On the surface, it may be easy to dismiss Josh Trankâs debut Chronicle as little more than a get-rich-quick mishmash of the two most popular genres of the moment (superhero & found footage flicks); but underneath itâs admittedly franchise friendly exterior, Chronicle seems as fatigued with the inundation of shaky cams and male (always male) heroics as there are films prescribed to the genres. Many critics have bemoaned the use of the found footage conceit in Chronicle, complaining that the movie could exist without and would be better if played âstraightâ, but these reviewers seem to miss that their objections are exactly the point (the camera being rendered moot about midway through as a meta-textual dismissal of the entire genre). When the picture climaxes literally with a cacophony of cameras and multi-POVs, itâs as if Trankâs putting the entirety of ârecordedâ films on notice. Just because you shake the camera or shoot a bunch of footage out of focus or chop peopleâs heads out of frame, doesnât make your film more ârealisticâ or a descendent of Cinema Verite; all it means (Chronicle and by proxy Trank implies) â is that youâre a really shitty cinematographer.In the following interview, director Josh Trank discusses Chronicleâs variations from the typical found footage film, rejects Nietzschean âSupermanâ philosophy and talks about those pesky Fantastic Four rumors. Hit the jump to watch.Josh Trank
- How much time did he spend looking at found footage films and superhero films during pre-production
- How the camera has its own arc in the film
- How philosophy plays a big part of the film and how two of the characters change
- Update on those Fantastic Four rumors
- Talks about how he is writing other features right now and they're outside the found footage genre