Dolby Creator Talks

Our guest host this week, Tom Graham, is joined by some of the top colorists working today to have a roundtable discussion about HDR workflows and working in Dolby Vision®. This is a passionate conversation, with lots of technical detail, which highlights why so many of these artists are so excited to be working with these new tools available to them.

"We've had the ability to have bright TVs for the longest time, right? That's only a part of the equation. I think what's most exciting to me about the HDR conversation, particularly about the Dolby Vision workflow, is the conversation about better images, better data. More of it. And that includes wider color. That includes more intelligent tone mapping, that includes the ability to better represent artists' intent throughout the entire pipeline, no matter where that image is going to show up."

— Robbie Carman, Lead Colorist & Partner, DC Color

Many thanks to this week's guests:

• Robbie Carman — https://dccolor.com/about/
• Joey D'Anna — https://dccolor.com/about/
• Dan Moran — https://www.danmorancolour.com/
• Patrick Inhofer — https://mixinglight.com/author/patrick-inhofer/

Learn more about Dolby Vision® for Content Creators here:

https://professional.dolby.com/content-creation/dolby-vision-for-content-creators/

Dolby Vision® Training and Certification can be found here:

https://prostore.dolby.com/

To learn more about Mixing Light, check out:

https://mixinglight.com/

Please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Welcome to our continuing coverage of this year's Academy Awards®. Like last year, we have compiled interviews from the nominees in the Best Animated Feature Film category. So, if you are an Oscar voter — either as an Academy member or as a fan participating in your annual office pool — you'll have a much better idea of what to watch for as you get to this category on your ballot! Here are the nominated films, in alphabetical order:

• ENCANTO: Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino, and Clark Spencer
• FLEE: Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen, and Charlotte De La Gournerie
• LUCA: Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren
• THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES:  Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Kurt  Albrecht
• RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON: Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer, and Peter Del Vecho

Here's a table of contents of interviews, in case you'd like to jump around:

0:01:28 — ENCANTO - Byron Howard and Yvett Merino

0:21:15 — LUCA - Enrico Casarosa 

0:37:51 — THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES - Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, and Christopher Miller

1:03:02 — RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON - Carlos López Estrada and Osnat Shurer

NOTE: As always, all nominees were invited to join our conversations and we regret that we weren't able to connect with the talented filmmakers behind FLEE in time for our podcast posting deadline.

Thanks to all the studios for helping us pull these interviews together! Be sure to check out ENCANTO, FLEE, LUCA, THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES and RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON before Oscars voting ends!

Please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Welcome to our continuing coverage of this year's Academy Awards®. Like last year, we have compiled interviews from the nominees in the Best Cinematography category. So, if you are an Oscar voter — either as an Academy member or as a fan participating in your annual office pool — you'll have a much better idea of what to watch for as you get to the Best Cinematography category on your ballot! Here are the nominated Directors of Photography, in alphabetical order by film:

• DUNE: Greig Fraser
• NIGHTMARE ALLEY: Dan Laustsen
• THE POWER OF THE DOG: Ari Wegner
• THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH: Bruno Delbonnel
• WEST SIDE STORY: Janusz Kaminski

Here's a table of contents of interviews, in case you'd like to jump around:

0:01:48 — DUNE — Greig Fraser

0:15:51 — NIGHTMARE ALLEY — Dan Laustsen 

0:38:35 — THE POWER OF THE DOG — Ari Wegner

NOTE: As always, all nominees were invited to join our conversations and we regret that Bruno Delbonnel and Janusz Kaminski were unavailable to join us in time for our podcast posting deadline.

Thanks to all the studios for helping us pull these interviews together! Be sure to check out DUNE, NIGHTMARE ALLEY, THE POWER OF THE DOG, THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH and WEST SIDE STORY before Oscars voting ends!

We have one more episode of our special Academy Awards® coverage, coming coming in the next few days. That episode is devoted to the Best Animated Feature category. 

So if you haven't already, please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Director Matt Reeves joins us again this week to discuss The Batman. This is part 2 of our special 2-part episode on this movie, where we discuss the film's incredible cinematography. If you haven't already, be sure to check out part 1, where we break down the sound and music of The Batman, in our podcast archive from earlier this week, or on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/uZ_3Kdm_ZhE

Joining Matt is Director of Photography Greig Fraser (who joins us separately, later in this episode, as he is currently on location in London), and Supervising and Lead Digital Colorist, David Cole.But this episode is not just a deep dive into the technical aspects of their fascinating post-production process, but also includes details on how Matt and Greig managed to make such an epic movie feel like you, in the audience, were right there in the middle of all the action.

"When we shot things, even like the Batmobile chase, even though there's a tremendous amount of visual effects in the movie, I didn't want you to be aware that we were doing them at all. And so we always used the parameters of how you would do it if you were doing it practically. And so [with] the Batmobile chase, we're putting cameras and we're locking them onto hard mounts, so you're watching a lot of hard mounts and that kind of stuff. And then, 'what's in focus?' And it's in the middle of rain. And 'what does that rain look like?' And there were times when Greig would take a filter and put a little bit of silicone on it... so that when you put it in front of the lens and when it got wet, you had the sense that it wasn't just that we were in rain that was perfectly photographed. The lens itself got wet. So you feel like you're in the middle of it. And so everything was about putting you squarely in that experience."

— Matt Reeves, Director, Co-Writer, and Producer, "The Batman"

Be sure to check out The Batman at a Dolby Cinema near you.

Please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Director Matt Reeves joins us this week to discuss The Batman. This is part 1 of our special 2-part episode on this film, since there is so much to discuss with Matt and his team. So be sure to check out part 2, where we discuss the cinematography of The Batman, which will debut this Thursday!

In this episode we are joined by Matt and his incredible team of sound and music artists:

Michael Giacchino - Composer

Will Files - Supervising Sound Editor

Douglas Murray - Supervising Sound Editor

Andy Nelson - Re-Recording Mixer

Somehow, despite their very busy schedules, we managed to spend over an hour together (in-person!) discussing the amazing work this team did. And as you'll soon discover, this is a group that works incredibly well together, each bringing their exceptional creativity and craft to the process. But we also spend a lot of time discussing how Matt manages to bring everything together so seamlessly as the director:

"You have to become an emotional compass. To me, that is the job of the director. Because you have so many incredibly creative people who you're working with. Here: I make a movie in my head and a piece of paper — that's one version of the movie. And it's a very narrow band of what that movie could be. And then you work with these artists and you want everyone to bring something... And I have to be an emotional compass to say, 'that idea is great! That idea really works!' Somebody has to do that. And the way you do that is by immersing yourself into that thing."

— Matt Reeves, Director, Co-Writer, and Producer, "The Batman"

This episode is a master class in filmmaking and collaboration, with a ton of insights into the process of crafting this latest superhero epic.

Be sure to check out The Batman at a Dolby Cinema near you.

Please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Welcome to our continuing coverage of this year's Academy Awards. Like last year, we have compiled interviews from each of the nominees in the Best Sound category. So, if you are an Oscar voter — either as an Academy member or as a fan participating in your annual office pool — you'll have a much better idea of what to watch for and (more importantly) what to listen for as you get to the Best Sound category on your ballot! Here are the nominees, in alphabetical order:

BELFAST: Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri

DUNE: Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett

NO TIME TO DIE: Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor

THE POWER OF THE DOG: Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb

WEST SIDE STORY: Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy

Each of these interview excerpts is taken from our full episodes dedicated to the sound design of each of these incredible films. Here's a table of contents, in case you'd like to jump around, as well as links to the full episodes from our back catalogue:

0:01:33 - BELFAST - from episode 104, December 9, 2021

• Sir Kenneth Branagh — Director, Writer, and Producer 
• Simon Chase — Sound Supervisor and Re-recording Mixer
• Niv Adiri — Academy Award-Winning Re-recording Mixer
• James Mather — Sound Supervisor

0:16:56 - DUNE - from episode 99, October 26, 2021

• Denis Villeneuve — Director, Writer, and Producer
• Mark Mangini — Supervising Sound Editor
• Theo Green — Sound Designer / Supervising Sound Editor
• Ron Bartlett — Re-recording Mixer

0:33:02 - NO TIME TO DIE - from episode 101, November 10, 2021

• Oliver Tarney — Supervising Sound Editor
• Paul Massey — Re-recording Mixer
• Mark Taylor — Re-recording Mixer

0:46:04 - THE POWER OF THE DOG - from episode 105, December 13, 2021

• Jane Campion — Director, Writer, and Producer
• Robert Mackenzie — Supervising Sound Editor
• Dave Whitehead — Sound Designer
• Tara Webb — Re-recording Mixer (1st nom)

0:57:39 - WEST SIDE STORY - from episode 114, February 22, 2022

• Gary Rydstrom - Re-recording Mixer, Supervising Sound Editor, Sound Designer
• Shawn Murphy - Scoring Mixer
• Brian Chumney - Supervising Sound Editor
• Tod A. Maitland - Sound Mixer
• Andy Nelson - Re-recording Mixer

Many thanks to all the studios for helping us pull these interviews together! Be sure to check out BELFAST, DUNE, NO TIME TO DIE, THE POWER OF THE DOG, and WEST SIDE STORY before Oscars voting ends!

We have two more episodes just like this one — for the Best Cinematography and Best Animated Feature categories —  coming up. So if you haven't already, please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

If it seems like the Hollywood musical is making a comeback, that's because, in many ways, it is. And after decades of promising to one day direct one, legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg finally decided to tackle a new interpretation of "West Side Story." The film is now nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Sound.

Joining us today is the sound team behind this film, who collectively took great pains to use as many modern recording techniques available to them to create this impressive, cutting-edge soundtrack.

• Gary Rydstrom - Re-recording Mixer / Sound Designer / Supervising Sound Editor - this is his 20th  Academy Award nomination (seven wins)
• Shawn Murphy - Scoring Mixer - fourth nomination (one win)
• Brian Chumney - Supervising Sound Editor - first nomination
• Tod A. Maitland - Sound Mixer - fifth nomination
• Andy Nelson - Re-recording Mixer - 22nd nomination (two wins)

"I think the most remarkable thing in this movie is you never, for one second, don't believe that the singing you're hearing, or the acting you're hearing, is not happening on that set. It feels completely believable at every time. And seamlessly goes in and out of the music. I've never heard a musical be that seamless before. I think that's one of the great achievements of this particular movie."

— Gary Rydstrom, Re-recording Mixer / Sound Designer / Supervising Sound Editor, "West Side Story"

"West Side Story" is now playing in cinemas and will be streaming on HBO Max and Disney+ as of March 2, 2022. 

Please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

With yesterday's announcement of the 94th Academy Award nominations, this year's award season is now in full swing! We decided it would be fun to bring in some experts to discuss the nominees, especially those in some of our favorite categories — Best Sound and Best Cinematography — as well as others (and the show itself) for a very spirited conversation on this year's top contenders.

Our guests:

Lon Harris — Pop Culture Writer for Screen Junkies — https://twitter.com/Lons

Will Mavity — Awards Correspondent at NextBestPicture.com — https://twitter.com/mavericksmovies

Jazz Tangcay — Senior Artisans Editor at Variety — https://twitter.com/jazzt

For all of our upcoming Academy Awards coverage, please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

We conclude our special coverage of sound design for video games by interviewing the sound team at Gearbox Software, which famously created "over one billion guns" for its latest first-person shooter, Borderlands 3. So how exactly does a team design the sound for so many different guns? Turns out, it's actually kinda fun.

"The godsend was the fact that we have a good set of field recording gear internally anyway and... we live in Texas. So, there's lots of people with lots of guns and lots of places, lots of space. So outside of the formal gun shoots that we did, which was really only one — formal gun shoot — we did a whole lot of side shoots here, locally, just us. And some of that was experimentation. Some of that was filling holes. We were learning as we were going. Where we needed more content, where we needed different types of content, different perspectives, different tales. Those kinds of things. And we would go out and do those shoots."

— Mark Petty, Audio Director, Gearbox Software

Thanks again to Gearbox Software for joining us this week!

Borderlands 3 is currently available on your favorite video game platforms.

Please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

As we continue to delve into the world of sound design for gaming, we have a special conversation to share with you today with one of the heavy hitters in this space — Rob Bridgett. 

Rob is something of a visionary in their field and has a new book called, "Leading with Sound: Proactive Sound Practices in Video Game Development," where they share some of their fascinating insights and philosophy on crafting soundtracks for video games.

"I talk about the topic of leading with sound through each one of those subject areas [music, sound, dialogue, and mix]. What are the opportunities for sound designers or composers or dialogue designers? What are the opportunities that they may be missing early in pre-production or production and try to deemphasize this idea of post-production. I know it's something that I've spent a lot of my time trying to create and defend in video games. And I still maintain that we 100% have to have post-production time and we have to be the last part of the baton race. I'm not arguing for that to go away. That's still critical, it feels like those are the gates of Valhalla for us, in audio. It's like once we arrive at post-production, we should already have all this other stuff figured out."

— Rob Bridgett, Audio Director, "Shadow of the Tomb Raider"

Our colleague Andy Vaughan discusses the book, as well as Rob's work on "Shadow of the Tomb Raider," their overall career, and some of the exciting new experimentation they're doing in partnership with McGill University.

You can learn more about Rob and check out their book here.

Please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also check out the video for this episode.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.