Dolby Creator Talks (Dolby)

Part two (of two) of our exclusive, in-person interview with the filmmakers. If you missed part one, be sure to check out that episode (#121) from earlier this week, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts.

Joining us again are directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (known collectively as "Daniels"), as well as the film's sound designer and sound effects editor, Andrew Twite, and the re-recording mixer and sound supervisor, Brent Kiser.

Today we're devoting the entire episode to the music of "Everything Everywhere All at Once" because it was such an intensive process. So much so that the composers, the indie band Son Lux (comprised of members Ryan Lott, Ian Chang, and Rafiq Bhatia) spent an unusually long time working very, very closely with the filmmakers on this project:

"They came on before we started photography. They helped us write some songs that needed to be on camera. Like the fake musical and stuff. They gave us their entire library of all their personal projects, as well as all their records [and] instrumental versions. And we cut the whole movie to their music. And then they were on during the whole edit, working on the score. So they were part of the project for over two years and created over two hours of original music."

— Daniel Scheinert, co-director, co-writer, and co-producer, "Everything Everywhere All at Once"

If that sounds like a lot, that's because it was. As part of this episode, we also speak with Ryan Lott, the founding member of Son Lux, to describe his journey working on this film and all its many parts, including crafting different musical styles for each multiverse, collaborating (and singing a duet!) with Randy Newman, as well as discovering the artistic potential of working in Dolby Atmos®.

"There were times where we were very specific about 'the front wall' and keeping most things really focused on the front wall. And then, finding moments and specific elements too that could basically embrace you, sonically. And I started to think, during that mix, how that is a musical choice. That's an artistic choice. That's not just a technology choice. That's not just an engineering thing."

— Ryan Lott of Son Lux, composer, "Everything Everywhere All at Once"

Be sure to check out "Everything Everywhere All at Once" at a cinema near you, now playing in Dolby Atmos®, where available.

Many thanks to our friends at A24 for helping us pull this conversation together! 

If you enjoyed this two-part conversation with the filmmakers, please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, as we have many more episodes just like this one coming up in the near future!

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Two-time Academy Award® winner Alan Murray, discusses how low-end sound can heighten tension and his 40-year collaboration with Clint Eastwood.

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The latest season of "Stranger Things" finally returned to Netflix on May 27th and we are so excited to sit down with the creators of the show, along with several key members of the post-production team, to discuss the sound, music, and editorial process behind this wildly successful series. 

This is a supersized episode of the podcast with a TON of bonus guests. Joining us are the creators (as well as writers and directors) Matt and Ross Duffer; composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein; re-recording mixers Mark Paterson, Craig Henighan (also the sound supervisor), and Will Files (also the supervising sound editor); and the editor of the series, Dean Zimmerman.

This conversation offers an incredible glimpse into the creative process of what makes "Stranger Things" work so well. And it's apparent from this conversation that it has a lot to do with how much this team trusts each other in order to work so seamlessly together.

"Yeah, there's a lot of people who work on the show. But in terms of making big, big decisions, say in post-production, shaping the sound and the music of the show, it's a pretty, actually, tight knit group. And I think we've all gotten to the point where we really respect and trust each other. And then it's just a creative collaboration... It feels weirdly the same as it did season one."

— Matt Duffer, Co-Creator, "Stranger Things"

Be sure to check out "Stranger Things," only on Netflix.

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Director Gareth Edwards joins us to discuss the 2024 Academy Award®-nominated sound of his visionary new dystopian sci-fi film, "The Creator.” The movie features some incredible work — including a glorious Dolby Atmos® mix — but with some unconventional sound design choices for a science fiction film about artificial intelligence and fully autonomous robots.

Joining the director to discuss all this and more are sound designers and supervising sound editors Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van Der Ryn, along with re-recording mixers Tom Ozanich and Dean A. Zupancic.

This is another of our in-depth conversations, which we were proud to conduct in person at our Dolby screening room in Hollywood. We were delighted to discuss the filmmaking process and the risky creative choices required to craft such a groundbreaking track.

“The whole making of a film is [a] dance. You're on a razor's edge. You go slightly too much this way, it's really obvious and cliched. You go slightly too much this way, it's up its own arse and no one understands it. And you're just trying to do that knife edge the whole time. And the way you get there is not through being a really clever. To be honest, you pick a side to start on and then you go right up to the limit.”

—Gareth Edwards, Director / Producer / Co-writer, “The Creator”

Be sure to check out The Creator at a Dolby Cinema® to get the full experience in Dolby Vison® and Dolby Atmos®.

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Lucasfilm design supervisor James Clyne shares how J.J. Abrams reimagined the X-Wing fighter and how they researched and built various Death Star interiors.

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We conclude our special coverage of sound design for video games by interviewing the sound team at Gearbox Software, which famously created "over one billion guns" for its latest first-person shooter, Borderlands 3. So how exactly does a team design the sound for so many different guns? Turns out, it's actually kinda fun.

"The godsend was the fact that we have a good set of field recording gear internally anyway and... we live in Texas. So, there's lots of people with lots of guns and lots of places, lots of space. So outside of the formal gun shoots that we did, which was really only one — formal gun shoot — we did a whole lot of side shoots here, locally, just us. And some of that was experimentation. Some of that was filling holes. We were learning as we were going. Where we needed more content, where we needed different types of content, different perspectives, different tales. Those kinds of things. And we would go out and do those shoots."

— Mark Petty, Audio Director, Gearbox Software

Thanks again to Gearbox Software for joining us this week!

Borderlands 3 is currently available on your favorite video game platforms.

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The Oscar®-nominated sound editors discuss working with director J.J. Abrams, recording lines in Adam Driver’s closet, and working on previous Star Wars films.

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For our 100th episode, we are very pleased to welcome back to the podcast acclaimed director Edgar Wright, along with his frequent collaborators, composer Steven Price and sound designer Julian Slater. We discussed their latest mind-bender of a film, the psychological thriller – featuring (as Stephen King put it) "time travel with a twist" — "Last Night in Soho."

As always, this team has crafted an incredibly rich soundtrack, this time seamlessly melding sound design, score, and classic hit songs from the 1960s. They accomplished this by beginning work on the film well before filming even began.

"The great thing about working with Steve and Julian, and also my editor Paul Machliss, is that we've worked together so much, that it's great to be able to think about those [soundtrack] elements when you're writing, and also to be able to talk to everybody about it before we've shot a frame of the movie. That's an unusual thing to do with a composer, and an even more unusual thing, probably, to do with Julian — to talk to a sound designer about a film where you haven't shot a frame of it yet. But, as with 'Baby Driver' and with this, it's something where I include everybody very early on."

— Edgar Wright, Director and Co-Writer, "Last Night in Soho"

"It's kind of how it goes with Edgar. As I leave one movie he's talking about three or four possibilities for his next ones. And sound is always entwined in there. And conversations start, even at that point, even as we're finishing the current movie. He's already thinking about the next one. When there's a collaboration that runs as deep as ours does, including Paul [Machliss] as well, it just makes for a great breeding ground of ideas."

— Julian Slater, Supervising Sound Editor and Re-Recording Mixer, "Last Night in Soho"

The film is now playing in Dolby Cinemas and it is spectacular to experience in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®, so be sure to get your tickets soon.

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Oscar®-winning sound artist, Skip Lievsay, talks about his work on Alfonso Cuarón’s epic black-and-white film about his own childhood in 1970s Mexico City.

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Bonnie Wild, re-recording mixer and sound effects editor of the Star Wars show from Disney+, talks about cinematic scale and production value on a TV budget.

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In Part Two of our conversation about "Nightmare Alley," we are joined by an impressive team of sound artists, who worked very closely with Guillermo del Toro in crafting this film:

- Nathan Robitaille, Supervising Sound Editor

- Jill Purdy, Supervising Sound Editor

- Christian Cooke, Re-recording Mixer

- Brad Zoern, Re-recording Mixer

- Greg Chapman, Production Sound Mixer

We've included some additional material from our one-on-one interview with the director himself, so that we could discuss some key creative decisions and how the team responded to his direction. They remarked not only on his famous eye (and ear) for detail, but how every creative decision seemed to be driven, as always, by story:

"One of the things Guillermo said to us is — it's really important that we emphasize the freedom in poverty at the carnival, and the restriction and that suffocating isolation in the wealthy back half of the city, once they start to succeed and they go to the big city. That was the big global bird's-eye note. And so from there forward, that would influence every choice that got made, as we started doing pre-design elements and sourcing the bits that would eventually build the cacophony that was the carnival and the Copacabana and all."

— Nathan Robitaille, Supervising Sound Editor, "Nightmare Alley"

Definitely check out Part One of this discussion, where we sat down with Guillermo del Toro himself to discuss his filmmaking techniques & philosophies which he applied to "Nightmare Alley," as well as many of his other hit films. That episode was released just a few days ago and can be found wherever you get your podcasts. 

While you're there, be sure you are subscribed to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast. Afterwards, be sure to check out "Nightmare Alley" in a Dolby Cinema near you!

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Netflix's "The Crown" picked up a whopping 24 Emmy nominations this year, including one for Best Drama Series — which is understandable, considering just how innovative, understated, and tragic the storytelling on that series is. 

This week, we're speaking with two of the nominees responsible for some of that incredible storytelling, longtime collaborators Yan Miles ACE, the Editor, and Lee Walpole, the Supervising Sound Editor & Re-Recording Mixer. Yan was nominated for editing and Lee for sound mixing the emotionally wrenching "Fairytale" episode from season four, which tells the heartbreaking story of Lady Diana's days from her engagement to Prince Charles up until her wedding day, which by then, it's safe to say, the "fairytale" was over.

This episode is like a masterclass in non-verbal storytelling, tone, and subtext as we follow Diana's emotional journey beyond dialogue, by showing us her relationship to things like food, loneliness, silence, and dance. We're delighted to share this conversation with you so you can get a glimpse into just how this talented creative team approaches this very complex subject matter.

"I was very mindful of that in the scene, to lean into this innocent, happy, young woman, always. And to always tread very carefully, because it's unusual to watch a film when you know the ending. That's a very unusual sort of storytelling. So I always, always [remembered] that, all the time. What would this young girl be going through, in these experiences? And I imagine any girl around the world, when she is sort of happy or sad, dances around the bedroom to a piece of music! It's relatable, it's hugely relatable. [Lady Diana] just happens to be in this huge, great big room or happens to be roller skating around this huge, great big palace."

–Yan Miles ACE, Editor, "The Crown" 

Be sure to check out the fourth season of "The Crown" on Netflix ahead of the Emmy Awards on September 19th.

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Dr. Michelle Fournet and Dr. Ellen Garland, the scientists featured in the new Apple TV+ documentary "Fathom," believe the songs of the humpback whales to be perhaps the oldest form of verbal communication between intelligent life on planet Earth. A language and culture which may predate humans' by millions of years. 

You may think scientific curiosity then set out to decipher this language so that we would be able to communicate with these fiercely intelligent mammals directly. But as it turns out, that is not exactly the point...

"I have given a lot of thought to understand why the scientists are doing what they're doing. And the point is — to understand what the whales are saying to each other. And I think there's a number of reasons for that. One of them is ethical — [not] interfering too much with the natural goings on of another species. But two, I think it's, for them, more interesting. [The whales] have a lot more to say to each other than we have to say to them. I think [Dr.] Michelle [Fournet] would say, 'they're saying everything we need to understand. We just need to actually just listen to them. And maybe not talk for once.'"

— Drew Xanthopoulos, Director, "Fathom"

So just what are the whales saying to each other? And how did the filmmakers convey this foreign language so beautifully through sound and image? We sat down with Director and Cinematographer Drew Xanthopoulos, along with Sound Supervisor and Re-Recording Mixer Brad Engleking of TBD Post, to ask exactly that.

Be sure to check out "Fathom" now on Apple TV+.

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The filmmakers, composer, and sound team discuss how they used sound design and music to create the perilous, uncomfortable world of Adam Sandler’s character.

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Director Ron Howard joins us to discuss his thrilling new film, “Thirteen Lives,” a harrowing dramatization of the real-life rescue of thirteen young Thai soccer players who were trapped in a flooding cave in 2018.

Joining the discussion is much of the film’s post-production team:

Rachael Tate, Supervising Sound Editor

Oliver Tarney, Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer

Chris Burden, Re-recording Mixer

William Miller, Re-recording Mixer

James D. Wilcox, Editor

Authenticity was the name of the game and the entire filmmaking team took great pains to make this film as historically accurate as possible.

“It was great having [the actual rescue divers] Rick Stanton and Jason Mallinson around [set] because they were not only there to help make sure that the diving was accurate and that the divers’ technique was right, and that we understood what the threats and the complications were, and the procedure of it all. But… they're not guys that dwell on emotions very much as individuals. Nonetheless, on the day that we were actually shooting the scene [where they first discover the boys] with the flashlights, I just remember Rick talking about he wasn't sure he'd ever see those boys again. He knew he was leaving them in the dark and… he just thought it was a hopeless scenario and he was pretty shattered by that. And I just thought, ‘leave them in the dark.’ Making a moment that will allow that sort of focus. The flashlights kind of coming out [and] just slowly disappearing until we were in the complete darkness.”

— Ron Howard, Director, “Thirteen Lives”

Thirteen Lives is available to stream right now on Prime Video.

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Welcome to our continuing coverage of this year's Academy Awards. Like last year, we have compiled interviews from each of the nominees in the Best Sound category. So, if you are an Oscar voter — either as an Academy member or as a fan participating in your annual office pool — you'll have a much better idea of what to watch for and (more importantly) what to listen for as you get to the Best Sound category on your ballot! Here are the nominees, in alphabetical order:

BELFAST: Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri

DUNE: Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett

NO TIME TO DIE: Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor

THE POWER OF THE DOG: Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb

WEST SIDE STORY: Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy

Each of these interview excerpts is taken from our full episodes dedicated to the sound design of each of these incredible films. Here's a table of contents, in case you'd like to jump around, as well as links to the full episodes from our back catalogue:

0:01:33 - BELFAST - from episode 104, December 9, 2021

• Sir Kenneth Branagh — Director, Writer, and Producer 
• Simon Chase — Sound Supervisor and Re-recording Mixer
• Niv Adiri — Academy Award-Winning Re-recording Mixer
• James Mather — Sound Supervisor

0:16:56 - DUNE - from episode 99, October 26, 2021

• Denis Villeneuve — Director, Writer, and Producer
• Mark Mangini — Supervising Sound Editor
• Theo Green — Sound Designer / Supervising Sound Editor
• Ron Bartlett — Re-recording Mixer

0:33:02 - NO TIME TO DIE - from episode 101, November 10, 2021

• Oliver Tarney — Supervising Sound Editor
• Paul Massey — Re-recording Mixer
• Mark Taylor — Re-recording Mixer

0:46:04 - THE POWER OF THE DOG - from episode 105, December 13, 2021

• Jane Campion — Director, Writer, and Producer
• Robert Mackenzie — Supervising Sound Editor
• Dave Whitehead — Sound Designer
• Tara Webb — Re-recording Mixer (1st nom)

0:57:39 - WEST SIDE STORY - from episode 114, February 22, 2022

• Gary Rydstrom - Re-recording Mixer, Supervising Sound Editor, Sound Designer
• Shawn Murphy - Scoring Mixer
• Brian Chumney - Supervising Sound Editor
• Tod A. Maitland - Sound Mixer
• Andy Nelson - Re-recording Mixer

Many thanks to all the studios for helping us pull these interviews together! Be sure to check out BELFAST, DUNE, NO TIME TO DIE, THE POWER OF THE DOG, and WEST SIDE STORY before Oscars voting ends!

We have two more episodes just like this one — for the Best Cinematography and Best Animated Feature categories —  coming up. So if you haven't already, please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby...

Director Carlos López Estrada — Academy Award® nominee for “Raya and the Last Dragon” and winner of the Dolby Institute Fellowship — leads an all-star panel of independent filmmakers to discuss perhaps the biggest challenge of any director’s career:

“The making of a first feature is really nothing short of a miraculous feat. There’s just so many elements that need to perfectly align at the right time in order for an emerging filmmaker to get a shot at telling their story. And we’re hoping that by having these very earnest conversations about what it took, and what it felt, to make a first feature by these directors, we can shed a little bit of light into a process that is so, so, so mysterious to so many emerging filmmakers.”

—Carlos López Estrada, Director, "Blindspotting,” “Raya and the Last Dragon,” “Summertime”

Joining Carlos are filmmakers:

Sian Heder (CODA)

Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard)

Nikyatu Jusu (Nanny)

Randall Park (Shortcomings)

This discussion was streamed live as part of Antigravity Academy’s new Satellite Sessions — “monthly conversations with incredibly exciting figures from the film and TV universe” — co-presented by CAPE USA (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment).

For more inspiring Satellite Sessions just like this one, be sure you are subscribed to The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Learn more:

Antigravity Academy

CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment)

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Academy Award®-winning composer Hildur Guðnadóttir and executive music producer Jason Ruder join our guest host, music journalist Jon Burlingame, to discuss their extraordinary work on “Joker: Folie à Deux.” The sequel to 2019’s Oscar-winning “Joker” comes with high expectations, and Hildur and Jason talk about the challenge of evolving the sound of the Joker universe, while incorporating new elements like live-recorded songs and experimental instruments. They discuss how the music helps define the tone of the movie, blurring the lines between score and song to create an immersive experience.

“We really wanted to honor the sound world that we had already established [from the first film]... so we didn't want to go too far away from it. We knew that there would be strings and there would be a cello connection… Well, it just so happened that my instrument that I used in the first song got stolen a week before the recording session. So I had actually intended to just use the same instrument, but the Gods of Creativity forced me in a different direction… So I came up with this idea of creating what I call ‘the string prison.’ It’s literally like an electric fence that’s playable... an electroacoustic, large scale, playable string instrument that formed this prison cell of very, very, very hot strings, that I played through another instrument.”

—Hildur Guðnadóttir, Composer, “Joker: Folie à Deux”

Be sure to check out “Joker: Folie à Deux,” now in theaters, in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®.

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At Pixar, just about everyone's a critic. And that is one of the reasons why they continue to raise the creative bar with every film they release.

Pete Docter, the director of "Soul" and CCO of Pixar Animation Studios joins us along with the film's producer, Pixar veteran Dana Murray, to discuss the challenges of making such an incredible animated feature, including their exhaustive development process, which takes place simultaneously while the film is being animated and edited. And if that wasn't challenging enough, this film features one of the most difficult character designs they'd ever come up with. Thanks to our friends at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the New York Film Festival, Glenn was able to sit down with Pete and Dana to answer this essential question: How does Pixar continue to meet these exceedingly high challenges they set for themselves?

"Every three months, we get it in front of as many people as we could fit in our theater, which is like 240 people or something. And we get a lot of notes, and we tear it all down, and we start the whole entire process over. And on this film, we had time to do that seven times."

- Dana Murray, producer of "Soul"

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2-time Academy Award®-winning composer Hans Zimmer joins us on the podcast to discuss his work on “Dune: Part Two,” after winning an Oscar for his score to the first installment of the sci-fi franchise, directed by Denis Villeneuve. And like Denis, Hans had been dreaming about working on these films since he was a boy. And he also knew he wanted to take them in a less traditional direction, sonically:

“These were the things which probably had been on my mind ever since I read the book. It's just… I never had the opportunity to try them. I could never understand why, in a science fiction movie — I loved them all — but why we would hear a sort of a European orchestral sound. Why the strings? Why the French horns? Everything else looked futuristic. Everything else was different. Except the music still stuck to the rules of the romantic period. I'm not criticizing it. There's nothing I love more than ‘Alien’ or ‘Star Wars.’ They're phenomenal things. But I saw my duty very much as going beyond that.”

—Hans Zimmer, Composer, “Dune: Part Two”

Be sure to check out “Dune: Part Two,” now in theaters, in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®, where available.

Don’t miss our previous episode this week, with “Dune” cinematographer Greig Fraser, available in our podcast feed. You can subscribe to Dolby Creator Talks wherever you get your podcasts.

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As we begin our coverage of the 2021 Emmy Awards, we're excited to sit down today with Sound Designer, and 3-time Emmy Winner, (and returning guest) Craig Henighan, and Supervising Sound Editor and Dialogue Editor, as well as 4-time Emmy Winner, Brad North — who are nominated again, this time for their incredible work on the Netflix animated anthology series, LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS. They are nominated for Outstanding Sound Editing and the series itself is nominated for Outstanding Short Form Animated Program. And the series is exactly that — Outstanding.

So, just how difficult is crafting a sonic landscape for animation? Especially for animation which takes place in a completely alien landscape? And one which utilizes cutting-edge photo-realistic computer animation? As you can imagine, it's very challenging. But also, it turns out, very fun. And you can tell these sound artists had an absolute blast creating a whole new world for their nominated episode, "Snow in the Desert," In Dolby Atmos®.

"With no production track, it's literally from the ground up. Which is why animation is so fun. Especially things like this — the world is your oyster, to a certain degree. You've obviously got to follow visuals and you've got to follow story, which is always, ultimately, the biggest point of it all. But within that framework, there is tons and tons of opportunities for sonic details and little things and stuff that you might not even hear on the first watch."

— Craig Henighan, Sound Designer, LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS

Be sure to check out LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS on Netflix.

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Quick Content Warning: There is some colorful language in this podcast episode. Listener discretion is advised.

Season 3 of the eleven-time Emmy winning series LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS hit Netflix on May 20th and we are delighted to sit down with creator Tim Miller, supervising director Jennifer Yuh Nelson, and supervising sound editor Brad North to discuss how they managed to succeed where so many others have failed — creating a hit anthology television series.

"It really comes down to who's doing the shorts. There's been a lot of care trying to match-make: The shorts, the stories, the directors, and the studios. You've got a whole lifetime of experience with people and studios that Tim has worked with at Blur. People that have been doing incredible content, that maybe haven't had the opportunity to do a feature yet, because of the size and experimentalism of that particular place. And to be able to hook them up with really good, solid stories that they can put all of their effort into making that, actually, great. You're not spinning a lot of wheels here. You're doing amazing. Everything goes right to the screen."

— Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Supervising Director, LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS

Be sure to check out LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS, only on Netflix.

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Director Jon M. Chu joins us, alongside the brilliant editing and sound team behind “Wicked,” the hit movie musical based on the beloved Broadway show.

Joining the discussion:

- Jon M. Chu – Director

- Myron Kerstein – Editor

- John Marquis – Supervising Sound Editor, Sound Designer, Re-Recording Mixer

- Nancy Nugent Title – Supervising Sound Editor

- Jack Dolman – Supervising Music Editor

- Andy Nelson – Re-Recording Mixer

Following our previous episode on the music of “Wicked,” this conversation dives deep into the film’s innovative sound design, immersive mixing, and groundbreaking visual storytelling. Hear how the team seamlessly integrated sound, music, and picture to bring the world of Oz to life as well as how the live recordings brought authenticity and spontaneity to the performances, creating magical moments that could only happen on set.

"Some of the moments that we got in the movie were only because of the live [recordings]. There were moments that went viral... if we had tried to record that, Steven Schwartz would’ve killed that in one second in the recording... But by that point [on set], [Ariana Grande] was riffing, she was Glinda. Or even in 'I’m Not That Girl.' That beginning of it is just so delicate, that Cynthia’s just barely singing coming in. And when she starts to do those riffs... that’s the magic, actually, that happened."

—Jon M. Chu, Director, “Wicked”

Be sure to check out “Wicked,” now playing in theaters, in stunning Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®.

And don’t miss last week’s episode featuring Stephen Schwartz and the music team behind “Wicked,” now on YouTube!

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Five-time Emmy Award-winning composer Laura Karpman joins guest host Jon Burlingame to discuss her first Academy Award® nomination for the music of “American Fiction.” Karpman took a rather unique approach to composing this “jazzy” score, by thinking of the actors’ voices as musical instruments themselves.

“There's a lot of dialogue. And the way the score is constructed is using the actors — particularly Erika Alexander, who plays Coraline, his love interest, and then Jeffrey [Wright], who plays Monk — using their voices as musical instruments. Jeffrey has a great tenor sax vibe, and Coraline has got this sexy alto. And so when they speak, it's under a rhythm section. And then the saxophones and Elena Pinderhughes on flute will come in to kind of move around that. But I did think of the actors as part of the jazz combo, with a rhythm section backing them up.”

—Laura Karpman, Composer, “American Fiction”

Be sure to check out “American Fiction” ahead of the Academy Awards, live from the Dolby Theatre® on March 10th!

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Academy Award-winning sound artist Skip Lievsay has worked with some of the greatest filmmakers for the past several decades, including Martin Scorsese, Darren Aronofsky, Michael Moore, Alfonso Cuarón, and his most frequent collaborators, the Coen Brothers. In this in-depth interview, Skip tells us some of his greatest tricks of the trade, whether working with first-time filmmakers or directors of the highest calibre. Specifically, being brave enough to experiment and even get things "wrong," even if that leads to some awkward moments on the mix stage.

"That's a valid, valuable experiment. We do that all the time. You don't know how far is too far until you go there. And you don't know if too far is not good until you find out, one way or the other."

— Skip Lievsay

Skip's latest film, "The Tragedy of Macbeth," directed by Joel Coen is available on AppleTV+ as of January 14.

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Academy Award® nominated sound artists discuss their work on Mel Gibson’s film including the challenges of using period-accurate weaponry.

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With our continuing Oscars coverage, today we are joined by Academy Award®-nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC. He discusses how he got his start in the film business, working with legendary director Martin Scorsese, the challenges of shooting “Killers of the Flower Moon,” as well as how his research into Osage traditions and rituals became directly woven into his photography for the film.

“A lot of it I remember was based on the sun and the sun position. And even the rituals. For example, a burial happens when the sun is at the zenith. So okay, that's usually a time of day you don't want to shoot as a cinematographer. You want to avoid it. But I thought it was important to respect that. And so we decided to have the sun in frame in those moments. And that's why precisely there's a scene of Mollie's mother's burial and the camera's looking straight up at the sky. These are shots that aren't meant to be cool. We're honoring, hopefully, the way they themselves honor the sun.”

—Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC, Director of Photography, “Killers of the Flower Moon”

Be sure to check out “Killers of the Flower Moon” ahead of the Academy Awards, live from the Dolby Theatre® on March 10th!

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Filmmaker Carlos López Estrada hosts a heartfelt and eye-opening conversation with five acclaimed artists about the power of storytelling to foster compassion, connection, and empathy.

Joining the discussion:

- Andrew Ahn – Filmmaker (“Fire Island,” “Driveways”)

- Patricia Cardoso – Filmmaker (“Real Women Have Curves”)

- Marcus Gardley – Screenwriter, Playwright (“The Color Purple”)

- Qui Nguyen – Filmmaker, Screenwriter (“Raya and the Last Dragon”)

- Sean Wang – Filmmaker (“Dìdi,” “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó”)

This is another installment of our ongoing “Satellite Sessions” series, which we’re bringing to you in partnership with Antigravity Academy and the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment. 

Follow @antigravityacademy and @capeusa for more information on even more upcoming panels.

Antigravity Academy

CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment)

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Emmy® award-winning sound designer Daniel Colman (Battlestar Galactica and Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) shares why musicians make the best sound designers.

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The Oscar®-nominated sound team behind Blade Runner 2049 talks about how they paid homage to the iconic original film while breaking new sonic ground.

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For his feature film directorial debut, director Lin-Manuel Miranda chose to adapt the autobiographical stage musical "tick, tick... BOOM!" by Jonathan Larson — the Broadway phenom behind "Rent," who died so suddenly and tragically in 1996. This film is so clearly a labor of love for Miranda, who took on quite the challenge of adapting this small stage show (often performed by no more than three people) and turning it into a fully realized movie musical with a big cast, elaborate set pieces, and a lush soundtrack worthy of Larson's legacy.

We recently sat down with the director along with Tod Maitland the sound mixer, and Paul Hsu, the re-recoding mixer and supervising sound editor for the film, to discuss the unique challenges this production faced — especially considering how they filmed during the Covid-19 pandemic before vaccines were readily available to the cast and crew.

"We had to really circle the moments where we were making a decision to sing live, because we had special protocols we had to put in place for the crew's safety. The camera's gotta be a certain distance from the actors. Now, the cameramen are going to wear face shields and like... raincoats! In fact, I think one of the first days, once we started up in September, Andrew got an impulse and he sang live in the room and it wasn't one of my pre-approved moments. And I got to talking to at the end of the day. And I deserved that talking to, because this is about our safety."

— Lin-Manuel Miranda, Director and Producer, "tick, tick... BOOM!"

Be sure to check out "tick, tick... BOOM!" on Netflix.

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Director Carlos López Estrada — Academy Award® nominee for “Raya and the Last Dragon” and winner of the Dolby Institute Fellowship — leads another all-star panel of Hollywood talent to discuss how they’ve navigated the industry as screenwriters, television writers, and showrunners.

These talented writers have not only enjoyed enormous success in the industry, but have also brought their own fresh perspectives which have been missing for a long time in Hollywood. Including narratives that have focused on Asian Americans, women, Latin America and Native Americans, to name just a few.

“As we all know, writers are the backbone of storytelling. And, of course, the backbone of our industry. And during this pivotal time in our entertainment community, it feels as important as ever to hear from the artists who are the foundation of everything we do... Today we are joined by four powerhouse writers who will share a little bit about their experiences creating film and TV that has truly been game-changing for our industry. They're responsible for giving us singular stories that authentically reflect the world that we live in, as well as helped us envision the world that we want to see.”

—Carlos López Estrada, Director, "Blindspotting,” “Raya and the Last Dragon,” “Summertime”

Today’s panel includes writers:

- Carolina Paiz (Narcos, Grey’s Anatomy, Orange is The New Black)

- Dana Ledoux Miller (The Newsroom, Thai Cave Rescue, Disney’s Moana)

- Joanna Calo (Hacks, Beef, Bojack Horseman, The Bear)

- Charles Yu (Interior Chinatown, Westworld, American Born Chinese, Marvel’s Legion on FX)

This discussion was streamed live as part of Antigravity Academy’s new Satellite Sessions — “monthly conversations with incredibly exciting figures from the film and TV universe” — co-presented by CAPE USA (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment).

Follow @antigravityacademy and @capeusa for more information on even more upcoming panels.

Antigravity Academy

CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment)

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“The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” is the first David Bowie studio album to be released in Dolby Atmos® and joining us today is Ken Scott, the original co-producer of the album (and many others from Bowie), as well as Dolby Atmos mix engineer, Emre Ramazanoglu.

Ken Scott is a legend in the world of music production and engineering, and he takes our guest host, Ben Givarz, inside the studio with David Bowie to explore the production of the original album and discusses how he wanted to create a new experience for listeners in Dolby Atmos, which also led him to the creation of brand new stereo mixes.

This interview is part of our new series, "Reimagining the Classics."

“If you're going to ask people to listen to a record in a different format, you need to give it to them totally in that format, not just take the stereo and just put things in different places. It should be something different so that they become interested in it again. And I think it worked, because Woody, [Bowie’s] drummer, he heard some of it — and his first words were, ‘I felt as if I was there with the band.’ He felt as if he was on stage, because it surrounded him so much. Which is exactly what we were aiming for.”

—Ken Scott, Record Producer and Mix Engineer

You can listen to these and many other classic and contemporary albums in Dolby Atmos, on enabled streaming services.

You can purchase the album, “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars,” here:

https://davidbowie.com/

https://rhino.com/

Many thanks to Mike Exeter for the B-roll of Ken and Emre in the mixing studio. The full video can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/LVcagYbrd6o

Interested in creating content in Dolby Atmos? Check out our free resources to give you a jump start!

- Dolby Atmos Music Accelerator: https://www.dolby.com/institute/music-accelerator/

- Dolby Atmos Essentials Course: https://learning.dolby.com/

- Dolby Atmos Music Support: https://professional.dolby.com/music/Professional-resources/

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Director Neill Blomkamp joins us to discuss his thrilling new racing film and biopic, chronicling GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough’s rise into professional racing.

Joining the conversation are the film’s supervising sound editors, Kami Asgar and Erin Oakley, as well as re-recording mixer — and real-life race car driver — Beau Borders, who brought his personal experience from behind the wheel onto the mixing stage, to give audiences the most authentic experience possible.

“Obviously I'm gonna want [the sound] to be realistic. I wanna honor race car drivers. I want car fans to watch the movie and feel like they're not being pandered to. But at the same time, it can't just be totally accurate. It also has to be hyperreal… When I do these car races and I'm all strapped in and the adrenaline's going, I'm convinced that the thing that I'm going through is the most exciting, amazing, wild thing that any human being other than an astronaut has ever experienced… Because that's what happens in your brain.”

—Beau Borders, Re-recording Mixer, “Gran Turismo”

Be sure to check out Gran Turismo, now playing in theaters.

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Academy Award®-nominated director (“Raya and the Last Dragon”) — and Dolby Institute Fellowship winner — Carlos López Estrada brings together another exciting panel of film professionals. As one of the producers, Carlos joins fellow Academy Award®-nominated director (“Nai Nai & Wài Pó”) Sean Wang, along with members of the cast and crew, to discuss the herculean task of bringing their independent film “Dìdi (弟弟)” to life.

“It’s such a difficult thing to make your first personal film. It’s so impossibly difficult. And I think you really need to know that’s what you want to do. And if, in the depths of the night, you ask yourself, ‘is this what I must do?’ And if the answer comes out to be yes… then I think you adjust everything in your life in accordance with that goal. It’s just something you must do. If you get enough money, you make it bigger. If you don’t get enough money, you still make it. You make it a little more intimate. I think it’s just that necessity… to tell this story… We make narratives, essentially, to save ourselves.”

—Joan Chen, Actor, “Dìdi (弟弟)”

Today’s panel also includes:

- Sean Wang - Director, Writer, Producer

- Izaac Wang - Actor (“Chris Wang”)

- Joan Chen - Actor (“Chungsing Wang”)

- Valerie Bush - Producer

- Sam Davis - Director of Photography

and Moderator

- Carlos López Estrada - Producer

“Dìdi (弟弟)” was a recipient of the Dolby Institute Fellowship Award, our grant program for exceptional independent films to finish in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®. And we couldn’t be more proud of this film, even before it went on to win the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

Be sure to check out “Dìdi (弟弟)” in theaters this Friday, July 26!

Wide release on August 16th.

This discussion was another edition of Antigravity Academy’s Satellite Sessions — free monthly conversations with high-level individuals in film and tv, whose objective is to decentralize resources/information and make them available to as many up-and-coming filmmakers as possible — co-presented by CAPE USA (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment).

Learn more about Antigravity Academy:

https://antigravityacademy.co/

Learn more about CAPE — The Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment:

https://www.capeusa.org/

Be sure to follow @antigravityacademy and @capeusa for more information on even more upcoming panels.

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Our coverage of the 2024 Oscars continues in this episode with our guest, Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISC. Robbie is a two-time Academy Award® nominee for Cinematography.

In today’s episode, he discusses his second collaboration with director Yorgos Lanthimos on the film "Poor Things," following their acclaimed work together on "The Favourite," which earned Robbie his first nomination for Best Cinematography. This year, "Poor Things" boasts 11 Academy Award nominations, including Best Director for Lanthimos and Best Picture. In this wide-ranging conversation, Robbie explains how he crafted the film’s unique, almost dreamlike look, which was mostly captured in-camera, and on film, without post-production effects:

“[Yorgos] wanted to have a kind of porthole, vignetted, wide angle [aesthetic]… And I'd kind of done a bit of photography lately where there's a lot of lenses [that] don't fit on the large format sensor, so you get this vignette. So I said, ‘well, hang on — if we use a 16 mil lens on a 35 mil negative, that might happen.’ And it worked out really perfect. We had this 4mm lens for 16 mil, that when you put it on 35 mil, just had that perfect circle… You get these aberrations around the very edges of it and it has this organic quality to it, which was very sweet… None of that was post. That was all real.“

—Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISC, Director of Photography, “Poor Things”

Be sure to check out “Poor Things” ahead of the Academy Awards, live from the Dolby Theatre® on March 10th!

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For our 150th episode of The Dolby Institute Podcast we’re delighted to bring you filmmaking advice for first-time filmmakers… FROM first-time filmmakers. We have gathered a panel of emerging directors, fresh off the premieres of their very first films, to share their insights, triumphs, and challenges in this candid round-table discussion. 

What hard lessons did they learn? And what would they do differently next time?

“As the director, everything that goes wrong is my fault. And you have to take full responsibility. Because you're in charge... It was a hard experience. It was bumpy. But it made it so that, in the future, I am prepared and I know how this system works. I [now] know how the machine works and I can operate in it smoothly.”

— Thomas Sawyer, Writer and Director, "Sirens"

These insights are from a group of young filmmakers who took part in the “Finish the Script Challenge,” a collaboration between the Dolby Institute and Ghetto Film School. With an open-call submission process and mentorship by Academy Award-nominated director Carlos López Estrada, each year recipients receive a $25,000 grant and access to resources to finish their short films in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®.

Whether you're a film student, an aspiring director, or a seasoned pro, we hope you find the candid advice in this episode helpful and inspiring. 

Be sure to check out each of the films from our panelists, along with behind-the-scenes featurettes by documentary filmmakers Ian Sotzing and Jordan Fatke.

— “Pause/Play” by Kaitlyn Ali

— “Fruits of Your Labor” by Britney Bautista

— “Sirens” by Thomas Sawyer

— “Zora’s Last Day on Earth” by Miguel Ramirez

— Behind the Scenes: Finish the Script Year 2

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The Oscar®-nominated team discusses how the film’s documentary-look influenced the soundscape, and how the sound underpinned the danger of early space flights.

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The writer/director and his Oscar®-nominated sound artists discuss the detailed work that went into re-creating the Mexico City of his 1970s childhood.

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Academy Award®-nominated cinematographer Ed Lachman joins us to discuss his gorgeous cinematography on “Maria,” directed by Pablo Larraín. The seasoned director of photography shares his approach to blending formats — including 35mm, Super 8, and 16mm — to capture the operatic essence of Maria Callas’s life, as well as his use of color psychology, lighting techniques, and period-specific film stocks to evoke emotion and authenticity.

"Opera and cinema are very similar… Opera's images are not representational either. Like cinema. And they create the subtext for the emotions of the story. And what helps to create the nonverbal form of communication is the same thing that happens in music of the opera. It's a heightened reality… I felt the film could be a representation if her life, mirrored in the operas that she sang in. And even though people say she was the sum of the tragedies of the opera she sang, I believe she had the resistance and strength to overcome."

—Ed Lachman, Director of Photography, “Maria”

Be sure to check out “Maria,” now streaming on Netflix, in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®.

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A new, exclusive interview with Phedon Papamichael, the director of photography of the latest (and final?) installment of the Indiana Jones franchise. He and director James Mangold had to contend with a myriad of unique challenges on this film, including matching and updating the classic “Indy look,” filming more chase scenes than you can count, and working with cutting edge VFX to “de-age” Harrison Ford, making the 80-year old action star look the same age he was when he shot Raiders of the Lost Ark!

“Initially, when we started testing it before principle photography, I was presented with some concerns and restrictions. Like, ‘if you can match the lighting to existing lighting from other [Indiana Jones] movies, it'll apply easier, it'll be more successful.’ I go, ‘well, that's gonna be tricky. In every sequence I have to see [if] he has a similar sidelight or a top light?’ It turned out that wasn't really a factor. We also didn't realize, the turnaround time ended up being pretty quick. We were getting results back within a few days. We saw that, ‘wow, this is really gonna work!’ And we were all very impressed, including Harrison. He was like, ‘it's bizarre seeing yourself.’”

— Phedon Papamichael, Director of Photography, Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny

Be sure to check out Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny, in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®, where available.

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The creative team discusses adapting the live show into the cinematic world and how Dolby Atmos® gives home audiences a transformative theatrical experience.

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Director Matt Reeves joins us this week to discuss The Batman. This is part 1 of our special 2-part episode on this film, since there is so much to discuss with Matt and his team. So be sure to check out part 2, where we discuss the cinematography of The Batman, which will debut this Thursday!

In this episode we are joined by Matt and his incredible team of sound and music artists:

Michael Giacchino - Composer

Will Files - Supervising Sound Editor

Douglas Murray - Supervising Sound Editor

Andy Nelson - Re-Recording Mixer

Somehow, despite their very busy schedules, we managed to spend over an hour together (in-person!) discussing the amazing work this team did. And as you'll soon discover, this is a group that works incredibly well together, each bringing their exceptional creativity and craft to the process. But we also spend a lot of time discussing how Matt manages to bring everything together so seamlessly as the director:

"You have to become an emotional compass. To me, that is the job of the director. Because you have so many incredibly creative people who you're working with. Here: I make a movie in my head and a piece of paper — that's one version of the movie. And it's a very narrow band of what that movie could be. And then you work with these artists and you want everyone to bring something... And I have to be an emotional compass to say, 'that idea is great! That idea really works!' Somebody has to do that. And the way you do that is by immersing yourself into that thing."

— Matt Reeves, Director, Co-Writer, and Producer, "The Batman"

This episode is a master class in filmmaking and collaboration, with a ton of insights into the process of crafting this latest superhero epic.

Be sure to check out The Batman at a Dolby Cinema near you.

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Today we have an exclusive interview with the writer and director of Evil Dead Rise, Lee Cronin, along with sound designer and supervising sound editor Peter Albrechtsen. We discuss how they made this super fun addition to the Evil Dead franchise as well as their collaborative process in crafting one of the creepiest soundtracks you’re likely to experience this year.

“Despite the fact that it was contained I wanted the movie to feel epic. And I knew that sound would play a very very important role in that because Evil Dead movies are contained. That’s kind of part of their DNA.”

— Lee Cronin, Writer/Director, Evil Dead Rise

We have some “epic” clips to share with you, as well as a breakdown of that excruciating cheese grater sequence, so this episode is not for the squeamish. This interview was recorded live at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival.

Be sure to check out Evil Dead Rise, now in theaters.

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You can also check out the video for this episode.

About Dolby: Dolby transforms the science of sight and sound into spectacular experiences. Through our innovative research and engineering, we develop breakthroughs that we share with the world through collaborations that span artists, businesses, and consumers worldwide. These breakthroughs deliver incredibly vivid experiences in the cinema, at home, at work, and on the go — experiences so lifelike that people feel as if they’ve been transported into a cinematic story or a pulsing sphere of music, a distant conference room or an action-packed game. In both entertainment and communications, through audio and imaging, we give everyone the power to see, hear, and feel the spectacular.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Join the sound team for a discussion about keeping creature sounds fresh and new, and delivering cinema-quality sound on an episodic schedule and budget.

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The Oscar®-winning sound team discusses how they made a long, race car sequence sound interesting and other challenges in the film which won Best Sound Editing.

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This week we discuss the sound, music, and cinematography of “Masters of the Air,” the epic WWII limited series from Apple TV+. With so many films and shows about World War II over the past several decades, one of the biggest challenges of the series was keeping things fresh. So the creative teams took some ingenious approaches to give every episode and action sequence a unique look, sound, and feel.

“Because there's so much time spent in the air with these planes, and so many different planes, we really wanted to sell the geography of each location within each plane and also each and every different plane. So one of the ways that we did that was that Mike [Minkler] and I had the different sequences cut by different people, with a fresh take. Or I did this particular sequence, and then I would hand it off to another editor. Or they would do that, and then pass it to me. And so we had a lot of interplaying around with each other's material, which I think keeps it really fresh, whilst not just copying and pasting material. When you have this much time in the air, you really need to keep the listener involved and their ear kind of excited at all times.”

—Jack Whittaker, Supervising Sound Editor, “Masters of the Air”

Joining our conversation:

- Supervising Sound Editor Jack Whittaker

- Re-recording Mixer Duncan McRae

- Re-recording Mixer Michael Minkler

- Composer Blake Neeley

- Cinematographer Jac Fitzgerald

Be sure to check out “Masters of the Air” on Apple TV+.

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The show’s sound mixers explain how they created the sound of faerie wings and why Dolby Atmos® was part of the series’ sound concept right from the beginning.

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Co-sound supervisors, Matthew Wood and David Acord, share nearly two decades of Star Wars experience including audio restorations of the original films.

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Polite Society had one of the biggest debuts at this year’s 2023 Sundance Film Festival and it’s easy to see why. The film is wild, fun, chaotic mashup of genre and style, everything from kung fu action to dark comedy to paranoid spy thriller to coming-of-age drama (and more!) is deftly mixed into this little firecracker of a movie, which was made with an astonishingly small budget during the height of the COVID-19 Omicron surge. Despite these challenges, the film is a masterclass in nailing tone and also turning that tone on a dime. But finding that right balance was no easy feat, requiring lots of trial and error.

“It starts with the script… but it’s really found in post, in the edit, how we’re cutting, the rhythm to which we’re cutting, finding the right music, the right score… All of it working together. It became so important. Because as we were test screening it, we could feel audiences weren’t going with us, tonally. And then all we had [left[ was to edit the sound. To kind of find it, and sort of play around with it, and see how we could bring audiences with us.”

— Nida Manzoor, Writer and Director, “Polite Society”

Joining us on the podcast is the team who “found it.” Writer and director Nida Manzoor, director of photography (and Aikido black belt) Ashley Connor, sound designer and supervising sound editor Jay Price, and re-recording mixers Tushar Manek and Simon Hill.

Be sure to check out Polite Society, now in theaters.

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About Dolby: Dolby transforms the science of sight and sound into spectacular experiences. Through our innovative research and engineering, we develop breakthroughs that we share with the world through collaborations that span artists, businesses, and consumers worldwide. These breakthroughs deliver incredibly vivid experiences in the cinema, at home, at work, and on the go — experiences so lifelike that people feel as if they’ve been transported into a cinematic story or a pulsing sphere of music, a distant conference room or an action-packed game. In both entertainment and communications, through audio and imaging, we give everyone the power to see, hear, and feel the spectacular.

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Documentary filmmaker Lance Oppenheim, as well as sound supervisor and re-recording mixer Paul Hsu, join us to discuss their new HBO documentary limited-series, “Ren Faire.” The show details the Succession-like power struggle atop the Texas Renaissance Festival, amid its founder’s impending retirement. It was filmed in an appropriately over-the-top theatrical style, and features some incredible sonic world-building, which — in true Lance Oppenheim style — very cleverly mixes real and fantastical elements... often leaving the line between the two quite grey.

“I've always been obsessed with Abbas Kiarostami's movies and ‘Close-Up,’ which is very formally different than this, but the idea with that film was embracing reenactments, embracing performance, as a form of truth. And to me, with this project, everything you're seeing on the screen is real. But I wanted to also acknowledge that the moment you drop a camera anywhere, you violate the reality. So it's absurd. All of it's absurd. Documentary filmmaking is absurd. Nonfiction storytelling is absurd. So if we can acknowledge that, can we push past it and find something new?”

—Lance Oppenheim, Director, Writer, and Executive Producer, “Ren Faire”

This conversation was recorded in-person, in front of a live audience at Dolby’s screening room in mid-town Manhattan, as part of our ongoing collaboration with the Artist Academy and Film at Lincoln Center.

Be sure to check out “Ren Faire,” with all three episodes now streaming on Max.

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We have an all-star team of sound artists whose work on “Oppenheimer” is nominated for a 2024 Academy Award®. They are certainly no strangers to that award show, as they already have NINE Oscars between them!

Today’s panel includes:

- Richard King - Sound Designer and Supervising Sound Editor

- Gary A. Rizzo - Re-recording Mixer

- Kevin O’Connell - Re-recording Mixer

- Willie D. Burton - Production Sound Mixer

We discussed how they approached getting inside the head of the brilliant but troubled “Father of the Atomic Bomb,” J. Robert Oppenheimer, as well as working with the brilliant, and very particular director Christopher Nolan, who loves working with IMAX cameras so much, he used some unconventional methods to record the dialogue.

“The IMAX camera is very noisy. Usually [Nolan] would do the wide shots with the IMAX camera and then he'll use the 70mm for dialogue. But there's times that we have short scenes — like three, four, five lines. But what we have to do is — he will say, ‘cut, print,’ and the actors will re-act that scene, just like they did it on camera. Re-doing it, wild. The same pacing. Oh yeah… We try to get everything we can for post, knowing that he wants to use all his original track on production. Now, whether he totally used it all? [But] I think he used most of it.”

—Willie D. Burton, Production Sound Mixer, “Oppenheimer”

Be sure to check out “Oppenheimer” ahead of the Academy Awards, live from the Dolby Theatre® on March 10th!

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If you caught the last installment of the Thor franchise, then you already know that director Taika Waititi has taken this particular series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe into a considerably more comedic direction. And Thor: Love and Thunder continues that trend. This film has some very funny sound moments, including a jealous battle axe, Russell Crowe doing an over-the-top Greek accent, and a pair of screaming goats. Literally. 

But how does creating a soundtrack for comedy — and specifically a superhero comedy — differ from crafting a typical superhero action movie? Joining us to discuss that on today's episode are the film's re-recording mixers Onnalee Blank and Brandon Proctor, supervising sound editors Daniel Laurie and Baihui Yang, and sound designer Samson Neslund.

"We were like, 'well, how do we make that sound fun and magical and ridiculous, but still be grounded somehow? And actually feel like it's a boat?' I mean, that goat boat is ridiculous. And of course the goat [is] screaming. They're just screaming throughout the whole film. And we kept talking like, 'is it gonna be too much screaming? Do we outplay that joke?' You just never could get enough screams. You just need more. And [supervising sound editor] Baihui [Yang] would laugh every time a scream happened. [So] you're like, 'nope! Still working.'"

— Brandon Proctor, Re-recording Mixer, Thor: Love and Thunder

Thor: Love and Thunder is in theaters now! And be sure to check it out in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos® where available.

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Adapting stage musicals for the cinema is an often tricky process and "In the Heights," the latest adaption from Broadway phenom Lin Manuel Miranda, was no different. Director Jon Chu certainly did not shy away from the epic scale of the theatre production, if anything he made it even grander, which (as you might've guessed) had a number of unique challenges. Primarily, how did they manage to capture the immediacy of the live musical performances and still make it both cinematic and fresh? 

The production tapped music supervisor Steven Gizicki, who had previously worked on the very successful "La La Land," as well as Miranda's long time collaborator (and former roommate), Bill Sherman, to once again act as music producer, having worked on the stage show since the earliest stages. We recently sat down with Bill and Steven to discuss their process, and it was eye-opening. If you think you know how modern movie musicals are recorded, you may be surprised to learn what all went into making "In the Heights."

"The actors are always singing live when they're on set. So we're recording them just as a reference, so we can match lip sync later. It helps... Because there's a difference between 'singing' singing and 'acting' singing. And Melissa [Barrera] would be singing one of the numbers, like 'It Won't Be Long Now' or whatever, and would come to us afterwards. And she's like, 'by the way, if it looks weird on camera, that's because I'm singing totally differently than the pre-record. Note it. I'm going to have to go back and re-record it later.' And we would sometimes get a note from the studio saying, 'Melissa doesn't look like she's lip syncing accurately because it doesn't match the pre-record.' And we'd say, 'well that's the point, because she's acting now and we need to go back and adjust.'"

— Steven Gizicki, Music Supervisor, "In the Heights"

Be sure to check out "In the Heights" while you still can — ideally in a Dolby cinema near you or on HBO Max through July 11th.

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Blockbuster film composer Tom Holkenborg — aka Junkie XL — returns to George Miller’s post-apocalyptic dystopian world with his latest installment, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.”

Regular guest host Jon Burlingame joins the podcast to discuss Holkenborg’s hands-on approach to crafting the music for this film, which included an unusual addition to his typical job of composer.

“To find the right language for this film from a first-person perspective… I was able to be one of the re-recording mixers on this film, being responsible to mix the final results of the film that now people will hear in the theater, alongside [re-recording mixer] Rob Mackenzie. I don't know a film that has been mixed by a composer… at least in the years that I've been working in the film industry. To be able to take this on with George [Miller] and with Rob Mackenzie was just an amazing eight-week experience, to really get into the complete details. It's like, ‘how do you want the music to sound? How is it going to be spaced in an incredible Dolby Atmos theater? And how are you using all the speakers? How much do you push the music? And how do you create perfect handoffs with the sound design, working in conjunction together?’ It was such a fascinating experience.”

—Tom Holkenborg, Composer and Re-recording Mixer, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”

Be sure to check out “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” now playing in Dolby Cinemas®, in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®.

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Today we're speaking with the creators of "Come From Away," the Tony Award-winning Broadway show, and the latest to get a streaming release, this time on Apple TV+. Joining us are the creators and writers of the book, music, and lyrics, David Hein and Irene Sankoff, and director Christopher Ashley.

The show is set in the week following the September 11 attacks and tells the true story of what transpired when 38 planes were ordered to land unexpectedly in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland when the US unexpectedly closed its airspace. The characters in the musical are based on real Gander residents as well as some of the 7,000 stranded travelers they housed and fed.

If this sounds like a big story, that's because it is. And just how do you pare that down into a tight, Broadway show, with no intermission? It was a challenge:

"I feel like one of the first questions you ask about a musical or a film or a play is, "who's the lead?" And ["Come From Away"] doesn't have one. It's got twelve actors playing hundreds and thousands of people. So its emotional event is so spread out. But one of the things we do have that kind of replaces that is the delight of twelve actors transforming. And you come to know those twelve, even despite the fact that they're gonna play many different parts. So the pleasure in theatrical and acting transformation gives us a lot of juice that you wouldn't have with just a lead. And also, there's no villain! But everybody does have this shared trauma around 9/11, if you were old enough to have lived through it. And how you deal with that trauma turns out to be the problem that everyone's trying to solve."

— Christopher Ashley, Director, "Come From Away"

The musical premiered on Broadway in 2017 and was nominated for seven Tony awards, including Best Musical, Book, and Score, and Christopher Ashley won the Tony for Best Direction.

You can watch the filmed version of the Broadway show, right now, on Apple TV+.

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Join boundary-pushing director, Aronofsky with his longtime sound supervisor Henighan, discussing their work on Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, and mother!

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Director J.A. Bayona discusses his latest film — 2024 Academy Award®-nominee for Best International Feature Film (Spain) — “Society of the Snow.”

Director of Photography Pedro Luque and Sound Designer Oriol Tarragó also join us to discuss how they crafted this riveting retelling of the infamous 1972 Andes flight disaster, where a team of rugby players from Uraguay had to do the unthinkable to survive. Realism was a big priority for Bayona, so the production was a challenging, sometimes even grueling experience.

“That was the moment — first day of shooting — that we realized how hard this was going to be… We had real snow, we have the cold to catch the breath of the actors, but then we got into the [airplane] set. All the seats had crammed against the cockpit and we realized that we needed to fit 29 people inside that space and one camera crew. So there was no way of shooting those scenes. Like, it was not possible! So actually that was the moment that we decided that we had to shoot the film as if it was a documentary.”

—J.A. Bayona, Director/Co-writer, “Society of the Snow”

Be sure to check out “Society of the Snow” in glorious Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®, where available, as well as on Netflix starting December 22, 2023.

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Academy Award®-winning composer Ludwig Göransson returns to the Dolby Institute Podcast to discuss his 2024 Academy Award-nominated score for auteur filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s latest film, with guest host Jon Burlingame. They discuss the composer’s process which, on this film, was anything but traditional, including why he composed over three hours of music before principal photography even began.

“But then the real job begins when [Christopher Nolan] comes back and he goes into the edit bay and he sits there with [picture editor] Jennifer Lame and they start putting together the movie. And they put together the scenes. And they already put my music in those scenes, from what we’d already written. So when I see the first cut it already has all my music in it.”

—Ludwig Göransson, Composer, “Oppenheimer”

Be sure to check out Oppenheimer at a Dolby Cinema® so you can enjoy the film and Göransson’s score in stunning Dolby Atmos®.

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The seven-time Academy Award-winning sound designer discusses using subliminal ambiences, manipulated vocal loops, and strategically used distortion.

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Triple Academy Award®-winner Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The Godfather) answers questions from fellow sound designers, Ren Klyce and Gary Rydstrom.

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This week we sit down with the writer/director and sound team behind the harrowing new adaptation of "All Quiet on the Western Front." Joining director Edward Berger is sound supervisor and sound designer Frank Kruse, sound designer Markus Stemler, re-recording mixer Lars Ginzel, and production sound mixer Viktor Prášil. This film has been shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Sound, and as Berger says in the interview, this team has a strong track record when it comes to winning sound awards in Germany. So this is definitely a film to keep an eye (and ear) on this awards season.

During the conversation, Berger also discusses why he felt now was the ideal time to tackle this adaptation of the classic World War I novel, and how the team approached the sound design and mix for the film, which — to the director — was all about harsh contrasts and abrupt sound cuts:

“The film is very much about contrasts. You mentioned the generals and the soldiers. Thematically that's one. But there's also: Destruction and peace, noise and silence, battle and exhaustion, wide shots and closeups, darkness and light. So a lot of it is in contrast. And I love abrupt sound cuts, really hard sound cuts, because they always shake me awake in the movie theater. I always go, ‘oh God, something changed.’ And I have to change pace and I have to listen up. So we had talked about and thought a lot about those contrasts and those hard sound cuts that lent themselves to a rich design, I think.”

— Edward Berger, Writer/Director, “All Quiet on the Western Front” (2022)

The film's Dolby Atmos® mix can be experienced in the Netflix app — with the German language track enabled — and in Dolby Vision® for compatible screens.

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Dolby recently co-presented a panel at the Television Academy Foundation with some of this year’s sound nominees. We’ve added some clips to the conversation.

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The Oscar®-winning sound team discusses ensuring that even background chatter is historically realistic and the importance of on-set sound for creating tension.

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We're turning back the clock to 1984 as we talk about "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" with Supervising Sound Editor & Re-Recording Mixer Will Files and Composer Rob Simonsen. Unlike many modern action-adventure films, this team, led by director Jason Reitman, tried to make everything sound as authentically '80s as possible, eschewing modern sound design and film score aesthetics, in order to give the audience an experience reminiscent of the beloved original film (which happened to be directed by Jason's father, Ivan Reitman). The result is a delightful throwback to the action-comedies of yesteryear. And the three of us absolutely NERD OUT today, as we talk about all the ways they pulled this off, from both a technical and aesthetic perspective.

"When Jason [Reitman, the director] and we sat down to talk about the movie, he said, 'You've got to put yourself aside. This is... really about being custodians of what was done." So we had a lot of conversations about that and he said, 'I'm telling every department that that is the mission here. It's not to do what necessarily is, like, cool and modern and hip. This is about discovering the original, keeping it, and - where we can - walking forward, but in the clothes of the original.' So, I think it was really important for Jason to signal to everyone, right at the opening logos: 'We got you!'"

— Rob Simonsen, Composer, Ghostbusters: Afterlife

Be sure to check out Ghostbusters: Afterlife at a Dolby Cinema near you.

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The filmmakers discuss how to communicate the subjective experience of your main character using sound and tips for hiring and working with your sound team.

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Leading Broadway sound designer Nevin Steinberg discusses his work on hit shows including Hamilton, Bright Star, The Full Monty, and Spamalot.

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Since so much groundbreaking sound work is being created in the world of gaming these days, we've decided to dedicate the next few episodes of this podcast to some of the superstars behind your favorite new video games. First up is the sound and music team from Eidos Montreal, who brought us "Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy."

Bringing this massive title to life was no easy endeavor, especially during a global pandemic. Yet the end result is a thrilling game with a surprisingly emotional story that is very rewarding to play through. 

“We wanted it to feel epic. We wanted it to have that, that sort of comic book jumping out of the pages, that Saturday matinee movie that you've been waiting for.” 

— Steve Szczepkowski, Senior Audio Director, "Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy"

Our guest moderator this week, Andy Vaughan from Dolby Game Developer Relations, spoke with the team behind this game for an in-depth look into their process.

Be sure to check out "Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy" on a your favorite gaming platform.

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Table of Contents:

01:28 - El Conde - Edward Lachman, ASC

12:53 - Killers of the Flower Moon - Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC

24:12 - Oppenheimer - Hoyte Van Hoytema, ASC, FSF, NSC

33:29 - Poor Things - Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISC

Welcome to our continuing coverage of this year's Academy Awards®. We have compiled interviews from the nominees in the Best Cinematography category. So, if you are an Oscar voter — either as an Academy member or as a fan participating in your annual office pool — you'll have a much better idea of what to watch (and listen) for as you get to this category on your ballot!

NOTE: As always, all nominees are invited to join our conversations. Unfortunately, due to scheduling, Matthew Libatique (Maestro) was not able to join us.

FULL EPISODES:

El Conde - Edward Lachman, ASC (episode 183)

- YouTube - https://youtu.be/qPGWnTpbLos

- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/57upYs823lwPV73VEHz0Cv

- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/183-the-cinematography-of-el-conde-with-dp-edward-lachman/id1549901182?i=1000645550716

Killers of the Flower Moon - Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC (episode 181)

- YouTube - https://youtu.be/sgmgucJET3o

- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Kc8kJeA9NiTugkR5saAw5

- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/181-the-cinematography-of-killers-of-the-flower/id1549901182?i=1000645277847

Oppenheimer - Hoyte Van Hoytema, ASC, FSF, NSC (episode 179)

- YouTube - https://youtu.be/6RFAfB5RCT0

- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Di5azunCq4ZoBsA6ttdo4

- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/179-the-cinematography-of-oppenheimer-with-dp/id1549901182?i=1000644731650

Poor Things - Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISC (episode 182)

- YouTube - https://youtu.be/Sy38cINMetA

- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Aoz7KynItLfBspCjjhgBK

- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/182-the-cinematography-of-poor-things-with-dp-robbie-ryan/id1549901182?i=1000645419205

If you enjoy episodes like this, where we share our in-depth conversations with artists and filmmakers, please subscribe to The Dolby Creator Talks Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

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Besides "we'll fix it in post," perhaps the most common joke in film editing suites is, "the music will carry it." Meaning, a film almost always has the score to help with the emotional impact of any given moment. But what about films without a traditional score? That is the case with "The Killing of Two Lovers," a tense new indie drama from director Robert Machoian. But interestingly, the director and sound designer —Peter Albrechsten — instead created a unique sonic soundscape to act as a score, but without what we'd normally consider "music." This week, we sit down with Machoian and Albrechsten to discuss how this experiment went, and why it happened to work so well.

"Funny enough, I don't think I explained it very well to Peter [beforehand]. I was teasing him the other day when we were doing the sound mix at Juniper, he looked at me — I think it was like day two — and he's like, 'I'm kind of the composer!' And I realized that I hadn't explained it enough that, 'yeah, you would be.'"

— Robert Machoian, Director of "The Killing of Two Lovers"

Watch "The Killing of Two Lovers" at a cinema near you or at home on VOD now.

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Sound designer/mixer Coll Anderson discusses the role that creative post-production sound can serve in telling non-narrative stories.

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Director and co-writer Ryan Coogler joins us to discuss the making of the latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe — Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Joining the discussion is the film’s composer Lugwig Görannson, supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer Steve Boeddeker, supervising sound editor Benjamin Burtt, and re-recording mixer Brandon Proctor.

This is the first Black Panther movie since the sudden and tragic death of its star, Chadwick Boseman. But as the title implies, the filmmakers hope this film is both a fitting tribute to him as well as a reminder that he and his work live on in these powerful films.

“What I hope audiences take away from it is how much we love Chad [and] how much we missed him. For us, Chadwick and T’Challa are linked because that was the circumstance by which we got to meet this great guy. It was through bringing his character and this world to life. So for us, it's always gonna be a link there that we can't ignore. So I hope all the audiences understand how we felt about this guy. But in a more expansive sense, just because somebody's dead doesn't mean that they're gone. They feel him and feel what he was about because his effect is still there. I think it's gonna be around forever.”

— Ryan Coogler, Director and Co-Writer, Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Be sure to check out Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in theaters now, and in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos® where available.

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Director Ryan White and Academy Award-winning sound designer Mark Mangini join us today to discuss the making of “Good Night Oppy.” This charming new documentary tells the story of the two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which were sent to the red planet back in 2003 and were expected to survive long enough to collect data for — hopefully — 90 days. Instead, they blew everyone’s expectations away and one of them, nicknamed “Oppy,” lasted over 15 years.

The filmmakers had the advantage of almost a thousand hours of archival material from NASA, but since much of the film takes place “on Mars,” that came with its own unique challenges.

“I didn't want it just to be an earthbound story. I wanted it to also take place on Mars. And I didn't want that just to be like grainy black and white photos. And so I asked [our production company] Amblin, ‘is it possible to put the audience on Mars, almost as if I could be there with my documentary crew during this adventure, in a way that is photoreal?’ And Amblin said, ‘we don't know, but luckily our best friends are Industrial Light and Magic.” … Spirit and opportunity each had nine cameras. We know what every day of their journeys looked like. And so we were able to supply all of that photography and all of the data that NASA could give us. So for instance, the weather, where the sun rose and sun set on a day, or how much dust was in the air on a certain day that Spirit was going through. And we asked Industrial Light and Magic, ‘can you take all of this information, all of this data, and create a photoreal Mars?’ And they said, ‘we've never done that before, but we love a challenge. We will build Mars from the ground up for you.’”

— Ryan White, Director, “Good Night Oppy”

Mark Mangini, who worked as the film’s sound designer, supervising sound editor, and re-recording mixer, then had the unique challenge of “recreating” what exactly those machines and environment might have sounded like on Mars… but without the benefit of microphones on any of the rovers. But as always, he was able to craft an incredible soundtrack and mix in Dolby Atmos®.

Be sure to check out “Good Night Oppy,” now streaming on Prime Video in Dolby Atmos®.

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The Oscar®-nominated sound-mixing team discusses how doing impulse responses in each of the venues let them recreate the sound of the arenas in post-production.

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Turning a script into a fully packaged film can be one of the most daunting challenges for any filmmaker. From assembling the right team to securing financing and attracting talent, the process—known in the industry as “packaging”—requires strategy, creativity, and connections. To help demystify this process, filmmaker Carlos López Estrada hosts another insightful Satellite Session, featuring an exceptional panel of producers, financiers, and agents who share their real-world experience and insider tips on packaging films.

Joining the discussion:

- Alex Coco – Producer (“ANORA”)

- Dave Green – Director (“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”)

- Chris Quintos Cathcart – Independent Film Financier (“Dìdi”)

- Phil Sun – President and Managing Partner, M88

- Katie Laner – Literary Agent, CAA

This is another installment of our ongoing “Satellite Sessions” series, which we’re bringing to you in partnership with Antigravity Academy and the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment. 

Follow @antigravityacademy and @capeusa for more information on even more upcoming panels.

Antigravity Academy

CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment)

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Recorded live just a few days ago at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, Academy Award®-nominated director (“Raya and the Last Dragon”) — and Dolby Institute Fellowship winner — Carlos López Estrada brings together five filmmakers, each with debut feature films in the US Dramatic Competition this year.

“I have experienced what all five or panelists are experiencing right now. It's this insane, adrenaline rush of playing your first movie for groups of audiences who love film. And it's the most magical thing in the world. So we're so happy that all five people who you're about to meet agreed to come here to share a little bit about how they ended up here. And I hope you got to see some of these films because I got a chance to see all five and they're all truly magical.”

—Carlos López Estrada, Director, "Blindspotting,” “Raya and the Last Dragon,” “Summertime”

Today’s panel includes directors:

- Alessandra Lacorazza (“In the Summers”)

- Laura Chinn (“Suncoast”)

- Titus Kaphar (“Exhibiting Forgiveness”)

- India Donaldson (“Good One”)

- Sean Wang (“Dìdi”) — 2024 Academy Award-nominee for Best Documentary Short Film (“Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó”) and Winner of the Dolby Institute Fellowship (“Dìdi”)

Once again, this discussion was part of Antigravity Academy’s Satellite Sessions — free monthly conversations with high-level individuals in film and tv, whose objective is to decentralize resources/information and make them available to as many up-and-coming filmmakers as possible — co-presented by CAPE USA (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment).

Follow @antigravityacademy and @capeusa for more information on even more upcoming panels.

Antigravity Academy

CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment)

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Table of Contents:

0:02:03 - ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

0:22:49 - AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

0:53:44 - THE BATMAN

1:05:44 - ELVIS

1:39:20 - TOP GUN: MAVERICK

Welcome to this year’s coverage of the Academy Awards. Like last year, we have compiled interviews from each of the nominees in the Best Sound category. So, if you are an Oscar voter — either as an Academy member or as a fan participating in your annual office pool — you'll have a much better idea of what to watch for and (more importantly) what to listen for as you get to the Best Sound category on your ballot! Here are the nominees, in alphabetical order:

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT —Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel, and Stefan Korte

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER — Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, and Michael Hedges

THE BATMAN — Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray, and Andy Nelson

ELVIS — David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson, and Michael Keller

TOP GUN: MAVERICK — Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon, and Mark Taylor

With the exception of ELVIS (due to time), each of these interview excerpts is taken from our full episodes dedicated to the sound design of each of these incredible films. Here's a table of contents, in case you'd like to jump around, as well as links to the full episodes from our back catalogue:

0:02:03 - ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT - from episode 139, January 10, 2023

• Edward Berger — Writer and Director
• Lars Ginzel — Re-recording Mixer
• Viktor Prášil — Production Sound Mixer
• Frank Kruse — Sound Supervisor and Sound Designer
• Unfortunately, nominee Stefan Korte (Re-recording Mixer) was unable to join us at the time of this recording

0:22:49 - AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER - from episode 140, January 14, 2023

• Christopher Boyes — Re-recording Mixer, Supervising Sound Editor, and Sound Designer
• Dick Bernstein — Supervising Sound Editor
• Michael Hedges — Re-recording Mixer
• Julian Howarth — Production Sound Mixer
• Gwendolyn Yates Whittle — Supervising sound editor
• Unfortunately, nominee Gary Summers (Re-recording Mixer) was unable to join us at the time of this recording.

0:53:44 - THE BATMAN - from episode 116, March 8, 2022

• Matt Reeves — Director
• Michael Giacchino — Composer
• William Files — Supervising Sound Editor
• Douglas Murray — Supervising Sound Editor
• Andy Nelson — Re-recording Mixer
• Unfortunately, nominee Stuart Wilson (Production Sound Mixer) was unable to join us at the time of this recording.

1:05:44 - ELVIS - recorded recently, exclusively for this episode

• David Lee — Production Sound Mixer
• Wayne Pashley — Re-recording Mixer, Sound Designer, and Supervising Sound Editor
• Michael Keller — Re-recording Mixer
• Andy Nelson — Re-recording Mixer

1:39:20 - TOP GUN: MAVERICK - from episode 133, November 22, 2022

• Joseph Kosinski — Director
• Bjørn Schroeder — Supervising Sound Editor
• James H Mather — Supervising Sound Editor
• Al Nelson — Supervising Sound Editor
• Chris Burdon — Re-recording Mixer
• Mark Taylor — Re-recording Mixer
• Unfortunately, Mark Weingarten (Production Sound Mixer) was unable to join us at the time of this recording.

Many thanks to all the studios for helping us pull these interviews together! Be sure to...

WandaVision was a breakout hit this past year, and it appropriately has a whopping 23 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, and more for Writing, Acting, Directing, and a couple of well-deserved nods in the Sound Editing and Sound Mixing categories. And if you've seen the series, it should be clear why — this show mixes stylistic formats in some truly bizarre, but also satisfying, ways. At times it harkens back to the sitcoms of yesteryear — even filming part of an episode live in front of a studio audience, in order to capture an authentic laugh track — and other times like what one would expect from a series taking place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So how did the sound team pull all these disparate stylistic elements into such a cohesive and satisfying amalgamation? Well, we sat down with them to ask exactly that.

Joining us this week is Danielle Dupre, Re-Recording Mixer and Dialogue Editor (and Daytime Emmy Winner); Kim Foscato, Supervising Sound Editor (and previous Primetime Emmy winner); Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Supervising Sound Editor and Dialogue Supervisor; and Steve Orlando, Sound Designer.

"After I was able to sit down and watch all the episodes, we had a really exciting conversation. Because all of us — combined — we've worked on a fair amount of Marvel features. And we were just so excited to have the opportunity to make it sound a little bit differently than what we would automatically think that direction that Marvel [typically] goes. I remember watching it like a month out before the mix and it just sparked my excitement so much. And I went back and I binged 'Dick Van Dyke' and 'Mary Tyler Moore' and 'Brady Bunch.' And then we started mapping out how things were going to sound, and how they were going to change, throughout the series."

— Danielle Dupre, Re-recording Mixer, "WandaVision"

You can check out all of WandaVision right now on Disney+.

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“Sing Sing” — an independent feature film now in theaters — made a big splash at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Greg Kwedar, the film is notable for its unique casting approach, blending actors such as Colman Domingo with real-life, formally incarcerated individuals. It’s set in the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York, focusing on the prison’s theater troupe. But one of the most interesting aspects of the production was how it was financed. And in particular how it used a profit-sharing model where all crew members, including those non-professional actors, received a share of the film's profits. Today’s discussion details how exactly that financing strategy worked, as well as the inspiring journey to getting the film made.

Joining today’s discussion:

- Carlos López Estrada - Moderator

- Valerie Bush - Moderator

- Greg Kwedar - Producer, Director, and Writer, Sing Sing

- Clint Bentley - Producer and Writer, Sing Sing

- Monique Walton - Producer, Sing Sing

Be sure to check out Sing Sing, now playing in theaters.

This is another installment of our ongoing “Satellite Sessions” series, which we’re bringing to you in partnership with Antigravity Academy and the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment. 

Follow @antigravityacademy and @capeusa for more information on even more upcoming panels.

Antigravity Academy

CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment)

For more inspiring Satellite Sessions just like this one, be sure you are subscribed to Dolby Creator Talks wherever you get your podcasts.

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The Academy Award®-nominated VFX team joins our returning guest, director Gareth Edwards, to discuss how they created such a visually stunning, effects-heavy science-fiction film with a comparatively minuscule budget. Rather than utilizing extensive previz, green screen studios, and fully-rendered CGI environments, “The Creator” was filmed on-location in Asia, documentary-style, with a very small crew, completely upending the usual methods of shooting for VFX:

“You do concept art. That's typically one of the first things that happens — storyboards, concept art. And then you spend the rest of the life of the film chasing that artwork. They immediately say, ‘well, this is science fiction. It doesn't exist. So we'll build all this. And we have to build it in a studio…’ And you just get trapped immediately in the straight jacket of every big film ever. And everything's all green screen. And it was like, ‘Forget that. We'll have concept art. But forget the specifics of it. Just trust that it'll look as good as this. But it won't be exactly this. We'll go around the world for every scene. We will find a location that's the best location in the world for that scene. We'll shoot it there. And then we'll design it in post.’”

—Gareth Edwards, Director, Producer, Co-writer, “The Creator”

Joining Gareth:

- Director of Photography, Oren Soffer.

- Jay Cooper, Visual Effects Supervisor: Industrial Light & Magic.

- Andrew Roberts, Visual Effects On-Set Supervisor: Industrial Light & Magic.

Be sure to check out “The Creator,” in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos® (where available), ahead of the Academy Awards, live from the Dolby Theatre® on March 10th!

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The sound team discusses mixing the show natively in Dolby Atmos® and the challenges of finishing post-production as the world went into COVID-19 lockdown.

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Perhaps the top colorist in his field, Stefan Sonnefeld joins us for our 200th episode!

If you aren’t aware of Stefan, you’ve almost certainly seen his work. Some of his recent projects include “Top Gun: Maverick,” “The White Lotus,” and “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3.” His credit list includes some of the biggest franchises in our business, including “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” “Jurassic Park,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Transformers,” and many more. Just a few of the A-List directors and producers he has worked with are: Tony Scott, Ridley Scott, Michael Mann, Martin Scorsese, Zack Snyder, Tom Cruise, Michael Bay, Bradley Cooper, Steven Zaillian, Spike Jonze, Gore Verbinski, Tim Burton, Matt Reeves, JJ Abrams, George Clooney, Tony Gilroy, and Judd Apatow.

So what does it take to be a top colorist in Hollywood, working for some of the biggest personalities in the business?

“Well, it's not just the director, it's a lot of people now… So it's a team sport. Everybody plays a part in it. And it's why it's so enjoyable for me. You have to involve a lot of people, but in general, the director, let's say that's the main person. You have to have a good relationship with that person and you have to be able to interpret what they're saying and get that onto the screen. And to do it quite quickly too, because it's a lot of effort and work and money that goes into these projects. And some people talk in technical terms. And some people, like a Michael Mann for instance, talk through emotions. Like, ‘Hey, [the character is] very this [way] in the scene. And he's feeling this. And this is what's going to happen. And this is what just happened. And therefore this is what I want.’ And I'm sort of interpreting that, in a color way, and [I’ll] put it on the screen and he'll be like, ‘great, that's it!’ Or, ‘no, that's not what I meant. It should be this.’”

—Stefan Sonnenfeld, Senior Colorist, Founder and CEO, Company 3

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We're joined today by prolific showrunner and creator Neil Cross and re-recording mixer / supervising sound editor Ron Bochar to discuss their new series "The Mosquito Coast." The show tells the story of a grueling journey of a family on the run and it turns out the production was just as challenging. We discuss some of those challenges (and how they overcame them) along with some insights into how they approached the source material, as this version of the story goes in a very different, but interesting, direction.

"We would take an approach that was completely the opposite of what 'The Handmaid's Tale' did, where they started with an adaptation of the novel – what 'Big Little Lies, I guess the same thing – you start with a novel and then expand the world. So we're starting in the expanded universe and we are on a journey to 'The Mosquito Coast.' So our destination is still where we are headed in terms of the story."

— Neil Cross, Creator of The Mosquito Coast

You can binge the entire first season of The Mosquito Coast right now on Apple TV+.

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Director and Co-Writer Peter Sohn and Director of Photography Jean-Claude Kalache join us this week to tell us about the making of Elemental, Pixar Animation Studios’ most ambitious movie to date.

We discuss Pixar’s famously demanding story development process and why this film took years just to get to an outline, how this film deals with some much more grown-up themes than the typical Pixar fare, and the unique challenges of animating two lead characters made up entirely of either a glowing, iridescent flame (Ember) or a blob of translucent liquid (Wade).

“We had done some [early] experiments with Ember [and] when we turned her fire on for the first time, she looked like a Balrog from Lord of the Rings! She looked terrifying. She was this very realistic demonic fire… And when [Wade] is in the basement, he has a different look. His whole body turns a different color. And then when he is outside in the sunlight, his whole body turned into something else. He was awful! He was so hard. <laughs>”

— Peter Sohn, Director and Co-Writer, “Elemental”

Be sure to check out Elemental in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®, now playing in Dolby Cinemas® and theaters near you.

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In this compilation episode, we talk with the sound artists behind Baby Driver, Blade Runner 2049, The Shape of Water, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Dunkirk.

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Independent filmmaking legend Robert Rodriguez joins us this week, along with his composer and son Rebel Rodriguez, to discuss their mind-bending new action-thriller, “Hypnotic,” starring Ben Affleck. We discuss how they finally completed this film after years of Covid-related delays, why the director still prefers Austin over Hollywood (as his production hub), and how he’s made filmmaking a truly family affair. In addition to Rebel's score, the film benefited from the creative input of Robert's daughter, Rhiannon Rodriguez, who contributed to the storyboards. Racer Max Rodriguez and Rocket Rodriguez, Robert's other sons, brought their respective expertise to the table as well — Racer Max as the a co-writer and producer, and Rocket as an editor.

“Now they’re the age where I was when I was doing ‘[El] Mariachi’ and ‘Desperado’ and all that. And I was like, wow, I was on fire back then, with all these ideas. No wonder these guys are [too]. If I need help with ‘Hypnotic,’ I need myself from 20 years ago to come help me finish this thing. And I got them, I got a whole bunch of them! <laughs> So they come with all these great ideas and it's like, wow, divide and conquer. Let's just take over this thing. They're becoming essential to my process, for sure.”

— Robert Rodriguez, Director/Producer/Co-Writer/Co-Cinematographer/Editor, “Hypnotic”

Be sure to check out Hypnotic, now in theaters.

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About Dolby: Dolby transforms the science of sight and sound into spectacular experiences. Through our innovative research and engineering, we develop breakthroughs that we share with the world through collaborations that span artists, businesses, and consumers worldwide. These breakthroughs deliver incredibly vivid experiences in the cinema, at home, at work, and on the go — experiences so lifelike that people feel as if they’ve been transported into a cinematic story or a pulsing sphere of music, a distant conference room or an action-packed game. In both entertainment and communications, through audio and imaging, we give everyone the power to see, hear, and feel the spectacular.

Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Sir Steve McQueen joins us to discuss his latest feature, “Blitz,” alongside his acclaimed sound team. The film, which explores the harrowing experience of the London Blitz during World War II, is shortlisted for Best Sound at the upcoming Academy Awards. In this episode, McQueen and his team take a deep dive into the process of creating a visceral, immersive soundtrack that captures both the chaos and quiet moments of survival, all presented in stunning Dolby Atmos®. And the film starts off with a literal bang, all designed to plunge the audience directly into the horrors of this place and time.

“The backbone of [films], for me as a filmmaker, is sound. It's always been sound. Sound is much more important to me than images in some ways. Because when you hear something, you feel the weight of it. When you hear something, you sort of even smell it… Images, yes, they illustrate. But they don't tell you about the size and the mass of things. And that's what we wanted to jump in with two feet with, immediately. With that terror.”

—Sir Steve McQueen, Director, Producer, Screenwriter, “Blitz”

Joining today’s conversation:

- Sir Steve McQueen – Director, Producer, and Screenwriter

- Paul Cotterell – Re-Recording Mixer and Supervising Sound Editor

- James Harrison – Re-Recording Mixer and Supervising Sound Editor

- John Casali – Academy Award®-winning Production Sound Mixer

Be sure to check out “Blitz,” now streaming on AppleTV+ in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®.

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In this special, supersized episode we take a peek behind the curtain to examine Pixar's unique editorial process. It's often messy and non-linear, with shots and sequences constantly being re-worked... and this might just be the secret to why their films end up feeling so cinematic and have the emotional impact that they do. At Pixar, the editor has much more authority and responsibility than their live-action and traditional cell animation counterparts. How did this come to be?

It's all outlined in a new book by authors Bill Kinder and Bobbie O'Steen, "Making the Cut at Pixar: The Art of Editing Animation." Bill and Bobbie join us today to discuss the history of editing at Pixar, and explain the origins of Pixar's groundbreaking editorial process.

"If you look at Pixar short films, before they had an editor — all of the ones before 'Toy Story' had no editor, really, they [just] had someone assembling things — they're very classic proscenium, 2D animation... You don't see shot/reverse shot in classic Disney animation. It's just not the way the grammar really worked. Whereas if you watch 'Toy Story,' and that was my memory when I first saw that film — it felt like a movie! And I think that difference, that turning point has to do with the editor saying, 'Wait, we can create shots here. There's a certain language we can use. We're not stuck with the storyboards.' So storyboards are telling us a lot about character and performance and plot and clarity, but now we can up the whole game with what we know about the language of camera."

— Bill Kinder, Co-Author, "Making the Cut at Pixar: The Art of Editing Animation"

Joining the discussion are couple of legendary filmmakers — both of whom had been there since the very early days — multiple Academy Award® winning director Pete Docter and another multiple Academy Award® winning director and editor, Lee Unkrich. Rounding out this conversation we also hear from longtime collaborator and editor of Pete Docter's, Kevin Nolting, and editor Edie Ichioka, who worked on "Toy Story 2," to give their perspectives.

You can find "Making the Cut at Pixar: The Art of Editing Animation" wherever books are sold.

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

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Director Jane Campion joins us today to discuss her harrowing new drama, "The Power of the Dog." It is a dark, psychological thriller made even more thrilling by the incredible sound work by Academy Award-winning supervising sound editor Robert Mackenzie, sound designer Dave Whitehead, and re-recording mixer Tara Webb, all of whom joined in our discussion.

So many aspects of making this film were unique to Jane's filmmaking approach. Or as Robert put it:

"With Jane, you have to throw out all the rules. There are no rules."

— Robert Mackenzie, Supervising Sound Editor, "The Power of the Dog"

This episode offers a fascinating glimpse into their unconventional process: How they experimented with Dolby Atmos® to sharpen tension in what is a particularly quiet film, how they crafted the sonic character of an old house, and how they worked with Jonny Greenwood's brilliant score... which came in before the film was even edited.

"That's something I learned from 'The Piano' — how powerful that was. Obviously because Holly Hunter's character, Ada, needed to play the piano during the scenes quite often, we needed to have those piano pieces from Michael Nyman. And so he really wrote most of the music before we began shooting that film. And I loved that so much. And saw the benefit of it and the freedom of it — for the composer, actually. And so ever since then, I've tried to create a situation where the music comes really at the same time as the shooting."

— Jane Campion, Director, Writer, and Producer, "The Power of the Dog"

Be sure to check out "The Power of the Dog" in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos® on Netflix.

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The latest James Bond film, from director Cary Joji Fukunaga, is a veritable feast of emotion and tone. Along with the requisite jaw-dropping action sequences, the film is chock-full of emotional pathos and tender moments, appropriate for Daniel Craig's sendoff as the titular British super-spy. But also, perhaps surprisingly, some very humorous sequences, as well. 

With a running time of over 2 and 1/2 hours, the sound team had their work cut out for them, and on a very tight timeline. So how did they manage to craft such an exciting, yet tender, and often hilarious new Bond film under such tough deadlines? Today we sit down with supervising sound editor Oliver Tarney and re-recording mixers Paul Massey and Mark Taylor to find out exactly that. Did they go back in and make changes after the film was "finished?" After all, the release was delayed substantially due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

"Sometimes on a really focused tight schedule on a big film there's a certain energy about that. And if you had more time, you could explore more, it can become over-polished. Something a little bit sterile can creep in sometimes. I've been on movies that felt like that a little bit. So there is an energy with everyone just going full-tilt, trying to get something done. And there might be a few little rough edges, but that's part of it. It doesn't feel over-produced. Maybe there would be that danger if you opened it up again and just said, 'we've got all this time.' You start maybe just making it a little bit too sanitized or something. I think it's just got a really good energy about it, the film. And I'm glad it finished when it did."

— Oliver Tarney, Supervising Sound Editor, "No Time to Die"

Be sure to check out No Time to Die at a Dolby Cinema near you.

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SPOILER ALERT: This podcast discusses important plot points from episode three, “The Autopsy.”

Executive Producer (and co-showrunner) J. Miles Dale joins us on the podcast to discuss the horror anthology series Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, which was recently nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards. Joining the conversation are nominees: Supervising Sound Editor Nelson Ferreira, MPSE, and Director of Photography Anastas Michos, ASC, GSC.

To avoid spoilers, be sure to watch “The Autopsy” before listening to this podcast! But be forewarned, it is extremely dark — both thematically and visually — which was entirely by design:

“The genre is squarely within a horror/sci-fi mode. It is about what we don't see in life. That's what makes shooting horror films or thrillers so interesting. That we allow the audience to only see what we want them to see, and tease the rest of it into the blacks [of the image].”

—Anastas Michos, ASC, GSC, Director of Photography, Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities is currently streaming on Netflix in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®.

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After a four-film collaboration (from Cloverfield to War for the Planet of the Apes), the creative team discusses sound challenges in their work.

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Director Carlos López Estrada — Academy Award® nominee for “Raya and the Last Dragon” and winner of the Dolby Institute Fellowship — returns to The Dolby Institute Podcast for another panel discussion, this time with members of Sundance. More than just a film festival, The Sundance Institute offers a myriad of resources for emerging and independent filmmakers, but navigating them all can be overwhelming. So this very special podcast episode is designed to answer this essential question, from Carlos:

“What advice can [you offer] for someone who’s just starting to make their own work — whether it’s shorts, documentaries, pilot scripts — and are trying to create from a truthful place, [while] also trying to find their voice, and wanting to be noticed by people like yourselves, knowing that many times resources and time is limited for someone who’s just starting?”

—Carlos López Estrada, Director, "Blindspotting,” “Raya and the Last Dragon,” “Summertime”

Today’s panel includes:

• Ilyse McKimmie - Deputy Director of the Feature Film Program at Sundance Institute
• Paola Mottura - Film Fund Director at Sundance Institute
• Jandiz Estrada Cardoso - Director of the Sundance Institute Episodic Program
• Ana Souza - Manager of the Programming Department and Programmer at Sundance Institute
• Adam Piron - Director of Sundance Institute's Indigenous Program

Once again, this discussion was streamed live as part of Antigravity Academy’s Satellite Sessions — “monthly conversations with incredibly exciting figures from the film and TV universe” — co-presented by CAPE USA (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment).

Follow @antigravityacademy and @capeusa for more information on even more upcoming panels.

Antigravity Academy

CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment)

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We conclude our 2021 Oscars coverage with the nominees for Best Animated Feature! Once again we've invited all of the nominees in this category to speak with us and we are thrilled to share them with you.

Here's a table of contents for each interview, along with the names of all the nominees, this time in reverse alphabetical order:

00:01:22 - WOLFWALKERS - Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young, and Stéphan Roelants

00:16:08 - SOUL - Pete Docter and Dana Murray

00:29:00 - A SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE: FARMAGEDDON - Richard Phelan, Will Becher, and Paul Kewley

00:42:54 - OVER THE MOON - Glen Keane, Gennie Rim, and Peilin Chou

01:01:52 - ONWARD - Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae

Congratulations and many, many thanks to all of the nominees. We'd also like to thank Apple, Pixar, Disney, and Netflix for helping coordinate these interviews and for providing film clips to share.

Don't miss these incredible animated films:

WOLFWALKERS

SOUL

A SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE: FARMAGEDDON

OVER THE MOON

ONWARD

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The art of pitching is a high-stakes, nerve-wracking aspect of filmmaking, where ideas transform from concepts into potential projects. Joining us to help demystify the pitching process is Dolby Institute Fellowship winner Carlos López Estrada, hosting another insightful Satellite Session from April 2024. Carlos gathers an exceptional panel featuring film and television creators, each sharing personal insights and practical tips on crafting pitches, to offer invaluable wisdom on what it takes to pitch a project and navigate the journey from idea to production.

Joining today’s discussion are:

- Marvin Lemus – Director, Co-creator, and Co-showrunner of Netflix's Gentefied

- Sadé Clacken Joseph – Director of Rap Sh!t on HBO Max, CEO of Out of Many Media

- Francisco Cabrera-Feo – Writer for Acapulco on Apple TV+ and Gordita Chronicles

- Matt Braly – Creator and Showrunner of Disney’s Amphibia

- Jessica Virtue – SVP of Production at Walt Disney Pictures

This is another installment of our ongoing “Satellite Sessions” series, which we’re bringing to you in partnership with Antigravity Academy and the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment. 

Follow @antigravityacademy and @capeusa for more information on even more upcoming panels.

Antigravity Academy

CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment)

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Academy Award®-nominated composer Daniel Blumberg joins guest host Jon Burlingame to discuss his evocative and unconventional music for "The Brutalist," directed by Brady Corbet, which earned the film an Oscar® nomination for Best Original Score. Blumberg shares how his long-time friendship with Corbet influenced the creative process, how he crafted the film’s musical language using improvisational techniques, and how he recorded some of the score’s most striking pieces — including a live jazz sequence and a prepared piano overture, which was played on set to help choreograph the movement of one of the film’s opening sequences.

"[Brady Corbet] wanted to shoot the overture [of] Laszlo leaving the Holocaust behind, arriving in New York, and the optimism of seeing the Statue of Liberty to music. So that was one of my first priorities: To create a demo that would work on set… I had this sample of a piano that I’d prepared in London. This sort of percussive piano where you interfere with the strings… John Cage put screws in between strings, and that was a sound that felt right… A few weeks later, we were playing it really loud on the set. And it was great because the cinematographer could move to the music and Adrian could move to the music and the music could cue the extras… I think it was successful in terms of having an impact for the opening of the film.”

—Daniel Blumberg, Composer, "The Brutalist"

Be sure to check out “The Brutalist,” now playing in theaters.

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Welcome to our continuing coverage of this year's Academy Awards®. Like last year, we have compiled interviews from the nominees in the Best Cinematography category. So, if you are an Oscar voter — either as an Academy member or as a fan participating in your annual office pool — you'll have a much better idea of what to watch for as you get to the Best Cinematography category on your ballot! Here are the nominated Directors of Photography, in alphabetical order by film:

• DUNE: Greig Fraser
• NIGHTMARE ALLEY: Dan Laustsen
• THE POWER OF THE DOG: Ari Wegner
• THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH: Bruno Delbonnel
• WEST SIDE STORY: Janusz Kaminski

Here's a table of contents of interviews, in case you'd like to jump around:

0:01:48 — DUNE — Greig Fraser

0:15:51 — NIGHTMARE ALLEY — Dan Laustsen 

0:38:35 — THE POWER OF THE DOG — Ari Wegner

NOTE: As always, all nominees were invited to join our conversations and we regret that Bruno Delbonnel and Janusz Kaminski were unavailable to join us in time for our podcast posting deadline.

Thanks to all the studios for helping us pull these interviews together! Be sure to check out DUNE, NIGHTMARE ALLEY, THE POWER OF THE DOG, THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH and WEST SIDE STORY before Oscars voting ends!

We have one more episode of our special Academy Awards® coverage, coming coming in the next few days. That episode is devoted to the Best Animated Feature category. 

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Legendary Foley artist John Roesch (E.T., Back to the Future, Inception) discusses his impressive career and why Foley can't come from an effects library.

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The Oscar®-winning sound team discusses how sound design helped to get inside Freddie Mercury’s head and recreate the famous 1985 Live-Aid concert.

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Today we are joined by director Sir Kenneth Branagh to discuss his deeply personal new film, "Belfast." The film tells the semi-autobiographical (fictionalized) story of "Buddy," a 9-year old boy living in the city during the "The Troubles" of 1969. It is an intimate portrait of a small family on a tiny city block surrounded by chaos and upheaval. 

To help convey the overwhelming feeling of menace, seemingly just around every corner, the director tapped Simon Chase — Sound Supervisor and Re-recording Mixer, Niv Adiri — Academy Award-Winning Re-recording Mixer, and James Mather — Emmy Award-Winning Sound Supervisor, all of whom join us today on the podcast to discuss how they crafted such a rich soundtrack for such an intimate film. 

And, as it turns out, the inspiration for this project was actually a sound from Sir Kenneth Branaugh's memory:

"A lot of people have asked me, 'why did you want to write it?' And interestingly, given what we're talking about today, what I found myself coming up with was to revisit the moment when I heard a sort of surreal twenty seconds where literally my life changed. And it was to do with hearing. 'Is that a bumblebee I'm hearing? Are those bees I'm hearing? They're not. What are they? What is that fuzzy thing at the bottom of the road? Those aren't bees. Oh no, those are people. Oh no, this is a riot.' But all of that in my mind [and] in my memory is what drove the writing of it... You might describe those 20 seconds, in sound terms, as an element of the film that describes the last day of my childhood. Because after that, everything changed."

— Sir Kenneth Branagh, Director, Writer, and Producer, "Belfast"

Be sure to check "Belfast," available in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®.

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