By Elina Shatkin, August 29, 2003
"A Decade Under the Influence" is a new documentary that closely examines the films and filmmakers that led the wave of American filmmakers in the 1970s, and their political and social effect. PostWorks New York lent its technical know-how to the complex post-production that involved the organization and storage of hundreds of hours of source footage from a myriad of sources.
The three-part documentary will premiere August 20th on IFC and will be the centerpiece to a programming block that includes many of the films featured in "A Decade Under The Influence" as well as with additional interviews and behind the scenes material
. Directed by Richard LaGravenese and (the late) Ted Demme, "A Decade Under the Influence" features interviews with directors Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorcese, Robert Altman, Sydney Lumet, Peter Bogdonovich, Sydney Pollack, William Friedkin, Roger Corman, John Casavetes, and Paul Schrader, among others.
"The biggest challenge we faced was combining an incredible amount of source footage – residing in different formats, frame rates, and aspect ratios – into one technically cohesive HD resolution master that could be recorded onto 35mm film for theatrical release, and down-converted to Digital Betacam for IFC to air this Summer," says Gini Reticker, who produced the film along with Jerry Kupfer.
Reticker and the directors assembled the clips in a way that respected for the artistic integrity of the films featured. For example, images originally shot in the 133 aspect ratio were framed by black side panels rather than stretched to match widescreen material, such as the HD interviews.
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