Sound Oscar Nominations

[Richard Lightstone, CAS]

Sound Mixing

• “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

Sound Editing

• “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

http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/82/nominees.html

RL

[RPSharman]

Congrats to all the nominees.  It makes me happy to know some of these guys, production and post!

I so loved that scene in "Inglorious Basterds".  Another great movie scene from Quentin, like the horrific torture scene in and many others in "Reservoir Dogs" (also great perspective sound), and like the apartment scene with the Big Kahuna Burgers in "Pulp Fiction".

There's something very wonderful about watching and hearing a scene that puts you in the room and makes you feel as uncomfortable and involved as the characters in there with you.

I really loved this movie, and loved the sound.  Nice work, Mark.

And although the dialog track in "The Hurt Locker" probably suffered due to the nature of the shooting style of the film, I felt the overall sound really helped make the film seem real to me, although I didn't like the movie as a whole.

Robert

[Marco Lopez]

I was just watching the interview of the sound post team and Michael Minkler says that Quentin Tarantino is one of those directors that will reshoot,relight and reblock a scene if there's a sound problem to get good sound! If there's something that disturbs the sound man on the set he will reajust it.

It's great to work with directors that understand the importance of recording a good sound on set.

There's another  scene and it's the dinner scene where C.Waltz - Nazi Col. Landa, eats with M. Laurent as Shosanna and there's an annoying but a beautifully used, high frequency tone as the one generated by lights. 

[Jeff Wexler]

I was just watching the interview of the sound post team and Michael Minkler says that Quentin Tarantino is one of those directors that will reshoot,relight and reblock a scene if there's a sound problem to get good sound! If there's something that disturbs the sound man on the set he will reajust it.

That would be Mark Ulano on almost all, if not all, the Quentin Tarantino movies. I don't think Mark hangs out here at all but I am sure he could fill us in on just how cooperative Quentin is. I know that Mark loves working with him.

- Jeff Wexler

[Mick]

Tarantino directed one of our shows a couple of years back and I concur with the assessment of his cooperation with the sound department. On top of that he's the most fun to work with and always brings a fresh and innovative approach to directing whether it be television or movies. Good memories of our time with him. I hope he comes back. Unlikely but who knows...

Mick

[Marc Wielage]

But I was taken by how great this scene is, the beautiful sound of two actors speaking French and then switching to English.

I loved the movie, including Bob Richardson's cinematography and the excellent sound work. I gotta say, though, I fell down laughing when they stopped speaking French and the Nazi said, "do you mind if we speak English instead?" Tarantino is priceless when he winks at the audience this way.

That is one of the most tense, uncomfortable scenes I've ever seen. About the only thing that topped it was the one in the bar. Good god...  

Note that Quentin is very much a traditional guy: hates D.I.'s, hates digital cameras, hates timecode slates. To me, this might be his best film ever. I even liked the music selection, down to the unorthodox 1970s music that crops up in one of the later scenes in the 1944 theater.

Great mix throughout, too.

--Marc W.

[studiomprd]

" they stopped speaking French and the Nazi said, "do you mind if we speak English instead?"  "

yes, on paying attention, this is somewhat dumb, but movies have been using this line for decades to sell it to the audience.

I prefer when an early scene begins in the appropriate foreign language, and then just quietly dissolves, without comment or fanfare,  into English for the audience.

it is part of the magic!

[John Blankenship]

A timely discussion since I just watched this film two nights ago.

I was immediately taken by the fact that Quentin was trying to do a Sergio Leone film.  It was obvious from the camera work in the opening exterior scene and then confirmed by the protracted dramatic build of the subsequent interior scene.  Straight out of "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly."

After viewing the film, I chased down some interviews online, and was pleased to see that Quentin was upfront about choosing to mimic this cinema master's style.  They say, "If you're gonna steal, steal from the best."

Which brought the question to mind, "Did Quentin consider dubbing all the dialog, 'Italian Style' to further duplicate Leone's Spaghetti Western style of the 60s?"  I prefer Quentin's choice, but still wonder if this was ever under consideration.

IMO, the quality of the sound design was blatantly subtle.  It had the same over-the-top-but-still-making-it-work style that the rest of the film did.  Sound has so many subtle nuances that add to the character of a film and this one was done superbly.  My compliments to the whole sound team.

Notice, for instance, as a character would near the large overhead fans in the lobby of the theater, you would hear the whoosh in passing.  A little bit larger than life, but keeping in perfect character with the sensibility of the film.

Every time I see "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly," (the best of the "man with no name" trilogy, in my opinion), I'm more taken by Sergio's Mastery and I enjoy his films more with each viewing.  I'll be curious to see if Quentin's film holds up as well with time.

John B.

[Michael Capulli]

My props go to "Revenge of the Fallen" for sound design. Those vocoded robot sounds give me the chills!

[Marc Wielage]

However, the change to English is not a gimmick, or a wink wink at the audience, it's a device used to keep the Dreyfuss' from understanding what they're talking about.

Half the audience I was with laughed at the line, so my impression was that this was a deliberate wink. I agree about the "Oui" subtitle, and I laughed at that as well.

And I forgot to mention that Christoph Waltz's performance absolutely knocked me out. This guy is brilliant in three languages -- stunning. What a character: charming, menacing, cruel, funny, erudite, and a violent monster. Great voice, too.

--Marc W.

[RPSharman]

Half the audience I was with laughed at the line, so my impression was that this was a deliberate wink. I agree about the "Oui" subtitle, and I laughed at that as well.

And I forgot to mention that Christoph Waltz's performance absolutely knocked me out. This guy is brilliant in three languages -- stunning. What a character: charming, menacing, cruel, funny, erudite, and a violent monster. Great voice, too.

--Marc W.

I expect he will receive the Oscar, as he did the Golden Globe.  Well deserved for a really complex performance in a complexly crafted film.  I'd love to see Quentin get an Oscar for this, but I suspect the popular vote will go to Katherine Bigelow.  At least Tarantino will get the screenplay award, I hope.

Robert

[mikefilosa]

I am surprised that Julie & Julia didn't get anywhere in the nominations.

Meryl Streep was magnificent.  Her performance was far beyond perfect technical mimicry -

There was much emotion, and an initmacy was certainly translated to the viewer...

you really felt like you were looking in Julia Child's "window"....

A sonic achievement, as well (Tod Maitland).  I watched and listened off of DVD.

The tracks are rich in perspective ... good air and ambience, too, in the final mix.

The ADR was seamless...  One of my favorites of the year, this is a great sounding movie. 

Mike Filosa, CAS

Atlanta

[John Coffey]

Michael Minkler says that Quentin Tarantino is one of those directors that will reshoot,relight and reblock a scene if there's a sound problem to get good sound!

I know Tarantino's sound editor, Wiley Statemen, very well.  He says the same thing and that his production tracks are never looped unless they wanted to change something for technical or story reasons.

John Coffey

[mikefilosa]

I think you overlooked the fact that Meryl Streep got nominated for Best Actress, for her performance in "Julia and Julie."

Yikes - I did not notice her name in anything that I saw regarding that... with apologies, I stand corrected.  I honestly thought she was passed up.... so that is good news to now know.

I could easily think that if someone was to just see clips, rather than the whole film, one might think "impersonation" or "mimicry" ... her work here, in total, was far beyond that.

This movie was a nice piece of cinema, and the sound was right on...  - Let's see what happens!

Mike Filosa, CAS

Atlanta

[John Blankenship]

Agreed.  Meryl Streep's performance truly gave us an inside view into Ms Child's life. 

With the possible exception of the miscast, and not well written for the screen, "Mama Mia," Meryl just keeps getting better, and more nuanced, with every performance.

John B.

[old school]

I am a big fan of Ms Streep. Her work in "Julia and Julie" was outstanding as was all the crafts that made that film so good. Certainly it is not the kind of film to get a sound award, but I think films like this should be what is considered good sound. Next up on my list to see is "Inglourious Basterds". I'm sure Mark and his crew did a great job. Must be cool to work for a director who wants the production sound to be great. In my experience, only Hal Ashby and Paul Mazursky felt the same way.  Many have said it, but doing what it takes to get it is a different thing all together. Good luck to all the nominees.

CrewC

[Laurence]

On NPR this afternoon, Russell Williams discussed the Sound nominees.  Listen here... http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124371550

Laurence

[RPSharman]

Nice interview.  Not long enough!

[Bondelev]

One interesting thing I learned about BASTERDS; there is only one line of ADR in the film, everything else is production sound. The one line was looped because QT decided it should be in English instead of French.

A pretty amazing accomplishment when you consider they were shooting a period piece in real outdoor locations today.