In Contention

Tag: Gwendolyn Yates Whittle

  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Sound Editing

    A few years back the sound branch did away with the bake-off process of determining its nominees for Best Sound Editing and the field was expanded to five. The visual effects branch followed suit this year and, maybe some day, the makeup branch will do the same.

    The sound branch is unique in that it nominates in two discipline-specific fields. Often there is a considerable cross-over between Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing as a result. The unfortunate thing is that the Academy at large doesn’t understand what quality editorial and mixing is when it comes to these aural areas. Typically they just pick their favorite film and move on to the next category.

    The nominees are:

    “Inception” (Richard King)
    “Toy Story 3” (Tom Myers and Michael Silvers)
    “TRON Legacy” (Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague)
    “True Grit” (Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey)
    “Unstoppable” (Mark P. Stoeckinger)

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  • On the sound of ‘TRON Legacy’

    For me, “TRON Legacy” is all about what you hear, and how you hear it.  The team at Skywalker Sound did a hell of a job creating a dynamic and unique aural environment.  In my opinion, it’s tops in both sound categories for the year.

    So, naturally, I delighted in the SoundWorks Collection’s recent piece built around the principals on the crew, led by the likes of 13-time Oscar nominated sound re-recording mixer Christopher Boyes and supervising sound editor Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, herself a nominee last year for “Avatar.”

    I’m holding out hope that the Academy at large can recognize this achievement over “Inception,” because it’s frankly a more involved and distinctive piece of work.  Check out the SoundWorks Collection’s focus on the work, featuring interviews with Whittle, sound designer Steve Boeddeker and re-recording mixer Gary Rizzo, after the jump.  (And yeah, there’s some Daft Punk talk.)

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Sound Editing — Volume II

    Last week we discussed how a movie’s soundtrack can be immeasurably improved by music.  This week, we turn to the sound technicians.  While next week will concentrate on sound mixing (the overall mix of effects, recorded sounds, dialogue and music), this week we look at sound editing, the creation of artificial sound effects to enhance a film’s aural impact.

    Despite the difference between the two sound categories, the fact remains that usually no more than one or two of the nominees in the Best Sound Editing field are generally snubbed for mixing.  And as always, Best Picture contenders do well, suggesting that the branch isn’t the most novel when seeking out nominees.

    However, the category has shown a tendency to reward films that do not necessarily score in the major categories; blockbusters, fantasy films and animated films usually do very well here, likely because of the fact that so many sounds in these movies have to be manifested.  So let’s start with animated titles.

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  • OSCAR GUIDE: Best Sound Editing

    UpThis year marked the first year in recent memory that the Motion Picture Sound Editors offered up its list of nominees prior to the Oscar nominations announcement rather than after. Generally that batch of tea leaves is therefore elusive for those of us looking for indicators along the way.

    Nevertheless, there wasn’t a huge shift in ideology form the mixing field to the editing field. Four films crossed over while the one that pushed through here certainly isn’t as deserving as the one that was nixed, but c’est la vie. I get the feeling there was some chummy autopilot voting going on there, but it’s a relatively solid batch of competitors anyway.

    The nominees are:

    “Avatar” (Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle)
    “The Hurt Locker” (Paul N.J. Ottosson)
    “Inglourious Basterds” (Wylie Stateman)
    “Star Trek” (Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin)
    “Up” (Michael Silvers and Tom Myers)

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