American Tintype: Method Studios

On all of my previous films, I've created the titles myself. The process was about as rudementary as it gets, I just used Final Cut Pro's "Add Text" feature. I wanted to try something new and part of the fun of this project was reaching out and collaborating with people that I admired, so I asked Mike Dillon, my producer at EFilm, for advice. 

Mike put me in touch with Dan Masciarelli at Method Design, a recent addition to Method Studios.  Dan produced the titles for The Avengers, Captain America, and Cloud Atlas, so I was really excited to speak with him. With small projects like this one, you never know how committed large, established companies will be. Fortunately for me, Method was willing to give my little project the full feature treatment, and as a result I ended up with an end credit sequence that really lifts the piece as a whole to a new level.

Dropping off gelato for the hardworking Method team. Loved seeing the signed Tree of Life poster at reception!

The Method Design team for American Tintype: Kaya Thomas, Hee Bok Lee, and Mary Melendez.

When I was in Los Angeles to work on color correction, I was also stopping by Method to work with them on the titles. Kaya and Hee Bok came up with some great options, and from there we worked out a concept- essentially the end credits would visually mimic the process of a tintype developing. 

Going over Kaya and Hee Bok's initial design ideas.

The title card background would be tintype plates immersed in a liquid like the "fixer" used to develop a tintype. The credits appear and disappear as more plates are developed. The color scheme would also move from a blueish black and white to a brown image, much like a tintype does during development, and ultimately "dry" at the end. 

Filming the liquid elements.

Kaya and Hee Bok filmed liquid elements and then combined them with some After Effects work. Even though filming the liquid elements gave them more work to do in what little time they had, they did it anyway because they knew it would lend itself to a better result. I was impressed with their enthusiastic attitude- with small projects it can be difficult to find people willing to go out of their way to make something the best it can possibly be, but as you may have read from previous blog posts, I was lucky to have brilliantly talented collaborators throughout the post-production process.

Months have passed and I still can't get over how great the titles look. I hope I'm lucky enough to work with Method again in the future!

-M 

American Tintype: Coloring at EFilm

While I was mixing American Tintype at Skywalker Sound, I was also on the search for a good colorist. I decided to call up EFilm, a place I only knew about because Roger Deakins, one of my all time favorite cinematographers, uses them for the color grading of all of his films.

For a small project like American Tintype, approaching post-production houses that normally deal with large Hollywood films isn't always easy. EFilm, however, was an absolute joy to deal with. I looked at EFilm's roster and was interested in a colorist named Andrew Francis. Andrew was an assistant colorist on some of my favorite recent films, and recently made the transition to lead colorist, having just colored the brilliant sci-fi film LOOPER. I called them up and had a great meeting with Andrew's producer Mike Dillon a few days later. 
Working with Andrew on the film was an absolute joy. He's an immense talent, a great collaborator, and just a wonderful guy to hang out with. As I'd experienced before with this project, Andrew was committed to getting things done right, not just done quickly. With Andrew's keen eye and talent, we were able to really bring a great look to the film. I was self-conscious about being a cinematographer on the project by necessity, but Andrew really made the images shine. 

Still image from American Tintype before color grading.

Still image from American Tintype after color grading.

Harry's interview before color grading.
Harry's interview after color grading.

I can't say enough about the people at EFilm. Everyone was incredibly friendly. I loved hanging out in the kitchen with the two lovely Cynthias, who help make delicious snacks for everyone, and mingling with the other folks who work there.

You are guaranteed to leave EFilm with a great looking film and about five extra pounds.

We ended up running into some delays and tech issues (most of which were my fault), and the producers' commitment to the project never waivered. They always had a can-do attitude, which I really appreciated. This isn't always the case with such small projects.

Mike Dillon (now at Technicolor) sorting out technical details.

I'm honored to have been able to work with everyone at EFilm, and can't wait to return again, if only for the snacks!Thanks again to Andrew Francis, Mike Dillon, Brandie Konopasek, and Chris Taft.

-M

American Tintype: Skywalker Ranch

Scott R. Lewis mixing American Tintype.

Two years ago, I visited Skywalker Ranch for the first time to meet with Bob Edwards and talk about the possibility of working together on Mr. Happy Man. Bob gave me a tour of Skywalker Sound and one of the people he introduced me to was Casey Langfelder. Casey was the sound effects librarian at the time, overseeing the hundreds of thousands of proprietary sound effects. It was his job to cultivate the growing collection, as well as tag the sounds with descriptors and catalogue them for easy search within the facility. 

Over the years, I caught up with Casey whenever I dropped by to visit. Last fall, I was excited to hear that Casey was transitioning to editorial work. When I decided to make American Tintype, I had working with Casey in mind from the beginning. Casey took a look at some footage and jumped on board as sound designer, bringing Scott R. Lewis into the mix (pun intended) to help out with the final assembly.

Scott was great in the room, getting everything done quickly and efficiently and working with us on further tweaks. One of the highlights of working at Skywalker Sound is meeting new people, so it was a pleasure sitting with Casey and getting to know Scott and his buddy Jeremy Bowker at lunch. We talked a bit about photography and I discovered that Jeremy's father, Terry, is a pilot who dabbles in photography as a hobby. The quality of his work is pretty incredible, I highly recommend checking out the photos on his website.

Casey and Scott cutting up in the D. A. Pennebaker suite.

Catching up with Bob Edwards, the coolest guy in any room. Bob mixed Mr. Happy Man and his recent work can be heard in Beasts of The Southern Wild.

With the mix finished, I had time to enjoy being at the Ranch. It was the first time I was able to stay on the property at the Inn, so I was excited about exploring. I'd never been in the main house before, and the lovely Eva Porter was kind enough to show me around. It's hard to describe how beautiful the house is. Every corner of every room is filled with gorgeous furniture, paintings, antiques, and the occassional Star Wars or Indiana Jones prop. 

Lucasfilm Research Library.

 The highlight of the main house is easily the Lucasfilm Research Library. The arts and crafts style room is filled with tens of thousands of books and other research materials. Everything has a soft, warm glow, thanks to the massive stained glass skylight above. Robyn Stanley, one of the librarians, helped me find a few books related to tintypes and took me over to the old Paramount archives to find some tintypes that had been kept on file as reference material for period films. 

Outside the Main House.

I spent most of my free time exploring the property on a bicycle. There are lush gardens filled with vegetables that are available to employees, vineyards, olive trees, lakes, and more wildlife than you can imagine. A small family of foxes were always around the Inn, and it's not uncommon to see large groups of wild turkeys intermingling with deer and quail. 

 There's also a barn area with horses, longhorn cattle, goats, and very free-range chickens (I spotted a few roaming in the woods).

Filmmaking, especially at a large scale, involves maintaining focus for long hours under intense pressure. Working in a beautiful, natural environment is so restorative, relaxing, and creatively inspiring that its easy to see the value of having post-production facilities nestled in the rolling hills of Marin county instead of the traffic-clogged streets of West Hollywood. That kind of atmosphere attracts the best talent and keeps filmmakers coming back with new projects. The Ranch has become one of my favorite places in the world, and the thought of working there again fuels my ambitions to make bigger and better films. 

-Matt

American Tintype: Hanan Townshend

Ever since I discovered The Thin Red Line in high school, I've been a fan of director Terrence Malick. A few months ago I was watching The Tree of Life and a particular piece of music resonated with me. I tried to locate it on the official soundtrack, but it was nowhere to be found. With some digging, I discovered it was composed by Hanan Townshend. If, like me, you're a completist, you can find all of Hanan's work on the film on iTunes.

I got in touch with Hanan to let him know how much I enjoyed his work. We exchanged emails around the time I was toying with the idea of making a film about Harry Taylor and the tintype photographic process. I'd never worked with a composer before, and Hanan's style seemed like a good match for the tone of the film. Though I'd intended for the film to be very small in scope and quickly put together, I decided to send footage to Hanan. We talked on the phone for a long time and luckily for me, he agreed to compose music for the film.

Working with Hanan has been an incredible experience. Previously, I've always edited footage around a piece of music. It was a real luxury to edit the film beforehand and have the music support what I'd put together visually. I loved the discussions of what instruments to use (Hanan first suggested the double bass as an anchor for the tone of the piece, since the wood and brass reminded him of view cameras and tintype photos) and it was a great opportunity for me to brush up on some classical music terms in an attempt to better communicate. The music gradually shifted and expanded, with Hanan always pushing the piece into new territory. To paraphrase a friend, a good collaborator will execute your vision, but a great one will surprise you with ideas you'd never have thought of yourself.

The footage above is courtesy of Russell Bush. Hanan composed the music for Russell's film The Vulture Project and a portion of American Tintype was recorded during Russell's session. Russell was kind enough to capture some of the process. You'll also be able to hear more of Hanan's work on Terrence Malick's upcoming film, To The Wonder.

I love the piece of music Hanan composed for American Tintype and I can't wait to work with him again. It's always a pleasure to discover people who are as friendly and hardworking as they are talented. 

-Matt

 

Johnny Barnes at 89

I shot this footage of Johnny in his garden the day we met. He warns of the consequences of being grumpy.

Johnny Barnes turned 89 last month, so I called him today to find out how he's doing. I received the usual Johnny Barnes phone greeting ("Good morning, I love you, I love your family, this is Johnny Barnes.") and we had a nice chat. As to almost hitting ninety years of age, Johnny said, "I'm only 89. I'm just a little boy!"

Johnny was grateful for the birthday messages and cards he received from all over the world. As for the rest of his birthday, it was pretty low key. "Nothing special. Just ordinary. No cake. I don't need to put on any more weight. Just take it easy, you know? When you get to be my age, you gotta take it easy."

He's been having nice days at the roundabout, waving to commuters and speaking with tourists, many who saw him in Mr. Happy Man. "People from all over the world, they come to visit. They know where to find me, so I don't have to go to them! They come to me!"

We also spoke about gardening ("You've got to put work in it. You don't put nothin' in, you won't get nothin' out of it."), food (Johnny hasn't eaten meat or dairy since 1950, when he was warned it wasn't healthy for him. He loves eating bananas from his garden.), and relationship advice ("Tell her you love her in the bedroom, tell her you love her in the kitchen, tell her you love her every day!").

He's looking forward to another 89 years of health and happiness. His advice for the rest of us? "Keep it cool and keep it sweet."

-Matt