53rd Annual CAS Awards

[Jeff Wexler]

Highlights of CAS coverage

FROM BELOW THE LINE  NEWS

http://www.btlnews.com/awards/53rd-annual-cas-awards-la-la-land-scores-top-sound-mixing-honors/

53rd Annual CAS Awards: La La Land Scores Top Sound Mixing Honors

February 20, 2017 | By Mary Ann Skweres

Ryan Gosling and Damien Chazelle in La La Land (2016)

Racking up another win on its way to the Oscars next week, La La Land took home the Cinema Audio Society Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing Motion Picture – Live Action at the 53rd annual awards. Director Damien Chazelle was on hand to support his sound mixing team of Steven Morrow, CAS, Andy Nelson, CAS, Ai Ling Lee, Nicholai Baxter, David Betancourt, and James Ashwill.

Finding Dory swam to top honors in the Motion Picture – Animated category for the sound mixing team of Doc Kane, CAS, Nathan Nance, Michael Semanick, CAS, Thomas Vicari, CAS and Scott Curtis.

This year the first ever CAS Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing Motion Picture – Documentary was garnered by The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble and the team of Dimitre Tisseyre, Dennis Hamlin and Peter Horner.

The People v. O.J. Simpson: America Crime Story “A Jury In Jail” Episode 108. Pictured: (l-r) David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian, Cuba Gooding, Jr. as O.J. Simpson. CR: Prashant Gupta/FX

Having grown out of their previous venue, the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, the ceremony was held February 18th at the Bunker Hill Ballroom of the OMNI Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza. Returning, as Master of Ceremonies for the Awards was comedian, actress and animal rights advocate Elayne Boosler. Trophies for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing were presented in seven feature film and television categories, including the inaugural Motion Picture Documentary award.

 

Playing to her audience at the opening of the ceremony, Boosler welcomed the crowd with politically tinged humor commenting, “Just remember, the sound mixing is real, the movies are fake.” After the wild applause, Boosler was rewarded with riotous laughter when she added, “Also, whoever gives the best acceptance speech tonight gets to be our new national security advisor.”

 

Calling his associates “Stewards of Sound,” CAS president Mark Ulano recognized the achievements of the mixing community, citing Emmy and BAFTA Awards winners and Oscar nominees. He announced CAS’s new board members and paid tribute in memoriam to members lost in the past year.

Presenting production mixer John Pritchett, CAS (Memoirs of a Geisha,Road to Perdition, Magnolia, Wyatt Earp,The Player) with the CAS Career Achievement Award, two-time Golden Globe nominee Jack Black  (Bernie, School of Rock) joked, “Sound mixing is a lot like plastic surgery. You only notice when it’s badly done.”

Pritchett was feted by previous CAS Career Achievement honoree, Scott Millan, CAS, in a presentation that included remarks by actor Tom Hanks. He has had successful working relationships with some of Hollywood’s most prestigious directors – Robert Altman, Lawrence Kasdan, David Mamet, Paul Thomas, Anderson, Oliver Stone and Richard Linklater.

Game of Thrones,”Battle of the Bastards” (2016, Courtesy of HBO)

In accepting his award, Pritchett noted, “None of us do what we do by ourselves. We all sit on some sort of little pyramid… Each of us in our own way, we sit on our own pyramid of support, people who help us do what we do. I cannot accentuate enough the fact that we as sound mixers rely so much on those who help ­­– our boom operators, our utility people.”

 

Writer/Actor/Producer Seth MacFarlane was on hand to present Emmy Award nominated multi-hyphenate filmmaker Jon Favreau (The Jungle Book, Chef, Cowboys & Aliens, Iron Man, Iron Man 2) with the 12th CAS Filmmaker Award. The presentation included remarks by Ulano and Academy Award nominated and Emmy Award winning composer John Debney (Sin City, Iron Man 2). Videotaped congratulations from Stan Lee and Ed Asner rounded out the tribute.

Debney concluded his comments on a personal note, “There is no greater joy for a composer than being on a scoring stage, in front of the finest musicians in the world, creating music for an appreciative and collaborative director… Jon, thank you for the ongoing adventures and for giving this humble composer a chance to write music from my soul. To be a small part of your universe has been the honor of my career.”

Having started his career in the entertainment industry as an actor, Favreau moved into working both sides of the camera as an actor, writer, director and producer. In accepting his CAS award, Favreau observed, “This is really wonderful. It’s not lost on me that I’m the only guy being honored tonight that’s not in your trade. That’s a big deal. It really means a lot to me that those of you who work with me didn’t veto this award.” He also stated that mixing is, “An invisible art, because by definition, you can’t see it, so people under value it,” but shared that he had learned from a young age the value of all aspects of sound in filmmaking.

The sound mixing team of The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story took top honors for Television Movie or Mini-Series. Television-One Hour honors went to Game of Thrones: Battle of the Bastards, while Modern Family: The Storm won the award for Television Series-Half Hour. Grease Live! won for Television Non-Fiction, Variety or Music Series or Specials.

 

The Technical Achievement Awards, revamped this year as the Outstanding Product Awards, went to Cedar Audio for their Cedar DNS2 Dynamic Noise Suppression Unit and McDSP for their post production SA-2 Dialog Processor.

In its third year, the CAS Student Recognition Award, created to launch the careers of students aspiring to move into the field of sound mixing, was presented to Chapman University’s Wenrui “Sam” Fan.

Celebrity presenters for the CAS Awards included: Nancy Cartwright (The Simpsons), Robert Forster (Jackie Brown), Janina Gavankar (FOX’s Sleepy Hollow), Clyde Kusatsu (SAG/AFTRA vice-president, Madame Secretary), Rhea Seehorn (AMC’s Better Call Saul), Angela Sarafyan (HBO’s Westworld) and Nondumiso Tembe (History Channel’s Six). 

 

Complete List of CAS Winners:

 

MOTION PICTURE—LIVE ACTION

La La Land

Production Mixer – Steven Morrow, CAS

Re-recording Mixer – Andy Nelson, CAS

Re-recording Mixer – Ai-Ling Lee

Scoring Mixer – Nicholai Baxter

ADR Mixer – David Betancourt

Foley Mixer – James Ashwill

 

MOTION PICTURE—ANIMATED

Finding Dory

Original Dialogue Mixer – Doc Kane, CAS

Re-recording Mixer – Nathan Nance

Re-recording Mixer – Michael Semanick, CAS

Scoring Mixer – Thomas Vicari, CAS

Foley Mixer – Scott Curtis

 

MOTION PICTURE—DOCUMENTARY

The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble

Production Mixer – Dimitri Tisseyre

Production Mixer – Dennis Hamlin

Re-recording Mixer – Peter Horner

 

TELEVISION MOVIE or MINI-SERIES

The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story

Production Mixer – John Bauman

Re-recording Mixer –Joe Earle, CAS

Re-recording Mixer – Doug Andham, CAS

ADR Mixer – Judah Getz

Foley Mixer –John Guentner

 

TELEVISION SERIES—1 HOUR

Game of Thrones: Battle of the Bastards

Production Mixer – Ronan Hill, CAS

Production Mixer – Richard Dyer, CAS

Re-recording Mixer – Onnalee Blank, CAS

Re-recording Mixer – Mathew Waters, CAS

Foley Mixer – Brett Voss, CAS

 

TELEVISION SERIES—1/2 HOUR

Modern Family: The Storm

Production Mixer – Stephen A. Tibbo, CAS

Re-recording Mixer – Dean Okrand, CAS

Re-recording Mixer – Brian R. Harman, CAS

 

TELEVISION NON-FICTION, VARIETY or MUSIC SERIES or SPECIALS

Grease Live!

Production Mixer – J. Mark King

Music Mixer – Biff Dawes

Playback and SFX Mixer – Eric Johnston

Protools Playback Music Mixer – Pablo Munguía

 

OUTSTANDING PRODUCT—PRODUCTION

CEDAR DNS2 Dynamic Noise Suppression Unit

Manufacturer: Cedar Audio

 

OUTSTANDING PRODUCT—POST

SA-2 Dialog Processor

Manufacturer: McDSP

 

STUDENT RECOGNITION AWARD

Wenrui “Sam” Fan

Chapman University – Orange, CA

[old school]

Congrats to all the nominees and of course the winners and their hard working crews. Cheers.

CrewC