OVP: Best Sound Editing (2003)
The Nominees Were...
Gary Rydstrom & Michael Silvers, Finding Nemo
Richard King, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Christopher Boyes & George Watters II, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
My Thoughts: We talked about this during the Cinematography race, but part of the reason that Return of the King tied the records of Ben-Hur and Titanic rather than breaking them was the weird situation in Cinematography & Sound Editing, both categories that the series had won prior to 2003, but was not cited for this year. This was in the era where Best Sound Editing was only three-wide, and while it's weird to say to these nominees, it seems pretty obvious that in a five-wide field Return of the King would've not only been nominated, but expanding to the full Academy, would've taken the trophy. But we are going to take break from Peter Jackson's epic today and get into a pretty worthy batch of nominees.
Finding Nemo has a lot of water in it (in fact, the binding factor of all three of these movies is that they are all deeply water-logged...clearly Return of the King should've had more scenes on ships), which makes sound editing a constant throughout the movie. Animated films have entirely manufactured sounds (the mixing always feels a little like a cheat here since you're really just adding the dialogue & score in that regard since everything else is manufactured). But we're not on Mixing yet, and Nemo beautifully melds this world together. I particularly liked the consistent hum of the aquarium in the dentist's office (omnipresent, but also not distracting), as well as the turtles racing through the ocean.
Master and Commander has a more traditional mixing/editing apparatus, and like so much of this film, it's well-constructed & handsome. The editing in the fight scenes are appropriately epic. The film syncs very well with the action onboard, and you still feel the presence of all of the water in the audio. Unlike Nemo, there's no standout scenes or moments in the film that are like "yes, I remember that sound well" but I don't know if you need that in a movie if it's this seamless. Oscar citing Master but the film not getting the credit it deserves as a very good movie is in part due to them making everything in the picture feel so effortless.
Pirates manages to sort of bridge both of these movies. Again, we have the water (always the water), but we also have actual effects in the film that hearken back to specific aural moments (I adored the clanking boots & bones of the crew of the Black Pearl, a totally specific sound to this picture that works beautifully), while everything feels perfectly in rhythm. For a film that was meant to be disposable summer fun, Pirates gains a lot of its quality from all of the technical team putting up first rate designs. Everything about this movie is Grade-A production, even if it's literally inspired by a Disney ride, which up until 2003 would've been a time to keep the budget thin.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Golden Reel Awards split their categories between live-action & animated. Live action went to Master and Commander, besting Kill Bill, Open Range, Pirates, Seabiscuit, Terminator 3, The Italian Job, The Last Samurai, and The Matrix Reloaded, while Animated went with The Triplets of Belleville in a bit of a surprise against Brother Bear, Finding Nemo, Millennium Actress, Rugrats Go Wild, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, and The Jungle Book 2. In terms of fourth place, it has to be Return of the King-there's literally no other option I will entertain as plausible, though it's worth noting there was a shortlist in 2003, so we know it was either ROTK, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Seabiscuit, or The Last Samurai.
Films I Would Have Nominated: I won't belabor the point too much, but even in a strong field (Oscar didn't slack off here), Return of the King missing is pretty egregious.
Oscar’s Choice: With Tolkien out of the running, we saw a repeat of Cinematography as Master and Commander scooped up its second (and final) award of the night.
My Choice: Pirates gets my prize here-it's a near perfect representation of this category. I'll follow just barely with Nemo over Master, but like I said-AMPAS didn't pick a loser here.
Those are my thoughts-what are yours? Does anyone want to join me on the Black Pearl or do you want to stay on the HMS Surprise? Do you ever feel weird trying to distinguish sound mixing from editing in an animated film? And what happened to get Return of the King snubbed here? Share your thoughts below in the comments!
Also in 2003: Original Score, Original Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Previously in 2003
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