“Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothing yet!”
Those words from Al Jolson forever changed filmmaking in 1927, ushering in “talkies” and bringing about the beginning of the end of the silent film era.
The Academy Award for sound mixing recognizes the artists who fashion a film’s audio side. It must be distinguished from Best Sound Editing, which is the integration of artificially created sound effects into the mix. Mixing is the blending of those effects, along with dialogue, music and any other noise captured during filming. The Oscar awards the sound re-recording mixers in this category, who do the blending, as well as the production sound mixer, who captures the sounds on the set.
Blockbusters, action flicks, war films and musicals usually do particularly well in this category, given the extent to which the sound tends to draw attention to itself in these sorts of films. It’s somewhat difficult to project the category this far in advance, however, as the sound mixers for many of the films are difficult to pinpoint; mixing is one of the last tasks done on a film. But that’s not going to stop me from trying to handicap potential contenders!
Jon Favreau’s “Iron Man” is the sort of film that has virtually everything this branch normally goes for. The film is filled with action and high-profile sound work. Plus, it kicked off the summer blockbuster season with not only lots of dough for producers, but also lots of raves from critics. Veteran Oscar winner Christopher Boyes is in charge of this crew. I’d say a nomination is quite likely.
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Sometimes wishes really do come true in the movies. After March’s depressing (to me, at least) announcement that writer Peter Morgan was returning to the biopic well once more with a third take on Tony Blair, these were the exact words I wrote:
