Oscar 2011 - Sound Categories

Up to last year I was very proud with myself 'cause since I don't know how long ago I was able to predict the winners for at least one of the two sound categories - sound editing & sound mixing (especially since not many people know even the difference between these two). Well .. as I said, up to last year .. when I somehow managed to miss them both. So, this time I'll try to add some more professional description besides my own "unauthorized" thoughts. And this is thanks to a small group of people who have a site dedicated exclusively to the sound design in movies - SoundWorks Collection, and also have produced a series of "behind the scenes" clips on the topic.

But before getting on to the nominations I'll detail a bit about the two - editing & mixing. Sound Editing refers mainly to sound effects. More exactly the recording and processing or finding and getting the right samples from external sources for the film parts which lack the necessary sound (because usually the live recording during the film shooting is not enough). Sound Mixing implies getting the final mix track, meaning the assembling of the live recorded material, the sound editing extra output and the score in a single piece which is the final form you hear. Usually there is a lot of interaction between the two .. "departments" (and sometimes is only one) and therefore you can find movies nominated at both categories quite often. Let's check the situation for this year ...

"Inception" has nominations on both of the categories. For Sound Editing it's pretty hard to try a guess this year for the winner. In case of "Inception" we have various effects added, starting with the producing source diversity up to the sound propagation/reverb in various locations, and even .. "time flow" (so to speak) leaves some marks on the sound. If it would be to go along the common general impression I might say that this is the favorite title for Sound Editing (and probably it actually is), but for me there is another title which .. sounds better :). However on Sound Mixing it's simpler. I'm pretty sure that "Inception" will get the Oscar for this category and it's deserved in case it happens. It might have one serious rival on Sound Mixing, but the final mix track in "Inception" is among the best I've heard during the last years (not at the same level with "Slumdog Millionaire" but quite close). It's built in such a way to sense that the score is there (and the score gives a lot of the general feeling on this movie), to hit you at the right time with effects to keep the tension up, and also manages to emphasize on the voice where this is needed (well, what I'm rambling about here is actually what every final mix track is supposed to do :) but this one actually gets it quite nicely). I'll better leave it to the next clip for more details ( sorry, this one seems it doesn't allow embedding, but from what I've found available is for sure the most detailed regarding the sound here .. so probably it worth an extra click :) ):

"The King's Speech" has one nomination on the Sound Mixing part, and this is the movie which I think it's the closest to "Inception" (but still the 2nd). At a first look, it doesn't seem to be something very noticeable here, but it is a movie which as part of the main idea relies quite much in getting a view on the speaking problems of king George VI. Colin Firth actually does a pretty good job on the stammering part, so I don't think to much editing was required for that. But to get something in the final that is supposed to get well by the viewers ear, that's a whole different matter. And because of this, I personally think that technically speaking the final mix track is the best part of this movie. Even so, it probably won't get over "Inception". Unfortunately I didn't find any clip from SoundWorks to give more details here, but I went by something quite interesting. However it requires distributed hearing :) and it's also quite a big spoiler. It's a comparison between the final speech in the movie and the real one - this is one more criteria which brings some points here = the effort to obtain a close replica to the original (the clip version is the actual track with the score and volume switches according to the filming camera place):

I was planning to write an entry about "Salt" (on my Ro blog version) last summer when I've seen it .. but that was actually before watching the movie = I had it planned as the possible weekly topic. In the end I didn't write the entry and I looked for another subject. The reason is that from my point of view this movie is the worst from the entire filmography of Phillip Noyce ("The Quiet American", "The Bone Collector", "Clear and Present Danger", "Patriot Games", "The Saint", etc). At the middle of the movie I actually figured out the final, besides the part that the final isn't actually the final and leaves enough room for another final. Oh well .. more details on the subject in the next clip. It has a certain Cold War spy thriller air, as some older movies had, but it's far from the best titles in this area. Getting back to the Sound Mixing, where it has a nomination, I can't say I see(well .. hear) anything out of common about this title. It's a movie with lots of action and the final mix demands quite some work indeed, but it's not different from the usual case on this genre.

"The Social Network" has a nomination for Sound Mixing, probably as unexpected as "The King's Speech". The difference is that (at least for my ear) the final mix in the Facebook story doesn't sound as convincing as it's British rival. Yes, we have plenty of dialogue, we have several scenes with noisy background, but the result is not extraordinary at all. Besides this, the final mix gains a lot from the score quality here (about which I'll talk more next time) and this doesn't actually count for mixing. On top of all as it's said at some point in the next clip, the sound may actually lose itself at some moments - it's not noticeable anymore (and inherently brings down the score), and I'm not a very big fan of such results .. although it might be a matter of taste.

"Tron: Legacy" is an interesting nomination for Sound Editing, especially considering it didn't get one for VFX. It seems the audio ones were more appreciated. And I can say that it seems quite good here. We have the robotized voices part + a lot of pre-recordings processed for all the kind of effect from vehicles to explosions, etc + ADR Automated Dialog Replacement as mentioned in the next clip = this works as a dubbing/re-recording after shooting the movie on top of the original voice. In this case also the score makes the final track to gain a lot, and I sincerely regret not seeing Daft Punk nominated there. However, the category we talk about here is not Sound Mixing, so the fact the score adds to the impression for the final mix doesn't cut from the Sound Editing value. Maybe I'm a bit subjective, considering I liked the movie (well, forgetting for a while all about my IT background). Anyway, as I've said in the start this year the competition seems to be pretty fierce on Sound Editing, and Tron probably falls somewhere on a middle placement in a potential top.

"Toy Story 3" has a nominee for Sound Editing. "Toy Story 3" is the reason for I'm running a small boycott this year - I'm not going to write about Best Animation. So more (or less..) on the "Toy Story 3" subject on another occasion. Strictly speaking about sound effects, I've always had the opinion that animations are on a totally different class from feature films. Because the percent of the final sound which comes from the sound editing activity is overwhelming. You don't have any live recording here as you have when you shoot a normal scene in a movie. But, anyway, as I said this year I have a small problem with "Toy Story 3" :) and I'm not going to praise it more than it's the case. And if you think at the Oscars given two years ago, when "Wall-E" didn't get it here (which for me was one of the biggest Oscar surprises ever) I don't see how TS3 will grab it now ...

I don't have much to say about "True Grit". It has nominations on both the categories, but I really doubt it has any chances on any of them. For Editing we have the usual western effects ranging from gun shots to horse galloping. A short sequence can be seen/heard in the clip below (unfortunately here also I didn't find any extended entry from SoundWorks). All around it's ok, but that's pretty much of it. As a final track mix it sounds quite nice but again we have the same problem as in "The Social Network". I really think it gains a lot on the impression from the score (which didn't even get nominated), and not from integrating the score but actually from the music.

And I finally got to the last title on this long list - "Unstoppable". It seems that Tony Scott (who IMHO currently is one of the best action movie directors) after pretty much flopped with the "Pelham 123" remake, changed the line but not to far - from the underground to the surface. Another film, other trains, the same Denzel. I never was very attracted by "catastrophe" movies (= volcano eruptions, tunnel explosions, world's end next year, etc). And also not very attracted by movies based on real facts. Well, this one is both = we have the story of a loose speeding train carrying some very unhealthy substances. As a surprise (for me at least) it was quite watchable, even with the whole specific chessy lines present. In two words: adrenaline rush ! (think on "Speed" on rails .. well without any bad guy in command). And one of the things which adds a lot to this sensation I think it's the sound editing. You don't have a lot of variation on the effects range. Pretty much all is train related - wheels, sirens, etc. But these are very well processed = obviously the work is not limited only to live recordings. I would personally give the Oscar here for Sound Editing, but "Inception" is quite strong on this area. So we'll see...

Next time - the soundtrack section ...