the hat and cane to the V&A a condition of the sale.” Many of the exhibits are staged with an individual screen projecting the actor’s head, animated by just a few frames; just enough to bring the costume to life.

Of course, all of these celebrated costumes collected together are an impressive sight; whether or not your knowledge of costume extends beyond elegant gowns and snappy suits—and it will by the end of this exhibition— Act One is reason enough to make the trip. “I would just drop to my knees and say, 'Jesus Christ, I can go no further',” Landis enthuses.

“For all those poor people that are lured in by the title who are ‘just’ coming to see the iconic costumes, they are certainly there.”

And with Landis insisting that “if the V&A would have let me

make this into a ride with boats, I’d have done that”, Hollywood Costume was never going to be a quiet stroll and exit through the gift shop. “It’s not just a costume on a plinth,” she says. “Behind Indiana Jones, for example, you have an animation which pulls the costume apart and looks at each piece. It has quotes from George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford. Plus what’s never been published before is this costume picture that Steven drew for me when we started Raiders. The original has been hanging in my son’s bedroom while he was growing up. It’s signed in bold hand ‘Steven Spielberg, 1980.’”

Landis has not costumed a film herself since 2010’s Burke & Hare; that was directed by her husband, John, with whom she

Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis (above, with

her own Indiana Jones creation) has spent five years assembling the Hollywood Costume exhibition, which includes Tippi Hedren's iconic costume from Alfred Hitchcock's

The Birds (opposite page)

“The exhibition is about narrative, storytelling and the creation of real people.”

43

14/10/2012 17:19:40

Feature Hollywood Costume Exhibition visitors will be able to see the likes of Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of

Oz and Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle costume from Taxi Driver (below) as well as a host of cinematic royalty (opposite)

“There is such a disconnection in the perception of what costume design is and what we actually contribute.”

44

MS31 p042 Hollywood Costume.indd 44

has frequently collaborated—most notably for Michael Jackson’s Thriller video in 1984. Yet she regularly publishes new tomes about costume design and lectures for three hours to the entire incoming filmmakers’ class at UCLA. After spending five years curating Hollywood Costume, Landis could rightly be labelled obsessed. “My mind is empty except for this,” she agrees.

“I do have a real concrete reason for doing the exhibition,” Landis continues. “On my first term as president of the Costume Designers Guild, I went into a collective bargaining negotiation with producers. I actually gave a lecture on the contribution of costume design to baffled and bemused labour lawyers on the other side. I anticipated they had no idea what we did beyond wardrobe, because I know what our contract is; we are paid one third less than production designers and that’s massive.

There is such a disconnection in the perception of what costume design is and what we actually contribute. I was so depressed after those negotiations that I decided to go on a lifetime campaign of elevating the prestige and status of my field.”

Landis has certainly never shirked from this selfappointed objective. “After those negotiations I really felt that maybe it was too late. So I decided I’m going to go to film schools and teach what we do, because the worst thing is when the industry and the public think we all just dress the actors.”

So, then, what exactly is costume design? Well, according to Landis’ own definition in her accompanying Hollywood Costume book, ‘costumes are so much more than clothes, embodying the psychological, social and emotional condition of the character’. This adheres directly to Act Two of the exhibition, Dialogue. “It’s a box-ticker,” she attests. “It’s to look at how costume designers have worked in genre. So I have John Wayne’s costume from The Searchers and Hailee Steinfeld’s

from True Grit and between these two is a montage of 100 years of the Western. Andy Serkis even recorded a special video explaining the evolution of motion-caption costume.”

Yet the real coup is saved till last, as Landis shows us. “Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro sitting in chairs, a coffee table between them, each surrounded by five of their costumes. As they talk about these costumes, on the coffee table appears the sketches, the screenplay, fitting photographs, the film itself—everything.”

With Landis serving as curator, it would be easy to overlook the importance of her own costume contribution to the exhibition; principally the original Indiana Jones outfit from Raiders of the Lost Ark. “I spent eight hours up at George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch this June,” she explains, as we look at the iconic ensemble.

“I’m the only costume designer to ever visit there. I had to spend all that time looking for a number one jacket and a number one hat.

I looked through 40 or 50 jackets from Indiana Jones. I was 27 when I designed Raiders, so I was thinking, what did I do? And then I found it. Well, I found two jackets.

I burst into tears. I can tell you the difference; I used brass D-rings at the waist and it looks like Anthony Powell [subsequent Indy costume designer] had switched the D-rings for rectangular clips and used a steel zipper. Then I went through hat after hat, and I actually think I found the number one hat. It had the proper Savile Row label inside.”

Even with high-profile finds like Bette Davis’ black dress from The Virgin Queen, Daniel DayLewis’ frock coat from Gangs of New York and that elusive Chaplin hat and cane, there must have been near misses too? “It breaks my heart,” Landis confirms. “I don’t know who has it, but I didn’t get the Cecil Beaton Ascot dress for Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. I had the flower girl costume, but the Ascot dress was sold at the Debbie Reynolds auction. The same buyer also bought Julie Andrews’ dirndl from

The Sound of Music. I sent a letter through the auction house to the buyer but heard nothing.

These two costumes have completely disappeared.”

The final act of Hollywood Costume is the appropriately named Finale. It demonstrates that, despite Landis’ agenda to educate, she can still appreciate that for some visitors the exhibition will just be about getting close to outfits they have

www.moviescopemag.com

14/10/2012 17:19:52

MS31 p042 Hollywood Costume.indd 45

14/10/2012 17:20:06

Feature Hollywood Costume coveted since childhood. The first gallery Landis refers to as Vamps and Vixens; a boudoir of ladies.

“Marlene Dietrich in Morocco is lighting Sharon Stone’s cigarette in Basic Instinct,” she explains.

“They had to be chatting, having a good time. We have the real Breakfast at Tiffany’s black dress on loan from the Museum del Traje; that was given to them by Hubert de Givenchy. I even have an exact replica of the pearls.

Every single costume is dressed to look exactly the same as you saw them in the movie.”

Indeed, this fervent attention to detail is prevalent throughout

the exhibition. “I had a team at the Royal Opera House ageing everything that needed to be a reproduction,” Landis explains.

“So Joseph Fiennes’ boots from Shakespeare in Love… we couldn’t use the originals because we had to drill them, so we had an exact copy made in Italy and then [the film’s costume designer] Sandy Powell aged them personally to match.”

Finale’s last stand is testament to Landis wanting everything to finish on a high.

“It’s called Bar Fight,” she explains, as we survey the incredible scene. “It’s Jack Sparrow

fighting Errol Flynn as Don Juan with a huge broad sword, then Dick Tracy with his machine gun fighting Neo from The Matrix, his coat flying behind him. We even have Rocky in a fist fight with John McClane from Die Hard in his torn wifebeater. Then there’s Kill Bill, and Uma Thurman’s up in the air, kicking, and we see the ‘fuck you!’ written on the bottom of her trainers.” The newest costume in this mêlée, and probably the whole exhibition, will surely be one of the most popular: “the brand-new Batman suit, right off of Christian Bale’s body, still smelling of aftershave”.

Scarlett O'Hara's green curtain dress from Gone With the Wind (left) and Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp attire (below) are two of Nadoolman's personal exhibition highlights (All photos © Gregory Davies)

Our personal tour complete, Landis exits to conduct a dozen or more interviews about her exhibition. “They will be about glamour; it’s so boring,” she sighs.

One vital question does remain however: with so many priceless costumes under one roof, is she not worried about theft? “You better believe I took the head of security at the V&A aside and said, you have Chaplin’s bowler, Indiana Jones’s hat... don’t fuck up!” she laughs. Landis certainly possesses a wry sense of humour and, while Hollywood Costume is the culmination of a life’s work, she also wants it to be fun. “I hope you can’t stop laughing from the moment you enter till the moment you leave,” she smiles. “That would be the greatest compliment.”

The Hollywood Costume exhibition runs at London’s V&A Museum until January 27 2013. For more information and tickets, visit www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/ exhibition-hollywood-costume.

Chris Laverty has contributed an essay to the official exhibition book ●

www.moviescopemag.com

MS31 p042 Hollywood Costume.indd 46

14/10/2012 17:20:18

Advertorial FBFX

FBFX: The Evolution of Props Grant Pearmain, MD of London-based FBFX, explains how the company is employing the very latest digital technologies to create the next generation of modern movie props and costumes.

Founded in 1993 in a quiet London suburb, FBFX has become the UK’s leading supplier of props and costume to the global film industry. Over the last year alone, their work can be seen in blockbusters as diverse as Prometheus, War Horse, The Dark Knight Rises and Snow White and the Huntsman. And, while the very fabric of costume and prop design has fundamentally altered since FBFX was founded, the company has managed to stay ahead of the curve.

As Managing Director Grant Pearmain told movieScope, “When we started, it was common for us to get a scribbling on the back of a beer mat with which to work from. We would work up clay models and that would be the first point of reference, before arriving at a design stage by stage before starting the manufacturing process. There’s more emphasis on post-production now. Very developed digital mock-ups have been around for years, but we’ve seen it come through to the manufacturing side of things as well.

“FBFX are putting all our spare resources into getting to the forefront of these changes.

It’s a scramble to keep up with the technology, so every spare penny we earn on every project has gone into buying new technology for the company, and we’re constantly trying to learn how to use it as best we can.”

FBFX were key to the aesthetic of Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. Having worked

www.moviescopemag.com

MS31 p047 FBFX Advertorial.indd 47

closely with the film’s Oscarwinning costume designer Janty Yates, the team was given responsibility for the film’s costumes. They decided to use digital scanning, digital sculpting and robotic milling for the first time to create some of the most sophisticated space suits ever seen in a sci-fi movie.

Pearmain says: “Prometheus was the first time we threw some of our new technology at making costumes from the outset. When we came onto the film only Noomi Rapace had been cast, so we sculpted a suit for her before using a 3D scanner to scan the

clay, and then used a computer to modify those shapes. Once we’d got that right, we knew we’d be able to re-mould the suit we’d made for Noomi so would fit the other artists.

“The complexity of those suits was extreme. We had real time digital displays in the suits, and we made every single suit like that. You only get a few tiny glimpses of that in the film, but it was worth the effort.”

Although FBFX are sworn to secrecy, their new project is yet another step into the unknown, another fusion of new technology and traditional design. But they

couldn’t take on such pioneering work without almost 20 years of industry know-how.

Pearmain says: “We feel we have a dedication to the craft, and we feel we go further than our competitors. If there’s a last minute change, we put the extra hours in. That kind of attitude has been there from the beginning and is definitely still there now. We’re in demand not just because we possess the technology, but because we possess the people—without them, the technology is nothing.”

For more information, visit www.fbfx.co.uk l

47

14/10/2012 17:23:47

04

Insider's Point of View Nadia Stacey: Make-Up Artist

Not Just a Pretty Face Having served as make-up artist and designer on big and small screen projects as diverse as Green Zone, Tyrannosaur and Sightseers, Nadia Stacey writes exclusively about why her role is essential to the creation of great characters.

It’s a cliché, I know, but I kind of fell into make-up artistry. I knew I wanted to do something artistic but had no idea what, and so when I found out about a media make-up and hairdressing course through Yorkshire TV, I applied. The moment I started the course I knew that it was what I wanted to do; I’m a huge film fan so to combine the two is a dream.

After training I was told that it would be really hard to get work in London, which was like fuel in the fire to me! I simply had to go there. I worked two jobs at the National Theatre and the Royal Opera House, and did as much work experience on any short films, features and TV as

48

MS31 p048 Insider POV Make Up Artist.indd 48

I could. It was really tough and sometimes I thought it wouldn’t pay off, but then I met the amazing make-up designer Lisa Westcott. She was designing Miss Potter and asked if I wanted to do work experience on the production. After that, she took me with her to Notes on a Scandal and it just snowballed from there.

I’ve since worked on a huge variety of projects, including TV shows like Downton Abbey and This Is England ‘86 to blockbusters like Captain America: The First Avenger, and have designed British independents such as Tyrannosaur and Spike Island.

www.moviescopemag.com

15/10/2012 08:00:34

Make-up artist and designer Nadia Stacey has worked on films like

Tyrannosaur (opposite page, with star Olivia Coleman) and Spike Island (below), which is released in the UK in 2013

Whatever I’m working on, the relationship with the director is really important, as I have to try to create the characters and tell the story from what is in their head. Some directors are much more involved with the make-up process than others; for example, Ben [Wheatley, Sightseers director] likes working with a very small crew, so I learnt quickly to make sure that we worked effectively without ever holding up filming. Also, if you have a close relationship with a filmmaker you feel more confident to add more ideas. Before a particular take on Tyrannosaur, I suggested to Paddy [Considine, director] that we should add something to Olivia [Colman] which to this day I’m glad I did. It was because we trust each other’s judgement that he allowed me to do it.

I’ve been really lucky to do both TV and film, and they are very different from a makeup point of view. The general application is the same but the creative process feels different.

I have to say that my heart is in film, it feels freer; TV is much more structured—I can go to town more on make-up and hairstyles in film! Having said that, on This Is England ‘86 we did some crazy hairstyles which were so much fun. I have worked with film directors in TV too and they tend to bend the rules.

The experience of working on big-budget films is also very different; I feel like a very small part of a huge machine. On these studio films there is always a main team of about four, plus a designer and then lots of makeup artists and hairdressers who

www.moviescopemag.com

MS31 p048 Insider POV Make Up Artist.indd 49

support the team. As a result, there’s no way that they can credit everybody, so sometimes my work goes uncredited. I am genuinely happy just to be a part of it… though it’s great when you first see your name on a cinema screen. As a designer, however, myself and my team are always credited.

Working on these huge productions is fun, but I must be a glutton for punishment because I love independent filmmaking! This usually means much less money, but you are a huge part of the final film; it’s much more personal.

On Tyrannosaur we were like a family—I know that sounds like another cliché but it’s absolutely true, we believed in the project so much. I would drive home at night thinking of how I could bring the words to life through my work. And Sightseers was like a caravan holiday with the crew!

Independent films throw up their own challenges in themselves; with a film like Sightseers, make-up requirements can change during the course of the filming day, so you have to be on your toes. But that’s what’s exciting.

Whatever the budget, most of my work now tends to have lots of effects and prosthetics, which is great. Things like special effects, 3D and digital filmmaking have certainly had an impact on my day-to-day job. There have been make-up products developed for the introduction of HD, for example; specific palettes which can cope better under the scrutiny of hi-def cameras.

I think fundamentally, however, techniques have stayed the

same—although it has made us much more vigilant in looking to see whether there are flaws in the make-up and, especially, wig lace!

As you can probably tell, make-up artistry isn’t as glamorous as people think it is.

As a designer, you have to think about everything and, for every department, continuity is a huge part of our job; once people are made up in the morning it’s just the beginning of the work for the day. But I’m hugely proud to be part of the UK creative industry, as it’s undoubtedly the best in the world. It’s great to see so much new talent constantly coming up through the ranks; there are some great make-up academies in the UK, and courses are taught by artists working in film and TV so they are able to teach and give realistic advice.

Training has certainly changed, though. Lots of our current top make-up and costume designers

trained through the BBC so they were guaranteed work in the industry. They often say it is much harder to make it through now.

Creative Skillset provide great training opportunities but I don’t think there is the same amount of courses and training available as if you wanted to be a director, which is a shame.

I think lack of opportunity is perhaps what makes so many people look to America to further their careers; I have worked in the States, and at the moment I’m really happy to be working here on British productions. I’m really proud of the work we’re doing, and I think we produce some fantastic films. I do love French cinema, though, so if I could brush up on my French I would love to work there! Plus they drink wine at lunch and finish about five in the afternoon…

Sightseers is released in UK cinemas on November 30 l

49

14/10/2012 17:31:33

Feature Skywalker Sound

From Raindrops to Robots to Old Ticking Clocks

From Peter Pan to War Horse and Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol to Lincoln, Gary Rydstrom, sound designer and re-recording mixer at Skywalker Sound, has worked on a plethora of modern classics. Here he talks about his long-term collaboration with Steven Spielberg, and how inspiration can come from the most unlikely of places. Text: James Clarke If at any point during the past 25 years you have become fascinated with films and filmmaking the chances are that, somewhere along the way, you’ve paid attention to the work of Gary Rydstrom. Having worked on films as diverse as Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)—for which he received one of his two Academy Awards for Best Sound, the other being Saving Private Ryan (1998)—Jurassic Park (1993), Titanic (1997) and Punch Drunk Love (2002), Rydstrom has a vast amount of experience in creating memorable soundscapes across all genres.

He is currently based at Skywalker Sound in Northern California, part of a filmmaking community that’s long been a centre for creative sound design

50

MS31 p050 Skywalker Sound.indd 50

dating back to Walter Murch, Alan Splet and Ben Burtt. Most recently, Rydstrom has finished Steven Spielberg’s upcoming Lincoln; having previously worked with the filmmaker on projects like Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan and Minority Report (2002), he describes their latest collaboration as “very different… very wordy… very talky.”

Indeed, it was Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom back in 1984 that gave Rydstrom his first job as audio technician on a feature film.

Having studied film at USC, he recalls that he came into contact with Lucasfilm via one of his tutors—the same person who had recommended Ben Burtt to the company in the mid-1970s.

“Send us one of those Ben Burtt

guys” is how Rydstrom describes the enquiry Lucasfilm made when they were looking to recruit more new staff a decade later.

Beginning his career at Lucasfilm by working for Sprocket Systems (now Skywalker Sound), his first task was working in the machine room preparing kit for Burtt. After assisting on Temple of Doom, he worked as sound designer on Ron Howard’s Cocoon, alongside Gary Summers, in 1985.

Rydstrom’s favourite memory of working on the film is trying to determine what he describes as the “alien glow sound”. Inspiration came from an unlikely source; having received champagne glasses as a wedding gift, he realised that running a finger around the edge of one made

www.moviescopemag.com

15/10/2012 08:02:01

a harmonic sound. This was recorded and then adapted in Sprocket’s sampler facility to create the sound that we now associate with the folks from the planet of Antarea. The work on Cocoon proved to be a creative epiphany for Rydstrom who remembers thinking that it was “really cool to use things from my real life. There’s nothing as interesting as a real sound effect”. The lesson has endured throughout his career.

It’s a career that he attributes to his mentor Ben Burtt, describing the great man’s work that he did for the Star Wars films as “genius”, because “none of the sounds are synthesised”.

Sound is powerfully rooted in a real-world soundscape, and Rydstrom notes that even in modern filmmaking, “visual effects can make photoreal humans; you cannot synthesise something organic in sound”.

To create these powerful soundscapes, he explains that, “as often as possible I try to do sound design and mixing. When I’m doing both I try to get involved as early as possible”. This collaborative approach underpins everything at Lucasfilm. “George [Lucas] loves to think of everything running in parallel, [and] not being locked into a decision [that was made previously].

“The collaboration part is something the film industry doesn’t do too well,” Rydstrom continues. “I’d love to talk to a production designer, as by understanding the look and spaces of a film during preproduction I would be afforded

MS31 p050 Skywalker Sound.indd 51

the best opportunity to think about the best approach to sound.” He is keen to note, however, that the attitudes of Spielberg, George Lucas and Pixar—“a high-tech version of an old-fashioned studio”—all hark back to the studio era of working with the same crew across films, and with a sense of shared knowledge across a project. “The good directors are rare,” he says, “and are good at making everyone feel about film as a whole.”

It’s clear that Rydstrom believes long-time collaborator Spielberg to be such a director.

“His secret is that he can think like an audience,” he explains.

“He’s such a good audience of his own movies. Because he’s so busy doing other things he can have objectivity. He combines objectivity with exuberance. When things are working he doesn’t hide it well.”

Indeed, Rydstrom's work with Spielberg on AI: Artificial Intelligence is the achievement of which he is most proud. “I loved it. It had a feel unique to that movie. It stayed true to Kubrick’s first thoughts, to the tone and the look. It had a unique pedigree.

We worked hard to find a unique magical sound; sounds that felt Kubrick-like. I felt very inspired.

John Williams did the same thing with his score.”

Yet, as he explains, working with the same director doesn’t necessarily make the job of sound design any easier. “What’s hard about a movie like Lincoln,” he says of his latest project, for which he was responsible for mixing sound effects and Foley

work, “is that it is about real characters in a real space. It’s a movie where you would think you’re with Lincoln. So Ben Burtt tried to be authentic, recording clocks in the White House, including Lincoln’s pocket watch.

The approach that worked best was authenticity.”

He admits, however, that it wasn’t all hard work. “One of the great aspects has been working with John Williams, who was highly involved in the mix of Lincoln.

I would sit and watch Steven Spielberg and John Williams and [editor] Michael Kahn and think, that’s not bad!”

An advocate of the benefits of working with the same creative teams across a number of films, a collaboration reminiscent of the “golden age of cinema”, Rydstrom is also well aware that new talents are needed to ensure the future health of the industry.

“Anyone who wants to be in film at all should be open to

Sound Designer Gary Rydstrom, (opposite) has collaborated with Steven Spielberg on many films, most recently Lincoln (below)

Opposite Page: Technical Building, Skywalker Sound (Images on opposite page © Lucasfilm)

all aspects of film,” he advises.

“It’s nice to think about how the parts come together. This is a film-school ethic. When you’re doing sound it’s about telling the story: the story points, what needs to be clear. You have to be good at reading the movie; understanding it, figuring out what the film is trying to do.

Whether it’s Kubrick’s breathing in space or a raindrop in Saving Private Ryan, think in terms of story. And don’t do two or three films all at the same time!”

Lincoln opens in US cinemas on November 16 2012, and in UK cinemas on January 13 ●

14/10/2012 17:39:46

05

Insider's Point of View Drew Jones: VFX Artist

Cause and Effect

Drew Jones, VP of Feature FX at Method Studios, the London outfit who have created effects for the likes of Seven Psychopaths, X-Men: First Class and Wrath of the Titans, writes about how his team is responding to the myriad challenges of the digital world.

Working on any film always starts with a conversation. In the case of Seven Psychopaths, initial meetings were held with director Martin McDonagh to ascertain the vision of the film, and how Method Studios could fit in the creative process. This swiftly moved on to conversations with production,

52

MS31 p052 Insider POV Method VFX.indd 52

producers and line producers, and the script was read and broken down to account for potential VFX needs.

The VFX needs of Seven Psychopaths involved us working on a total of 87 VFX shots over five months. Having a Method Studios in Los Angeles was a huge advantage, as it allowed us to link the shoot with the team based at the London facility. VFX supervisor Rob Hodgson was based in LA; he liaised with production and the DP during the shoot and was able to assist with on-set questions and needs as they arose. This both aided the production with their shoot needs and helped the London team in creating the VFX for the movie.

In general, the VFX were of the ‘real-world’ order and, for the most part, were enhancements and invisible effects, which can be a challenge in themselves. Beyond those there were also some setpieces, where the challenge was to deliver a believable sequence that was also more dramatic—and sometimes slightly more humorous— than real life. This included two throat-slitting shots, one of which was computer-generated to enable the VFX team to create exactly the look visualised by Martin. The action of the knife against the skin, effect of the pressure from the blade and the amount of blood released were all created digitally, so it was possible to adjust the action according to taste. The

blood sprays especially had to really engage the audience without appearing over the top.

It took elements of concept and FX development to achieve the correct balance to make the audience react while remaining firmly inside the story.

When it came to post, we carried on working extremely closely with Martin as we continued to create and refine the VFX shots. He was located on the floor below us at our Soho offices, at sister company Deluxe 143, so it was easy for him to liaise with the team. That Company3, who were producing the DI, are also located in the same building allowed for an extremely efficient process of

www.moviescopemag.com

14/10/2012 17:45:19

Drew Jones (opposite page) and his Method VFX team have worked on films as diverse as the upcoming

The Last Stand (below) and Seven Psychopaths (bottom left)

communication, and the whole process was very collaborative.

Having worked on studio films like Wrath of the Titans and Harry Potter, as well as smaller films like Seven Psychopaths, I can say that, whatever their VFX requirements, all films require flexibility on the part of the company involved.

The larger tent-pole projects are huge machines, driving forth with sometimes 1,000-plus visual effects shots needing to be tended, so usually follow a very defined, disciplined path from start to delivery. Tasks and teams of VFX artists are managed accordingly.

In some ways the smaller films require a similar approach, but on a lesser scale. Sometimes greater flexibility and clever management is required, given that budgets will be very different. They will often test the creative aspirations of the VFX team, who may need to come up with obscure ways to achieve end results in accordance with available budgetary resource. The final VFX results for both types of films are always satisfying, for the same reasons that watching big VFX-driven movies and smaller independent films provide a very different storytelling route.

It’s true that the increasing prevalence of 3D has changed the

www.moviescopemag.com

MS31 p052 Insider POV Method VFX.indd 53

role of VFX somewhat. 3D can take two routes: either shooting native 3D stereo or post-converting. The role of the VFX artist remains the same in terms of their disciplines, but this third dimension does add a level of complexity that requires technology and additional skills during the post process to ensure that the stereo effect is used to its best advantage. Not all of this process is left to post, but is a collaborative process with the main visual effects supervisor and any specialist stereo crew brought in for the production.

I think it is natural for anyone involved on the technical side of filmmaking to keep up-todate with new advances. There are various seminars around the world showcasing new technology, and we will often have companies coming in to show new software. With the help of our technology experts we evaluate all that is on the market to ensure that we are keeping abreast of advances. Of course, all new systems require training, and this really is mainly ‘on the job’ where possible depending on the software or systems we are looking at employing. There are not normally huge changes, and so picking up new technologies

becomes a natural talent for the VFX artists.

Our ability to adapt to changing technologies is undoubtedly one of the reasons why so much of the global industry’s effects work is being done from London-based studios like Method, and the UK really does have phenomenal creative and technical talent across all aspects of film production. The concentration of this talent in Soho provides an environment not really seen anywhere else in the world. Productions can bring large volumes of very high-end visual effects work into a location where they can easily walk from one facility to another, and also have that knowledge that they will be dealing with top artists from around the globe.

In order to support the UK’s creative industries, we need to continue being competitive in an already competitive global marketplace. Projects are driven by creative needs but the financial bottom line is crucial for production budgets, where

studios feel they will get the best return on their money. We need to continue with healthy tax breaks to entice the main productions and continue to invest in training for artists and graduates so that the system can be fed with the very best artists.

I have been in the industry for over 15 years, and it’s clear that it’s driven by new talent and new technologies. I think the images speak for themselves; the change in terms of what is now possible is incredible, even over that relatively short time frame. The basic techniques follow similar paths, but the tools now allow that path to go wherever you want it to. Technology takes us forward time and again, and VFX can now take the viewer on a journey to places they can only imagine. I believe, however, that there is still absolutely no replacement for a strong script, story and cast; the combination of these, together with amazing visual effects, is extremely potent!

For more information on the work of Drew and his team, visit www.methodstudios.com l

53

14/10/2012 17:45:25

Sponsored Company Profile Aces High

Reach For the Sky Even in this age of all-powerful CGI, there is still no substitution for practical filmmaking-particularly when your project requires aerial shots. With over three decades’ experience, Aces High can help productions of any size take flight.

Aces High has been helping advertising executives and TV and film producers achieve their desired aviation shots for over 30 years. As well as utilizing our own fleet of aircraft and props, we have advised upon and sourced hundreds of other aircraft and helicopters for the smallest ad campaign to the largest Hollywood blockbusters; our credits include the likes of Casino Royale, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Captain America, Band of Brothers and many more. Most recently, we were the aviation consultants for Skyfall, and are currently working on RED 2.

Whatever the size of the production, we will advise on locations, the regulatory organisations and the operating licences and insurance needed for filming to take place legally.

Above all else, we’re experts at balancing the demands of the creative alongside the legal and

54

MS31 p054 Aces High.indd 54

practical requirements needed to produce the shots you want safely, and on budget.

In the pilot seat of Aces High is Mike Woodley, who has headed the company since 1979. Mike's flying career initially started with the airlines but, after finding the work a little dull and realising that there was a gap in the market for aviation filming, he soon made the move to a more exciting mix of police helicopters and vintage World War 2 fighters and bombers.

“It is a hobby that has got out of control,” Mike says. “When I was young I collected aircraft registration numbers, now I just collect the aircraft!”

Although Mike is still active as a pilot, nowadays he specialises in aerial co-ordination and giving advice on aviation content for film and TV. During the past 30 years, Mike, has gained a wide range of experience both as a pilot and

aerial co-ordinator, working on movie projects all over the world involving everything from the smallest microlights to the largest commercial and military jets. Mike particularly enjoys the challenge of sourcing rare and interesting aircraft and the satisfaction of seeing them appear and operate in an authentic manner on the big screen.

Indeed, Aces High is wellknown for the Dunsfold 747 that Mike acquired for Casino Royale. Fantastically film friendly and fully equipped for filming inside and out, the plane boasts a choice of first, business and economy cabins as well as a modern and period cockpit.

With careful seat removal and readjustment it has also doubled as a 767. You may also have seen it in the background of Top Gear, or being eaten by a dinosaur in Primeval, and it has also starred in BBC shows like Come Fly With Me and Day of the Triffids, as well as movies like 360, Last Chance Harvey and Ron Howard’s upcoming Rush. For more information on the Dunsfold, visit www.filming747.co.uk As well as flying planes, we have good selection of static aircraft and studio mock ups at our Dunsfold base. We have various helicopters including a Russian Mil 24 Hind-D, BAe Jetstreams, aircraft wreckage (utilised for crash scenes), airport props, cockpits (fighters, military and commercial) and,

most impressively, two executive Jet interiors. The interiors are Hollywood-made high standard sets that can be used where they are or easily flat packed and transported to a studio.

These sets add massive value to a production, as real executive jets cost a fortune— and film crews are not usually allowed in their luxury interiors!

The pride of our fleet is the flying Douglas DC-3 (C47). This aircraft was built in 1942 and has been used it in so many productions over the last 30 years that the chances are if you see one on TV, it’s ours! Most famously, the stars of Band of Brothers parachuted out of it. It still has its original WW2 interior, so it’s a big hit with war productions. Its first starring role was in Airline, a 1980 YTV series starring Roy Marsden.

More recently, it has been seen in Land Girls for the BBC.

www.moviescopemag.com

17/10/2012 16:38:56

At Aces High, we really do try to accommodate all levels of film making. Recently we worked with the independent thriller Panic Button; without our executive jet set they couldn’t have made the film, and we were happy to work out a deal that suited their budget. So, please do free to contact us whatever you aviation needs, and we can work together to facilitate them.

For more information, contact aces-high@btconnect.com or call 01483 200 057 l

The Aces High team have the experience and equipment needed to facilitate aerial projects of all sizes

www.moviescopemag.com

MS31 p054 Aces High.indd 55

55

17/10/2012 16:39:07

06

Insider's Point of View Sean Stewart: Cross-Media Writer

Expect More As co-founder of Fourth Wall Studios, creator of Primetime Emmy® winning original series Dirty Work and this year’s Power to the Pixel Cross-Media Forum’s keynote speaker, Sean Stewart is one of the most experienced cross-media writers in the world. Here, he discusses why the industry needs to look much further outside the box when it comes to creating content.

What the Hell is Cross-Media?

I’m one of the founders at Fourth Wall Studios, the makers of Dirty Work. In the first episode of the flagship show on RIDES.tv, our hero is trying to make friends with a pretty girl in trouble. On your computer screen, you can see the kind, sensitive things he says to her—while on your phone, you

hear his inner thoughts as he schemes to get her into bed.

Last month we were honoured to receive a Primetime Emmy® for the show and for RIDES.tv, a platform we developed to give audiences a simple, accessible way to create the cross-media content we believe will become as important in this century as films were in the last.

D.W. Griffith and the Cross-Media Revolution Let’s start by talking about the single most successful crossmedia format in the history of entertainment: movies.

More than a century ago, a new piece of technology, the motion picture camera, revolutionised storytelling. Like opera before it, a movie could combine the best of every art form—drama, art, costumes, music—but, unlike opera,

56

MS31 p056 Insider POV Cross Media.indd 56

films were scalable, so you could make a show that people all over the world could enjoy.

Today, there are a lot of buzzwords flying around about the next development in storytelling (cross-media, transmedia, 360) but they all describe a similar phenomenon: a new technology— in this case, the connected information infrastructure of web and mobile devices—that are once again revolutionising how stories can be told.

Down the Rabbit Hole with Steven Spielberg In the fall of 2000, after a decade publishing novels, I got a call about a project Steven Spielberg was working on with Microsoft; something to do with his new movie, A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Dreamworks wanted ‘a real SF writer’ on the project, and recommended me.

The A.I. web project—now nick-named The Beast—was a thunderbolt. Driven by equal parts luck, inspiration and blind panic, we set out with an agenda: bring the story to the audience in every imaginable way. Email, video, websites (thousands of them), phone calls, live events; we even sent faxes. (Remember faxes?) We invited the audience into the story, and, like vampires, once they were over the threshold there was no escape from them.

The Beast was Woodstock; a revolution and a rock concert all in one. Over the next few years, we would launch other projects (now called Alternate Reality Games, or ARGs): I Love Bees for Halo 2, the Nine Inch Nails collaboration Year Zero, and the giant Why So Serious? campaign for The Dark Knight. They were events, they were awesome, and then… they were over.

www.moviescopemag.com

14/10/2012 17:56:00

Cross-media expert Sean Stewart (opposite page) believes that creating truly immersive experiences for audiences, such as Dirty Work (below), is the next logical step in storytelling

Fourth Wall Studios The ephemeral nature of the ARG was a problem. In 2007, myself, Jim Stewartson and Elan Lee founded Fourth Wall Studios with a fundamental mission: to define the future of multi-screen story-telling.

For that we needed to create a stable, reusable, scalable platform for cross-media stories.

Think back. I Love Lucy really established the basic format of television, defining a repeatable relationship between a show’s creator, sponsor and audience. In the last decade, iTunes similarly established a working format for the next generation of the music industry. Our goal was to make a platform designed to link the screens in your life together to help tell a single story; a crossmedia story as easy for an audience to experience as reading a book or watching a film.

We call these cross-media experiences Rides. If you go to RIDES.tv, you will find a rapidly growing catalogue of shows, each of which is trying to explore the capabilities of the wired worldwhether that means making a show about a telepath (Claire), where the thoughts she hears come whispering across your phone, or allowing the audience to place bets on a story’s outcome, as we do in The Gamblers.

Cross-Media: Do Audiences Even Want This Stuff?

To be clear: if the question is, ‘does a guy sitting in a dark theatre want to get a phone call in the middle of Casablanca?’ the answer is ‘no.’

But ask the broader question: how do we live today? According

www.moviescopemag.com

MS31 p056 Insider POV Cross Media.indd 57

to Google, TV watchers are simultaneously attending to at least one more device—cell phone, tablet, or laptop—77 per cent of the time. Multi-channel and multiscreen storytelling isn’t coming fast just because we have the technical ability to deliver it, but because this is how we live today.

If your audience is watching your film on Netflix with their phone and laptop open, why wouldn’t you want to engage those devices in telling your story instead of letting them distract from it?

What’s In It For You? The next generation of audiences will be consuming entertainment on computers and tablets and phones: devices where they get to click things.

They are used to this power; they will expect to use it.

The demand for cross-media content is vastly greater than any one studio could ever hope to meet, and growing every day. At Fourth Wall Studios, our hope is that the RIDES platform can be a tool for other creators—writers, directors, producers and sponsors— who want to figure out how to connect with the audiences of today.

It’s the challenge of every generation to make the oldest stories—love and war, comedy and tragedy—new again. As a creator, I feel incredibly lucky to be at the beginning of a new age of storytelling. That’s why events like the Power to the Pixel’s CrossMedia Forum, held in London every October, are so important; it brings creators, producers and financiers together to explore what’s happening now as well as ponder the fascinating question

of what comes next. It also gives people interested in the evolution of storytelling a chance to talk to one another, share war stories and meet sponsors and broadcasters who understand that, increasingly, when the world wants to be entertained it goes online.

Indeed, I hope the readers of this article will be inspired to take a look at the tools we are building, get involved in the community that is growing up at events like those orchestrated by Power to the Pixel and join us in the ongoing attempt to re-imagine entertainment for the audiences of today.

To find out more about Sean’s work, visit www.fourthwallstudios.com and www.rides.tv. For more information on how Power to the Pixel is helping filmmakers make the transition to a cross-media digital age, visit www.powertothepixel.com l

57

14/10/2012 17:56:05

Theatrical

The Hunt: In Conversation

Director Thomas Vinterberg Screenplay Thomas Vinterberg & Tobias Lindholm Stars Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkop, Susse Wold DoP Charlotte Bruus Christensen Editors Janus Billeskov Jansen & Anne Østerud Locations Denmark Opens November 30

movieScope editor Nikki Baughan and critic James Mottram discuss Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt, which stars Mads Mikkelsen as a teacher accused of abusing a young girl.

(Contains minor spoilers).

JAMES MOTTRAM I liked The Hunt very much. I particularly liked the fact that we know right from the beginning that Mikkelsen’s character is innocent. Some people have said that’s a problem with the film, but I don’t think it is. I think it’s much more about the actions of the community when faced with such allegations.

NIKKI BAUGHAN I think to say his obvious innocence is a problem is actually to miss the entire point of the film. It’s not meant to be a mystery; we’re definitely not ever meant to think did he do it or didn’t he do it? We’re meant to think ‘You people are stupid. Of course he didn’t do it’. It’s about the relentless persecution of one man, the

58

MS31 p058 Reviews.indd 58

domino effect that can happen in a small town when people in authority are so sure someone is guilty.

JAMES I think the film is also about how in situations such as this, when there is such hysteria, the word of children is taken as gospel. Of course, as is shown at the beginning of the film, that’s not always necessarily the case. And Mikkelsen’s performance certainly carries the story; the scene where he’s in the church is particularly powerful. He literally confronts the whole town, without really saying anything.

NIKKI That’s a phenomenal scene. He’s crying but you can see that he’s full of… well, it’s not sadness, it’s not even rage, it’s pride.

JAMES That was an incredibly moving sequence. That’s why I found the film so gripping. Mikkelsen won best actor in

Cannes, and rightly so. It’s probably the best thing he’s ever done.

NIKKI I think if you had a less strong, less believable actor in the role the dramatic contrivances, like the ridiculous way the child is questioned about the incident, would be really jarring. But because of Mikkelsen you can really believe it would happen like this; those dangerous Chinese whispers that spread and ruin a man.

JAMES It is certainly Vinterberg’s best film since Festen. That is a pretty staggering piece of Dogme filmmaking; when it came out it was like nothing people had seen before, so it was like ‘wow, what a film.’

Some of his follow-ups never really hit the nail on the head, so to speak, so it’s good to see him back doing something hard hitting. ● ● ● ● ● Nikki Baughan ● ● ● ● ● James Mottram

www.moviescopemag.com

18/10/2012 16:20:59

MS31 p059 Ads.indd 19

15/10/2012 08:05:57

Theatrical

The Master

Director & Screenplay Paul Thomas Anderson Stars Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams Opens November 2

The Master is a film that tackles universal themes of identity, sexuality, faith and salvation by way of the intimate relationship between struggling World War II veteran Freddie (Phoenix) and charismatic cult leader Lancaster Dodd (Hoffman)—they are at once father and son, mentor and protégée, passionate friends and sparring partners.

While the film is shot in glorious 65mm by cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr, the narrative is written in shades of grey; there are no thematic signposts or contrivances, rather Anderson allows his story to simply evolve. And, for all the glorious sunshine that permeates the film, it’s clear that The Master’s central characters are men living under own personal shadows.

Freddie is suffering from obvious posttraumatic stress disorder; similarly Dodd seems to be struggling to repress his true sexual identity. Both are seeking salvation.

Both Phoenix and Hoffman turn in blisteringly powerful performances. As Freddie, Phoenix is haltering and nervy; by contrast, Hoffman’s Dodd is smooth, calm and assured. By the time of their final meeting, however, tables have been turned; Lancaster showing a vulnerability as he revealsindirectly-his true feelings, while Freddie has found a self-confidence that allows him to become the master of his own destiny. l l l l l Nikki Baughan

60

MS31 p058 Reviews.indd 60

Excision

Director & Screenplay Richard Bates Jr Stars AnnaLynne McCord, Jeremy Sumpter, Marlee Maitlin, Matthew Gray Gubler Opens November 2

Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet

Director Jesse Vile Stars Jason Becker, Ehren Becker, Gary Becker Opens November 16

Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet is a film about a man on the verge of greatness, and the illness that tried—but failed—to snatch his life away.

At just 20, guitar prodigy Jason Becker, hailing from small town California, was chosen to be Steve Vai’s successor in Van Halen—then the biggest cockrock band in America. After one short album, Becker was diagnosed with ALS, a degenerative condition similar to motorneuron disease. He tried to tour, but within weeks didn’t have the strength to hold his guitar. Despite only being able to move his eyes, he has continued to make and release records.

This is a remarkable human story, and a powerful affirmation of family, community and a willingness to not get beat, but the film is grounded by constructed direction reliant on the staid combo of talking-head and homevideo filler.

One montage alone—of an open road through the window of American car, the tracking down of a distant horizon—really evokes the imagination of the pioneering young musician going out on his first tour, cut together with the realities of disability.

It’s a tribute to a man that stays fighting, if not standing, but not quite brave enough to envisage what might have been. l l l l l Tom Seymour

“I don’t know of a teenager who doesn’t profile as a sociopath.” So says gawky, greasy-haired Pauline (the extraordinary McCord), looking to all around her like the teen misfit from Welcome to the Dollhouse, even as her vivid dreams, merging sexuality and surgery, reveal she may be closer to the unhinged anti-heroine of May. And so, Excision charts the horrors of adolescent alienation, as Pauline’s attempts to win the attention and love of her shrewish mother (and to help her ailing younger sister) end in grotesque tragedy.

That each authority figure in Pauline’s life—mother, priest, headmaster, teacher—is played by a one-time screen wildchild (Traci Lords, John Waters, Ray Wise, Malcolm McDowell) suggests that there can eventually be recovery from growing pains, but alas Pauline’s own perils cut a path of no return. Writer/director Richard Bates Jr. is the exciting new face of disturbing, demented psychodrama. l l l l l Anton Bitel

Side by Side

Director & Writer Christopher Kenneally Opens December 6 (BFI Premiere) Although digital technologies have changed the face of global filmmaking, there are still plenty who determinedly cling to 35mm. Here, Keanu Reeves hosts a series of illuminating interviews with directors, cinematographers, colourists, etc, all of whom speak eloquently about their particular loyalties. Amidst these talking heads are relevant movie clips, along with explanations of the science of traditional and emerging techniques.

While so many opinions could have created a melee, the doc has been broken down into various sections, such as effects and archiving. What emerges, then, is an overview of just how much the entire industry is changing.

That everyone involved has an overwhelming love of cinema means that audiences are also granted access to the skills, experiences and memories of some of cinema’s greatest talents. This makes Side by Side hugely entertaining and accessible, as well informative and thought-provoking. It is, in short, absolutely essential viewing. l l l l l Nikki Baughan

www.moviescopemag.com

18/10/2012 08:32:14

MS31 p061 Ad.indd 19

17/10/2012 18:15:21

Theatrical

Sightseers

Chasing Ice

Laurence Anyways

Chris (Oram) and new girlfriend Tina (Lowe) embark on a British caravan holiday and, while their itinerary may seem rather mundane, for Tina—who spends most of her time cooped up with her miserly mother—it is a chance to experience freedom, both geographic and sexual. It’s not long, however, before this idyll is interrupted by the inconsiderate behaviour of others and Chris shows his true colours. Tina is faced with a choice; return home, or carry on with the holiday, no matter what...

While Sightseers may play like a horror, it’s also a sharp observation of modern Britain, albeit at its most extreme. Isn’t Chris’s skewed form of vigilante justice something we’ve all fantasised about when faced with social irritants? And there is also plenty of laugher along the way; Tina writing a postcard with a giant pencil is one of many memorable surreal scenes that punctuate the chaos.

It’s not all blood and belly laughs; stitched into the narrative is a surprising amount of pathos. Tina casts a sympathetic shadow, her determination to make a human connection giving her plausible motivation to make the best of a bad situation. This, together with Oram and Lowe’s wonderful comic timing, gives the film a lightness of tone at odds with its story, meaning that Sightseers plays like a deliciously dark mash up of Bonnie and Clyde meets Carry on Camping. l l l l l Nikki Baughan

National Geographic landscape photographer James Balog is clearly not a man who does things by halves. Sent on an assignment to the Arctic to capture images of the effects of climate change, he was so moved by what he saw that he set out to do what no one had done before; record actual time-lapse footage of glacier melt across the continent and, in doing so, create a ground-breaking visual record of the realities of climate change.

This documentary follows Balog and his team as they attempt to put this ambitious project into action, placing over 20 cameras in a variety of inaccessible locations for a period of several years.

Fierce weather conditions, malfunctioning equipment and injury all conspire against them but all the while they are driven

by Balog’s passion and certainty in the importance of their message.

Chasing Ice is a lively and engaging documentary with a serious core. It succeeds not just in proving its point, but also in showing it in breathtaking fashion; it’s hard not to be moved by the sheer visceral spectacle of an ice floe the size of a small city crashing into the sea. If this film has a fault, it’s that the stunning visuals are sometimes not matched by the drive of the narrative; this is, however, a small complaint in an otherwise gripping and important piece of environmental film-making. l l l l l Hugo Wilkinson

After I Killed My Mother and Heartbeats, Xavier Dolan adds to his impressive resume with this expansive 80s-set melodrama which follows a couple trying to deal with the man’s sudden decision to live as a woman.

Poupaud plays Laurence, a 30-something teacher who finally confronts his issues of identity after a lifetime of living as someone else while his girlfriend of three years, Fred (Clément), is too devoted to leave.

Their relationship is the core that holds the film together and both actors showcase such emotional intensity it renders their complicated situation utterly believable.

It’s not all friction, however; there’s plenty of wry humour and stylish sequences set to thumping 80s classics, which simultaneously utilises Dolan’s fashionable (if much-criticised) aesthetic while helping to lighten the tone.

Like Dolan’s previous films, Laurence Anyways is about love and the complications that can arise from it but, thanks to its setting and unique subject matter, the story has the depth that his previous films were missing. Underneath the main themes lies an affectionate ode to a new generation who have grabbed the opportunity to live a life their elders wouldn’t have been brave enough to; a poignant layer which may dispel remarks that Dolan is all style and no substance. l l l l l Limara Salt

Director Ben Wheatley Screenplay Alice Lowe, Steve Oram & Amy Jump Stars Alice Lowe, Steve Oram Opens November 30

62

MS31 p058 Reviews.indd 62

Director Jeff Orlowski Writer Mark Monroe Features James Balog Opens December 14

Director & Screenplay Xavier Dolan Stars Melvil Poupaud, Suzanne Clément Opens November 30

www.moviescopemag.com

18/10/2012 07:52:52

MS31 p063 Ad.indd 19

17/10/2012 18:23:41

Theatrical

The House I Live In Director & Writer Eugene Jarecki Opens November 23

I, Anna

Seven Psychopaths

“Congratulations. No, I’m fine. I have to go now,” says an agitated Anna (Rampling), before exiting the phone booth in a rush.

This opening sequence of I, Anna, shot by DP Ben Smithard in a flurry of impressionistic, out-of-focus close-ups, scatters a number of clues-the clenched fingers, the brittle tone, that denying ‘no’-which must be pieced together. Anna, mother and grandmother, is in crisis and, as the film follows her attempts to reinvent herself after a painful divorce, she also appears to be in fugue.

Investigating a murder, divorced detective inspector Bernie (Byrne) spots Anna near the scene and, whether sensing a kindred lost soul or just attracted by her legs, begins to pursue her. Under false names at a singles event, the two hit it off, and slowly reveal their secrets—but, as Bernie’s personal and professional lives converge, Anna will face some well-hidden home truths.

The feature debut of Rampling’s son Barnaby Southcombe, I, Anna is a tale of traumatic guilt told in the brooding idioms of film noir—with Anna both femme fatale and Lynchian woman in trouble. This moody, melancholic film shows people of a certain age living lives on hold and clinging to partial memories of convenience; so, concealed beneath all the police procedural, is an unusual human story. l l l l l Anton Bitel

Struggling with his latest script, Marty (Farrell) accepts his friend Billy’s (Rockwell) offer of help-so opening the door on a world populated by a bizarre cast of characters. Hans (Walken), for example, is a professional dognapper, while Charlie (Harrelson) is the mobster determined to stop at nothing to retrieve his beloved Shih Tzu. For all the resulting hilarity, this is a film of great insight. Frequent cutaways to scenes from Marty’s movie highlight cinema’s glorification of violence, and seemingly throwaway lines of dialogue underline undeniable truths of filmmaking; Billy’s assertion that it’s OK to kill women on screen but never animals just one of many poignant observations. It’s an idea carried through the whole film—in this maledominated environment, most of the women are reduced to lovers and victims, while Bonnie the Shih Tzu steals every scene.

Lovely as Bonnie is, she faces serious competition from the stellar human cast.

Farrell, Walken and Harrelson are superb, but it is Rockwell who steals the show.

Billy is a zany ball of energy, and to him is given the film’s finest moment; a desert soliloquy, in which he pitches his insane movie treatment, effectively showcasing the films biggest truths—and drawing its biggest laughs. l l l l l Nikki Baughan

Director Barnaby Southcombe Screenplay Barnaby Southcombe, from novel by Elsa Lewin Stars Charlottte Rampling, Gabriel Byrne Opens December 7

64

MS31 p058 Reviews.indd 64

Director & Screenplay Martin McDonagh Stars Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson Opens December 7

The US has the largest number of people in prison of any country on the planet, and a majority of those are in there for victimless, non-violent crimes such as selling and/or possession of drugs. Of those incarcerated for those offences, most are poor African-Americans.

This documentary endeavours to discover why this is, and its conclusions focus on racial and social profiling rather than any real concern for the welfare of the drug users. As with other US wars on abstract concepts—such as terrorism—the real political motivations come down to winning votes and making money (most prisons are privatised), and the film addresses these factors. Yet, because its focus is on the criminality of drug culture, it doesn’t cover the problems caused by addiction to legal drugs (not just alcohol and tobacco) or the benefits of illegal drugs; both of which are major subjects in their own right. l l l l l Chris Patmore

The Pool

Director Chris Smith Screenplay Chris Smith & Randy Russell Stars Venkatesh Chavan, Ayesha Mohan, Jhangir Badshah Opens November 16 Writer/director Chris Smith’s understated micro-drama The Pool is the story of Venkatesh (Chavan), a teenage boy scraping a living in a workaday town in Goa, and his dreams of lifting himself beyond his meagre situation. In between working as a hotel cleaner and selling plastic bags with his best friend, 11-yearold Jhangir (Badshah), Venkatesh gazes longingly over a wealthy, middle-aged neighbour’s wall at his lush garden and clear blue swimming pool, the ultimate symbol of luxury and escape from his hard existence. And it’s not long before he becomes caught up in the life of his neighbour (Nana Patekar)—and his alluring daughter, Ayesha (Mohan).

The Pool is a beautifully gentle piece of storytelling, driven along by natural, unaffected performances and lean, nuanced narrative. Depicting the boys’ poverty as well as their friendship in a heartfelt yet unsentimental way, the film successfully uses its narrow focus to explore much bigger themes. l l l l l Hugo Wilkinson

www.moviescopemag.com

17/10/2012 16:53:14

MS31 IBC Ad.indd 19

14/10/2012 21:27:24

MS31 OBC Ad.indd 2

14/10/2012 21:35:25