WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:09.839 Who is it should die? People pay good money to 2 00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:12.160 see this movie. When they go out to a theater. 3 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:16.199 They want clothed sodas, pop popcorn, and no monsters in 4 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:17.239 the protection booths. 5 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:40.759 Everyone pretend podcasting isn't boring. It's another dry in windy 6 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:41.679 day in Paradise. 7 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:44.479 Based on all drivers. 8 00:00:44.920 --> 00:00:48.439 There's a situation developing at Ponderosa Elementary. 9 00:00:49.159 --> 00:00:52.280 There are twenty three kids who are stranded. Is there 10 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:57.039 anybody in the area that picking them up? Is there 11 00:00:57.119 --> 00:00:59.600 anybody that can go and pick these kids up? 12 00:01:13.719 --> 00:01:14.640 Nine six, three days? 13 00:01:14.680 --> 00:01:15.120 I can get. 14 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:23.319 It's just another rough fire, nothing new. Hi, Hi, I'm 15 00:01:23.319 --> 00:01:24.879 Mary Kevin. Kids. 16 00:01:25.319 --> 00:01:31.319 This is our bus driver, Kevin. I don't think you 17 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:33.640 understand there and seen our situation here? 18 00:01:34.599 --> 00:01:37.319 Why we calmly? One single line? Do you know all 19 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:39.959 of us are gonna be there? It's gonna take ten minutes. 20 00:01:44.519 --> 00:01:46.879 There have any safety protocols on this bus yep? 21 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:47.400 You got that? 22 00:01:48.519 --> 00:01:48.799 Great? 23 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:50.400 Yeah, that'll make all the difference. 24 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:15.360 At approximately six thirty am this morning, a fire entered 25 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:16.759 the town of Paradise. 26 00:02:20.759 --> 00:02:21.759 Where do you need to get to? 27 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:24.439 My son's up. 28 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:32.960 There with his grandma. It's too late. 29 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:36.120 I'm too late. 30 00:02:36.120 --> 00:02:57.960 As a father, it's not too late, Kevin, can you 31 00:02:58.000 --> 00:02:58.240 hear me? 32 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:00.280 N three? 33 00:03:00.599 --> 00:03:00.960 Jerry. 34 00:03:04.199 --> 00:03:07.840 Hey, folks, welcome to a special episode of The Projection Booth. 35 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:10.400 I'm your host Mike White. On this episode, it is 36 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:14.360 the return of Brandon K. McLoughlin. He is a special 37 00:03:14.360 --> 00:03:17.960 effects coordinator and he worked on the new film The 38 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:23.560 Lost Bus. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, America Ferira, and 39 00:03:23.639 --> 00:03:28.280 my friend Ashley Atkinson, who gives a fantastic performance in 40 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:31.919 this one. I think it's playing on Apple TV currently. 41 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:35.400 Had a great time talking about mister McLoughlin. Hope that 42 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:38.840 you have a great time listening to it. Enjoy the interview. 43 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:41.520 Obviously, I want to talk to you about The Lost Bus, 44 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:44.080 but I'm so curious, how did you even get into 45 00:03:44.280 --> 00:03:47.000 special effects in the first one family. 46 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:50.520 For the most part, my uncle was in it, and 47 00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:56.879 I got hired on Twister as a PA. I worked 48 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:00.400 that whole show, and I worked two other shows, just 49 00:04:00.599 --> 00:04:07.199 grinding and scraping at the carpet and concrete, and had 50 00:04:07.199 --> 00:04:10.479 an opportunity to join the Union. Joined the Union and 51 00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:13.800 it just took off from there. I fell in love 52 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:18.360 with it. I've always been a mechanical mind, and I 53 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:21.240 remember distinctly. Remember my mom tells me this all the time. 54 00:04:21.319 --> 00:04:23.959 She goes, yeah, I remember when you were were six 55 00:04:24.120 --> 00:04:27.319 years old and I bought you a little remote control car. 56 00:04:27.879 --> 00:04:29.600 Two hours after I gave it to you, it was 57 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:33.319 all a partner bedroom, and you looked at me and said, 58 00:04:33.319 --> 00:04:35.519 don't worry, Mom, don't worry I'm just figuring out how 59 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:37.399 it works, and I'll put it back together again. 60 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:39.240 And I did. I put it back together again and 61 00:04:39.240 --> 00:04:39.920 I played with it. 62 00:04:39.959 --> 00:04:43.040 So I've always been I've always been that way, never 63 00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:46.639 been really good at school, always had something better to 64 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:49.920 do in my mind, and it was always being outside 65 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:53.839 and being physical building things. So it was a perfect 66 00:04:53.879 --> 00:04:58.040 fit once I got in and I just blossomed in there. 67 00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:02.399 And you mainly learn everything on the job, because there's 68 00:05:02.439 --> 00:05:04.399 no you can't go to a school. 69 00:05:05.240 --> 00:05:08.279 We have to know to do our job. Well. 70 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:10.439 You have to be an electrician, you have to be 71 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:13.480 you have to know hydraulics, you have to know water, 72 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:17.279 you have to know elements, you have to know engines. 73 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:20.399 You have to know everything for the most part, and 74 00:05:20.439 --> 00:05:22.000 a good amount, not just dabble. 75 00:05:22.839 --> 00:05:25.120 Well, especially you've got people's lives on the line. A 76 00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:25.839 lot of times. 77 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:28.639 I've done a lot of things that will never do again. 78 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:32.680 You know, it was commonplace thirty years ago. It was 79 00:05:32.759 --> 00:05:37.279 what we used to do, and nowadays it's either cgi 80 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:40.199 or that they don't they don't want to risk it, 81 00:05:40.439 --> 00:05:43.120 or there's not enough people left in the industry that 82 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:44.680 know how to do things like that. So when you 83 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:50.199 do make the suggestion, there's usually you can do. That's 84 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:54.279 that because you're more and more I'm dealing with people 85 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:57.360 that have less experience in the industry as I do, 86 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:01.439 and they're younger, and they've come up in theual effects world, 87 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:04.120 not the physical effects, and I have to sit there 88 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:06.720 and remind them, go, I've been in the business before 89 00:06:06.759 --> 00:06:09.560 there is visual effects, so yes, we can do anything. 90 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:10.680 Yeah. 91 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:12.839 We talked a few years ago when you had worked 92 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:15.680 on The Killers of the Flower Moon, and I seem 93 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:18.600 to remember you're much more in the practical effects realm. 94 00:06:18.759 --> 00:06:22.720 And the thing that I always appreciate about effects, no 95 00:06:22.759 --> 00:06:27.399 matter whether they're practical or digital, is they're practically invisible. 96 00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:30.480 You're not there to draw attention to yourself. You're just 97 00:06:30.519 --> 00:06:33.160 there to add to the story. You must have had 98 00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:35.800 so many challenges with things like and I love that 99 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:38.279 you have so many out west things, even there will 100 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:42.560 be blood, like such a naturalistic film about the oil 101 00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:44.560 pumping and all those kind of things that must have 102 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:48.519 been just arduous to work on that set. 103 00:06:48.199 --> 00:06:51.839 That For some reason, I don't know why I've fallen 104 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:55.680 in this category, because if you look at my resume, 105 00:06:55.920 --> 00:07:00.000 there's a lot that falls in line where it's practical effect. 106 00:07:00.279 --> 00:07:03.199 But we're not using practical effects to tell the story. 107 00:07:03.959 --> 00:07:08.279 We're using practical effects to amplify the story, to add 108 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:11.800 to it. And I think it's the hardest part of 109 00:07:11.800 --> 00:07:16.759 effects is doing your job to where it's as realistic 110 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:21.079 as it possibly can be and have people watch it 111 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:24.199 and don't think about it, Oh that was an effect 112 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:28.160 or oh anything like that. Just be that's part of 113 00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:30.920 the story. That's I'm there to help tell the story. 114 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:33.759 And I like that. I like that part because that 115 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:34.959 means I'm doing my job well. 116 00:07:35.959 --> 00:07:38.040 How closely do you work with a director like a 117 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:40.360 Paul Greengrass? How close do you work with him when 118 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:42.519 it comes to helping him tell his story? 119 00:07:43.079 --> 00:07:45.720 Oh, hand in hand. I had a meeting with Paul, 120 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:50.360 And mainly when you do films like this, where my 121 00:07:50.519 --> 00:07:53.360 job is a huge part of the job talking about 122 00:07:53.399 --> 00:07:56.920 lost bus, where it's a huge part of the storytelling 123 00:07:56.920 --> 00:07:59.399 aspect because if there was no fire, there wouldn't be 124 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:03.360 the lost But so you mainly want to sit down 125 00:08:03.480 --> 00:08:06.639 and have a discussion and get the feel of what 126 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:11.360 he's looking for to tell the audience. Because every director's different, 127 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:15.639 they want to show something differently. Some directors might just 128 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:19.480 want that in the background, just so it's in the 129 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:22.439 corner of the frame so we can tell that there's 130 00:08:22.439 --> 00:08:26.000 something there. And with Paul it was right off the bat. 131 00:08:26.040 --> 00:08:30.439 It's fires a character in the story. It's the driving character. 132 00:08:31.720 --> 00:08:34.320 I don't want it to feel Another big one is 133 00:08:34.360 --> 00:08:38.279 that he said that he didn't want an audience member 134 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:39.200 to sit there and go. 135 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:40.440 Oh, that's just visual effects. 136 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:45.320 One of the big things that we ended up doing 137 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:49.879 the first meeting I had with Charlie and Paul Charlie 138 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:54.759 the visual effects coordinator or supervisor. I said to him, 139 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:58.320 I said, as long as we have practical fire in 140 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:03.679 every scene, whether it's the full scene that's what the 141 00:09:03.720 --> 00:09:06.759 scene is calling for the element, or it's just half 142 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:09.919 of it. If you keep practical fire and everything, then 143 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:12.080 visual effects has to build to it or it has 144 00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:15.840 to use it right, because what I was fearful of 145 00:09:15.960 --> 00:09:18.840 is going from a visual effects fire to a practical fire, 146 00:09:18.919 --> 00:09:21.039 to a visual effects fire to a practical fire. And 147 00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:24.720 you see that a lot, and you can tell they're 148 00:09:24.759 --> 00:09:28.080 not the same. There's definite differences between the two of them. 149 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:32.679 And they both agreed. They both we actually was the 150 00:09:32.840 --> 00:09:34.679 school is what we were talking about. 151 00:09:34.879 --> 00:09:36.759 Paul brought it up. He's like, how do we do this? 152 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:40.159 When I said, we do the window boxes, and I 153 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:43.440 do fire everywhere that I possibly can, and then Charlie 154 00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:46.559 builds on top of it. And that's exactly what happened. 155 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:49.480 That's what we did because I'm also limited to how 156 00:09:49.559 --> 00:09:53.120 much fire I can do practically. You can't stand in 157 00:09:53.159 --> 00:09:57.799 a forest fire, real fire and act. It's just too much. 158 00:09:57.799 --> 00:10:00.559 Eats is just too intense. He had to pick and 159 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:04.240 choose what we could do what we couldn't do, but 160 00:10:04.279 --> 00:10:05.000 it was really good. 161 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:06.159 Paul is. 162 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:13.759 Very charismatic. He's a filmmaker at heart. It is difficult 163 00:10:13.799 --> 00:10:17.200 working with him because it's hard to get all the 164 00:10:17.240 --> 00:10:20.080 proper information out, But once you work with him and 165 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:22.919 you do a show with him, yeah, this is good 166 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:24.360 to show him. But I know he's going to want 167 00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:30.320 to see this or have backup plans. So going into 168 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:32.559 it that way, then it's not that big of a job. 169 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:35.440 If you'd never worked with him and he walks on 170 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:38.200 a set and you're supposed to do Norse and you've 171 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:41.759 spent a month prepping due North, he turns around, he goes, 172 00:10:41.799 --> 00:10:42.840 I want to go do South. 173 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:44.600 It's just that's just how he is. 174 00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:46.879 He likes getting on a set and feeling the set 175 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:49.679 and seeing how the scene in his mind would play out, 176 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:51.039 and using the set properly. 177 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:52.639 So it was fun. 178 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:55.039 I knew about that kind of stuff, but a lot 179 00:10:55.080 --> 00:10:57.240 of crews didn't, and it was always, oh my god, 180 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:02.480 I'm like it was a good interaction with Paul. He 181 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:05.240 was really appreciative. He was really appreciative of everything we 182 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:05.799 gave him. 183 00:11:06.440 --> 00:11:08.360 Hey, because this wasn't your first time working with him. 184 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:09.720 You did what News of the World? 185 00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:11.519 Yeah, I did News of the World with him. 186 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:13.720 Yeah, that was the first one I did with him, 187 00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:16.159 And that's where I stumbled through it. 188 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:17.799 And learned Paul. 189 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:20.519 I don't know if you remember that movie very well, 190 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:23.519 but there's a big wagon Flip. We spent about a 191 00:11:23.559 --> 00:11:27.240 month setting it up at this location and had it 192 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:29.960 all rigged and set up, and we had I had second, 193 00:11:29.960 --> 00:11:32.200 you know, go out there with a whole full camera. 194 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:32.919 Crew to shoot a test. 195 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:35.200 And we did it and it worked great, and it 196 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:38.759 was a whole cable pole and it was a bigger deal, 197 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:41.600 and we showed him it was all that was great. 198 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:43.720 That's great, And two days before we were going to 199 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:47.559 go shoot it, he completely changed the location and that 200 00:11:47.720 --> 00:11:49.879 was the turning point for me. It was like, oh, okay, 201 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:52.639 so we got it done. But it was one of 202 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:55.840 those things where it was like you really you tweaked 203 00:11:55.879 --> 00:11:58.039 it and you got it to work really good, and 204 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:01.039 it went down a specific way and the wheels came on. 205 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:03.840 It was it worked great. And then he of course 206 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:05.879 he throws that at you, and it's like, okay, think 207 00:12:05.879 --> 00:12:07.919 on your feet, it's beIN you move. 208 00:12:08.919 --> 00:12:12.440 I can see a wagon flip being a major ordeal. 209 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:15.960 But just the amount of fire that you have in 210 00:12:16.120 --> 00:12:20.440 lost bus, you must have had so much need to 211 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:23.080 prep things and just know where that fire is going 212 00:12:23.159 --> 00:12:25.120 to be, how big it's got to be. How do 213 00:12:25.159 --> 00:12:26.879 you even figure that out? 214 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:31.720 I guess the easiest way to talk about this is 215 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:37.120 Paul doesn't textcout. He usually shows up about two or 216 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:42.919 three weeks before we start filming, so it's mainly executive producers, 217 00:12:43.399 --> 00:12:48.159 first AD department heads. We sit down and we figure out, okay, 218 00:12:48.279 --> 00:12:53.519 what would work the best. We have the outside of 219 00:12:53.559 --> 00:12:56.039 the box drawn, but the inside of the box isn't 220 00:12:56.320 --> 00:12:59.519 really detailed, and we don't know exactly where we're going 221 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:01.279 to go, so we end up having to lock in 222 00:13:01.320 --> 00:13:05.960 a direction, pick the locations, talk about how we're going 223 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:06.480 to end up. 224 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:08.679 Shooting specific scenes. 225 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:13.000 Then I can place the products that we built starting 226 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:17.120 off first conversations that we had. I came up with 227 00:13:17.960 --> 00:13:20.279 we were going to have to at least have six 228 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:23.120 to seven full burn sets, is what I was calling them, 229 00:13:23.159 --> 00:13:28.840 where it's fire everywhere, and in the state of New Mexico, 230 00:13:28.919 --> 00:13:30.840 which is the only state in the Union, you have 231 00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:36.919 to have a state appointed pro pane person certify everything 232 00:13:36.919 --> 00:13:39.399 that you're doing. Like in any other state, you can 233 00:13:39.879 --> 00:13:43.000 run stuff out and make it all happen. And in 234 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:46.720 this size of a film, of course, I had to 235 00:13:46.759 --> 00:13:49.240 have somebody there, and I'd worked with them multiple times, 236 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:52.440 but that was difficult because I knew I was going 237 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:54.120 to what I was going to get into with Paul, 238 00:13:54.519 --> 00:13:58.639 where you could only I could only move so much. 239 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:05.960 Built forty trees three foot diameter and sixteen feet tall. 240 00:14:06.120 --> 00:14:12.000 We built like sixty bushes. We had a bunch of cars, 241 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:16.240 we had a bunch of partial buildings, and so we 242 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:19.200 spent a lot of time in the production office with 243 00:14:19.320 --> 00:14:22.799 a big layout of the back lot that we had, 244 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:26.639 and we came up with, Okay, the bus can make 245 00:14:26.679 --> 00:14:30.480 this turn to Paul really wanted to stay close to 246 00:14:30.519 --> 00:14:34.279 what happened in reality, so we had to lay out 247 00:14:34.360 --> 00:14:36.799 with the small little box that we had. We had 248 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:39.639 to lay out the whole travel of the bus picking 249 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:43.120 the kids up, going to Paradise Elementary, and then trying 250 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:45.279 to get out. So we had to lay all that out. 251 00:14:45.320 --> 00:14:46.799 The bus had to turn left here, they had to 252 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:48.720 turn right here. It had to have fire on this side, 253 00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:50.519 had to have fire on that side. So there was 254 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:54.120 a lot of conversations. And once we started laying everything 255 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:56.759 out and had ideas of where we could place stuff, 256 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:00.679 I would go out and temporarily put things, not plumb them, 257 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:03.000 but put stuff, and then we'd go walk the set, 258 00:15:03.799 --> 00:15:07.159 you know, with the group without Paul, and go, yeah, 259 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:10.600 that'll work, that'll can you move that tree? Because we're 260 00:15:10.600 --> 00:15:13.039 going to make the turn there. So once we locked 261 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:15.039 all that in, then I had a crew guys going 262 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:20.000 hard plumb everything to the propane tanks. It was a 263 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:23.120 three three and a half month prep for me and 264 00:15:23.159 --> 00:15:25.559 a crew of thirty five guys thirty eight. 265 00:15:25.720 --> 00:15:28.759 At one point, what are you building those bushes and 266 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:33.399 trees and cars out of? Because it's it can't be flammable. 267 00:15:32.919 --> 00:15:37.159 Right, Yeah, it's all steel. The trees we built, I 268 00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:41.200 had a bunch of sixty sixteen gauge I think it 269 00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:45.120 was sixteen gauge sheet metal rolled at a tank manufacturer 270 00:15:45.159 --> 00:15:48.639 in Albuquerque, and they sent us sections. We welded the 271 00:15:48.679 --> 00:15:53.240 sections together and then on the outside of that we 272 00:15:53.240 --> 00:15:59.120 welded on electrical conduit metal electrical conduit and then put 273 00:15:59.159 --> 00:16:03.559 chicken wire around that, and then we used I had 274 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:06.799 a done this before, so we had an idea of 275 00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:12.399 what to do, and then we used a fire place 276 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:16.000 mortar so it resists heat. For the most part, is 277 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:19.399 a concrete base, but it's formulated to withstand a lot 278 00:16:19.399 --> 00:16:22.919 of heat. And I found online. I found a pine 279 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:26.279 tree silicone stamps. So we would do a little section 280 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:28.840 and then stamp it and then do a little section 281 00:16:28.919 --> 00:16:31.240 and stamp it and you could literally be standing a 282 00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:33.080 foot away from it and not know it was a 283 00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:37.080 fake tree. And we only built and it was the 284 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:40.960 thing that some people had a problem with. But if 285 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:45.720 you look at pictures from Paradise, they're all ponderosa pines 286 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:50.240 and the branches don't start until sixteen seventeen feet up 287 00:16:50.279 --> 00:16:52.840 in the air. It's just massive trunk and then you 288 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:55.159 start getting into the top of the tree. So all 289 00:16:55.159 --> 00:16:58.000 we built was trunk. I had a couple little nubs 290 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:00.399 on some of the trees just to make look but 291 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:02.799 we were never going to be looking up. We were 292 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:06.640 never going to be looking super high. And we already 293 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:09.079 knew that those big, massive wide shots that are in 294 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:11.880 the movie that practically you can't do that with fire. 295 00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:15.559 That was always going to be visual effects. There were 296 00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:18.920 fires in there that were ours, but we knew that 297 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:21.640 those big, massive white shots were going to be visual effects. 298 00:17:21.960 --> 00:17:25.319 There's just physically you can't do that and keep it 299 00:17:25.400 --> 00:17:26.039 under control. 300 00:17:26.759 --> 00:17:28.839 I imagine that's got to be the watch word, is 301 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:31.119 control and just making sure you can turn it on, 302 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:34.039 turn it off, that nothing's going to catch on fire 303 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:36.119 that's not supposed to. I mean, safety has to be 304 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:37.400 such a major concern on a. 305 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:40.279 Set like that, Yeah, it was. There was always. 306 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:44.640 I required a lot of rehearsals, especially when we had 307 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:48.319 a lot of people running around when they got stuck 308 00:17:48.359 --> 00:17:50.839 on one of the roads. I forget the name of 309 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:53.119 the road. It was the big main road and there 310 00:17:53.160 --> 00:17:55.160 was a bunch of people running around. We rehearsed that 311 00:17:55.400 --> 00:18:00.079 for hours before we shot that. Just moving vehicles, fire, 312 00:18:01.160 --> 00:18:04.519 It's just throw all the elements at them as you can, 313 00:18:04.599 --> 00:18:06.839 a bunch of smoke, all that kind of stuff. So 314 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:09.720 it was. It was always well rehearsed. We had a 315 00:18:09.720 --> 00:18:14.279 great stunt team. Everybody was really on point and we 316 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:18.039 knew everybody knew what was going on. Where we were 317 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:20.240 shooting was in the center of Santa Fe. And I'm 318 00:18:20.279 --> 00:18:22.599 not kidding you. It was in the center of the city. 319 00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:27.839 I had houses, schools, I had businesses. Everything was around us. 320 00:18:28.599 --> 00:18:30.720 It was a logistical nightmare to try to get the 321 00:18:30.759 --> 00:18:33.480 city to say yes, you know, I was a huge 322 00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:38.759 battle right at the beginning, me smoozing them and having 323 00:18:38.920 --> 00:18:42.440 trying to build the confidence that was needed for the 324 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:46.400 city planners and the city council and the fire department 325 00:18:46.440 --> 00:18:49.680 and the police department. But I had worked there a 326 00:18:49.720 --> 00:18:52.400 couple of times, and I knew the chiefs, and I 327 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:55.480 knew quite a few people, and it was it was 328 00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:58.519 more along the lines of just telling them what the 329 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:01.440 plan was and what what my thoughts were and how 330 00:19:01.480 --> 00:19:03.519 I was going to move forward with it. 331 00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:07.119 And everybody was pretty cool. They were pretty decent. It 332 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:08.759 was only the. 333 00:19:08.359 --> 00:19:11.440 Police department was a little bit hard to get through 334 00:19:11.559 --> 00:19:13.359 just because of the amount of smoke that we were 335 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:15.640 going to have. It was live traffic all the way 336 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:18.319 around us. It was live traffic. And my biggest concern 337 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:20.279 was is that we were going to have white outs 338 00:19:20.599 --> 00:19:22.920 and we were shooting this at night. 339 00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:24.319 That was my biggest concern. 340 00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:26.759 That we would end up getting to a point where 341 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:30.000 the wind was moving just right and the main thoroughfare 342 00:19:30.039 --> 00:19:34.200 in Santa Fe bordered one side of our property, and 343 00:19:35.160 --> 00:19:37.119 I was worried about putting so much smoke in then 344 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:41.079 we'd have accidents. So the on specific days that we 345 00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:43.359 were doing that amount of smoke, we had police officers, 346 00:19:43.400 --> 00:19:47.039 We had big construction signs, lit construction signs saying hey, 347 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:49.559 filming in the area, there's no fire. And that was 348 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:53.000 another thing, having the citizens freak out that something's burning 349 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:56.519 that didn't know what was going on, so we did. 350 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:59.960 Before we started shooting, we did a lot of social media, 351 00:20:01.079 --> 00:20:04.079 Hey this is going on, please be aware. You don't 352 00:20:04.119 --> 00:20:05.880 need to call nine one one. And the first night 353 00:20:05.960 --> 00:20:08.119 we started shooting, they had something like eight hundred and 354 00:20:08.200 --> 00:20:09.359 fifty calls. 355 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:10.359 To nine one one. 356 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:12.920 I was standing next to the fire chief on set. 357 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:16.359 I required the fire department there, even though it was 358 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:18.519 completely under control and there was nothing that was going 359 00:20:18.599 --> 00:20:21.640 to burn and everything. I just personally want to have 360 00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:24.559 somebody who's got a radio to the closest fire, you know, 361 00:20:24.680 --> 00:20:26.519 calling nine one one, then has got to go to them. 362 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:28.680 Then it just turns into a nightmare. 363 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:32.079 And we were sitting there talking one night and he 364 00:20:32.119 --> 00:20:34.400 goes yeah, or the first night and he goes, yeah, 365 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:37.799 the phones are ringing off the hook, and everybody knew. 366 00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:40.440 It wasn't like we were trying to sneak something by 367 00:20:40.920 --> 00:20:44.960 it just do people don't pay attention to their phones 368 00:20:45.079 --> 00:20:47.799 or whatever, and they didn't see this warning and everything else, 369 00:20:47.880 --> 00:20:50.480 or the big construction signs, so they'd be called, oh 370 00:20:50.519 --> 00:20:53.759 my god, the college is on fire. No, it's okay, 371 00:20:53.880 --> 00:20:54.440 we're filming. 372 00:20:55.559 --> 00:20:57.519 He talked about how fire is one of the main 373 00:20:57.599 --> 00:20:59.920 characters of the movie, and obviously right there in the 374 00:21:00.279 --> 00:21:02.039 I got the bus. Were you in charge of any 375 00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:04.200 of the vehicle stuff as well? 376 00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:09.920 I wasn't in charge of the vehicles, But what does 377 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:13.799 fall in my lap is the safety of the children. 378 00:21:14.039 --> 00:21:18.880 So we spent time in sealing the buses up to 379 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:23.519 where they were not hermetically sealed. We filled gaps and 380 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:27.039 closed vents and stuff like that, and then I came 381 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:30.799 up with an idea before we started shooting was to 382 00:21:30.839 --> 00:21:34.839 purchase the air purifiers. So I got two big air 383 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:37.079 purifiers and we put them all the way at the 384 00:21:37.079 --> 00:21:40.240 back of the bus, so I was always circulating the 385 00:21:40.279 --> 00:21:43.880 air inside the bus and any kind of particulate that 386 00:21:44.039 --> 00:21:47.160 was going to be in there. But I wasn't emitting 387 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:49.319 anything into the air that was going to be harmful. 388 00:21:49.720 --> 00:21:52.319 It's just children. You don't want to expose them to. 389 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:56.640 Even if you've got the okay and all the research 390 00:21:57.160 --> 00:22:00.000 and the products that you're using, do you try to 391 00:22:00.200 --> 00:22:02.839 do as much as you possibly can to protect that. 392 00:22:02.920 --> 00:22:05.160 Because I knew we were going to run into problems 393 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:08.599 with parents and SAG and everything else working with children. 394 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:12.079 That's one of the things you don't do in film. 395 00:22:12.119 --> 00:22:14.279 You don't work with animals, and you don't work with children. 396 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:19.200 It's a problem problem because you can't get around it. 397 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:22.480 Well, especially you're shooting at night, and I know there's 398 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:25.480 all kinds of rules about like kids working at late 399 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:27.359 hours and all that stuff as well. That must have 400 00:22:27.400 --> 00:22:29.680 been difficult too, it was. 401 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:32.480