{"id":373224,"date":"2021-11-23T00:56:46","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T21:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/jim-cummings-explains-the-horrific-opening-scene-of-the-beta-test\/"},"modified":"2021-11-23T00:56:46","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T21:56:46","slug":"jim-cummings-explains-the-horrific-opening-scene-of-the-beta-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/jim-cummings-explains-the-horrific-opening-scene-of-the-beta-test\/","title":{"rendered":"#Jim Cummings Explains the Horrific Opening Scene of The Beta Test"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a401c7860c33\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a401c7860c33\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/jim-cummings-explains-the-horrific-opening-scene-of-the-beta-test\/#What_Zodiac_Can_Do_The_Beta_Test_Can_Do\" >What Zodiac Can Do, The Beta Test Can Do<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/jim-cummings-explains-the-horrific-opening-scene-of-the-beta-test\/#Filmmaking_Through_Podcast_Perfection\" >Filmmaking Through Podcast Perfection<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/jim-cummings-explains-the-horrific-opening-scene-of-the-beta-test\/#The_Beta_Test_Lives_or_Dies_by_its_Actors\" >The Beta Test Lives or Dies by its Actors<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#Jim Cummings Explains the Horrific Opening Scene of The Beta Test<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<pre><code>     &lt;span class=\"mx-1\"&gt;We chat with the filmmaker about the masterful tonal balance required to pull off his latest movie. &lt;\/span&gt;\n&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;div id=\"\"&gt;\n\n\n\n                &lt;figure class=\"sf-entry-featured-<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a> \"&gt;\n            &lt;img width=\"800\" height=\"342\" src=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Jim-Cummings-The-Beta-Test-Interview.jpg\" class=\"articlethumb wp-post-image\" alt=\"Jim Cummings The Beta Test Interview\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Jim-Cummings-The-Beta-Test-Interview.jpg 800w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Jim-Cummings-The-Beta-Test-Interview-768x328.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/&gt;                                    &lt;p&gt;\n                    &lt;span class=\"sf-entry-flag sf-entry-flag-creditline\"&gt;IFC Films&lt;\/span&gt;\n\n                        &lt;\/figure&gt;\n\n    &lt;!-- START BYLINE --&gt;\n    &lt;div class=\"row align-items-center justify-content-center my-4 text-center medium dark-gray\"&gt;\n        By\u00a0Brad Gullickson\u00a0\u00b7 Published on November 22nd, 2021 \n        &lt;\/div&gt;\n    &lt;!-- END BYLINE --&gt;\n\n    &lt;em&gt;Check the Gate is a recurring column where we go one-on-one with directors in an effort to uncover the reasoning behind their creative decisions. Why that subject? Why that shot? In this edition, we chat with filmmaker Jim Cummings about the responsibilities and stress of tone management as performed in The Beta Test.&lt;\/em&gt;\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<hr\/>\n<p>Do not tell <strong>Jim Cummings<\/strong> that a movie has to be any one thing. Action. Horror. Comedy. Drama. Every flick plopped into those categories does not adhere to one singular vibe. <em>The Texas Chainsaw Massacre<\/em> is terrifying as hell one second and equally as funny the next. No movie is its label.<\/p>\n<p>Smashing tone is what Cummings races to accomplish with each of his projects. <em>Thunder Road<\/em> and <em>The Wolf of Snow Hollow<\/em> are not defined by the first giggle or jolt they elicit. They tear through emotions as quickly as they tear through their audiences. <em><strong>The Beta Test<\/strong><\/em>, which Cummings co-wrote and co-direct with P.J. McCabe, is no different. If anything, it\u2019s this dizzying mash-up sensation cranked to an even more cataclysmic extremity.<\/p>\n<p>In the movie, Cummings plays a Hollywood agent who receives a purple envelope in the mail. Inside is an invitation to a no-strings-attached sexual encounter. Despite his wedding on the horizon, the character partakes. His life spirals into madness from there, but in the spiral are brutal indications suggesting the greater darkness that already consumes his industry.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Beta Test<\/em> opens with a horrific encounter. There\u2019s no reason to spoil its exact details, but it\u2019s a sequence designed to smack the audience. Wake up. Pay attention. And while you\u2019re still savoring the sting of its attack, you\u2019re immediately propelled into Cummings\u2019 oddball introduction. What the hell are you about to watch?<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_Zodiac_Can_Do_The_Beta_Test_Can_Do\"><\/span>What Zodiac Can Do, The Beta Test Can Do<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>I first saw <em>The Beta Test<\/em> at the Lost Weekend Film Festival at the Alamo Drafthouse in Winchester, Virginia. The audience there was already in the bag for the Jim Cummings experience. A <em>Thunder Road<\/em> Q&amp;A from a few years back cemented the crowd as unshakable Cummings fanatics. But <em>The Beta Test<\/em> was their first real test. After the movie\u2019s first few minutes, many heads stiffened and swiveled to eye their neighbor.<\/p>\n<p>Hearing this reaction, Cummings laughs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo <em>Zodiac<\/em> does it worse,\u201d he says. \u201cI think\u00a0<em>Suspiria<\/em> is worse. Maybe. It\u2019s pretty intense. I mean, our scene is one of the most intense scenes in any movie, and we opened the movie with it on purpose, obviously to get the pressure cooker started \u2014 the ticking clock.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s like Orson Welles\u2019 <em>Touch of Evil<\/em>: \u201cYou plant a bomb in the trunk. The audience is nervous as to when the bomb\u2019s going to go off. We knew we wanted to open with this kind of cautionary tale about somebody who did the letter service, and it went terrible, reaction-wise, from their significant other. And boy does it. And then, we also just loved the idea of having it be this comedy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cummings found the seriousness of the violence to heighten the film\u2019s humor. After the opening, a nervous energy zips through the audience. The buzz puts them on edge, but when a joke fires off, it lands somehow harder. There\u2019s a push and pull release in motion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you do that opening scene,\u201d he explains,\u201d and then you hit the title scene, <em>The Beta Test<\/em>, you go \u2018That\u2019s a crazy opening.\u2019 And then it cuts to me getting the letter, and I\u2019m just like goofy and stupid. The audience should be like, \u2018Okay, well, what is going on?\u2019 So, it\u2019s a bigger laugh. This is a weird Jim Cummings movie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a brilliant way to kick things off, as Cummings attests, especially for the delayed pay-off.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople kind of forget that it h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ens,\u201d he acknowledges. \u201cThey get halfway through the movie, those characters come back, and they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh yeah, they opened the movie in the most graphic way.\u2019 I don\u2019t know, we thought it was funny.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Filmmaking_Through_Podcast_Perfection\"><\/span>Filmmaking Through Podcast Perfection<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>With such an emotional seesaw in action, Jim Cummings and P.J. McCabe cannot afford to find the tone\u00a0on the day or in the edit. It has to be there in the script. To not have it perfected beforehand would be irresponsible. Blockbusters can freeball it. Indies have to have the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a> down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe movie is basically done by the time we show up on set,\u201d Cummings explains. \u201cThere\u2019s very little improv in any of our films because of the budget. We shot <em>Thunder Road<\/em> in 14 and a half days for $190,000. <em>The Wolf of Snow Hollow<\/em> is the longest we\u2019ve ever had. We shot 23 days, and still, that\u2019s almost no time at all.<\/p>\n<p>He says Natalie Metzger, Ben Wiessner, and Matt Miller at <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/vanishingangle.com\">Vanishing Angle<\/a> organized the shoot around how tight the script is. \u201cThey\u2019re always asking some questions like, \u2018What is exactly in the frame?\u2019 They need to know that in order for us to deliver the film on such a small budget, on such a small schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the first draft script complete, Cummings and McCabe appraise its success via podcast. They make a mini-production out of it, surrounding the dramatic reading with music and sound design. After one go-around, they record another podcast based on their next draft\u2019s revisions. And so on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe make sure that the genres are fluid together,\u201d he says. \u201cWe check that the tone is working, the comedy is working, the horror is working. And so we know that it\u2019s all working in audio format, and then we try to partner with all of our department heads to make sure that they speak the same language of the film. Before we show up on set, everybody\u2019s heard the movie a couple of times in podcast form. So all it takes is us executing it in video format.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Beta_Test_Lives_or_Dies_by_its_Actors\"><\/span>The Beta Test Lives or Dies by its Actors<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>With the <em>Beta Test <\/em>podcast complete, no one can argue about the final product. Everyone has heard what they\u2019re chasing. All they need to do is replicate it on screen. That being said, while improv is not a factor, execution absolutely is. With such a clear vision of what they want to achieve on record, a different type of stress comes into play.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has to be that way,\u201d says Cummings. \u201cThere\u2019s\u00a0never a time that we had any liberty or time on set to say, \u2018Let\u2019s just get this in case we need it.\u2019 It was like, \u2018No, we know exactly what we need.\u2019 Then, all of the actors are there to elevate each of those moments. So it\u2019s very high pressure for the actors and the talent in the film to make sure that their performances are coming across inside of this thing that\u2019s already built.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jim Cummings is a confident filmmaker. He can\u2019t afford to be anything else. Where the true mystery resides is in the film\u2019s reception.<\/p>\n<p>He loves <em>The Beta Test<\/em>. He knows it works for him. Now, he witnesses how others receive it. Mild anxiety swirls around him. But he can\u2019t focus too hard on that either. He and P.J. McCabe are already well into the process of making their next film together.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><strong><em>The Beta Test<\/em> is now playing in <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ifcfilms.com\/films\/the-beta-test\">select theaters<\/a> and streaming on VOD.<\/strong><\/p>\n<pre><code>    Related Topics: Check the Gate\n    &lt;!-- AUTHOR BOX --&gt;\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<div class=\"gray-bg p-4 border small mb-5\">\n<div class=\"row align-items-center text-md-center\">\n<div class=\"col-md-2\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/brad.jpg\" class=\"circle img-fluid\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\"\/>\n        <\/div>\n<div class=\"col-md\">\n            Brad Gullickson is a Weekly Columnist for Film School Rejects and Senior Curator for One Perfect Shot. When not rambling about <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">movies<\/a> here, he&#8217;s rambling about comics as the co-host of Comic Book Couples Counseling. Hunt him down on Twitter: <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MouthDork\">@MouthDork<\/a>. (He\/Him)        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<pre><code>    &lt;!-- START RECOMMENDED READING 1 --&gt;\n                                &lt;section class=\"recommended py-5\"&gt;\n            &lt;h3&gt;Recommended Reading&lt;\/h3&gt;\n\n\n        &lt;\/section&gt;\n            &lt;!-- END RECOMMENDED READING --&gt;\n\n\n\n\n&lt;\/div&gt;&lt;script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"&gt;&lt;\/script&gt;\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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