Frame By Frame

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 an 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.

In the first episode of Frame By Frame Season 2, picture editor, Jay Rabinowitz, sound editor, Chic Ciccolini  and re-recording mixer, Dominick Tavella talk about their craft and process in collaborating with filmmaker Jim Jarmusch on his films from the 1980’s and 90’s Coffee and Cigarettes, Night On Earth, and Ghost Dog.  

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.

 

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Filmmaker Mike Nichols who died in 2014, first became famous performing as part of an improvisational comedy duo with writer-director Elaine May-- What began as an improvised skit with Chicago’s Compass Players, expanded to a radio show which then moved to television and ended as a Broadway hit and Grammy winning album.  

Nichols the comedian, Nichols the director of movies and television, Nichols the director of plays, Nichols the producer, the writer, whose work earned him four Emmys, a Grammy, an Oscar, and nine Tonys was also an urbane man about town whose wit and humanity preceded him in reputation and attracted the admiration and loyalty of the best actors and artists in television film and theater.

From his first film Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, nominated for 13 Oscars and winner of 5 to The Graduate, Catch 22 Carnal Knowledge Silkwood, Wit, Angels in America and Charlie Wilson’s War he established himself as an important cultural leader in multiple disciplines.

In this episode of Frame By Frame, you’ll meet the collaborators who helped craft films such as Angels in America, Primary Colors and Charlie Wilsons War, including music editors Suzana Peric and Nancy Allen, ADR Supervisor Deborah Wallach, re-recording mixer, Lee Dichter, Sound Supervisor, Ron Bochar, Post Production Manager, Ann Gray and Producer and Post Production Supervisor, Paul Levin.

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Since the nineteen-seventies, playwright, screenwriter, director, and author, David Mamet has been writing comedies and dramas in which the art of the con, the abuse of power and the search for truth is as much a subject as is a cadence of speech and quality of character. Raised in Chicago during the Cold War, David Mamet has collaborated with New York professionals in theater and film for over 40 years, beginning with his Off-Broadway debut in 1976 a trio of plays, The Duck Variations, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and American Buffalo. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for his play, Glengarry Glen Ross. One of the most prolific contemporary dramatists, David Mamet at the time of this recording has written and produced 38 plays, 33 screenplays, and 18 books both novels, and non-fiction.  David Mamet's first produced screenplay was the 1981 production of The Postman Always Rings Twice, directed by Bob Rafelson. He received an Academy Award nomination one year later for his screenplay, The Verdict, directed by Sidney Lumet. He also wrote the screenplay for The Untouchables directed by Brian DePalma.

I spoke with longtime collaborators motion picture editor Barbara Tulliver, sound editor Maurice Schell and re-recording mixer, Michael Barry about working with David Mamet in film and television.

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A soft-spoken, young writer from Texas, Robert Benton broke onto the feature film scene with his debut screenplay, Bonnie and Clyde for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Developing into a writer/director, he won Oscars for Kramer vs Kramer and Places in the Heart. Here, we gather with collaborators, re-recording mixer, Tom Fleischman, picture editor, Bob Reitano and ADR Supervisor, Michael Jacobi, describe the New York scene that gave birth to Robert Benton's best collaborations and their part in creating films like Places In The Heart and Billy Bathgate.

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Best known for his films Dressed to Kill, Blow-Out, Scarface and The Untouchables, Brian De Palma became part of the New Hollywood generation of the 1960’s and 70’s along with Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Stephen Spielberg, but it wasn’t until his 10th feature and breakthrough film, Carrie, that he mastered the visual grammar of suspense, psychological thriller and crime drama and developed an approach in representing sex and violence that began to define his style.In this episode, picture editors Bill Pankow and Kris Boden, supervising sound editor, Dan Sable and Maurice Schell and re-recording mixer, Lee Dichter talk about collaborating with director Brian DePalma on films such as Blow Out, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Carlito's Way.

Raised in the Bronx New York, the son of a printer, Alan J. Pakula would become on of the most important film makers of the 1960’s and 70’s. In 1962, as the producer of To Kill A Mockingbird he earned his first Oscar nomination for best Picture. In the years to come, Oscar nominations and wins were frequent for films such as The Sterile Cuckoo, Klute, All the Presidents Men, Comes A Horseman and Sophie’s Choice. His frequent collaborators included cinematographer Gordon Willis and Nestor Almendros, composers Marvin Hamlisch and Michal Small and the New York post-productions teams who he called his family.

In this episode, re-recording mixer, Lee Dichter, supervising sound editors, Chic Ciccolini and Ron Bochar, ADR supervisor Deborah Wallach and music editor Todd Kasow talk about working with Alan Pakula on the films Rollover, See You In The Morning, DreamLover, Sophie’s Choice, Orphans, The Pelican Brief and The Devil’s Own.

Perhaps best known for his 1968 film, Bonnie and Clyde, stage, television and film director Arthur Penn’s masterful sense of rhythm and movement, his pioneering approach to representing violence,  as well as his ability to consistently evoke powerful performances established Arthur Penn as one of the most important American directors of the 1960’s and 70's.

Here several Arthur Penn collaborators including picture editors, Steve Rotter, Ron Roose, Jeffrey Wolf,  picture and sound editors, Bob Reitano and  Marc Laub and music editor Suzana Peric talk about their experiences working with Arthur Penn on the films Mickey One, Alice’s Restaurant, Little Big Man, Night Moves, Missouri Breaks, Four Friends, Target and Penn and Teller Get Killed.

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Best known for the films Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,  The Sting and Slaughterhouse Five, theater, television and film director, George Roy Hill was one of the most successful filmmakers of his generation.  The collaborators of George Roy Hill including picture editors Craig McKay and Steve Rotter, ADR Supervisor Mel Zelnicker and Michael Jacobi, re-recording mixers Tom Fleishman and, Lee Dichter and ADR Voice Casting Director and actor, Bruce Winant came together to talk about their work together on The Sting, Slaughterhouse Five, The World According to Garp and Funny Farm.

Picture editor Barry Alexander Brown, sound editor, Phil Stockton. researcher Judy Aley and re-recording Mixer Tom Fleischman have worked with filmmaker Spike Lee on such films as She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze, 25h Hour, Inside Man, Malcolm X and most recently BlacKKKlansman. In this episode, we talk about how they first began working with Spike Lee, their collaborative process and the cinematic breakthroughs they’ve made together in making films together for over 30 years.

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