Ironic that his release drops tonight just as I’m transcribing an interview with sound mixer Greg Russell for tomorrow’s Tech Support column.
The list of nominees for the Cinema Audio Society doesn’t exactly hold any surprises. The only film on the list that isn’t being predicted in the sidebar as of right now is “District 9” (I have “Inglourious Basterds” in there at the moment). Michael Minkler and his team could still slide in, but given the names involved, this really does feel like a safe batch of films to predict for all you office poolers.
The CAS doesn’t always match up with the Academy on winners, of course, because no one outside the sound branch of the Academy has a friggin’ clue what quality sound mixing is (or the difference between that and sound editing, for that matter). But regardless, I would expect “Avatar” to win both this time. The makings of a juggernaut, all of that.
It’s probably not even worth pointing out that “Nine” missed the cut at this point. It has been missing with guild after guild as it is, and there might have been a few that thought it would get in for simply being a musical. But I’ve heard some grumbling about that mix for a while now (it was apparently a bit of a mess), so it’s not so shocking to see it miss here.
But back to “District 9,” if you’re keeping track at home, this makes five guild/industry award citations so far. That’s a pretty healthy haul and one more indication that there is plenty of support to get it into a field of 10 Best Picture nominees.
Personally, I’d give the award to “Star Trek.” My true favorite in the category, “The Lovely Bones,” was destined to be snubbed.
Anyway, the nominees below and at The Circuit.
“Avatar”
Re-recording mixers: Chris Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson
Production mixer: Tony Johnson
“District 9”
Re-recording mixers: Michael Hedges, Gilbert Lake
Production mixer: Ken Saville
“The Hurt Locker”
Re-recording mixer: Paul N.J. Ottosson
Production mixer: Ray Beckett
“Star Trek”
Re-recording mixers: Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson
Production mixer: Peter J. Devlin
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
Re-recording mixers: Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers
Production mixer: Geoffrey Patterson
Comments
14 responses to “CAS nominees”
The CAS isn’t the best precursor amongst the guilds for nominations or even worse for the win.
But we know Star Trek, Avatar, Transformers, & Dist.9 pretty much look golden. And does The Hurt Locker also get in. Pixar’s animated films tend to have a showing here but Up doesn’t look to be a strong contender in the Sound categories while it could very well get in for Sound Mixing I think it goes Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, or even Sherlock Holmes.
I just don’t see Inglourious Basterds being nominated for anything sound-wise because there wasn’t anything particularly exemplary in the film aurally. But then again, the Academy always votes for the one that’s the loudest rather than the one that best supplements the film.
I would have replaced The Hurt Locker with Public Enemies on this list though. IMO, the sound work on that film is highly underrated.
In terms of my favorite of the year, I’d have to give it to Skip Lievsay and his team for A Serious Man. They did a superb job creating a true aural atmosphere accompanying Larry Gopniks particular plight.
Wow, that’s the first time I’ve EVER heard someone praise the sound of Public Enemies. Mann’s near deafness kills the soundscape of just about all of his films.
I would have really liked to see O’Connell in here for Public Enemies, as I thought the sound was the only thing remotely authentic about that film.
No, I agree about “Public Enemies.” The vigorous pop-pop-pop of the tommy guns should be enough to get it nominated. Brilliant.
The thing I find interesting about the sound work in Public Enemies is that during the action scenes, it sounds “realistic” rather than “theatrical” (i.e. sound compresses on the close ups of the tommy guns). I’ve seen Public Enemies thrice already and I really recommend watching it on a calibrated surround system.
“In terms of my favorite of the year, I’d have to give it to Skip Lievsay and his team for A Serious Man. They did a superb job creating a true aural atmosphere accompanying Larry Gopniks particular plight.”
Agree!! Great to see somebody who loves the sound in that movie.
I know the difference between Sound Mixing and Sound Editing in a general sort of way. Sound Editing is the creation of sounds – the suitcase scraping through the vent in “No Country for Old Men”, the mothership siren in “District 9” – whereas Sound Mixing (or Sound Design) is the way sound – including sound effects, music, dialogue, etc – is mixed on the soundtrack.
Editing has more to do with the creation of sound, Mixing has more to do with those sounds are integrated.
Or at least that’s how I figure it in my head when I’m considering if a movie is good in those fields. That’s why sound design is really bad to judge unless you see a movie in a cinema or with surround sound at home.
Count me in for “A Serious Man”, wonderful nuanced sound work.
The sound brach can always surprise, just like they did with Wanted last year (or like in 2005 when they gave Sound Mixing and Sound Editing to Memoirs of a Geisha!!)
So, even a movie long forgotten by everyone else like Public Enemies can find its way to a nomination based the quality of the work and the name of the Kevin O’Connell as sound mixer (that guy they don’t like that much, that have been nominated just 2o times).
If one film deserves to beat Avatar in either sound category at the Oscars, it should be Ben Burtt’s sound editing on Star Trek. It was really quite spectacular.
I like what this means for Distric 9’s chances as well. I’m also hoping this bodes well for Star Trek’s BP hopes: that film has had 7 guild/industry citations (the two that D9 doesn’t have are fairly insignifigant: a SAG stunt ensemble nod and the WGA nod which likely would have been replaced by D9 had it been eligible).
And D9 somehow got a Scripter nod, too. While that isn’t really “industry”, it’s important.
Witholding any further comments about Public Enemies until we see what The Academy releases Feb 2…