Frame By Frame

In 2012, Sound One, possibly the most successful post-production facility in New York City’s history, closed its doors after 44 years of business. What caused the demise of Sound One is a point of contention between the clients, former owners, founders and staff, who hold multiple theories about why it failed financially. Some blame a distant holding company in Denver who some say were out of touch with the needs of the local community in New york and undermined the business practices which required creative and financial flexibility to maintain its base of both established and up and coming filmmakers. Others cite a long process of chipping away at the character of Sound One over a period of time during which the company was bought and sold five times to various entities.

Here former staff and clients explain in their words, how the end of Sound one came to be and how in the wake of its undeniable force created new pools of talent and multiple post-production facilities in New York, all of them strengthened by the work

Frame By Frame is a podcast series hosted by editor Isabel Sadurni, that introduces you to the most influential, respected and accomplished cinema post-production professionals working in New York today. Through intimate, informal discussions between collaborators about post-production craft, aesthetics, process and technique, we’ll recognize and celebrate the iconic films and people that have made New York film history as well as those contemporaries who continue to make important contributions to the art of filmmaking. In conversations anchored by the film editor, we’ll share the stories that define New York as an essential ongoing capital of the global film industry.

Proudly presented by the Post New York Alliance and the New York Motion Picture Editors Guild.

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The dawn of the digital era marked a major pivot point in post production technology that left some behind in analog while others charged fearlessly into a brave new world. Sound One led the post-production digital revolution, testing software, and equipment for the film industry before Hollywood, to ensure a smooth transition into the Digital Age. In this episode, former Sound One staff and clients discuss navigating the technological changes from analog to digital in the film and television sound editing medium in the late 80’s and 90’s.

Frame By Frame is a podcast series hosted by editor Isabel Sadurni, that introduces you to the most influential, respected and accomplished cinema post-production professionals working in New York today. Through intimate, informal discussions between collaborators about post-production craft, aesthetics, process and technique, we’ll recognize and celebrate the iconic films and people that have made New York film history as well as those contemporaries who continue to make important contributions to the art of filmmaking. In conversations anchored by the film editor, we’ll share the stories that define New York as an essential ongoing capital of the global film industry.

Proudly presented by the Post New York Alliance and the New York Motion Picture Editors Guild.

From 1968 to 2012, Sound One grew from a solo operation run by Elisha Birnbaum a foley artist and sound editor recent emigrated from Israel to becoming the most successful post-production sound and editing facility on the East Coast. Inhabiting seven floors of the famed Brill Building and commanding at least 85% of post-production business in New York, Sound One housed 150 edit suites and over 300 clients and staff at its apex. As its reputation grew, it became the go to post-production home for such filmmakers as Sidney Lumet, Arthur Penn, George Roy Hill, Jonathan Demme, Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese and through its constant support of independents, helped launch the careers of  filmmakers like the Alan Pakula, Spike Lee, The Coen Brothers, M. Night Shyamalan, Michael Moore and Ken Burns and countless post-production professionals generating some of cinemas most important films. 

The Beginning tells the story of how Sound One answered a need for local sound stages in the early 1970's  New York film industry and redefined the post-production community in the process.

Frame By Frame is a podcast series hosted by editor Isabel Sadurni, that introduces you to the most influential, respected and accomplished cinema post-production professionals working in New York today. Through intimate, informal discussions between collaborators about post-production craft, aesthetics, process and technique, we’ll recognize and celebrate the iconic films and people that have made New York film history as well as those contemporaries who continue to make important contributions to the art of filmmaking. In conversations anchored by the film editor, we’ll share the stories that define New York as an essential ongoing capital of the global film industry.

Proudly presented by the Post New York Alliance and the New York Motion Picture Editors Guild.

FXFS02EP02_SIDNEY LUMET's NETWORK : Alan Heim, Mark Laub, Michael Jacobi and Jeffrey Wolf

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In 1976, an American satirical film written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet, called Network, about a fictional television network, UBS, and its struggle with poor ratings, starring Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch,  Robert Duvall and Beatrice Straight was nominated for 12 Academy Awards including best film, best director and best editor. Network, won four Academy Awards, including Oscars for Chayefsky’s script, Beatrice  Straights’ performance as an outraged wife, Faye Dunaway’s performance as a cynical programming executive and Peter Finch’s frenetic portrayal of Howard Beale, the troubled “mad prophet of the airwaves.”

Thirty-five years later, “Network” remains an incendiary if influential film, and its screenplay is still admired as much for its predictive accuracy as for its vehemence and a relentless sense of purpose. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, cited Chayefsky when he accepted his Oscar for the screenplay of “The Social Network,” and wrote later that “no predictor of the future — not even Orwell — has ever been as right as Chayefsky was when he wrote ‘Network.’ ”

Alan Heim, the picture editor of the film, Mark Laub, one from a team of sound editors, Michael Jacobi and Jeffrey Wolf, the first assistant editor and the apprentice editor on the film at the time, tell their stories of how the film came together and what it was like in various stages working with director Sidney Lumet, writer Paddy Chayefsky and Producer Howard Gottfried.

Frame By Frame is a podcast series hosted by editor Isabel Sadurni, that introduces you to the most influential, respected and accomplished cinema post-production professionals working in New York today. Through intimate, informal discussions between collaborators about post-production craft, aesthetics, process and technique, we’ll recognize and celebrate the iconic films and people that have made New York film history as well as those contemporaries who continue to make important contributions to the art of filmmaking. In conversations anchored by the film editor, we’ll share the stories that define New York as an essential ongoing capital of the global film industry.

Proudly presented by the Post New York Alliance and the New York Motion Picture Editors Guild.