ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
‘Bourne’ and the Art of Sound
Reported by Michael Kunkes
 Oscar-nominated re-recording mixer Academy Governor Kevin O'Connell, left, with The Bourne Ultimatum's Oscar-winning re-recording mixers David Parker and Scott Millan and sound editors Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg. Photo: Todd Wawrychuk © AMPAS |
On Saturday, March 8, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences staged “The Art of Sound,” the Academy’s first-ever showcase of current Oscar-nominated and winning films in the categories of Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing. Although it took place long after the nomination frenzy––and the Oscars themselves––the evening had at least some of the feel of the old sound effects bake-off, discontinued when Sound Editing became a full-fledged five-nominee category for the 2006 awards year. Saturday was also an evening for celebrating the nominees as well as the winners.
The event was hosted by 20-time Sound Mixing nominee and Academy Board of Governors’ member Kevin O’Connell, himself nominated for Transformers. After a funny and pregnant pause to longingly look at the giant Oscar statue on the Goldwyn stage, O’Connell led a lively panel discussion with the Oscar-winning sound editing and mixing teams for The Bourne Ultimatum––sound editors Karen Baker Landers (first win) and Per Hallberg (second win), and re-recording mixers Scott Millan (fourth win) and David Parker (second win). Over a dozen other nominees were also in attendance for the pre-panel reception, and clips from all nominated films were screened: No Country for Old Men, Ratatouille, There Will Be Blood, 3:10 to Yuma and Transformers.
Following are a few clips from that discussion…
O’CONNELL: How early in the process do you get involved?
HALLBERG: I tend to not want to see anything first; just the script. As an avid reader, I feel that when you read something, you create your own world, and I like to do that before the filmmakers tell you about what their vision is. For me, understanding the story from that perspective gives me emotions, feelings and ideas that I carry with me to the end. The first job of every sound editor is to figure out for himself what the story is all about. Karen and I spend a great deal of time doing that––and then we bring our crew into the discussions and keep it moving along. Each of these great, nominated films did exactly that in their own way.
 Kevin O'Connell, left, conducts a panel with David Parker, Scott Millan, Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg. Photo: Todd Wawrychuk © AMPAS |
O’CONNELL: A lot goes into integrating sound effects and Foley. How do you decide what is Foley and what is effects?
LANDERS: Foley is one of my favorite things to do on a film. A lot of people have the perception that Foley is just footsteps and movement, but it is so much more. For example, in the fight scene between Bourne and Desh, there is a real thought process going on, because the Foley artist is creating a character, one that is true to Jason Bourne and how his attitude would be. You want to create this on the Foley stage so you can play it right there and discuss what you are trying to capture in the moment. It’s a huge part of a film like this. We shot 22 days of Foley on Bourne—chase scenes, crashes, fights, debris, metal—all working with the sound effects editors to see how the sound impacts the visuals. They really work hand in hand.
O’CONNELL: These are the first nominations for any of the Bourne films. What do you think is the difference about this third one?
MILLAN: For me, it was the first time I could sit back and see that it had really all come together as a film. But it was an extremely hectic schedule. They were shooting all the way through post, and there was even a re-shoot on the last day of the dub. We were working seven days a week across three and sometimes four stages.
PARKER: A lot of credit must go to Chris Rouse, our picture editor [and Oscar winner for Bourne as well]. He held it all together like a rock. He was left with a lot of unbelievable choices to make, and was completely calm and supportive of our efforts.
O’CONNELL: What is director Paul Greengrass like to work with?
HALLBERG: Looking at Bourne, you would think that Paul is constantly on Ritalin––the way the camera moves all the time––but he is the opposite of what you might think. He comes from an ultra-realistic documentary background and, to paraphrase Paul, “I shoot it, I toss it up and see what sticks.” I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who works this way. It puts a little extra pressure on us, because we have to create what is almost a guide map for the audience to follow. There’s a lot you don’t see, and if you do, it goes by so quickly that the eye won’t catch it unless something very specific helps it along sound-wise.
MILLAN: In the fight scene, there was one little clink on a wall and the picture department came by and said, ‘Where’s the sound? We need a sound for that.” We said, “What sound?” They had to point it out. We put it in, but I still don’t see it.
O’CONNELL: Where do you see the future of our technology?
PARKER: We’ll be getting into a lot more digital cinema release issues. A film will be done, and even a week or two after it’s released––and is a success––they might want to add a song to it.
MILLAN: It could become a virtual process and we’ll be working on the same movie for more than a year while more and more is added. Some of us might call that a nightmare [laughter].
O’CONNELL: I’ve worked on shows where we actually pulled prints from the theatres and remixed, just so we could have a couple of prints with the right sound. It’s never over until you’re on your next movie.
RANDY THOM: (sound editor, from the audience): As someone who spends a lot of time trying to convince directors not to shoot all their ammunition at once in an action scene, I applaud you guys for not using music in the magnificent fight scene. How did that come about?
PARKER: John Powell was the composer on all three films, and on this one, he recorded the score in London under severe time constraints without spotting it with the director. Talk about guts! As it turned out, music was a bit of a wild card anyway, because we were cutting and mixing and no one had heard the score—not Paul, not Chris Rouse. We worked a lot with Tom Carlson, the supervising music editor, and we would watch sequences during the mix. He would help us focus in and capture the emotion in each sequence.
HALLBERG: Most of this was planned out perfectly by Chris Rouse in the cutting room, but of course, once you find yourself out on the final, that plan doesn’t entirely work, and there were a lot of discussions as to when to cross over [into music]. It’s a long scene, and you do not want it to be fatiguing.
O’CONNELL: Speaking of the future, there are a lot of talented sound editors getting into mixing, and a lot of mixers doing sound editing, so I believe the future will involve a combination of both. And that is happening today; it’s just a preference of how you want to work.
HALLBERG: The teamwork of what we do is more enjoyable than anything else in the process. Karen and I can bring things up to a certain level, then we go to our crew, our family away from home, take in all of their ideas and all of a sudden, we’ve raised the work to a whole new level. We push it as far as we can, then we bring it to Scott and Dave, push it one more big step and, for me, that’s the payoff; the beauty of what we do.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Are there any unsung movies that had terrific sound, but didn’t get the recognition?
O’CONNELL: Oh, let’s see; Terms of Endearment, Silverado, Dune, The Big Chill, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3…[and 13 other films for which he was nominated; laughter].
Michael Kunkes is a freelance editor and writer specializing in animation, production and post-production. He can be reached at writermk@sbcglobal.net.