What can the world of creativity learn from the post-production lessons lurking in this action-packed story of the end of the world?
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Once there was a new world, beyond the stars
Look back 10 or 20 years and the creative industry landscape was a place we would all hardly recognise today. Back then, creative agencies, production companies and post-production all stuck to the one thing they did best – be it conceiving ideas, making commercials or finessing and adding the finishing touches.
Budgets moved in the same direction, getting tighter at each stage of the process, often leaving very little time for creativity in post-production.
And then in the early 90s, in the world of film at least, suddenly post-production started its gradual move from being the last part of the process, to being – if not the rock stars in the room – then definitely an equal partner in production. As seen in Interstellar, it was not about fixing the world we lived in, it was time to create a new way of working.
Think of those brilliant effects-heavy films from that period that just wouldn’t have been possible without CGI: Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park. These epic stories trail-blazed a way for post-production, in the commercial world as well as film, as a process that could create new things, rather than just fix them. This was evident when I co-founded our creative production outfit The Ambassadors in 2007.
2. Beautiful craft makes the universe shine
Without a doubt, Interstellar includes great acting, incredible directing talent and a compelling central idea. But how about those impressive Icelandic landscape scenes?
More and more productions are being released which are heavily reliant on the craft of visual effects, in the field of movies, commercials, music videos or apps. Today’s viewer has a discerning eye for beautifully crafted, impactful, kick-ass visuals.
3. ‘Survival of the Fittest’ is the name of the game
In Interstellar, the world is inhabited by researchers, physicists, computer scientists and technology innovators. This diversity of specialists working towards a common goal – in their case the survival of the species – inevitably fosters innovation.
In post-production, a similar process has been evident. When the global financial crisis hit, everyone had to work harder, leaner, faster, and you had to do things differently to survive.
Suddenly producers and heads of TV were hunting for places that could do
everything under one roof – edit, animation, sound, VFX – and do it well.
At The Ambassadors, all the founders come from different backgrounds – sound, VFX, edit, tech innovation. We take pride in living and breathing every individual part of the post-production process. This allows us to take a different approach, which fits the needs of a changing industry.
And as a post-production house with all those different skillsets under one roof, clients benefit hugely by involving us from the start of the creative process, so we can really flex our creative muscle and stretch the boundaries of a project – whether that means building a game, using technology to create commercials ‘on demand’ or incorporating virtual reality into a campaign.
4. A brave new world – moving from Post-Production to Creative-Production
Interstellar’s ending leaves enough for interpretation and discussion.
Not being afraid to turn the production process upside down, or do things differently, and take the right approach for each particular project is something I am hoping that more players in the creative industry will embrace. Who knows where it will lead?