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On Location: The making of “Beholder” (Part 3)

Tonight, out director Nisha Ganatra‘s new film, Beholder, will premiere as part of the ITVS/ PBS series FutureStates. FutureStates is a modern day Twilight Zone series for which 10 filmmakers were selected to each make an episode that takes place in the future and explores a political idea in the realm of a fictional film. Beholder stars Jessica ParĂ© (of Mad Men and Lost and Delirious) Elaine Hendrix (from Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion and Superstar) and Michael McMillian (True Blood), with Rupak Ginn (Royal Pains and Private Practice). In this article, the third and final in this series (read the first and second installments) that takes readers behind the scenes in the making of the film, Ganatra writes about what happens in post-production and presents us with the final version of the film in its entirety.

The best teacher I had at NYU film school, which I fully credit for my having any sort of directing career, said that editing is the Joseph Campbell-Belly-of-the-Whale portion of storytelling. It’s like when Luke Skywalker goes into that dark cave to face his fears and sees himself under the mask of Darth Vader. Post-production is full of “Why did I do that?” and “What was I thinking?” And the occasional “What are you talking about? I’m sure I shot that. It’s gotta be in that bin somewhere!”

Luckily, in life, we have a companion on this journey and that is the editor. I usually work with the same team on every movie so that we know the important things already — like what we think is most important (acting and performance), when to stay wide and when to use the close up, and we can talk to each other with an honesty that can seem brutal to anyone on the outside. My longtime editor and collaborator was tied up on another job, so Jasmine called upon her good friend Eleanor Infante to come to the rescue. Eleanor and I hit it off instantly and since she didn’t mince words, I trusted her immediately. Eleanor is what I like to refer to as an “old school editor.” That basically means the type that works their ass off, doesn’t use all the fancy Avid tricks just because they can, and takes ownership of their work on the movie all the way through until the final print is delivered.

I don’t know how other people work, but the editor, to me, is the most like your co-director. They tell you how it is when the story isn’t working, they’ll cut out your favorite shot if it’s not serving the greater good and they won’t let you use that shot where the color is off even if it’s the best take. Well, maybe if it’s the best take. True editors, in my opinion, are artists that can do many things. They have to have the best eye to see what the film is saying photographically, they have to have the best taste in music so they can put a score and a song in the right place with the right emotional resonance, they have to differentiate between good acting from acting that is being phoned in, and they have to deal with all the baggage the director is bringing in from set and see the film for what it is. They are the Yoda and the voice that can guide you – hopefully not to the dark side.

It always kills me when the editor credit comes up and no one in the general audience understands just how important an editor is. Let me put it this way: When certain actors win Oscars for their performances, that Oscar, many times, should go to the editor for best cutting of a performance. And if you are an actor, you should go out of your way to be nice to the editor. The best ones won’t let it influence them. But we’re all human and you have a better chance of not ending up on the cutting room floor if the editor likes you.

So as you edit, what else is going on? This is where the producer becomes insanely important (as if they haven’t been through the whole shoot). The producer has to cajole whatever is left in your bank account to cover the insanely large costs of finishing a movie. You thought shooting was an endeavor? Now you have to put sound to the movie, get a score and songs if you want, cut it all together, mix the sound to the picture, color correct because the red camera shoots “raw” footage that looks awful until you color correct it and then when you think all of that is over, they have to find someone to transfer all of that back to something a film festival can actually play. Oh, and come up with the money to pay those festival fees. This is where you wonder, “Who in the hell wants to produce?”

I have to say that I do not have the answer to that question. I also have no idea how any producers actually manage to make a living — but I will say thank god for producers, because I sure as hell don’t like making a movie without them. My good friend Jen Small (who produced Cosmopolitan) always says that being a producer is like being the Ugly Stepsister in Cinderella. And my writing and producing partner on Chutney Popcorn, Susan Carnival, went through this. When we went to festivals, it was always so heartbreaking to watch people just blow past her to get to the “filmmaker.” I used to say, “Sue, when the star is around no one gives a s–t about the director. And when the director is around, no one cares about the writer, and when the writer is around – well, no one ever really cares about the producers even when no one else is around.” Then Jill Hennessy would get swarmed by people pushing us out of the way and I’d just shrug and say “See?” It sucks but it’s true. So next time you are at a festival, give the producer a little bit of love because they never get any – unless the movie wins the Oscar. Then they get it all.

Back to finishing the movie. We needed a score for the movie, and the only composer that I’ve ever worked with is Andrew Lockington, who has since blown up and become huge and way out of our budget range. So I called Andrew to ask if he had an assistant or someone that could score the movie for free but to build their portfolio and Andrew watched the movie and then said that he would score it. I have to admit that I let out a huge yelp and also a sigh of relief.

The reason that Andrew will always have my trust is because when I made Cosmopolitan — the movie worked with no music. That has never happened to me before. I usually have source music in mind and even make a mix CD for everyone before we shoot. But with this film, I had nothing. And I had no clue as to what to do for the score. Andrew watched it and said, “You’re right, it works with no score. But I think a four-string quartet would really work well.” And without another word I said, “Yes.” Because when you are working with talented people that you trust — the best thing you can do is trust them and not micromanage the hell out of things.

I waited for Andrew to do his thing and the music was not only perfect, but one of my favorite scores of anything ever. So when you collaborate with someone that knows what to do even when you don’t, never let that person go. Ever. And he brought in a fantastic musician named Michael White, who used really cool sounds that no one else has. This is because Michael goes down to the junk yard, gets cool scraps of metal and then plays them with violin bows and different combinations of musical instruments to record eerie and one-of-a-kind sounds. Listen for them in the final version of the film. The way he can arrange sounds into music is pure genius and I’m so happy that he lent his talent to this film.

But someone had to put those sounds on a track and someone else had to mix them all together. And that’s where the talents of Johnny Wilson, Jamil Hai and Tamara Johnson came in. Johnny and Jamil cleaned up our sound and came up with awesome sound effects to really sell the sci-fi aspect of the future. The cool thing about sci-fi is that you get to creatively think about how each and every thing should sound. Usually, I find post sound is all about making things sound as natural as possible. We decided to take our cue from Brazil and try retro sounds for the future. This was a tough call, because, generally speaking, technology is getting more and more quiet and things are getting more and more subtle. But quiet doesn’t play very well onscreen for this movie for some reason. It worked amazingly well in Gattaca but not so much in our film. Maybe it’s because we were going for the idea that Red Estates existed in a gated community which included a giant biosphere encasing the community.

So the sound design very subtlety alludes to the fake piped in sounds of an artificial world. Fake birds, fake chirps, no wind — a bit of an echo where you reach the edge of Red Estates. Then, when we contrast that with the coasts, it’s all very organic, very real, very flawed and not perfect — more human sounding. The music and the sound design go hand in hand in this, as when the coasts are represented the music also turns organic, guitar and very real feeling. More emotional and less controlled. Which, it turns out, is awesome in movies and not so great in relationships. But again, that’s a different article.

But I will say this: If any of you need to do a sound mix in L.A., run, don’t walk, run to Tamara Johnson at Smart Post Sound. You might say, “Gee, I wonder what kind of sound they used in the original Star Trek for the door on the bridge opening.” And Tamara will close her eyes and listen to the sounds fly through her mind and then open them and say “It was like this,” then she will do a perfect imitation of the sound and before you can say “wow” she’ll have it called up on her computer and have cut it in and will have played your scene back to you. Incredible.

Plus, you get the added bonus of this incredible machine called the Penteo. This machine can take any music — score or source (songs) and make them surround sound. Not just “my crappy receiver at home makes things surround” surround, but surround so real you will swear it was recorded that way. And she’s so down to earth that there is not a hint of attitude even though there is a staggering amount of information this woman is holding in her head. People with that much info can afford to be a–holes, because you need them and all that info desperately. But Tamara takes it upon herself to help you understand sound and what it can do in a way that no one I’ve worked with before has ever done. Needless to say, she’s got a fan for life. This is a film that is worth listening to for her original ideas and her skill at mixing. I would really love to read your comments about the sound design and see what you think. Should we have stuck with a silent future? Or does the retro sound work?

Then we had the insane pleasure of doing our color correct at a magical post house at In A Place in Laurel Canyon. This is the kind of thing that you never get over. It’s an old Hollywood house that has been converted to a color correct studio that is so gorgeous you wish you could move in and never leave. The place alone is worth visiting to get a quote if you are doing a color correct on your movie, but the people who work there, Dominique, Augie and Milton, are so phenomenally talented that you leave your color correct session more informed about cinematography than when you walked in.

Also, a word about festivals. Beholder just premiered to a sold out crowd at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin. The film was really well-received, and I’m dying to see it with an audience so I’m sad I wasn’t there. (As a side note, if you make feature films, the festival will fly you out, but not so much if you make a short film). I’m heading up to San Francisco to catch the premiere on Thursday, so if any of you are San Francisco based, please come to the screening so I can actually meet you in person rather than the comment boards on the site. It’s playing at the Viz Cinema at 7:30 p.m. I don’t know where that is now, but I will by Thursday at 7 p.m.!

And now for the moment of truth. Click on the image below to view the final finished film, Beholder. Thanks so much for letting me talk about the making of this film. I hope it was a fun ride and I really do look forward to hearing your thoughts — good or bad — about the movie. So please take a moment to write a comment or send me a private message.

And if you have a good story, please get out there and make a movie. Queer cinema needs you more than ever now. Do it. Don’t wait. It never gets easier, so there is no better time than right now. Follow Nisha Ganatra on Twitter, and for more information on Beholder, visit the FutureStates website.

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