Editor’s note: Welcome to the third of a 33-part series dissecting the 83rd Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every day leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category of the Oscars. To read any other posts regarding this event, please click the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!

 

by Jason from Invasion of the B Movies

This is my fourth time writing something for “LAMB’s Devour The Oscars”. The first time was marred by controversy cause I was suppose to write about all five nominees for “Best Special Effects” or whatever and instead I wrote about how fucking terrible “Transformers” is. I don’t regret this decision, anytime I get to tell people how fucking terrible “Transformers” is, I’m a happy man.

    The second time I got Best Supporting Actor. This too was marred by controversy cause all the actors nominated were in movies I never seen, nor did I ever plan on seeing them. So instead I just made something up. You “good” movie snobs, you sure take this shit seriously.

    And last year, I was told to just talk about the movie “District 9″, which I can’t even believe was nominated. Not cause it’s not good, it’s an awesome movie, but it’s TOO awesome to be nominated for a Best Picture. The last awesome best picture nominee was “Pulp Fiction”. [Citation needed] When “Hot Tub Time Machine” becomes nominated for Best Picture, get back with me.

    So this year, someone new is running this event (Hi Jess!) and frankly, she just didn’t know what to do with me. To be fair, she asked me if I had a preference and I said “Eh, give me whatever”, cause I know people wanted to write about a certain award. And because Jess is my number 1 fan, she gave me…

    Sound mixing? What the fuck is sound mixing? That’s a thing? Sound mixing? Isn’t that what Dr. Dre does? Does he just get nominated five times? How does that work? Well, I got my work cut out for me, let’s do this!!

    Google says sound mixing is a free software I can download if I need to mix two or more audio samples together. Hm. Let’s try WIKI.  They say “Live sound mixing is the art of combining and processing a number of audio signals together to create a “mix” that the audience or performers at a live show hear.”

    
Well, it SOUNDS like an orchastra is playing a bunch of fast notes while Leonardo Di Caprio mumbles about dreams all the while a steam boat is about to leave dock. This is one of three movies that I have seen, and the only one I own on DVD, so I know I’m not that far off.

    Does It SOUND Like A Winner: I don’t see anything special about it. If there’s an award for overusage of “BRRRRRMP” noises, this would be a lock.   

Next: “The Kings Speech”. So somebody made a movie based on the fact some dude couldn’t talk? I know it’s based on a true story, but I get the feeling the real life story is probably really, really, fucking boring. Whatever.

    Does It SOUND Like A Winner: Did they film the entire movie with the microphone across the room? Everything was echo-y. Every single scene. Even the part where Colin Firth was watching footage of Hitler (Really? The king of England during World War II is turning to Hitler for inspiration?) it sounds echo-y. Hell no!

    Next: “The Social Network”. SHHEEEEEES!! RUNNING OUT!! THE DOOORRRRRR!!! Oh, sorry. I was distracted by the awesome cover of “Creep”. Ok.

    Does It SOUND Like A Winner: Everybodytalksreallyfastjustli

Let’s do…”True Grit” next. I seen this movie in theaters and I’m just gonna say the trailer is a bit misleading. They make it sound like the girl is kidnapped and the rest of the movie is Bridges and Damon looking for her, when that is not the case. Man, I was able to tell just by listening to it. I have become one with all my senses.
   
    Does It SOUND Like A Winner: The sounds throughout the trailer were done pretty good. The sound of the guns being cocked and the roughness of Jeff Bridges voice plus the accent of Matt Damon. Everything kinda meshed together. So far, this is my pick for winner.

    Still got one more, which I saved for last cause it’s laughable it’s even in here. Here’s “Salt”. This oughta be good.

    Does It SOUND Like A Winner: ….HOLY FUCKING SHIT THAT SOUNDED AWESOME!!! This is going to win right here!! I totally see why this was nominated!! I mean….wow!!! The meshing of the shooshes along with the heavy “DUMM”’s and then you got Angenlia Jolie? This is a shoe in!!!

    So I picked my winner. “Salt”. Hands down. And I’m still blind folded. Fuck it, I’m gonna keep it on until I submit it. That’s ight im not spellch ecking this motherfucker!!1 If theirs problems, oh well! Im doing this SOUND, yo!! SOUND!!!
 
    PS: Oh and if you hardcore Oscar snobs have a problem with this post, you can suck [edited due to graphic content].

Editor’s note: Welcome to the twenty-seventh of a 33-part series dissecting the 82st Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every day leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category of the Oscars. To read any other posts regarding this event, please click the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!

By Travis McCollum of The Movie Encyclopedia.

Ever since the late 20s-early 30s sound has been a major part of films. Some Silent Film enthusiasts believe it’s what damned the film industry but for the most part most people think sound is one of, if not the most important part of a film. If you think about it while visuals ARE important without sound we would be bored to tears. Imagine if films like Black Hawk Down, Transformers or The Bourne series didn’t have sound. They wouldn’t have been as effective as a film! One of the best scenes in Black Hawk Down is when they are riding across the ocean in the helicopter and all you can hear is the noise of the helicopter. It’s such an overpowering sound that adds SO much to the film. Both of the Transformer films use sound to magnify the effect of the transformations. The “Ree kee kee” noise that you hear when they are transforming is almost more exciting than the actual transformation because you know “OH SNAP THAT IS THE SOUND OF THINGS ABOUT TO BE GOING DOWN!” And in a film like Bourne Ultimatum sound is crucial. During the apartment fight scene the music cuts out completely and relies on sound along to make the fight exciting. You hear every punch land, every kicks impact and every prop getting thrown at Bourne and the assailant. It’s tension filled without needing sound.

Editor’s note: Welcome to the eleventh of a 24-part series dissecting the 81st Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every day leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category of the Oscars. To read any other posts regarding this event, please click the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!

By Adam from The Jack Sack

The Academy Award for Best Achievement in Sound is given for the motion picture having the best mix of the multitude of elements that make up a film’s audio. These components generally include dialogue, music, sound effects and atmospheric noise (not to be discounted would be the subliminal messages James Cameron inserted into TITANIC that convinced people to keep seeing his picture). It’s not a sexy category, for certain, but without sound a movie would lose its soul. And without the right overall balance of audio elements, a movie would lose its character. Here are the nominees and my take:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten

Regular readers of The Jack Sack know that I loathed this movie. But that’s not to say that its technical qualities were not outstanding. BUTTON failed dramatically but it certainly deserves recognition for its sound mix. It’s audio is traditional big-Hollywood- with a heavy reliance on its sweeping score. There are some scenes, particularly the ambush with the Nazi sub, that are fully engrossing. There is nothing wrong per se with BUTTON’s audio, but perhaps my bias against the movie makes me less enthusiastic about its merit.

THE DARK KNIGHT– Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick

Here we… go! KNIGHT’s audio left a very large impression on me. Certainly this film benefits from its diverse mix of action and drama, along with the fantastic exploits if its billionaire vigilante, Batman. But the sound is so distinct that it really contributed to the “urban-industrial opera” taking place. Where there was tension, the film’s sound delivered high-pitches and rumbling fear perfectly. And where there was tragedy, these emotions were delivered not with sweeping orchestral movements, but with absolutely no audio whatsoever (as was the case when Harvey Dent learned of Rachel Dawes’ death). Christopher Nolan’s Batman films have defied the superhero genre in all aspects, and sound is chief among those categories. I’ll be rooting for this to win.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty

Danny Boyle’s masterpiece depicting the struggle of three youths in the slums of India benefits tremendously from a perfectly-designed audio track. This brutal fable of love and survival could have been dragged down by generic sound mixing. But Danny Boyle is… well pretty awesome, and his team of sound mixers and re-mixers did everything right. Some scenes are haunting (like the bloodshed that claimed a village early on) and others are completely euphoric (where Jamal, the protagonist, finally achieves “freedom” from his demons). The sound in these scenes and others was essential to building the film’s wide range of emotions. But not for THE DARK KNIGHT’s operatic sound mix, I would choose SLUMDOG as the most worthy nominee.

WALL*E – Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt

This film relies on its audio more than any other one nominated in this category. WALL*E’s non-human characters express themselves primarily through their unique sounds. In order for this film to be bearable, let alone wonderful, the sound design needed to be perfect. No pressure, eh Ben Burtt? Well the audio team succeeded tremendously, and this film deserves to win the Best Sound Editing Oscar. But the category we’re discussing goes beyond the design of the sound and encompasses the entirety of the film’s audio. You can’t say anything negative about this film’s technical achievements. I wouldn’t be surprised if this film wins the category either. I just have a huge crush for that Batman flick… alright, I’ll stop gushing.

WANTED – Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

Director Timur Bekmambeto makes obnoxious movies. Some people like this kind of cinema (I admit that I’ve seen THE ROCK a good dozen times). But WANTED is something devoid of any charm- it’s an idiotic film through and through. I cannot render an opinion on its audio mix because I was unable to hear anything over my own grumbles and groans. To be fair, I honestly didn’t pay close attention to the sound. It could be good, maybe even great, but ultimately sound exists within the context of the whole motion picture. And unless the sound team muted the dialogue completely, I cannot give them any credit towards making this film “good.”

Bottom line prediction: WALL*E will probably win, but put my vote down for THE DARK KNIGHT.

Editor’s note: Welcome to the third of a multi-part series dissecting the 2008 Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every weekday leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category (or more) of the Oscars (there are 24 in all). To read any other posts regarding this event, please just click on the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!

By Pat from Doodad Kind of Town

If you’re anything like me, you probably haven’t paid too much attention to the Oscar categories Best Achievement in Sound Editing and Best Achievement in Sound Mixing. Truth be told, when I’m watching the awards at my friend’s annual party, I’m more likely to be filling my plate at the buffet table when the sound awards are announced than to be glued to the TV screen in rapt anticipation.

This year will be different, though. This year, I’ve actually done some reading and research about the work of the nominated film sound designers and technicians. Plus, I’ve discovered there is a little drama behind one of this year’s nominations.

Kevin O’Connell, a nominee for Achievement in Sound Mixing, holds the all-time record for most Oscar nominations without a win (19, to be exact.) He’s the Susan Lucci of film sound mixers, you might say. This year, O’Connell got his 20th nomination for “Transformers.” Will he win - or will he continue his distinguished but winless run in the category? I’ll be watching intently to find out.

The complete lists of nominees are as follows:

For Sound Editing -

“The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal) Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg

“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro) Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins

For Sound Mixing -

“The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal) Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis

“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro) Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin

You might be wondering (I was): What’s the difference between the two awards?

The Sound Editing award is given for achievement in executing the sound design of a film - it has a lot to do with the creation of sound effects. (In fact, for many years, the award was called Best Sound Effects , then Best Sound Effects Editing.) The Sound Mixing award, by contrast, is based on the excellence of the finished soundtrack of the film, including the entire mix of sound effects, music and dialogue.

(Why did “There Will Be Blood” got the nomination for Editing, but not Mixing? Was it Jonny Greenwood’s score - which tended to sound more like a swarm of crazed cicadas than music - that alienated voters? I’m only guessing. Personally I found the score both disturbing and effective, but not everyone shares that view.)

This New York Times article is not only a great introduction to the craft of film sound, but also gives you a whole new appreciation for the importance of sound design in double-nominee “No Country for Old Men.” With only 16 minutes of music in the film’s entire 122-minute running time, the sound effects have even greater impact. As “No Country” sound editor, Skip Lievsay explains, “The idea here was to remove the safety net that lets the audience feel like they know what’s going to happen. I think it makes the movie much more suspenseful. You’re not guided by the score and so you lose that comfort zone.”

Oh, and the sound made by that air-powered cattle stun gun wielded by Javier Bardem? It’s actually a pneumatic nail gun. According to sound mixer Craig Berkey “I wasn’t looking for authenticity, so I didn’t even research cattle guns. I just knew it had to be impactful, with that two-part sound, like a ch-chung.”

Reading this article made me want to go back and see “No Country” again just to focus on the sounds. Ditto for “There Will Be Blood,” after reading this interview with Sound Designer Chris Scarabosiso and Re-recording Mixer Mike Semanick (both P. T. Anderson regulars). Here they talk about how the sound of the oil derricks underscores the tensions in the story:

Semanick: (The derricks have) a constant grinding - they’re going and going, you know. And I mean a constant (he makes a “Chug! Chug!” sound). It’s like poking at the town’s folk and poking at the preacher kid because they got shorted out of the money. And the derricks are still pumping away, so it’s this ongoing character in the background, a constant track audible every day in these people’ lives.

Scarabosio: (Paul) was pretty adamant about it sounding dangerous. But Paul doesn’t like things to sound too over produced So, it’s the challenge of trying to create that without it sounding too over done. Give it that sense of darkness, danger, but also convey it’s this big piece of wood with these big metal wheels and stuff and they always have to have some kind of imperfection to them as well.

I love the idea of the oil derricks being a sort of additional character in the film. Those are the kinds of subtle details I rarely pick up on a first viewing, but knowing about them makes me want to go back to “There Will Be Blood” all that much more.

Randy Thom - a double nominee this year, and a two-time Oscar winner for “The Right Stuff” and “The Incredibles” - gives a little insight into his sound design for “Ratatouille” in a video interview at filmsound.org. Here he talks about the special challenges of creating sound for an animated film, and gives some background on how his team was able to create an authentic feeling of being in Paris. (Hint: listen closely and you’ll hear actual Parisians speaking French in the background of some scenes.) Thom is a distinguished sound veteran who got his start working on “Apocalypse Now.”

While I appreciate the fine sound work of “3:10 to Yuma” and “The Bourne Ultimatum,” (I didn’t - and won’t - see “Transformers”), I believe the award winners will come from one of the three aforementioned films. In fact, my money is on either “No Country for Old Men” or “Ratatouille.” Why should you believe me? Well, I’m no expert, but I have won my friend’s Oscar-predicting contest in three of the last four years. And I usually choose the technical awards correctly.