Dolby Creator Talks

As we continue our 2023 Awards coverage, today we are talking to the sound team behind another film on the Best Sound Academy Awards shortlist — “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

Joining us is four-time Academy Award winning re-recording mixer, supervising sound editor, and sound designer Christopher Boyes; supervising sound editor Dick Bernstein; re-recording mixer Michael Hedges; sound mixer Julian Howarth; and supervising sound editor Gwendolyn Yates Whittle.

As you’ll hear about in detail in this interview, every member of the sound and music teams needed to work very closely together, in a concerted effort, to make the sound of this film as clean and as clear as possible. Or as James Cameron would often put it, “clarity is king.” Easier said than done with a movie this complex.

“In the end, Avatar — visually — is such a complicated image. And I think the human brain can easily take that in and enjoy it. But we — delivering the sound of Avatar — have to work against that, because the human brain can look at all those beautiful visuals, but can't necessarily process a thousand different sonic notions. Really, we wanna simplify it and get the sound to speak to the story that we're trying to tell. And it's not part of the story, it doesn't belong in the track.”

— Christopher Boyes, Re-recording Mixer, Supervising Sound Editor, and Sound Designer, “Avatar: The Way of Water”

“Avatar: The Way of Water” is now in theaters, in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®, where available.

Be sure to check out our earlier episode with Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, on dialogue editing and ADR.

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This week we sit down with the writer/director and sound team behind the harrowing new adaptation of "All Quiet on the Western Front." Joining director Edward Berger is sound supervisor and sound designer Frank Kruse, sound designer Markus Stemler, re-recording mixer Lars Ginzel, and production sound mixer Viktor Prášil. This film has been shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Sound, and as Berger says in the interview, this team has a strong track record when it comes to winning sound awards in Germany. So this is definitely a film to keep an eye (and ear) on this awards season.

During the conversation, Berger also discusses why he felt now was the ideal time to tackle this adaptation of the classic World War I novel, and how the team approached the sound design and mix for the film, which — to the director — was all about harsh contrasts and abrupt sound cuts:

“The film is very much about contrasts. You mentioned the generals and the soldiers. Thematically that's one. But there's also: Destruction and peace, noise and silence, battle and exhaustion, wide shots and closeups, darkness and light. So a lot of it is in contrast. And I love abrupt sound cuts, really hard sound cuts, because they always shake me awake in the movie theater. I always go, ‘oh God, something changed.’ And I have to change pace and I have to listen up. So we had talked about and thought a lot about those contrasts and those hard sound cuts that lent themselves to a rich design, I think.”

— Edward Berger, Writer/Director, “All Quiet on the Western Front” (2022)

The film's Dolby Atmos® mix can be experienced in the Netflix app — with the German language track enabled — and in Dolby Vision® for compatible screens.

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The 2022 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner was the first ever horror film to win the top award at the film festival. But before that, "Nanny" — the feature film debut from Nikyatu Jusu — was also the recipient of the 2022 Dolby Institute Fellowship, which awards a low-budget Sundance film with a post-production grant to finish the film in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®.

Now that "Nanny" is available to stream on Prime Video, we recently sat down with writer-director Nikyatu Jusu, supervising sound editor Dave Flynch, and Academy Award winning re-recording mixer Skip Lievsay to discuss the film’s rich soundtrack. This episode was recorded during a live post-screening Q&A for the Artist Academy — Film at Lincoln Center’s program for young filmmakers — and was moderated by our executive producer Amanda Schneider.

“We talked a lot about character arc for the soundscape… There is a tendency to neglect sound in the conception stage. And if you think about your soundscape as a character, then you can have an arc for that soundscape so that the audience doesn't become numb, with a relentless soundscape that is not ebbing and flowing.”

— Nikyatu Jusu, Writer and Director, "Nanny"

Be sure to check out "Nanny" on Prime Video.

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Two-time Academy Award winning director Guillermo del Toro and his co-director Mark Gustafson join us to discuss their latest work — appropriately titled — “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.” Despite being stop-motion animation, the film features a rich sound design and complex mix. One which the directors had to fight for.

“Mark [Gustafson] and I had to fight for the time that we needed on the mix board originally, because [for an] animated movie, they gave us a number of weeks. And we said, ‘no, we need more.’ Scott and I knew that our timing generally takes a little longer. But I think that we ended up understanding that we needed as many passes as a live-action movie — a big one — to reach simplicity. Which is very, very, very at odds. To be simple, we needed to elaborate the mix and make sure we were not mixing something superficial.”

— Guillermo del Toro, Director, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

Joining the discussion is sound supervisor Scott Gershin, along with re-recording mixers Frank A. Montaño and Jon Taylor, the latter of whom you may remember from our episode on BARDO from earlier this week.

Be sure to check out “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” now streaming on Netflix, in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®.

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Multiple Academy Award winning director Alejandro G. Iñárritu joins us to discuss his latest work, the surreal, yet somehow pseudo-autobiographical film, “BARDO, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths.”

Since this episode focuses almost exclusively on the sound of the film, joining the conversation is much of the film’s sound team:

Martín Hernández - Supervising Sound Editor and Sound Designer

Santiago Núñez - Production Sound Mixer

Jon Taylor - Re-recording Mixer

Ken Yasumoto - Re-recording Mixer and Sound Designer

While the film is truly a visually stunning epic, the director focused much of his attention on the audio, because, as he put it:

“I really think that this film is — audio, 75% [of the experience]… It's my favorite film, audio-wise, by far. I think it's a much more complex and difficult film than I have done. And the work that this team did is invaluable. And the experience of the audio in Dolby Atmos — you can close your eyes and really understand and feel the film. So I think the job that this team did is absolutely extraordinary. I'm very happy with it.”

— Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Director and Co-writer, “BARDO, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths”

Be sure to check out “Bardo,” available on Netflix starting on December 16th, in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®.

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Director Ron Howard joins us to discuss his thrilling new film, “Thirteen Lives,” a harrowing dramatization of the real-life rescue of thirteen young Thai soccer players who were trapped in a flooding cave in 2018.

Joining the discussion is much of the film’s post-production team:

Rachael Tate, Supervising Sound Editor

Oliver Tarney, Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer

Chris Burden, Re-recording Mixer

William Miller, Re-recording Mixer

James D. Wilcox, Editor

Authenticity was the name of the game and the entire filmmaking team took great pains to make this film as historically accurate as possible.

“It was great having [the actual rescue divers] Rick Stanton and Jason Mallinson around [set] because they were not only there to help make sure that the diving was accurate and that the divers’ technique was right, and that we understood what the threats and the complications were, and the procedure of it all. But… they're not guys that dwell on emotions very much as individuals. Nonetheless, on the day that we were actually shooting the scene [where they first discover the boys] with the flashlights, I just remember Rick talking about he wasn't sure he'd ever see those boys again. He knew he was leaving them in the dark and… he just thought it was a hopeless scenario and he was pretty shattered by that. And I just thought, ‘leave them in the dark.’ Making a moment that will allow that sort of focus. The flashlights kind of coming out [and] just slowly disappearing until we were in the complete darkness.”

— Ron Howard, Director, “Thirteen Lives”

Thirteen Lives is available to stream right now on Prime Video.

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Director Ryan White and Academy Award-winning sound designer Mark Mangini join us today to discuss the making of “Good Night Oppy.” This charming new documentary tells the story of the two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which were sent to the red planet back in 2003 and were expected to survive long enough to collect data for — hopefully — 90 days. Instead, they blew everyone’s expectations away and one of them, nicknamed “Oppy,” lasted over 15 years.

The filmmakers had the advantage of almost a thousand hours of archival material from NASA, but since much of the film takes place “on Mars,” that came with its own unique challenges.

“I didn't want it just to be an earthbound story. I wanted it to also take place on Mars. And I didn't want that just to be like grainy black and white photos. And so I asked [our production company] Amblin, ‘is it possible to put the audience on Mars, almost as if I could be there with my documentary crew during this adventure, in a way that is photoreal?’ And Amblin said, ‘we don't know, but luckily our best friends are Industrial Light and Magic.” … Spirit and opportunity each had nine cameras. We know what every day of their journeys looked like. And so we were able to supply all of that photography and all of the data that NASA could give us. So for instance, the weather, where the sun rose and sun set on a day, or how much dust was in the air on a certain day that Spirit was going through. And we asked Industrial Light and Magic, ‘can you take all of this information, all of this data, and create a photoreal Mars?’ And they said, ‘we've never done that before, but we love a challenge. We will build Mars from the ground up for you.’”

— Ryan White, Director, “Good Night Oppy”

Mark Mangini, who worked as the film’s sound designer, supervising sound editor, and re-recording mixer, then had the unique challenge of “recreating” what exactly those machines and environment might have sounded like on Mars… but without the benefit of microphones on any of the rovers. But as always, he was able to craft an incredible soundtrack and mix in Dolby Atmos®.

Be sure to check out “Good Night Oppy,” now streaming on Prime Video in Dolby Atmos®.

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Director Joseph Kosinski and his sound team discuss their groundbreaking work on the hit sequel to the classic 80s film "Top Gun." Joining the discussion are re-recording mixers Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor, as well as supervising sound editors James Mather, Al Nelson, and Bjørn Schroeder. Since most of the movie's flight scenes were filmed practically (or "in-camera") without relying on too many visual effects in post-production, this created some unique challenges for the sound team.

“It was a great catching up with [production sound mixer] Mark Weingarten after he was done with the shoot. And I know that he had a lot of challenges in the beginning just to get those recorders into the cockpit because they had to go through a lot of different steps to ensure the safety. They had to make sure that they could still use the ejector seat just in case of an emergency. So this little recorder had to eject with them, they had to be separate from the cameras. I think it was really important to [director] Joe [Kosinski] and [producer] Tom [Cruise] and everyone in the crew that they could keep it simple and that they could basically trigger the recording before they took off and do all the recordings.”

— Bjørn Schroeder,  Supervising Sound Editor, "Top Gun: Maverick"

"The truth of flying in these airplanes is: They're not that interesting to listen to. When you're inside doing it, it looks spectacular and it feels incredible; and from the outside these jets are deafening and have so much character, depending on where it is relative to you and how fast it's moving. But from the inside, it's very much like riding on an airliner. It's that kind of constant hum. So a big challenge of this film was figuring out, 'okay, that's reality. So we've got this really realistic image that was captured, but how do we get the emotion that we wanna feel from the soundtrack in this?' And that is not easy. There was a lot of — obviously — work and effort from design through mixing to achieve that. And luckily we've got a whole panel full of experts here to take us through that."

— Joseph Kosinski,  Director, "Top Gun: Maverick"

With Awards Season fast approaching, this is certainly a film to look out for in the Best Sound category, and this episode offers a unique insight into just how much went into crafting such a thrilling and dynamic mix.

Check out "Top Gun: Maverick" today, available in Dolby Atmos® and Dolby Vision®, where available.

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Director and co-writer Ryan Coogler joins us to discuss the making of the latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe — Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Joining the discussion is the film’s composer Lugwig Görannson, supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer Steve Boeddeker, supervising sound editor Benjamin Burtt, and re-recording mixer Brandon Proctor.

This is the first Black Panther movie since the sudden and tragic death of its star, Chadwick Boseman. But as the title implies, the filmmakers hope this film is both a fitting tribute to him as well as a reminder that he and his work live on in these powerful films.

“What I hope audiences take away from it is how much we love Chad [and] how much we missed him. For us, Chadwick and T’Challa are linked because that was the circumstance by which we got to meet this great guy. It was through bringing his character and this world to life. So for us, it's always gonna be a link there that we can't ignore. So I hope all the audiences understand how we felt about this guy. But in a more expansive sense, just because somebody's dead doesn't mean that they're gone. They feel him and feel what he was about because his effect is still there. I think it's gonna be around forever.”

— Ryan Coogler, Director and Co-Writer, Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Be sure to check out Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in theaters now, and in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos® where available.

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In this special, supersized episode we take a peek behind the curtain to examine Pixar's unique editorial process. It's often messy and non-linear, with shots and sequences constantly being re-worked... and this might just be the secret to why their films end up feeling so cinematic and have the emotional impact that they do. At Pixar, the editor has much more authority and responsibility than their live-action and traditional cell animation counterparts. How did this come to be?

It's all outlined in a new book by authors Bill Kinder and Bobbie O'Steen, "Making the Cut at Pixar: The Art of Editing Animation." Bill and Bobbie join us today to discuss the history of editing at Pixar, and explain the origins of Pixar's groundbreaking editorial process.

"If you look at Pixar short films, before they had an editor — all of the ones before 'Toy Story' had no editor, really, they [just] had someone assembling things — they're very classic proscenium, 2D animation... You don't see shot/reverse shot in classic Disney animation. It's just not the way the grammar really worked. Whereas if you watch 'Toy Story,' and that was my memory when I first saw that film — it felt like a movie! And I think that difference, that turning point has to do with the editor saying, 'Wait, we can create shots here. There's a certain language we can use. We're not stuck with the storyboards.' So storyboards are telling us a lot about character and performance and plot and clarity, but now we can up the whole game with what we know about the language of camera."

— Bill Kinder, Co-Author, "Making the Cut at Pixar: The Art of Editing Animation"

Joining the discussion are couple of legendary filmmakers — both of whom had been there since the very early days — multiple Academy Award® winning director Pete Docter and another multiple Academy Award® winning director and editor, Lee Unkrich. Rounding out this conversation we also hear from longtime collaborator and editor of Pete Docter's, Kevin Nolting, and editor Edie Ichioka, who worked on "Toy Story 2," to give their perspectives.

You can find "Making the Cut at Pixar: The Art of Editing Animation" wherever books are sold.

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

To check out many of the Pixar films discussed in today's episode, subscribe to Disney+.

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