In Contention

Tag: Best Sound Mixing

  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Sound Mixing — Volume II

    Sound mixing has a lot in common with sound editing, but the distinctions are still critical. While both clearly relate to what we hear in the theater, sound editing specifically relates to the creation of artificial sounds (“sound effects”) while sound mixing brings everything together — from effects to music to dialogue (recorded on set or during post-production) to music – into the overall soundscape of a film.

    Many of the same kinds of films that are nominated for Best Sound Editing are also frequently cited here – blockbusters, action films and war films. But musicals often pop up here, too.  And as in most categories, being a Best Picture contender certainly helps titles that otherwise would not come close to this category. Though it is hardly determinative.

    I said before and will say it again – I believe that Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” is leading the way here, at least in terms of likelihood of a nomination. I honestly expect a good half-dozen crafts category nominations for this title and this will be among them. And I expect the crew, including past nominee Gary Rizzo, to be firmly in the hunt for the statuette.

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  • On the sound of ‘The Social Network’

    Sure to be one of the most under-appreciated aspects of “The Social Network”‘s below-the-line is the sound design.  Most will likely take note during a club scene that filters dialogue between Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake without sacrificing the thumping rhythms of the setting, but there are a number of instances where I felt it was a refined piece of work from Academy Award winner Michael Semanick and company.

    There is also the idea that an Aaron Sorkin script involves a lot of overlapping and competing dialogue.  It’s a film with a lot of information to carry across and it’s imperative that you hear everything.  And that’s before we even get into how Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s ambient score is layered in throughout.

    The SoundWorks Collection, as ever, is on the case here.  The site’s latest profile illuminates the club scene among others and is worth a look and listen.  Head on over there now and check it out or watch the embed after the jump.

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Sound Mixing — Volume I

    Last week, while discussing the sound editing category, I explained the difference between that art form and sound mixing.  The Oscar for the latter is shared between two (or more) persons who construct the soundtrack of a movie.  The re-recording mixers bring together everything – dialogue, sound effects, music – into what we hear in the theater.  The production sound mixer is also awarded for capturing the sounds during shooting, an undoubtedly arduous task.

    Many of the films nominated here are also nominated for Best Sound Editing.  In fact, rarely is there more than one film showcased for only one field.  Both categories like loud films, blockbusters and, as always, being a Best Picture contender certainly helps.

    That said, some trends are noticeable between the two categories.  Firstly, the branch has a love of musicals when it comes to sound mixing.  That makes sense, of course, because a musical is fully made by its mix.  Meanwhile, animated films consistently fare better in the sound editing category, which also makes sense given that so much of the sound scape is created separately from production.

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  • ‘Scott Pilgrim’ vs. the sound

    I want to take a moment to note that, regardless of my feelings on the film, I’m really bummed about the box office performance of “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” not least of all because Edgar Wright is one of the good guys.  He’s making movies for all the right reasons.

    In any case, it’s left to be seen whether the film editing, visual effects or sound elements from the film can make a dent in the Oscar season, but the latter has received a SoundWorks Collection profile worth your look and listen.  The film is obviously alive in ways few films are and the below-the-line aspects are key to that.

    The crew includes re-recording mixers Chris Burdon and Doug Cooper with effects editors James Harrison, Ben Meechan and Julian Slater.  Have a look at the profile after the jump.

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  • On the sound of ‘Salt’

    The most recent predictions update substituted “The Last Airbender” (which failed miserably with critics) with “Salt” in the sound categories, and it wasn’t blind speculation. After all, the sound crew consists of such multi-lauded talents as Scott Millan and Greg P. Russell. Russell, as you know, has racked up some 13 nominations without a win.

    The trusty folks at SoundWorks Collection have once again produced a stellar featurette that really puts you into the world of the sound mixers and editors on the project. There’s plenty of discussion about blending the various elements together as well as discussion of James Newton Howard’s score, which is another great pulse-pounding effort form the composer.

    At the end of the day, this could be a surprise pair of nods akin to the “Wanted” one-two punch in 2008.  So watch out.  Head on over to SoundWorks Collection to see the 6-minute video, or click on through to watch an embed after the jump.

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  • On the sound of ‘Inception’

    I totally meant to post this over the weekend as it’s been live since Saturday. Alas, I forgot.

    I’ve been high on the guys at SoundWorks Collection since I stumbled across their work last year. As you know, we’ve always been concerned with shining a proper spotlight on below-the-line efforts in filmmaking. SoundWorks Collection focuses on sound mixing and sound editing in major releases with brief aurally-focused featurettes.

    Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” is unquestionably a beast of immersive sound design, so I’ve been waiting on for this one for a while. It features interviews with Gary Rizzo, Lora Hirschberg and Richard King. Head on over to SoundWorks Collection to watch the featurette, or click through to watch an embed.  I imagine we’ll be digging further into the craft aspects of the film later in the season when we launch our annual Tech Support interview series.

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Diving right back in

    Here we go again.  We just said goodbye to the 2009 film awards season four months ago, yet here we are, halfway through 2010 and ready to kick the tires on Tech Support, a unique feature here at In Contention.

    Tech Support, for those unaware, seeks to highlight below-the-line talent on films.  We offer space to recognize the film music and sound design that help set atmospheres, the costume and production design that helps manifest a new world on screen, the film editing that makes the machinery flow, the makeup that can build a character from the surface out, the visual effects that continue to wow us and the cinematography that truly captures a “motion picture.”

    Films would be impoverished without the contributions of those tasked with the above duties, to say the least. While many of them like being out of the spotlight, it nevertheless seems tremendously important to acknowledge their work, and so we’re happy to gallop into our fifth year of Tech Support.

    Over the next seven months, we will be taking a look at all of these categories, which are often forgotten in the mainstream press. We will take two in-depth looks at nine fields: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup, Best Music (Original Score), Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects.  Best Original Song, largely due to difficulties in amassing a list of contenders early on, will only be reviewed once, later in the season. After this, we hope to again feature many of the contenders with interview pieces, allowing you to read about the personal stories involved in creating films from below the line.

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  • On the sound of ‘Toy Story 3’

    It’s been a while since I linked over to the guys at SoundWorks Collection, who consistently do a marvelous job of conveying the intricacies of sound design, editing and mixing with making-of vignettes.  Most recently they turned their gaze to Pixar’s “Toy Story 3,” which boasts talents like Michael Semanick, Tom Meyers and Michael Silvers on the sound track.  Click the image below to shoot over to SoundWorks Collection or check out the embed after the jump.

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Final stretch, final predictions

    Zoe SaldanaWell, here we are. On Sunday, the statuettes for the Oscars will handed out. It seems difficult to remember that it was eight months ago when we started looking at the categories for the first time. Today, let’s take one last look at the crafts categories to see where we stand.

    Best Art Direction (Oscar Guide)
    One of the easiest predictions for the evening, for me, is Best Art Direction. James Cameron’s “Avatar” has won the Critics’c Choice, BAFTA and guild awards and this category and the sets, while not being typical of winners in this category, were brilliant. “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” strikes me as too small, “Nine,” too hated and “The Young Victoria,” more of a costumers film. I’d put guild winner “Sherlock Holmes” in second…but a very distant second.

    Will win: “Avatar”
    Could win: “Sherlock Holmes”
    Should win: “Avatar”

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Sound Mixing

    Transformeres: Revenge of the FallenThe year’s sound mixing category had relatively few surprises, just glancing at the tea leaves of the season.  There was a typical 4/5 crossover between the Cinema Audio Society and the Academy, with “District 9” missing both here and in the sound editing field.

    One might be quick to chalk this, in fact all of the tech races up to the tech-heavy elephant in the room.  But let’s not forget “Slumdog Millionaire” managed a win here last year, over a decently respected piece of blockbuster entertainment.  And at the end of the day, the Academy at large generally just votes for its favorite film of the bunch, rather than think too much about what’s deserving in the field.

    The nominees are:

    “Avatar” (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson)
    “The Hurt Locker” (Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett)
    “Inglourious Basterds” (Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano)
    “Star Trek” (Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin)
    “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson)

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Post mortem

    Michael Gambon in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceSo 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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  • TECH SUPPORT: Final predictions, part two

    Sharlto Copley in District 9Continuing 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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  • TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: Sound mixer Greg P. Russell

    Greg P. RussellWhen you’re coming off of one of the most elaborate and intensive sound mixing gigs in movie history, let alone of your own career, how do you top it with a sequel?

    That’s the challenge sound re-recording mixer Greg P. Russell faced when he and his team set about weaving in the various sonic elements of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” His seventh collaboration with director Michael Bay, the film proved to be the most aurally ambitious film Russell says he has mixed to date.

    “Back in the day when a large movie had three or four set pieces within a film, we have two set pieces within a reel now,” Russell says in his spacious media room in his home, a number of Academy screeners stuffed into a basket on the coffee coffee table in front of him.  “And this was an eight-reel film, so you can just see the size factor alone.”

    Let alone the new variations in robot sounds and articulation, the amount of artillery and weaponry featured on the screen this time around dwarfed anything Russell had ever seen before.  According to one of the film’s technical advisers, Bay filmed every aircraft that exists in the military save for one.

    “Everything from helicopters to hover boats to aircraft carriers to submarines, the artillery alone just from a human level was enormous,” Russell says.  “Then you add on top of that massive robots and their weaponry and all their intricacies, it’s a very complicated movie to bring to life.”

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  • CAS nominees

    The Hurt LockerIronic 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.

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  • Behind the sonic magic of ‘Transformers’

    Transformers: Revenge of the FallenSpeaking 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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  • The sound of ‘Star Trek’

    (Courtesy: SoundWorks Collection)

  • On the sound of ‘Transformers’

    A few weeks back we told you about a new site called SoundWorks Collection, which has been doing a great job of featuring the sound mixing and sound editing on a number of the year’s contenders.  Using brief video pieces to illustrate an element of the industry that is still somewhat mysterious to many, I think they’re grounding it for general audiences quite well.

    Most recently, the site featured the sound of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” which was mixed by Gary Summers and Greg P. Russell and features an all-star sound crew that is sure to be recognized again.  Take a look:

    We’ll be featuring Russell once again here in a couple of weeks via our Tech Support interview series.  As you know, he is the second-most nominated individual to never receive an Oscar (12 nods and counting).

  • Something for the soundphiles

    2012Thanks to Sasha Stone at Awards Daily for a pretty sweet find this Oscar season.

    We are, of course, very proud of our dedication to the crafts categories via Gerard’s Tech Support columns here at In Contention.  It’s been a concentrated effort on our part to help carry the flag for folks who deserve as much credit this time of year as the major stars, yet don’t receive it.

    Fortunately, over the last two years or so, I’ve noticed a number of major outlets pumping up their crafts coverage.  It’s nice to see the notion taking.

    Anyway, over at SoundWorks Collection, a site “dedicated to profiling the greatest and upcoming sound minds from around the world and highlight their contributions,” according to their literature, there is a great new weekly feature spotlighting the sound of various contenders throughout the season.

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