OVP: Best Sound Mixing (2004)
The Nominees Were...
Tom Fleischman & Petur Hliddal, The Aviator
Randy Thom, Gary A. Rizzo, & Doc Kane, The Incredibles
Randy Thom, Tom Johnson, Dennis Sands, & William B. Kaplan, The Polar Express
Scott Millan, Greg Orloff, Bob Beemer, & Steve Cantamessa, Ray
Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush, & Joseph Geisinger, Spider-Man 2
My Thoughts: We are hitting the halfway point of our 2004 writeups today with Sound Mixing. This is always a challenge for me to write about, I'll be real here. While many call Film Editing the "invisible" art form, sound mixing is trickier. While we don't know know what the best editing actually is (terrible films might have been exponentially worse before a decent editor salvaged what they could), great sound mixing is oftentimes conflated with the films with the most prominent sound, and that's not always a case of "best." Oftentimes, movies with a lot of sound are nominated here, but they really don't deserve it even though sound is definitely a major element of the film.
This is the case for Spider-Man 2, a movie I liked more than I think we're giving it credit for in these write-ups, but I don't think its best elements are necessarily the ones that Oscar was paying attention toward. The sound mixing here is occasionally inventive (the comic book nods), but by-an-large it's a case of a movie relying upon "loud" to sell the action scenes rather than strong visual cues. The dialogue is inconsistent with the sound editing (sometimes too loud, occasionally too quiet), and the film's score overbearing & doing too much heavy-lifting. As a result, while the film's nods to actual comic book joy are welcome, that's not coming from the technical skills involved (a weird reversal of what we've come to expect in modern comic book movies, which look fabulous but lack much delineation in storytelling).
Ray is a movie that, like Spider-Man 2, has obvious ins with its sound work. The film has the brilliant music of Ray Charles to highlight, which of course makes it an easy sell, but it also struggles with dialogue & with how it films crowd scenes. Dialogue is difficult to use, and sometimes it feels like it doesn't really know how a microphone works (think the "What'd I Say" sequence where Ray talking into a microphone sounds exactly the same as someone speaking next to him, even these are both different volumes & different amplifications). There's also the problem of the lip-syncing, which always feels just off-using a different voice for the same character takes away from the film & while this is standard issue in Hollywood (movies like My Fair Lady, West Side Story, and The King & I all did it), Foxx doesn't mirror his speaking voice well enough to make it believable, and the sound mixers can't compensate, pulling you out of the movie.
The Aviator is much better at trying to find a way to compensate for different volumes, and does arguably the best job of any of these films in combining realism in the action sequences with the dialogue onscreen. The "Beverly Hills Crash" sequence is a good example. We get from the humming engine & the sudden plane crash the imminent danger that Howard is in this scene, but the mixers smartly avoid excessive scoring (Howard Shore's work is used judiciously throughout) and they let you hear what the actors are saying while still feeling like the background noise is washing it out. There is nothing more annoying that watching a movie and not being able to hear the actors' lines because we want to have "hyper-realism" (talking to you, Chris Nolan)...if it's not worth hearing, it shouldn't be in the script, and The Aviator blends that beautifully.
Animated films tend to get highlighted for the Sound Editing but not Sound Mixing in part because so much of what's happening onscreen is editing. Unlike the above three films there aren't live-action actors that you have to coordinate around (and get authentic sounds)-most of the background is artificial, and so really it comes down to just the vocal actors & the scoring. Still, The Incredibles got nominated for a reason-this is A+ sound work, with a bright, vibrant score, and genuine character in the way the lines are delivered. Think of how Edna Mode, in just a few short minutes, rings off of your ears, and the way that they use the dialogue expertly during action sequences or chase scenes-it's really one of the best sounding movies Pixar has ever crafted.
This is not the case for The Polar Express. Sometimes I throw my hands in the air & don't understand what a branch was thinking, and that's the case here. Polar Express has bizarre problems with its voices, where certain children's voices are at different decibels for no apparent reason, even within the same scene, and the score is a bit overdone, adding nothing to the movie. Obviously the animation doesn't help this argument, but it not only looks like a computer game, but in many ways sounds like one-stilted & as if the characters aren't quite sure what sequence of the film we're at.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Cinema Audio Society was not splitting between animated & live action in 2004, so theoretically we could have gotten animated here but we didn't, as their lineup was The Aviator, over Finding Neverland, Ray, Spider-Man 2, and The Bourne Supremacy. BAFTA was Ray as the winner, besting The Aviator, Collateral, House of Flying Daggers, and Spider-Man 2. In terms of sixth place...maybe Collateral? It was up for Editing, which makes me think it was probably close for the sound categories.
Films I Would Have Nominated: Oh, for sure I would have gone with House of Flying Daggers. The way the film incorporates the score so it's almost an echo or proxy for some of the sound mixing (think of the cascades of flying bamboo or the scene with the drums), it's a home-run for sound mixing, and I am flummoxed why Oscar didn't notice. I'll reveal the rest when we get to our My Ballot in a few weeks.
Oscar’s Choice: Musicals are oftentimes catnip for Oscar in this lineup, and Ray won in a divided field over Aviator and Incredibles.
My Choice: This is razor close for me between The Incredibles and The Aviator, but I'm going to go with Pixar. The sound design might not have been as challenging, but the finished product is too sophisticated to ignore. In third is Ray, followed by Spider-Man and Polar Express, respectively.
Those are my choices-how about you? Are you in AMPAS's corner betting on Ray or do you want to join me with the Parr family over on Team Pixar? Why exactly did the totally sloppy Polar Express make it for this category? And I'm open ears on sixth place theories? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Also in 2004: Sound Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Previously in 2004
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