Clay Enos interview

Wow, this blog has practically turned into a Watchmen fanboy site. Not that that’s a bad thing. Here’s something to chew on.

This past Tuesday, I had the great pleasure of interviewing Clay Enos, the photographer of Watchmen. He did all the still photographs of the production, so if you see something Watchmen, chances are it’s his stuff. Enos is also the man behind the new book Watchmen Portraits, a beautiful black and white “coffee table” book of, well, Watchmen portraits. Not only are the actors featured in character, but many of the extras are featured with equal poise on the page.

Clay Enos has known the Snyders for quite some time, so one would think it wouldn’t be too difficult for him to be selected as photographer for Watchmen. Well, that’s a leg up, but it wasn’t that easy. They had to fight for him which was “pretty cool” that they would do such a thing for a photographer, according to Enos. The production set him up with a studio space that came to be known as the “Clay Cube.” Makes me think of the Borg Cube from Star Trek. Surely the two aren’t comparable…or are they?

Anyway, the Clay Cube eventually became too cumbersome to work with, so he switched to a simple, more portable studio using natural light when available and a device to simulate natural light when it wasn’t available. “All the actors, everybody was willing and enthusiastic about helping with the photographs” said Clay. The photographs became a “casual, routine” and even “spontaneous” activity for those involved. The makeshift studio was on the side of the set and people just walked by and got their picture taken. “People” being the actors.

Watchmen Portraits is an excellent movie book, but has the potential to be an art book also, floating somewhere in that happy middle. Watchmen is a very atmosphere driven work and the unique thing about Portraits is its ability to capture that atmosphere without the background of the production. “Since the characters are pulled out of context, the atmosphere is in the faces” is how Enos describes the magic of his photos. The portraits are still able to capture the atmosphere, but they become something else as well. Each photo enables the viewer to look deeper into the character, especially with the extras and minor characters. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, something Clay Enos has mastered in his photography.

Flat out, Clay Enos is a great guy with unbelievable skill and talent. Plus he’s a Star Trek nerd. It was truly awesome to have the opportunity to speak with someone I consider on the “god” level. If I haven't said it before, Clay Enos’ photography is magnificent. Check it out at clayenos.com. And check out his Nite Owl Coffee at http://www.organiccoffee.com/Nite-Owl-Dark-Roast/M/B001O2KSZA.htm. It’s a great movie tie-in after the fire rescue scene at the apartment building. A portion of the profit goes to charity and THEY'RE ONLY AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED TIME. Only 10,000 cans were made. So buy some coffee because everyone knows college students need to drink more coffee.

Reflections on Watchmen

There really is not a lot to say about Watchmen that hasn't already been said in a million other articles, both online and in print. The consensus seems to be that Snyder made a very faithful film adaptation of the graphic novel, but maybe to a fault. Fanboys and those who have read the novel seem to enjoy the novel at least on some level, leaving those who aren't familiar with the graphic novel out of the loop.

Personally, I loved the film. The fact that Snyder was able to condense a 12 chapter graphic novel into a 2 hr 45 min film without losing most of the controlling ideas and denseness of the original work is incredible. The attention to detail while still having Snyder's flavor and style is an incredible line to walk, but this film does it with flying colors. Zack Snyder has made Watchmen jump off the page without losing what is essential. And in a society where we usually tear apart a film that digresses to far from the original work, I really don't understand how you can be 'too faithful', but I digress myself.

The point of this post is not to discuss why I loved the film. Despite whether you loved or hated or were indifferent about Watchmen, I think it's important to notice that Zack Snyder's film is a massive achievement in film on multiple levels.

The most obvious success of the film lies in its visual effects. For a film that is obviously shot almost 100% in studios in front of green screens, it looks polished and clean. The only even questioning element of the visuals is Dr. Manhattan. However, even Manhattan looks incredible once you get passed his first few scenes. The title sequence at the beginning is also another high point of the film's visuals.

If the visuals weren't the most obvious success, than it's the financial earnings that stand out. Whether good or bad critically, the film was a huge financial success. In its opening weekend, it grossed $55 mill., which is pretty substantial for a r-rated pulp film. Despite 55 mill not being nearly what analysts thought it would gross [most estimated around 70 mill], this is still a substantial earning. The film will make plenty in the box office, not to mention the money that the film will make from dvd sales and other merchandising. Hopefully Watchmen will help studios realize that a dense, graphic, r-rated film can make money. Along with The Dark Knight, these two films will hopefully be examples for future work of how to make a darker, grittier, pulpy comic film. Nothing 'grinds my gears' more than when a film gets watered down to a pg-13 just to assure profibility.

One of the aspects that I love about Watchmen is that exact fact: the almost complete faithfulness to the graphic novel, not just in content but in maturity level. No violence or sexuality has been tamed down. But even more important than this is the ending of the story, something that many critics have not addressed. [SPOILERS AHEAD] The ending of the film remaining faithful to the source material is an incredible achievement. Being very unconventional, it's truely astonishing that it was not changed to please Warner Bros/producers. or even to please audiences. The fact that Adrian Veidt gets away with his master plan leaves the viewer completely devastated, with the only hope for the future being Rorschach's journal. And all this squabbling about leaving 'the squid' from the novel out of the film is just superfluous. The differences from the novel that Snyder made were for obvious reasons; some elements of the graphic novel were just not suitable for film. Yet, this does not make the graphic novel 'unfilmable', just minorly tweaked. Admitting that a graphic novel is different from a film does not make one untranslatable to the other. Again, hopefully this will influence future films to be more daring with their stories. [END OF SPOILERS]

Years from now when audiences look back at the experience that was Watchmen the film, I think it will be seen as a modern classic. It takes time for a film that is as philosophical and dense as Watchmen to sink in. While it may be somewhat of a niche-sleeper with critics and audiences today, it will find its place in film history. Even so, more important than critical acclaim, Watchmen is a success. All who are a part of making this film happen are to be commended.