Kent News - Schoonmaker criticises overuse of CGI in movies

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Schoonmaker criticises overuse of CGI in movies

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Thelma Schoonmaker, with her Oscar

An Oscar-winning film editor has criticised modern blockbusters for relying too heavily on computer-generated imagery (CGI).

Thelma Schoonmaker has worked with Martin Scorsese for more than 35 years, and won three Academy Awards for editing his film’s Raging Bull, The Aviator and The Departed.

Her late husband, the Kent-born director Michael Powell, was a great influence on Scorsese. Along with Emeric Pressburger, he made a series of acclaimed films in the 1940s and 1950s.

During a lecture at Canterbury Christ Church University, Miss Schoonmaker spoke nostalgically about the early days of British cinema.

The Algerian-born 67-year-old reminisced about how innovation and creativity, rather than computers, were once used to produce special effects to keep filmgoers glued to their seats.

Modern films that use CGI to create breathtaking scenes and film sequences “do not have as much heart as they had” in the days of Powell and Pressburger, said Miss Schoonmaker.

Pressburger was Powell’s long-time collaborator. As co-producers, writers and directors, they were known as The Archers.

The duo made A Canterbury Tale in 1944 and Schoonmaker demonstrated how brave direction and editing decisions, such as the use of stills as the background for scenes shot in the cathedral, are still used today.

“They make you believe it. [But] CGI is too perfect,” she said.

Since Powell’s death in 1990, Miss Schoonmaker has made it her quest to elevate him from cult status to make his name as synonymous as Hitchcock among the all-time great British film directors.

During her lecture, in a university building dedicated to the memory of her husband, she talked about the editing techniques used by early British film-makers and how they continue to influence noted directors such as Scorsese.

Miss Schoonmaker told Kent on Sunday what most attracted Scorsese to Powell’s work.

“As film-makers they share very many of the same kind of ideas – an interest in the grey areas instead of black and white. There are not many, or any, villains in the films of Powell and Pressburger or Scorsese.

“They show what humans are really like. This appealed to Scorsese very much as well as the incredible style and tackling difficult subjects and emotions – they were boldly unafraid of that,” she said.

Scorsese introduced Miss Schoonmaker to her husband, who was born in Bekesbourne, near Canterbury.

Powell, who went to the King’s School in the Kent city, passed on his love of the county to his American wife of 14 years.

“I came to Kent a lot with my husband. He was passionate about Kent and his father was a hop farmer. It was the world he grew up in and he showed it in his movies, including A Canterbury Tale.”

She said her late husband did not receive the recognition some of his contemporaries had because he was reluctant to promote his work.

“Alfred Hitchcock and David Lean had huge publicity machines behind them,” she added.

Of today’s film-makers, there can be little doubt Miss Schoonmaker is working with one of the best around.

She has edited most of Scorsese’s films, starting from Raging Bull, which is the most special for her.

“For me, Raging Bull is like my baby. It was my first major feature film,” she said.

“It is pure gold – beautifully directed, incredibly well acted, wonderful sound effects – that being my first break in feature film, making it is like my firstborn.”

• Watch our interview with Miss Schoonmaker online at yourkenttv.co.uk.

POSTED: 09/12/2007 09:00:00