Simply put, its a time travel movie for the iPad generation.

But even from when I came on until we went into production, the script changed a lot.

It changed in a few ways, and it didnt change in a fundamental way.

Really tap into teenage culture of today, and explore what they would do if they had this gadget.

That was a main directional choice that we took.

To me, from the very beginning, it was all about making the time travel totally imperfect.

Full of obstacles and conflict.

They make way more mistakes than they have successes in the first act of the movie.

What I became more interested in was, what are the effects of time travel?

On the characters and on the environment around them.

To learn to accept it.

Its interesting, because a lot of time travel films are about regrets, second chances or righting wrongs.

This ones about accepting the past for what it is.

That to me was what was powerful about it.

It was the main thing I latched onto.

I hoped we could make the time travel thrilling, and the wish-fulfillment really exciting and contemporary.

But underneath all that, we needed some kind of heart beat.

Its hard in high school to accept who you are.

To settle into yourself.

I think its really apt that its what the movie deals with, especially for teenagers.

Yeah, I think thats a great point.

They bring up all of that stuff all the time.

They use those to find out what was or wasnt cool to check out at Lollapalooza.

The time machine itself interfaces with their technology the Xbox, their smartphone, their apps.

Hopefully the movie gets to that point too.

One point Id like to make if I can.

Im reading all these reviews about how we have all this product placement in the movie.

We have product placement in the time machine!

There is no product placement.

We put the Xbox into the time machine because we thought thats what kids would use.

And thats the Xbox.

There was a conscious effort in all of that, rather than us trying to get money from Xbox.

I thought it was quite funny.

I liked the idea of using a Toyota Prius as well, to power it.

I thought it was quite a fresh idea.

Yeah, its meant to be tongue-in-cheek.

Its meant to be fun and playful.

I wonder if you could talk a bit about the found footage aspect.

How did that develop?

You arent compelled by the absolute limitations of found footage.

That was my initial approach.

Every single shot in our movie has been planned ahead of time.

Every single shot was either shot listed or storyboarded.

So theres a lot of meticulous planning that goes into all of that to make it feel off-the-cuff.

I think theres no doubt about it.

The audience cant get past the found footage, jerky nature of the film itself.

Once you go below a certain age 25 and under or something it is the complete opposite reaction.

There isnt a thought given to that.

They dont even comment on it.

It just becomes a part of the way they consume and create their own media.

Its a new stylistic choice.

I dont necessarily mean found footage exclusively, but rather that YouTube aesthetic.

By the way, I dont mean ugly or unproduced.

Its just a feeling.

You must have shown the film for young viewers teens and 20s in test screenings.

What sort of feedback did you get?

You have to be careful, because you gotta be making your movie.

So you filter it through what youre trying to do.

So say an audience wants a happy ending, doesnt mean thats what they actually need.

Thats a golden rule in terms of preview screenings.

What is helpful is that it tells you how engaged they are in the storytelling.

What jokes are and arent working.

So in those arenas, it becomes extremely helpful.

Its helpful to see where theyre with you and where they start to break down.

So Ive heard youre doingWarGames.

Youre still working on it?

Weve been developing the script, and I think its an exciting project.

If theres ever a reason to remake a movie, itsWarGames.

So thats why I see the potential in remaking the movie.

Like any filmmaker, I think Im always very sceptical of remakes, because the storys already been told.

Why tell it again?

With this particular title, I feel its primed to say something new.

Do you think youll make it in a similar style toProject Almanac?

The found footage style?

It definitely wont be the found footage style, and it probably wont be as handheld.

Dean Israelite, thank you very much.

Project Almanacis out in UK cinemas on 16th February.