How Ad Astra’s Sound Team “Weirded Things Up”

When the aural landscape of a film or television series aims to heighten the story the effort is usually dialed in subliminally. The audience doesn’t even realize what’s happening they’re just captivated by what’s in front of them. In Ad Astra, a 20th Century Fox film directed by James Gray (The Lost City of Z), sound looked to do this very thing with an added hook.

How the VFX Team Behind Ad Astra Achieved Deep Space

How do you conceptualize a future that feels familiar yet doesn’t exist? For, visual effects supervisor Allen Maris and the entire crew detailing director James Gray’s vision behind Ad Astra, that question became a guiding theme.

The 20th Century Fox sci-fi thriller puts Brad Pitt in a spacesuit and asks him to save mankind. Not from a zombie inducing lethal virus but from a threat deep in our solar system.

Downton Abbey Director Michael Engler on Bringing the Crawleys to the Big Screen

Downton Abbey is a haven. In this starchy refuge, worry whether Tom Branson (Allen Leech) will be able to keep his long out of sight Irish Republicanism in check in front of two guests who have invited themselves to stay the night, King George V (Simon Jones) and Queen Mary (Geraldine James), represents the height of concern. Coming in just behind on the worry scale is the question whether Mary (Michelle Dockery) will act on her impetus to give up on Downton,

What We Do In the Shadows Cinematographer DJ Stipsen on the Art of Vampire Stupidity

What We Do in the Shadows, based on the feature film of the same name from Taikia Waititi and Jemaine Clement, is unlike any vampire show on TV. Like the film, the show is staged as a documentary of four vampires who have been living together for centuries. In the series, which airs on FX, our vampires live on Staten Island (in the film they were based in Wellington,

Production Designer Donal Woods on Settings Old and New in Downton Abbey

Picking up a year and a half after the end of the series’ sixth and final season, the crux around which Downton Abbey the movie turns is right there in the trailer: King George V (Simon Jones) and Queen Mary (Geraldine James) are going to spend a night at Downton during a Yorkshire tour. The news comes in the form of a letter announcing their impending visit — it seems royalty is free to invite themselves to stay in aristocratic homes as necessary — throwing the household into a proportionately starchy frenzy.

Hustlers Cinematographer on Capturing Glamour, Grime, & J. Lo’s Knockout Performance

Writer/director Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers, based on a gangbusters piece of reporting from The Cut‘s Jessica Pressler, follows a group of dancers-turned-criminals from New York’s famous strip club Scores. Although “criminals” in the Robin Hood sense—sort of. Sure, the two women at the center of the story don’t give their pilfered riches to the poor, but you’re rooting for them nonetheless. It also helps that they’re embodied by a sensational Jennifer Lopez as Ramona and the rising star Constance Wu as Destiny.

How Mindhunter’s Composer Manipulates Sound to Create an Unexpected Score

What kind of music describes the FBI’s early attempts to understand the mind of a serial killer? According to Mindhunter, the David Fincher-produced Netflix series based on Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit, by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker, the auditory embodiment of this process swings between a creepily high-pitched yet restrained clamor, and quiet, moody intonations, like the rumbling of an ominous wind.

How Cinematographer Checco Varese Harnessed Darkness in It: Chapter Two

The 2017 remake of Stephen King’s It was box office smash raking in over 700 million worldwide during its release. Pennywise was back and Warner Bros tapped director Andy Muschietti, who shot the remake, to bring the sequel to the silver screen which picks up the horrific events 27 years later. The Credits detailed you in on the hair-raising score from Benjamin Wallfisch. Now let’s step into the shadows with cinematographer Checco Varese and face our Pennywise fears.   

TIFF 2019: Harriet Editor Wyatt Smith on Capturing a True American Hero

Based on the iconic life of freedom fighter Harriet Tubman, Kasi Lemmons’ Harriet reveals the story of this American legend’s escape from slavery and her incredible courage after in her quest to free other slaves. Starring a phenomenal Cynthia Erivo in the title role, Harriet looks at a 10-year chapter in Tubman’s extraordinary life and is structured around three distinct phases. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The Creators of Netflix’s Unbelievable on Their Urgent New Series

Buzz for the new true-crime drama Unbelievable, which is now streaming on Netflix, is getting pretty intense, and for good reason. Inspired by real events covered in a Pulitzer Prize-winning article from The Marshall Project and ProPublica called, “An Unbelievable Story of Rape” and a This American Life episode called “Anatomy of Doubt,” it tells the story of a teen named Marie (Kaitlyn Dever) who reports a sexual assault,

TIFF 2019: Getting Weird With Synchronic‘s Director Aaron Moorhead and Star Ally Ioannides

Anthony Mackie (Avengers: Endgame) and Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades of Gray) are well known for playing superheroes and super seducers, respectively. For Aaron Moorhead and Justin Aaron Moorehead’s trippy, gripping new drama Synchronic, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the two stars went a decidedly different direction. Mackie and Dornan play a pair of paramedics in New Orleans,

TIFF 2019: Legendary Cinematographer Roger Deakins on Capturing The Goldfinch

Cinematographer Roger Deakins, best known for his work on the films of the Coen brothers, Sam Mendes, and Denis Villeneuve, whose Blade Runner 2049 earned Deakins his first Oscar last year after 14 nominations, is no stranger to complex adult dramas. For The Goldfinch, Deakins and director John Crowley worked carefully to bring Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel to the screen without falling into the traps that often snare book adaptations.

Chernobyl’s Emmy-Nominated Director on Capturing Catastrophe

Within the first few minutes of Chernobyl, director Johan Renck plunges the viewer into a riveting recreation of the infamous nuclear power plant meltdown and its aftermath. Since completing its run this summer, the HBO mini-series has earned 16 Emmy nominations for dramatizing the horrendous impact on victims of the accident while tracking the efforts of scientist Valery Legasov (Jared Harris) as he takes on the Soviet establishment to uncover the truth about why the reactor blew up.

TIFF 2019: Tammy’s Always Dying Director Amy Jo Johnson on her Bittersweet Mother/Daughter Drama

Director Amy Jo Johnson‘s second feature film manages to coax humor from situations that are not terribly funny. Terminal alcoholism, cancer, and feelings of loneliness, isolation, and insecurity are not usually the ingredients for laughs, but Johnson and her stellar cast turn these devastating pieces into a bittersweet whole. Johnson, a former actress (Felicity, Flashpoint), has a deft touch with her game ensemble, which stars Felicity Huffman in a bravura performance as the always dying Tammy,

It: Chapter Two Composer Benjamin Wallfisch on Scoring Pennywise’s Final Act

Benjamin Wallfisch is an award-winning composer of over 60 feature films, best known for scores like Hidden Figures and Blade Runner 2049. He created the score for Andy Muschietti’s 2017’s adaptation of Stephen King’s It, and was brought back to help finish the two-part epic in It: Chapter 2. The Credits talked to Wallfisch about his experience building on the first film,

Directors Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman on Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice

There are few musicians as giving as Linda Ronstadt. Throughout her robust career, she gave new life to the songs she covered, from “Blue Bayou” to “Different Drum,” rendering them more heartbreaking and affecting than the previous versions. She gave her blessing to her old band, who went on to form The Eagles, and also their first, “Desperado.” She was happy to give the spotlight to her contemporaries, and collaborated with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris (for the iconic Trio albums),

The Man in the High Castle‘s Emmy-Nominated VFX Supervisor on Taking Down Lady Liberty

The third season finale of The Man in the High Castle sees the show’s alternate fascist reality, based on the eponymous Philip K. Dick novel, take a giant leap forward for Nazism in America — surrounded by cheering crowds, the Statue of Liberty is brought down under fireworks, fighter jets, and Himmler’s watch. The episode title, “Jahr Null,” means year zero, the showy start to a new future for America devoid of the country’s history.

How Killing Eve Showrunner Emerald Fennell Delivered 9 Emmy Nominations

“It’s OK if you feel weird. You just killed someone for the first time. With an ax.” That’s one many deadpan Killing Eve lines crafted by actress-turned-showrunner Emerald Fennell and delivered by psychopath Villanelle (Jodie Comer) to fish-out-of-water spy Eve (Sandra Oh). AMC/BBC America’s British thriller earned nine Emmy nominations for its second season including an Outstanding Writing nod for Fennell, who seemingly came out of nowhere to succeed Killing Eve creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the show’s creative boss.

Director Zach Lipovsky on Becoming and Believing in Canadian Filmmakers

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s epic The Revenant about fur trappers in the icy forests of South Dakota and Montana in 19th century was filmed largely in British Colombia and Alberta. Andy Muschietti’s It and It: Chapter Two, set in the fictional Derry, Maine, was filmed largely in Ontario. These films, and many, many other made-in-Canada productions, utilize Canada’s talented local film crews,

Director Nimisha Mukerji is one of Canada’s Many Rising Filmmakers

A rising tide lifts all boats, and the tide of productions in Canada has been rising fairly steadily for years. Many blockbuster productions and popular television series’ are utilizing Canada’s large film crew community, natural splendor, and tax incentives. From the forbidding icy forests of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant (filmed largely in British Colombia and Alberta) to the postcard-perfect but deeply sinister setting of Derry for Andy Muschietti’s It and It: Chapter Two,