Tag: Best Sound Editing

TECH SUPPORT: Post mortem

So here we are. For the most part, the crafts category nominations weren’t surprising, and there is not a single film that fared drastically better – or worse – than I expected.

As for comments on individual categories? In Best Cinematography, Bruno Delbonnel’s nomination for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” has got to be one of the biggest surprises of the year. The other nominees were completely expected. Dion Beebe apparently couldn’t overcome “Nine”’s collapse.

On the other hand, John Myrhe managed to make it in for Rob Marshall’s musical in Best Art Direction after missing with both BAFTA and the guild. Nominations for “Avatar” and, in my opinion, “Sherlock Holmes” were to be expected. But the other nominees were slightly surprising.

“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” was richly deserving but still surprising. And “The Young Victoria” evidently had more support than I first thought. The real snub here, however, is David Wasco. If he can’t get in for “Inglourious Basterds,” I’m not sure what it’ll take.

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February 5, 2010
TECH SUPPORT: Final predictions, part two

Continuing from where we left off yesterday, today we look at the fields of makeup, music, sound and visual effects.

BEST MAKEUP

The shortlist of seven makes predicting this category slightly easier. “District 9”’s realistic wounds, not to mention the practical elements of the central character’s transformation, likely make it the frontrunner. “Star Trek,” meanwhile, boasted an array of alien species and turned young actors into iconic characters.

So what will get the last spot? “The Young Victoria” has done better than I would have expected it to do this season and the costumes are assured a nomination. But its shortlisting here seems really for hairstyling, which historically doesn’t lead to nominations. Then again, a BAFTA nomination shouldn’t be taken lightly.

I find it difficult to believe that “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” will be nominated when its predecessor failed to even be shortlisted. Admittedly, it worked for “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me,” but the characters there were much more iconic. Still, one never knows.

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January 31, 2010
Behind the sonic magic of ‘Transformers’

Speaking of sound, Paramount was shrewd enough to put together a wonderful event last night in the Cary Grant Theater on the Sony lot dedicated to the sound design of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” Re-recording mixers Gary Summers and Greg P. Russell were on hand, as well as sound effects editors Ethan Van Der Ryn and Erik Aadahl. Michael Bay was also in the house, introducing his crew and discussing the importance of sound in his work, which he has said is 50% of the movie-going experience. And the Cary Grant, by the way, is the actual stage the film was mixed on.

After a brief introduction from Bay, Russell took the mic to briefly explain what it is he and the boys do. “Painting with sound” is what he likes to call it, since as a re-recording mixer, he gets to sit at a console and play with a treasure trove of effects created specifically for the film by Van Der Ryn, Aadahl and their team. Most of the effects for the film were indeed original to the piece, which is preferable with something as aurally unique as the “Transformers” films. “Some people take it off a shelf,” Bay said, referring to the use of stock or cataloged sound effects, “and that’s just wrong.”

Then it was on to the first of five clips, the opening set piece in Shanghai, which was a nice way of getting the modest crowd in the mood for the night’s shenanigans. Frankly, this kind of thing should be open for the Academy, which votes in the sound categories at large when it becomes clear year in and year out that most of the membership doesn’t understand quality sound work, let alone the difference between sound mixing and sound editing.

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January 12, 2010
The sound of ‘Star Trek’

(Courtesy: SoundWorks Collection)

January 12, 2010
WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Education’ lands, animation expands

• After a quiet week for awards news, this week’s Off the Carpet column contemplated the depth of the Best Actress race.

• A topic that Kris and Anne also debated in this week’s episode of Oscar Talk.

• Speaking of Best Actress, “An Education,” with its nomination-bound performance by Carey Mulligan, finally hit theaters this week.

• And speaking of Mulligan, she placed highly in our list of the Top 10 actors under 30.

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October 10, 2009
TECH SUPPORT: Best Sound Editing — Volume II

Back in July, I took an initial stab at the “zaps,” “booms,” “clinks” and “bams” of the sound editing category. Since then, several titles have been seen, moved on to 2010 or popped up as new comers. Let’s take a look…

With “Green Zone” and “The Wolf Man” delayed until next year, the category’s potential seems a touch depleted. And also from that early crop, I think “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” and “Public Enemies” hardly made enough of an impression to be remembered come the end of the year.

Then again, I thought the same about “Wanted” last year.

I do believe a genuine new contender has joined the race in Neill Blomkamp’s “District 9.” While the film’s sound editors have not been recognized by the Academy to date, the film was a surprising hit and its soundscape seems the sort this branch would like to cite.

Elsewhere, my early “Inglourious Basterds” hunch in this category seems to have worked out. The film did quite well for itself and artificial sounds were integral. Wylie Stateman failed to get nominated for his work on the “Kill Bill” films, but he is a four-time nominee nevertheless. And this is a (slightly) more Oscar-friendly film than that two-parter.

I don’t think anything has changed the course of Michael Bay’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” in this field. Regardless of quality, Bay’s films do well with the sound branch and Ethan Van der Ryn is a two-time winner. Only if the branch really can’t make it through the film would I expect him and his crew to miss.

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October 8, 2009
WEEKLY WRAP: Comic-Con, a taste of ‘Avatar’ and ‘Alice’

• Comic-Con was the week’s big story, with 25 minutes of footage from “Avatar” its major talking-point so far.

• Meanwhile, the rather less glitzy sci-fi of “District 9” wowed the crowds.

• And Gary Oldman slipped some unexpected news about the next Batman installment.

• Good week for trailers, as both “Alice in Wonderland” and “Bright Star” offered a crazyglimpse of their goods.

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July 25, 2009
TECH SUPPORT: Best Sound Editing — Volume I

Zoom. Smash. Bang. Grunt. Zap. Splash. Screech.

A single sound effect can capture a character, emotion or setting. And creating such sounds is no easy task, requiring creativity, ingenuity and constant communication with the other filmmakers to best capture the feel of a film.

The manifestation of these aural components — as well as their integration into the overall soundtrack of the film — is recognized by the Academy with the award for Best Sound Editing.

I suspect we’ve seen at least two – very possibly three or even four – of this category’s eventual 2009 nominees already. (At this point last year, we had seen four of five!) Blockbuster entertainment tends to rule the day. Let’s take a look.

Though I doubt it will be able to win, given the failure of its predecessor to do so, I am pretty confident that massive box office, not the complex mechanics involved, will manage to bring “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” into the final five. Michael Bay’s films do well with the sound branch.

Also from the summer, another film I strongly expect to enter the fray is “Star Trek.” Against all odds, the film managed to be a very successful reboot to this franchise and sound effects were pivotal to its success. While the series has only been embraced by the category intermittently, if there is one category where I expect this film to score, this is it. The sound effects were impressive and with a wide range.

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July 23, 2009
TECH SUPPORT: Final predictions

After six months of Tech Support previews and interviews, the films have arrived, the nominations have been announced and the guilds, the critics and BAFTA have all announced their preferences. Today we take a final look at the races before the envelopes are opened on Sunday.

BEST ART DIRECTION
After guild and BAFTA wins, I would say “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” has cemented its frontrunner status in this category. Spanning decades of the 20th Century, Donald Graham Burt’s production design was impossible not to notice and gave us gorgeous backdrops for its character’s predicaments.

The other nominees all have the odds stacked against them, whether similar work has been seen before (Michael Carlin’s “The Duchess” and Kristi Zea’s “Revolutionary Road”), is just not showy enough (Nathan Crowley’s “The Dark Knight”) or the nominee is otherwise along for the ride (James Murakami’s “Changeling”).

Will win: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Could win: “The Duchess”
Should win: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

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February 18, 2009
Can ‘Slumdog’ really make a clean sweep?

As we all know, this was a(nother) exceptionally good weekend for “Slumdog Millionaire,” as it nabbed a quartet of technical guild trophies, from the cinematographers, editors, art directors and even, in an especially unlikely coup, the sound mixers. With just the costume designers left to weigh in, this means that Danny Boyle’s film has not come up empty at a single guild ceremony all season — it is an unprecedented hot streak.

With voters seemingly incapable, on any given ballot, of not checking the box alongside the word “Slumdog,” the film suddenly poses a very real threat of nabbing 9 awards, sweeping every category in which it is nominated at the Oscars. Nathaniel Rogers, for one, is predicting such an outcome, and thinks that the key to everything lies in the usually unheralded sound categories:

It might sound odd to say but I believe these are the key categories of the night. If they announce them early and they both go to Slumdog Millionaire we have a sweeper on our hands and you’ll watch it win all 9 of its categories. If it loses both it will likely be a more traditional night when several film get a couple of statues each. But these two categories are clearly where Slumdog is most vulnerable to defeat. Voters could also opt to improve WALL•E or The Dark Knight‘s statue total … (But) the biggest problem for both the robot and the batman is, I fear, each other. Which might have also been the case in the best picture nomination battle.

I completely agree. The two sound categories are among the races causing me the most head-scratching as I finalise my predictions. As a technical feat of sound design, “WALL-E” would appear to be the connoisseur’s choice, but the fact that it was passed over by the guild raises a questionmark. “The Dark Knight” fits the same “acclaimed action movie” profile that netted “The Bourne Ultimatum” a brace of wins here last year. But aren’t the Academy members who don’t know much about the craft, but do love “Slumdog,” simply going to check off the film’s name twice more?

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February 16, 2009
POLL: Who deserves it? — BEST SOUND EDITING

Tell us in the sidebar! Thanks for chiming in on these guys. They’ll come fast and furious over the next week or so, one per day.

January 31, 2009
TECH SUPPORT: The aftermath

So the nominations have descended upon us. “The Dark Knight,” “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” as expected, all did phenomenally well, garnering seven crafts nominations each. The only absolute shock, in my opinion, was “Wanted” managing to show up in the sound fields.

Allow me a few comments on each category…

Best Art Direction
As expected, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Changeling” and “The Dark Knight” all managed to score nominations.

My “Frost/Nixon” hunch and “Slumdog Millionaire” gamble, however, were incorrect. Rather, Michael Carlin’s lavish sets for “The Duchess” and Kristi Zea’s recreation of 1950s suburbia on “Revolutionary Road” managed to overcome guild snubs and find a home here.

Best Cinematography
My hunch that the guild and the AMPAS branch would not match 5/5 was right on as Tom Stern managed to prevent a second consecutive double nomination for Roger Deakins. Stern’s work on “Changeling” was his sixth collaboration with Clint Eastwood this decade; a nomination seemed inevitable eventually.

Joining him, as expected, are Chris Menges and Roger Deakins for “The Reader,” Claudio Miranda for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Wally Pfister for “The Dark Knight” and Anthony Dod Mantle for “Slumdog Millionaire.”

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January 23, 2009
TECH SUPPORT: Final preview special, part two

This is part two of my last glance at the year’s tech category contenders. For part one, click here.

Best Music (Original Score)
Now here is a category where there are no locks. Nonetheless, considering the success of their films and scores in awards season to date, A.R. Rahmen (for “Slumdog Millionaire”) and Alexandre Desplat (for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) seem solid bets.

Thomas Newman, despite only having a BAFTA nomination to his credit so far in the awards season, often scores when the precursors don’t coming calling so I think he’s in for “WALL-E.” Alternatively, he could get in for “Revolutionary Road.”

The rest of the Golden Globe nominees strike me as facing challenges. Clint Eastwood has performed well this season with “Changeling” but I am doubtful he will ever be embraced by the music branch. James Newton Howard’s compositions for “Defiance” may be lost with his film while Hans Zimmer’s Globe citation for “Frost/Nixon” seems more like a tribute to the composer, a Globe favorite.

I would actually wager that Zimmer and Howard have a better opportunity with their fantastic “The Dark Knight” collaboration. Zimmer has been campaigning hard. Even so, I’m skeptical the duo will score. Co-composers receiving Oscar nominations is extremely rare. (Though, in all fairness, so is co-composing.)

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January 21, 2009
WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Milk’ unveiled, London winds down, Halloween horror

It’s been a quieter seven days after the upheaval we’ve seen in the race lately, but here’s how things went down:

• “Milk” and “Frost/Nixon” finally unspooled for the LA crowd…

• … and boy, some people don’t take kindly to criticism of either flick.

• Meanwhile, “Doubt” kicked off the AFI Fest…

• … while the London Film Festival drew to a close, showcasing “Che” and “The Wrestler” along the way. Check out our assorted reviews and “best in show” wrap-up.

• ‘Tis the season to be scared shitless… the 20 all-time best horror films, as assembled by our team.

• Christopher Nolan offers pretty much the final word on “The Dark Knight,” while some wonder if he can complete a Batman hat-trick.

• The British Independent Film Awards revealed their nominees… “Hunger” and “In Bruges” are sitting pretty.

• Best Sound Editing gets its week in the sun at Tech Support.

• Looking at some new blood in this year’s tepid Best Original Song race.

October 31, 2008
TECH SUPPORT: Best Sound Editing — Volume One

Swoosh. Bang. Grunt. Clink. Crash.

These sorts of sounds can add a lot to a film’s mood and plot even though they are not recorded during filming and have to be created and mixed in later on.

The individuals who create these effects are rewarded for their efforts in the category of Best Sound Editing. The category used to be called Best Sound Effects Editing, which, in my opinion, is a better name. Supervising sound editors and their teams are generally the individuals rewarded here.

This category used to only have three nominees but was expanded to five two years ago. This makes the category somewhat more difficult to predict, though there are five films this year that really strike me as frontrunners.

Ever since “Monsters, Inc.” scored here in 2001, animated films, particularly those of Pixar, have fared very well. I’d be very surprised if Andrew Stanton’s “WALL-E” failed to continue that trend. Sound effects are key to any animated film so many of the sounds have to be created. There is nothing to be captured while filming because, well…there is no filming! For Stanton’s effort in particular, the sound effects were especially pivotal given the minimal dialogue.

Jon Favreau’s “Iron Man” was another summer film where the sound effects were crucial to the film. The explosions, clanks of armour and numerous experiments of Downey all required sound manifestation. A huge hit and critically respected, the film in really depended on its sound editing and it flowed perfectly into the visual sights. I’d be quite surprised if it didn’t get nominated here.

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October 30, 2008
TECH SUPPORT: Fall and Winter Contenders

Last week we took a look at the films that have already been released and now appear to be in contention for crafts nominations come Oscar time. Now that the dust is settling from the Toronto and Venice Film Festivals, it’s time to look ahead…

Very often we see films dominate the crafts categories and end up with many nominations. Recent examples include “The Aviator,” “Memoirs of a Geisha” and “Dreamgirls” though, in all fairness, not to the extent expected. Such films tend to be set in period, large in scope and contenders in the main categories as well. And a number of upcoming efforts are aiming for that kind of recognition.

Baz Lurhmann’s “Australia” seems the obvious example. Lurhmann is a visual master and this film could be an amazing palette. Cinematographer Mandy Walker and production designer/costume designer Catherine Martin (Mrs. Lurhmann) strike me as likely nominees. This is not to mention great opportunities in sound, editing, makeup and a potential return to the game for Aussie composer David Hirschfelder.

David Fincher has the opportunity to finally break through with Oscar in a major way with “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” His films have — shamefully, in my opinion — received a grand total of three Oscar nominations to date. While a few hasty bloggers gave some cold knee-jerk assessments of a reel of footage at Telluride, I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for now.

Moreover, “Button” should prove to be visually spectacular. The cinematography, editing, visual effects and makeup will likely be integral to the plot. The sets and costumes will span 80 years. This sounds like the makings of a potential crafts category behemoth. And don’t forget the score from Alexandre Desplat, my favorite working composer.

Edward Zwick’s “Defiance” is another film that could be a massive player in the crafts fields. While Zwick’s films are notorious for their flat critical receptions, they almost always involve themes the Academy loves and “Defiance” should prove no exception in this regard. Indeed, his films usually take at least three nominations in the crafts categories.

Zwick has not disappointed in amassing a slew of respected artists who have been recognized by the Academy in the past: cinematographer Eduardo Serra, costume designer Jenny Beavan, film editor Steven Rosenblum and composer James Newton Howard. Veteran production designer Dan Weil seems bound to be nominated eventually, while the still undocumented sound designers are sure to be top notch.

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September 18, 2008
TECH SUPPORT: Pre-Fall Contenders

While this week is rightly being most noted by awards-watchers for the Toronto International Film Festival, I’m actually going to go a bit of a different route today. I will be sure to comment on the movers and shakers of TIFF next week as the dust begins to settle, however.

In a couple of weeks, I’ll start exploring each of the technical categories, one at a time, examining the potential contenders. But right now, I think it’s a good time to look back on the contenders we’ve already seen.

Many of the highest profile films of the year could garner nominations in the major categories at the Oscars. Heath Ledger’s classic turn in “The Dark Knight” seems almost certain to score recognition. (In my opinion, the film has much more potential than just Ledger, though that will depend on the reception of films we’ve yet to see.)

Penelope Cruz’s work in “Vicky Christina Barcelona” is bound to come into play during the awards season, with writer Woody Allen not too far behind. Films like “Frozen River” and “The Visitor” could wind up in contention for the performances of Melissa Leo and Richard Jenkins.

Not to mention Andrew Stanton’s beautiful “WALL-E,” which may have had its “summer favorite” buzz stolen by “The Dark Knight,” but that does not take away from the prestige the Pixar name brings. (Though the minimal dialogue may prove a problem in garnering a screenplay nomination.)

But as I noted in a column here two years ago, the pre-Fall months can be a major source of nominations in the crafts categories.

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September 11, 2008
TECH SUPPORT: Kicking off the new year

Well here we go again. Welcome to the third year of “Tech Support” here at In Contention, still the Oscarweb’s only weekly column devoted strictly to the crafts elements of filmmaking and the awards process that surrounds them.

The Toronto International Film Festival will be commencing tonight in my hometown and I am yet again “up the creek” (the creek being Lake Ontario) in Kingston. TIFF is correctly acknowledged as the true starting point of awards season so the next few weeks will really be an intro to the year ahead posing the intial questions that the oncoming season will eventually answer. The crafts categories will be no exception in that regard.

So before we get there, perhaps stating the purpose of Tech Support, for both new and veteran readers, is a good place to start.

Consider camera work. Sets. Costumes. Editing. Sound. Visual Effects. Makeup. Music.

It goes without saying the absence of either element would negate the film-going experience. It might be true that the average moviegoer will see a film because of its director or its stars and not its
cinematography but that does not take away from the work that crafts artists do behind the scenes to
bring a movie to life, to improve it and to push the medium of film forward.

Tech Support is an attempt to give the artists behind this work a more prominent role in the media, a role they almost never find themselves in. At In Contention, our focus is obviously on the awards side of the filmmaking industry. Discussing phenomena seen in the categories that award these disciplines, discussing particular categories and interviewing those “in contention” are frequent subjects of the weekly debate and discourse.

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September 4, 2008