In tribute to SCAD’s longstanding tradition of promoting the work of casting directors, the 10 Artisans to Watch conversation highlights the behind-the-scenes artists that are invaluable to this year’s best films and TV shows.
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00:00All right with the exception of Lee Morrison who was the stunt coordinator
00:10on Dune part two he is very sorry he can't be here today I want you to give a
00:15huge round of applause as we welcome the class of 2024 10 artisans to watch so
00:22please welcome Devendra Cleary sound mixer for Twisters, Andrea Datzman
00:27composer of Inside Out 2, Julie Diaz and SCAD alumni and supervising
00:34sound supervising dialogue and ADR of Y2K, Jade Healy production designer of
00:42Wolves, Daniel Emmerman VFX producer on Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Steve
00:48Newburn makeup makeup designer from Sasquatch Sunset, paper stuck the joys of
00:59paper sorry okay continue with the show Sophia Soubry-Casseau for editor of
01:04Maria, Suzanne Stokes Muntin hair department head of Nosferatu and Paul
01:09Tazwell costume designer of Wicked
01:18look at this look at this lineup and look at the representation of films that
01:23we have up here and this incredible panel thank you all congratulations so
01:28what I thought we would do is just mix things up a little bit I'm gonna ask
01:31everybody a question on this panel about their respective projects and you know I
01:36love being here at Savannah and SCAD and hearing from you so once we're done if
01:43you have questions raise hands and let's make it a fun fireside conversation for
01:47the next hour so you don't sit there being like I'm tired of hearing jazz
01:50talk and these guys all right so Devendra I'm going to start with you
01:54such an incredible job on Twisters who's seen it right okay the sound you were
02:01obviously in the production sound the sound of the f5 is so incredible talk
02:06about like how you go about capturing the sound of a tornado I'm assuming you
02:10didn't sit in a tornado so well yes correct thank you for having us here
02:15thank you jazz yeah as far as capturing sound for the tornado unfortunately I
02:20can't take any credit for that you know we're there on my team on production to
02:25just capture the best dialogue performances but I was thinking about
02:29your question and one thing that we do contribute in production sound besides
02:34just trying to record high quality you know the best quality we can is helping
02:38the director enhance the performances of their actors and sometimes we play back
02:45sound effects sometimes we you know play back noises for that I didn't need to do
02:50anything because we have our special effects people that are generating real
02:54wind with giant Ritter fans sometimes Ritter fans that are made out of a jet
03:00engine but anything that we can do in situations like that to just help the
03:05intensity of the performance for the director like we're just team players
03:08that way and then as far as the creation of those sounds I want to give a shout
03:12out to all the geniuses at Skywalker sound Al Nelson and Bjorn Schrader just
03:16to name a few those are the supervising sound editors they're amazing my
03:21favorite thing about them on how amazing they are is they included me
03:24into their process really early like in pre-production we probably had four or
03:28five zoom meetings with with them and throughout the process as well and they
03:33invited me up to Skywalker for the final mix so I got to experience that and it
03:37was bigger and louder than the first one what was talk about you know delivering
03:43that to to the audience I mean again that's another thing that they you know
03:50post-production really has to bring to the table and we're out there and the
03:54thing about the filming of this movie is Isaac the director really wanted to make
03:58things as practical as possible they didn't want the actors just to be in
04:02front of blue screens the whole time so we're out there on the real dirt roads
04:06and so the challenge became it's a little bit more nuts and bolts than
04:10artistic but you have to think like an artist because you're working with
04:14artists and you get to bring creativity to it but on the ground there I'm doing
04:19all that car work and intensity it's more of a technical feat we're just
04:24trying to capture the performances we're putting microphones all over the cars
04:28you know every day we're battling RF challenges and just logistics so I don't
04:34know if that's a less fancy arts answer but it's more of a you know a matter of
04:40keeping up and just powering through the really challenging work of every single
04:44day and the weather and everything watching in IMAX was quite an experience
04:49Andrea inside out too was so beautiful you know we had you know anxiety it was
04:56such a great addition to to the feelings talk about the toolbox and what how you
05:04wanted anxiety to sound at what instruments were your go-to for my go-to
05:09instruments well I wanted there to be the sense of how does anxiety get your
05:16attention right it's got it it's got a sort of alarm to it right like it gets
05:21your attention and then it can be insidious isn't a nice word for lovely
05:26lovely anxiety who has such good intentions but this way of convincing
05:32you so I wanted to capture that sort of zing of it getting getting your
05:39attention and then this alarm coming on that stays with keeps you vigilant to
05:43get through this message so there was this sample that I I knew there was this
05:49sound I knew it but I couldn't find it in anything I had oh yeah inside out the
05:55first one Michael had created this sample that's this sort of reversed
06:01piano pluck zing and it just was perfect so we repurposed that for that
06:09so when you first see anxiety and when she is screwing in the idea light bulb
06:16or on many places you'll hear that zing which I layered with a bow dulcimer for
06:25that and then for this which is and then in later iterations and or a March
06:45or that I enlisted the help of soloist Elisa Park violin soloist I thought it
06:52should have this sort of edgy feeling to that that repeated note should be have a
07:00little bit of an edgy feeling to it so that solo violin and I had her I talked
07:05to her about I said I'm so sorry you will love this or not but you are going
07:09to be the voice of anxiety in a certain way here and she goes my kids would tell
07:14you that's right yeah so that was the basics of the toolbox and then the great
07:22thing about this film is it allowed the great thing like actually probably be
07:28less least great thing about this film compared to all the wonderful things it
07:33allowed so many different iterations there were so many different ways to
07:36play with that but that was the basics of what I wanted to capture with it love
07:42that we can feel the yet we can feel anxiety and there is Michael here today
07:45by the way no he's not right Michael Chikino composer of inside out one where
07:52are you raise your hands there is Julie y2k incredible film oh my gosh yes
08:03give it up talk a little bit about you know y2k and what you need to do for
08:12this in terms of the ADR and the dialogue and enhancing that which is a
08:16little bit to what Devendra was saying yeah well first of all I love how it
08:21started with sound and music people that's very rare but for y2k raise your
08:27hand if you saw it last night and you survived was a bonkers film for the
08:34dialogue in ADR for that you know the directors were very adamant as always as
08:40all directors that you know let's try to avoid as much ADR as possible outside
08:44of creative and as far as the dialogue the production sound mixer was amazing
08:51so it made our jobs a little bit easier and for a movie that is full of screams
08:58and craziness and just random things hitting the fan and faces it you know
09:06some of the creative did include that and getting weirder with those reactions
09:11and you know some more joke-telling and all that fun stuff but yeah for ADR you
09:19know it it is a fun time to also just bring back in the actors they get to see
09:24part of the sound process and the post process so they can also like be like oh
09:28shit something I did like a year or two ago it's actually it's actually come in
09:33fruition and they get to relive part of those memories and get weird with things
09:39again that's kind of my favorite part of ADR and the post process so and as you
09:45can tell that was a weird movie and it was great we did our job it was fun and
09:49it sounds great too um Jade you did production design on wolves and you did
09:57such an incredible job of turning LA into New York yes because any of you
10:05have been to LA or from LA you know it looks nothing like New York so how did
10:11you find the infrastructure to do that I mean the relationship with my location
10:17manager is always so important but I spend I think I um every movie I've done
10:22I find some locations on this one I actually found quite a bit but I spent a
10:26lot of time honestly like on Google Earth googling trying to find wedding
10:29venues trying to find weird bars trying to find something that hasn't been shot
10:33LA's been shot so you're looking for an exterior Brooklyn warehouse you know
10:38location in Los Angeles so it's just it's a matter of I know New York I've
10:42lived in New York so I already had a basis and we did shoot some of our
10:45exteriors there of course but really knowing what the visuals want to look
10:49like and then trying to find that in LA and then we built we just built um
10:53that's the best part when you when you're designing you get to build the
10:56world you want so we built the penthouse we built the hotel hotel lobby we built
11:00a bunch of it love that um Danielle Emmerman thank you for flying in all the
11:09way from New Zealand for this thank you for having me also a female VFX
11:21producer in a male-dominated world talk a little bit about that and also you
11:29know running the team to build out the VFX for Kingdom of the Planet of the
11:33Apes so I think I don't look at myself as a female VFX producer I look at
11:42myself as a VFX producer I had a really great lot of people surrounding me who
11:52believed in me so as long as I can support them really well that's my job
11:58and I worked with five supervisors Eric Winchrist who's the main supervisor for
12:03the client and forwarder and we had a really great partnership from the start
12:09we were on the show from the get-go he was working with the director months and
12:14months in advance of shooting and then when I came on maybe a couple of months
12:19before we started shooting and was involved from the start to the end of
12:24that process with our teams we had about 30 to 40 witnesses as part of the
12:30process on set and then hundreds and hundreds of people back in New Zealand
12:35and around the world working from start to finish it's amazing Steve Sasquatch
12:42Sunset you know that's not CGI it's all you know practical makeup talk about
12:48your approach to these characters and how you wanted them to look yeah my
12:54approach was basically the exact opposite we didn't have that kind of
12:57staff or crew or anything we had 15 people that we had to I was approached
13:02about the project with the brothers David and Nathan and the directors they
13:08basically had their ideas they've been Bigfoot fans since they were little kids
13:11and they had their ideas and as a creature and a character designer I kind
13:16of looked up to a lot of things since I was a kid you know and one of those in
13:20my life had been Harry and the Henderson's the Harry suit which to me
13:23has always been kind of the that's the the pinnacle of a Sasquatch so talking
13:29to the brothers it was kind of a what are you guys looking for it's the usual
13:34creative process what are you guys looking for versus you know what can I
13:37bring to the table and we were actually almost on the exact same page and that
13:42led to because of finances and you know the usual film stuff I mean two years of
13:48just back and forth basically before we finally actually got word okay we're
13:52ready to go the company one of the financing companies went under went
13:57bankrupt and Jesse Eisenberg in this case stepped in and actually financed a
14:01big chunk of the movie to get it done and so but then we were on a calendar
14:06it was like we got just under six weeks and I have 15 people to slap together
14:11what we were gonna do over the course of months and months and so the creative
14:15process was more of a collaboration between myself and the director as it
14:20always is but it's it was just kind of a back-and-forth oh wouldn't be great if
14:26this finally happens you know this is what we should do and it evolved a
14:30little bit but very little in the end and it was almost a hurry up and go and
14:36just let's we got to get something on camera because in this movie we had
14:39Riley Keough and she had to step away to do another project like three days after
14:43we wrapped so everything was just go go go so the creative process it was very
14:49much an independent movie it was very much not like this sadly but it's it's
14:58just bringing experience to the table and you know the bigger picture looking
15:03at primates looking at you know all the things that the urban legends and you
15:09know the truth if you believe it you know and just kind of picking the best
15:13of and then picking from your own experience and just throwing it all
15:17into the mixing pot and just just go I love that I just want to say one thing I
15:22love the lineup of this panel because the last three films have yet to be
15:27screened so you're said and we said everybody in alphabetical order by last
15:32name so this is almost perfect Sofia I'm gonna come to you Maria screens here
15:37this weekend make sure you go and see it Angelina Jolie is phenomenal we can't do
15:45any spoilers so talk a little bit about the opening sequence I know you've said
15:51it's one of your most challenging scenes to edit in the film why was that well
15:57there there was a few things first we needed to set up in the character for
16:06whoever didn't know who Maria Callas was because the movies about this you would
16:12find out right away it's not a big spoilers about her last days and kind of
16:17like revisits her past but we really needed to like sell who she was and the
16:23greatness of her career for whoever wasn't familiar with her story so you
16:28could understand where she was at the end of her life and why it was such a
16:31big kind of like how meaningful it was how like just like it just really
16:42captured the diva and like the scale of her career that was one thing and the
16:47other thing was that in these movies especially when you're working with
16:52someone as famous as Angelina Jolie it's kind of like you're expecting the
16:57moment where she's gonna sing and this opening she sings straight into camera
17:02like first like a very very tight close-up so you're kind of like ripping
17:08the bandage right off and we really needed to sell it because if that
17:13sequence didn't work then you were like starting the movie on the wrong foot and
17:17that was a tragedy so we just had endless footage and it was like a very
17:23very hard balance to to just capture it was but I think the the process started
17:30which is using Angelina's performance first and just making sure that we had
17:36the most perfect version of that and that she felt earnest and and it really
17:41felt like she was singing and that you kind of like by the end of it you could
17:46forget that you were watching Angelina Jolie and you could like kind of like
17:49start the movie thinking that you were experienced in Maria Callas like story
17:55not Angelina Jolie playing Maria Callas so yeah that was it was just it was a
18:00one sequence that we kept on going back and back and back and back and it was
18:03like an endless thing until we were like I think right the week we closed the
18:07movie we tweaked it one more time I was like okay that's it but yeah it was hard
18:13wait how long was that then did you spend on that opening sequence in total
18:17the edit was surprisingly fast it total like with Paulo we only worked for like
18:23six weeks together but I arrived at him with a with an assembly because I live
18:27in New York and he lived in Chile and we were like either though I'm from Chile
18:31with a I cut first in New York and then we're managing and and I think no it was
18:38like on and off we just kept on be like oh go back to it we'll go back to it and
18:41we but it was like the one sequence that we kept on going back to constantly we
18:45never felt like it was finished amazing scenes now when you watch it as we can
18:49you'll appreciate it even more Suzanne Nosferatu is highly anticipated I think
18:56we've only just seen trailers of it so tell us a little bit about working with
19:02Robert Eggers and what look are you most for looking forward for us to see and
19:10experience as an audience well I've been lucky in my life I've worked with a
19:16lot of voters and Robert certainly is one Suzanne Shep put your mic up sorry
19:21sorry as I am to public speaking and he'd wanted to do this for a long time
19:31he'd staged it in college or school and so he wanted to bring it to the big
19:35screen and he has a particular way of filming which is again I've experienced
19:42before but usually in old Eastern Bloc countries where film stocks limited so
19:48you do the scene in one take but Robert does do the multiple times so you know
19:57it was an interesting it was I was really gifted to have been asked to do
20:03and what you see is what we shot that's it opens next month Paul I think there
20:18are less than 25 days now until wicked opens I think it's one of the most
20:22anticipated films what is there to say I mean how did you navigate you know the
20:31iconic costumes that have come before the film and putting your own creative
20:37stamp on something that means so much to so many people including yourself to
20:42talk about navigating well the fan base for the musical wicked is huge and I'm
20:58also friends with the costume designer the original costume designer of the
21:04musical Susan Hilferty and I was around when it was originally being designed
21:10and and being made so that said I wasn't hugely familiar with all of the costumes
21:18and so thankfully and this is different because I was in a similar situation
21:24when I designed West Side Story with Steven Spielberg and the beloved
21:29original film you know it's a beautiful design by Irene Sheriff so to try and
21:36not adopt the the design that's already been done paired with the fact that John
21:47Chu the director was very much interested in developing a completely
21:53different world of Oz and and in how we see it and then the fact that you know
22:04we need to honor the original source material that you know the Wizard of Oz
22:10book by bound the 1930s film and then wicked the musical so there's all that
22:17that's already out there that everyone has in their their zeitgeist of stuff of
22:27information of you know and it became my job challenging to capture the spirit of
22:35each moment to and and then develop a look that was somehow original I think
22:47that there was the little clip said something about icons and I really you
22:51know I really did want for people to audiences to embrace Glinda in the same
23:01way that Billy Burke in the pink dress was embraced that you know you're you're
23:06the romance and the the fantasy of that was imbued and and comes to life with
23:19Ariana Grande as Glinda so that was part of the process for every decision that I
23:25was making when I was designing the costumes. Amazing okay I want to open it
23:30up so if you have a question please keep it to one question and if you can
23:33address it to member of the panel with somebody at the front you at the front
23:38what's your question. Thank you for the question it's a great question also thank
24:07you for teaching your students about production sound it does get kind of
24:11breezed past no pun intended for Twisters specifically we just knew we
24:19were getting into a big like just a fast-moving fast-moving vehicle
24:25figuratively and literally weather was a big factor we have to bring all the same
24:32tools if anything on Twisters because of the way the work was broken up with
24:36conventional scenes where we're shooting on a stage or on a location with our big
24:40setup of equipment finding a way to put a smaller package into a follow van so
24:47that we can track along with the moving vehicle work and then on top of that a
24:51kind of semi automated system dropped into the picture vehicles with the
24:55actors everything was all about getting the mics in the best position that we
25:00could we had to use a lot of waterproof bikes and waterproof materials over the
25:05mics when protection was really heavy the first thing I did was just hire the
25:12best crew I could the best crew that I knew would do a really good job Patrick
25:16Martins is the boom operator he deserves a lot of credit for how you know how the
25:20production sound came out and I would say Brian Gilliland who's the local
25:25utility that we hired in Oklahoma City rock star I just I don't think I could
25:30have done it without them I mean I could you know what I'm just gonna say it I
25:32couldn't have done it without them so just answer your question on a more of a
25:37you know technical level we did have to buy doubles of everything we had we
25:42would have of all the picture cars that you've seen in the film there was
25:45sometimes two to four versions of it one that could be towed one that could free
25:49drive with stunt people and sometimes the actors one that had a driving pod on
25:54top for a stunt driver to drive and we pretty much had to be ready rigged with
25:58microphones and wireless and all of them full-time because sometimes do
26:03something called block shooting where we would be in the pod say for maybe two
26:08shots and then maybe we would go to the tow vehicle that has a crane on it oh
26:12we're only gonna do one shot and then we're we're moving on to the next so
26:15that there was really just an expectation a well-communicated
26:18expectation to just be prepared in multiple places all at once and that
26:22goes back to the tools but that really goes back to just the aptitude of my
26:26team I want to pick up on what you said and ask everybody in this panel like to
26:31answer this in a sentence or two but like the importance of your team and
26:34your career and I'm gonna start with you Paul like how important is it to have
26:39the right crew in the right team oh my god it's top you know it's because I'm
26:46just one person you know so I'm relying on a huge you know for a film like
26:51wicked you know a huge team to realize the ideas that are you know coming out
26:58you know of my head and of the director's head and you know so I need
27:03for everyone to understand you know the time and schedule and have the ability
27:09and be able to direct and you know so it's it's imperative Suzanne what about
27:14you it's imperative because actually on Nosferatu the production manager said
27:23so you'll do everybody right and I said you're gonna tell who you're gonna tell
27:29it's gonna be there at 2 in the morning because I can't do everybody it's a
27:34minute so it's really really important to have an excellent crew that work well
27:40together and work as a team and are willing to work with other departments
27:47and get on with other departments you can't have any bad eggs
27:54Sophia what about in editing because often you're like alone in the edit bay
27:58by yourself but how does that work there it's a different process but it still
28:03feels very much like a teamwork because you're communicating even when they're
28:08I usually try to start cutting after shooting so you're constantly
28:11communicating said it's from the script supervisor to like some production
28:16everything just to make sure that everything's coming through then I
28:19always try to have a very savvy and smart as a technically like talented
28:28assistant because I'm not and and that relationship it's very important because
28:36it's a very close space and you want someone that you can trust and that
28:40you're interested in in in their inputs and you want to show things and have
28:44important feedback and the director which is kind of like half of the of the
28:50team for me in in the edit room but yeah it's so important and each movie has
28:55different like for Maria one of the most important figures for me collaborative
28:59was in John Walrus which is this person that does all the he basically is the
29:07person that makes Maria Callas sound like Angelina sound like Maria Callas
29:13and he's the person that like picks the original performances and mix it with
29:18what we record on stage and like it was a constant back-and-forth through the
29:22edit to make Maria Callas sounds like Maria Callas but also have Angelina in
29:27there because it's not lip-syncing she's singing and and you need to kind
29:31of like balance the amount of what are you listening to or whatever it's so
29:36it's a very collaborative back-and-forth process that that brings the movie to
29:40life as you're cutting it Steve what about you how important is getting
29:45having the right crew and team around you yeah I'm gonna say the same thing as
29:49Susanna Paul I mean it's you got to have I mean it depends on the project
29:53obviously some some are smaller and more intimate like when we were doing others
29:58are larger but you know you got to have everybody bring in their a-game I mean
30:02in our case we had four characters you know in full head-to-toe prosthetic
30:07makeups every single frame of the movie and no budget to fix anything in post if
30:13something didn't work out or anything like that so I mean it's like we just
30:16had to have the right team of people there like I said everybody who brings
30:20their a-game and because there's just there's no room to not and there's no
30:25room for it'll look better tomorrow which is funny we just had that
30:28conversation earlier today oh we screwed it up today well it'll look better
30:31tomorrow I mean well are you gonna cut that whole sequence out of the movie
30:34because that was the other option then so it's it's very important to always
30:38bring your a-game and have the right people Daniel what about in Fairfax on
30:42the post so in post we have close to 24 different departments and they all have
30:48to hand off to one another and all work in sync in synchronicity and for Apes it
30:54was very important that we had tentpole creative people that have worked on past
30:57Apes films where possible so that we could leverage all of that history and
31:01that knowledge to make us as effective as possible so casting and making sure
31:06everything was working in sync was very important Jade you mentioned your
31:11location manager but talk about the importance of having the right crew I
31:15mean the art department so massive on bigger movies and for me when I'm
31:20crafting my department it's really like casting I'm really looking at a certain
31:24point there's a skill level that people have but it's a lot about personality
31:28when I'm looking for the different people in my department of course my
31:31different department heads will then hire their department within their
31:34department but just from my set dressers from graphic designers to my decorator
31:38art directors that it's just so crucial that everyone is in sync props you know
31:43they're all different department heads that are under my leadership and making
31:47sure that it's kind of like a family and I really want everyone to just be happy
31:50and get along because we're in it for you know sometimes it's 8-10 months that
31:55you're all working together in the art department we start really early and I
31:58like the office to feel like a happy place that people can come to work and
32:02that creates good work you know I think there's an idea of in the film industry
32:06where you know when you coming up in the indie world where I came up it's like
32:09it's so much work and it's so hard and it's like endless hours and people
32:13aren't going home for weddings and they're not going to for birthdays and I
32:16like to have a department now where it's of you you have to balance life and work
32:20and you're creating that family and that that team that everyone feels happy you
32:25get better work out of it so that's important to me not that Julie um yeah I
32:31like in filmmaking to team sports and even more so in indie filmmaking and
32:37post sound there's so many of us that do so many different things I can't do
32:42my job without my dialogue editor Daniel Rafael I can't do my job without my
32:47other ADR supervisor Elliot Thompson I can't do my job without the overall
32:52sound supervisor because we're constantly moving back and forth with
32:55the sound effects fully re-recording mixers and so I'm very lucky enough that
33:00I get to work with some of the same crews and we have our own language and
33:03dialogue and best practices and yeah I could not do my job without a great team
33:10and so yeah Andrea having worked most of us worked in the background on teams
33:19with people for people that learning how they lead it's such a different job
33:25being in the creative lead position and my job is so much of the time in a room
33:30alone and if I were to have to think about all the things that have to go on
33:38the the amount that I'm able to let go and trust is enormous otherwise I could
33:44not sit there in that room alone understanding that I'm going to have
33:49this idea and I've got somebody to hold that for me to take it forward that
33:54allows me to take creative risks so absolutely invaluable okay another
34:03question hello my name is Charlie Della Torre I'm a sound design student thank
34:12you so much everybody for being here it's really awesome to see all these
34:16industry creatives here my question is for Miss Diaz I was a big fan of Y2K I
34:22thought it was hilarious I thought that some of the funniest aspects of the film
34:26were from sort of the off-screen little comments or the little banters I was
34:31just curious if that was something that came up during the post-production
34:35process with those lines and those little quips were always intentional or
34:39always meant to be there yes so actually a lot of the background chatter and
34:44stuff going on especially in the movie it's a bunch of kids in a party it's
34:48what's called loop group which is a process of ADR we bring in other actors
34:52that kind of you know fill all that in put words and mouths that you see in the
34:57background and a lot of them are very good at improv and that's where a lot of
35:02those clips and fun things come into I mean they're sag actors they kind of
35:06gotta be but also the directors Kyle and Evan were also in the process with that
35:11in the recording of the loop group to kind of guide and throw lines and fun
35:17jokes in there but yeah loop groups probably one of my favorite things
35:20because you just have fun and it's a lot of people also seeing the film for the
35:25first time and they're like oh what are we doing today I'm screaming while the
35:30tape is getting shot at my head all right great so yeah so yeah loop group
35:35is huge and that that's always something especially on these bigger movies and
35:39big narratives that hey yeah so we got to fill this world out because it's
35:44never gonna sound as good as a library wallah or anything like that so yeah
35:49thanks for your question
35:57hi this is a question for like anybody on the panel what can a good producer do
36:03for you to help your creative process flow as best and help make y'all's lives
36:08as easy as possible I mean I start really early on in the process production
36:19designer so I'm first on the ground often working with producers and it's
36:25often just understanding each other's needs as far as budget and that's kind
36:28of the first conversation as you're filling your department and hiring
36:32people and it's really just getting on the same page we're all here to make the
36:35same movie make the best movie so when a producer really listens to your needs
36:39and it doesn't shut you down immediately and say these are the numbers and having
36:43open communication and feeling like it's a team effort team sport that we're all
36:48trying to get to the best product and the best end so it's just staying always
36:51open and saying like let's talk about it let's figure it out that's always the
36:55best and just always knowing that you have a producer you can talk to when you
36:57have an issue with something so it's just being accessible and being a good
37:01listener really yeah I like to I need structure from a producer the the idea
37:09of somebody say okay and now we're not going on to the next point having seen
37:15that that support for creatives around me it allows you to be a little fast and
37:22loose and and know that you can trust somebody's like okay we have to move on
37:26now communication communication communication well did you want to add
37:33to that I would say something that listens really understands or has the
37:40desire to understand what the costume process is and costumes is something you
37:43know it's one of those things it's not you kind of have to be a costume person
37:50to really understand what it takes to deliver costumes you know what we because
37:55it's multi-level and it's it's also involving the the actor and the needs of
38:01the actor so you have a number of different just elements that it producer
38:09really needs to understand why you're doing why you're asking for what you're
38:12asking for and and it's because it's not technical it it's it's tricky to get
38:21them to understand that unless they really want to engage so my favorite
38:27producers are those that want to understand and then take a beat before
38:32they make a decision don't be afraid to ask if you don't know you know if
38:36you're not sure why something is I mean I I have producers who have been in the
38:40business for years I've walked through to make them understand why a build is
38:43what it is and sat extension VFX and so they can get like why are you building
38:48this or what like don't be afraid just ask hi I'm a SCAD student and I had a
38:58question for Steve and Danielle kind of about the relationship between SFX and
39:04VFX I do special effects makeup myself and one time we had a practical dead
39:10body that needed to have crabs eating it alive but it wasn't necessarily
39:14communicated to us in time but we eventually figured out we needed to put
39:18little like neon green X's on the body so that way in post the VFX person knew
39:24where to put the crab so I was just wondering if you could maybe elaborate
39:29on your relationship between your own departments and how you advocate for
39:34yourself during the pre-production process for these conversations to
39:38happen I'm just thinking how I can contribute to your conversation in in
39:48pre-production for visual effects often it's that understanding the scope of
39:52work so to your crab analogy I'd be wanting to understand how they're going
39:58to move are they in contact with the body is the camera moving or I'd sit
40:04down with my supervisor and say these things that are challenging do they need
40:09development or is it straight relatively straightforward it would be the
40:13supervisor that would determine what pieces they would need but I would
40:18probably determine that the time the money the schedule and the process
40:23along with him yeah I'd agree with that I mean I did a couple movies earlier
40:27this year when going back to previous question about producers and getting
40:32trust from producers of what the people they hire and if you don't trust them
40:35why are you hiring them and I had active collaborations and community of
40:41discussions with the VFX supervisors on these shows and we kind of figured out
40:45between us like what makes the most sense for you to do versus us I think
40:51there's a idea that there's a big competition between the two I don't
40:55think there is necessarily it doesn't need to be you know I mean it's always
40:59better to get something in camera if you can you know and you know and even
41:04when you know going into something that it's going to be likely going to be a
41:08visual effects down the road I mean you can provide that lighting reference or
41:11the thing that they need to make their job easier so it doesn't need to be a
41:15competition and I know there's I mean definitely this idea that it is these
41:20days and I'm on the losing end but but it does there doesn't need to be and I
41:26mean it's just again it's communication it's going back to what we talked about
41:29earlier and sometimes it's just getting all the extra voices out of the room
41:34and just having that direct collaboration so I mean going to your
41:38your circumstance with the crabs on the body I mean it depends on the project
41:44you know I mean you know if it's a little independent project I mean maybe
41:47they don't have money to do the visual effects element in the post and he's
41:49like well you then you talk to the director and say hey like reimagine this
41:53some you know how can we make this you know work within the means that you have
41:57if they do have the means to do that then we talk you know and you know we
42:02get along great so hopefully so hopefully that's that's how it plays out
42:17hi my name is McKenna I'm a film and television production major here at SCAD
42:22my question is is there any kind of advice or something you wish you could
42:26have told yourself when you started this like that you wish you could tell
42:31yourself now okay so advice I would give myself when I first when I'm first
42:40starting prepare for a long and slow steady rise I suppose for lack of a
42:50better term there's just there's a lot of competition and there's a lot of
42:56people that stick around and and it's just a slow journey and I would tell
43:01myself just be okay with that slow journey that there's no rush that you're
43:05gonna do this work anyway regardless of how it goes and how bumpy it can be so
43:11just be ready first for a slow take up Andrea young me didn't listen to any
43:20advice one thing that I've learned more recently that's been helpful for me is
43:29understanding that all different stages of production or just life period have
43:35different energies associated so if you're in pre-production you may have
43:39this really inspired energy you just can't wait or sometimes you hate
43:42pre-production you're a person that just like why do I have to do all this
43:48without help there's gonna be for each one of the stages you're gonna have a
43:53different energy understanding that that's natural don't get down on it when
44:00you're really riding high maybe try to bottle some of that for for the day that
44:05you need it but I'm not looking at any one of those stages and taking it as I
44:11suck I'll never get through this or I have to stay in this state forever
44:18because it's the best ever letting that flow happen supporting yourself however
44:23needs to happen for that okay oh man again my younger self didn't listen
44:30to anything but I guess a little something especially that I have to
44:33remind myself even now at my point in my career is confidence the only way
44:40you're gonna get in through the door is your own self so be confident make those
44:46decisions take the chances I mean err on the careful with ego but confidence and
44:53making sure you're doing it for yourself cuz yeah you'll get lucky sometimes
44:57sorry or but you also have to do it for yourself and yeah keep moving on even
45:05though you're doing it I still have to remind myself to kick some of those
45:08doors down and make a decision and go out and network still so yeah I would
45:17have probably told my younger self to not be afraid to ask others for guidance
45:23mentorship help because I didn't have anybody when I was coming up as a
45:26designer and now I love helping younger students or even colleagues who asked me
45:32for help and I wish I would have sought that out when I was younger so don't be
45:36afraid I get emails and weird Instagram messages that we are just from random
45:40people I don't know and I'm always like sure I'll answer your questions or get
45:44on a zoom a coffee if you're in town so don't be afraid there's always gonna be
45:48reach out to a lot someone will respond so I agree with everything everyone's
45:56saying I think self-belief and if you really like what you do keep doing it it
46:02doesn't that belief doesn't or that love of cinema doesn't change doesn't stop
46:06over time I'm no less in love with film now than I was you know when I was a lot
46:12younger so just keep going I was gonna say something similar it's just like
46:21no yeah collaborating yeah I mean it's just like we're all here because we love
46:27it you know and I mean there's highs and lows to every job and you know this one
46:31obviously can be exhausting at times but there's gonna be other times where just
46:35it's worth it you know and I mean just going to the job I'm here for I mean the
46:39Sasquatch thing it was like it was little nothing job that came along that
46:43seemed like it was gonna be nothing it was like oh but this would be cool this
46:46is what I got into this work is it's gonna be fun you know and it was the
46:49most brutal shoot I've ever done but now looking back on it you know well that's
46:52that's come and gone and now I kind of look back at it and regardless of you
46:56know the acknowledgement for it it's it's actually one of my most priceless
47:00moments in the industry so just remember why you're here yeah I agree with
47:06everything you've said but I would add one is to just say yes to things even if
47:12you find them scary or you think maybe you're underprepared because everyone is
47:17kind of like everyone feels that way more than you think and and it's a
47:22little bit of a fake it till you make it industry I think and it's just just take
47:28opportunities because each opportunity is gonna bring you to something else and
47:31you're gonna meet someone and say that's gonna present another opportunity and
47:34that's kind of like how you get offers and the other thing that I would say for
47:39especially when you're in film school is that if you don't want to be a director
47:44but I would like identify who you want to collaborate with because I feel like
47:49there's so many a great filmmakers that keep on working with like the same
47:54people that they want to work to school it's so like if you want to be an editor
47:57or a sound person or whatever it is just like who's this like best director in
48:02your class or the one that's doing the most projects and go work with him
48:05because you never know whose movie is gonna break out and that could put you
48:10in a situation where you're like in a movie that did great because they're
48:13doing good job good work yeah I concur with quite a lot of that but I'd say
48:19have the courage of your convictions go out there but also back them up learn
48:24be a sponge even if you go out you learn what not to do it's just as
48:30important as what to do and you never stop I mean I'm 45 years in this
48:37business and you've always learned something new and you have to be open to
48:40it and embrace it and you just store all that stuff and you put it in your back
48:46pocket or you put it in your library and then you'll bring out your back cuts and
48:50love when you least expect it to but you'll have the edge on somebody else so
48:56be a sponge I would say take up space you know I spent a good deal of the
49:07beginning of my career sitting at tables surrounded by people that that where I
49:13was the only black person and and so I went through a process of making myself
49:19smaller and letting my work show for me you know kind of speak for me and once I
49:29started to actually vocalize what I what I needed or what I felt it just you know
49:38it was self-empowering so I was taking up more space with that which then put
49:45me in positions where I could really soar so you know I think not being
49:51afraid of really putting yourself out there it's really important can I just
49:58say to Paul's point by him being vocal he has an Emmy Award and he won a Tony
50:04Award for Hamilton so let's give it up
50:09okay we have a few minutes we have a few minutes left so I'm not going to take
50:15any more questions but I do want to hear is from everybody on this panel like
50:19you're not born an ADR you know supervisor you're not born a
50:23production designer what is the film TV show or you know theater production that
50:27said oh I want to like this is an influence for me this is what I want to
50:32get into that defender and start you in a sentence or two what was that this is
50:37gonna be the question that has the most advantage of getting to go first because
50:41there may be others that has the same answer but Star Wars 100% all right
50:47nobody else can say stop no you can't Andrea what was your film TV show is
50:52this the polar opposite of Star Wars beaches that's so hard I have to really
51:04quick and it's actually really funny that Devon is on this panel so my utmost
51:09is Close Encounters of the Third Kind just from a whole sound perspective and
51:13then my guilty pleasure movie is twister and now twisters so actually for me it
51:20was I want to be a photographer first that's what I thought and then I saw
51:23this film called Baraka which is an amazing amazing documentary and I
51:27realized I wanted to work in film I didn't know it for a while that it was
51:30gonna be production design but that drew me to film and I was about 15 and
51:38I sat in the back row on the opening night to terminate a judgment day and I'd
51:42never seen anything quite like that and if you watch it now it's still just as
51:48good I was gonna say Star Wars but now right around the same time jaws for me
51:56jaws I don't have one I think I really don't I'm trying to think what like no I
52:03don't know I think the one thing that marked my like love for the media I was
52:11obsessively watching Seinfeld I think it's how I like learn how taught myself
52:16to speak English maybe that I just like watch it over and over and over and I
52:21it's still my favorite thing to watch in the world oh I don't have one I know
52:30but I was lucky in the 80s I started doing a lot of commercials with David
52:35Bailey you know good stills maybe and and it was just that development of a
52:42story so there's no particular film it was just that that creative process and
52:49being and also because you're so part of it on a commercial you all tracking
52:53up into the highlands of Scotland and you're all pitching in and I love that
52:58process so I just wanted it to get more and more and more so and Paul I would
53:08say a room with a view I want to thank Scots about a film festival 10 artisans
53:28to watch watch them so
53:38you