OVP: Best Sound Mixing (2015)
The Nominees Were...
Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom, & Drew Kunin, Bridge of Spies
Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff, & Ben Osmo, Mad Max: Fury Road
Paul Massey, Mark Taylor, & Mac Ruth, The Martian
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano, Randy Thom, & Chris Duesterdiek, The Revenant
Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, & Stuart Wilson, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff, & Ben Osmo, Mad Max: Fury Road
Paul Massey, Mark Taylor, & Mac Ruth, The Martian
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano, Randy Thom, & Chris Duesterdiek, The Revenant
Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, & Stuart Wilson, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
My Thoughts: All right, we're jumping back into the 2015 OVP with a vengeance, as I've drawn this out far too long. As I said in our last piece, I won't have a lot of these articles this month due to a prior writing obligation & an upcoming vacation, but starting in May we'll be doing two a week until 2015 is finished, and I already have 2016 on-deck. We've made these films wait long enough, so let's get into the Sound Mixers of 2015.
I always find Sound Mixing to be the hardest subject to tackle for these write-ups, and a prime reason for that is something like Bridge of Spies. Bridge of Spies has perfectly serviceable sound mixing, and some interesting sound work when it comes to both the flight of Austin Stowell's Francis Gary Powers (the best scene in the film, and particularly great because it doesn't involve Thomas Newman's score, giving us more urgency for the scene), as well as the quieter scenes with Mark Rylance prior to his betting arrested. However, the rest of the picture is missing the care that you'd expect from a film that is lacking in effects or a musical score for Sound Mixing, and I don't entirely get why this was nominated. The problem for me is, without either a clear catch or sound work so extraordinary (like Roma a few years later) that it's easy to recognize, I don't know if we're missing some smaller angles on Bridge of Spies' achievements.
It's considerably easier to see the worth of a film like Fury Road. Dominated by terrific sound design, shot across deserts, this is the sort of picture where sound mixing is clearly at the forefront, rather than something you have to stretch to make important. George Miller's film takes a great deal of risk with its sound work that pays off; in a less confident director's hands, we'd end up with something resembling a typical, large action film, but there's care here. Look at the uniqueness of the thundering war vehicles as they trudge across the sand, or the way that certain villains like Immortan Joe seem to have their own daunting noises. "Oh what a lovely day" indeed.
Mad Max's biggest competition for me on the Sound Mixing front is Star Wars. Like Mad Max, the iconography here for the sound work has past precedent (both are late installments in long franchises). However, Star Wars still finds some remarkable scene work here, blending the old-and-new of John Williams soundtrack to create a nostalgic, old-school action affair. I loved the quieter moments, where instead of sound effects we rely on dusty conversation, like when Han Solo first emerges into the Millennium Falcon. The great chase scenes, especially the early ones with Finn & Rey, stand out as some of the best in the series in terms of their sound design, and what could feel like a gimme nomination ends up being well-earned.
Perhaps more in the "gimme nomination" category is The Revenant. The film does have a lot of organic sound work, which is really cool-the opening scene in particular with the constant shifting of the surroundings and the babbling, cold brook is extraordinary in all technical aspects, but after that I'm left flummoxed as to why this was included, though the appeal in general of The Revenant is lost on me (save the cinematography). The rest of the film does have organic sound work, but it's never as thrilling and frequently feels more just like hearing Tom Hardy or Leonardo DiCaprio panting. That might be a fantasy you have for yourself, but it's hardly Oscar-worthy.
The final nominated picture is The Martian, a movie that's perhaps the biggest test for me in the OVP in a while. My goal is to judge all of these films in a vacuum, giving out the trophy without any concept of previous films or future nominations, but it's hard not to compare The Martian with Gravity and Interstellar, two similar space odysseys, one of which was a landmark in Sound Mixing and one a catastrophe (click the below contests to decipher which is which). The sound work here is somewhere in the middle. The trudge across the Martian desert (lots of desert sound work this year), is great, but the scenes on Earth aren't particularly impressive, and that opening sequence where you can't hear any of the dialogue over the cacophony of wind storms still hits a nerve (you can have easily-heard dialogue while still imparting that the characters are in danger!), so I find this nomination also veering into "gimme" territory even though it's better than The Revenant.
I always find Sound Mixing to be the hardest subject to tackle for these write-ups, and a prime reason for that is something like Bridge of Spies. Bridge of Spies has perfectly serviceable sound mixing, and some interesting sound work when it comes to both the flight of Austin Stowell's Francis Gary Powers (the best scene in the film, and particularly great because it doesn't involve Thomas Newman's score, giving us more urgency for the scene), as well as the quieter scenes with Mark Rylance prior to his betting arrested. However, the rest of the picture is missing the care that you'd expect from a film that is lacking in effects or a musical score for Sound Mixing, and I don't entirely get why this was nominated. The problem for me is, without either a clear catch or sound work so extraordinary (like Roma a few years later) that it's easy to recognize, I don't know if we're missing some smaller angles on Bridge of Spies' achievements.
It's considerably easier to see the worth of a film like Fury Road. Dominated by terrific sound design, shot across deserts, this is the sort of picture where sound mixing is clearly at the forefront, rather than something you have to stretch to make important. George Miller's film takes a great deal of risk with its sound work that pays off; in a less confident director's hands, we'd end up with something resembling a typical, large action film, but there's care here. Look at the uniqueness of the thundering war vehicles as they trudge across the sand, or the way that certain villains like Immortan Joe seem to have their own daunting noises. "Oh what a lovely day" indeed.
Mad Max's biggest competition for me on the Sound Mixing front is Star Wars. Like Mad Max, the iconography here for the sound work has past precedent (both are late installments in long franchises). However, Star Wars still finds some remarkable scene work here, blending the old-and-new of John Williams soundtrack to create a nostalgic, old-school action affair. I loved the quieter moments, where instead of sound effects we rely on dusty conversation, like when Han Solo first emerges into the Millennium Falcon. The great chase scenes, especially the early ones with Finn & Rey, stand out as some of the best in the series in terms of their sound design, and what could feel like a gimme nomination ends up being well-earned.
Perhaps more in the "gimme nomination" category is The Revenant. The film does have a lot of organic sound work, which is really cool-the opening scene in particular with the constant shifting of the surroundings and the babbling, cold brook is extraordinary in all technical aspects, but after that I'm left flummoxed as to why this was included, though the appeal in general of The Revenant is lost on me (save the cinematography). The rest of the film does have organic sound work, but it's never as thrilling and frequently feels more just like hearing Tom Hardy or Leonardo DiCaprio panting. That might be a fantasy you have for yourself, but it's hardly Oscar-worthy.
The final nominated picture is The Martian, a movie that's perhaps the biggest test for me in the OVP in a while. My goal is to judge all of these films in a vacuum, giving out the trophy without any concept of previous films or future nominations, but it's hard not to compare The Martian with Gravity and Interstellar, two similar space odysseys, one of which was a landmark in Sound Mixing and one a catastrophe (click the below contests to decipher which is which). The sound work here is somewhere in the middle. The trudge across the Martian desert (lots of desert sound work this year), is great, but the scenes on Earth aren't particularly impressive, and that opening sequence where you can't hear any of the dialogue over the cacophony of wind storms still hits a nerve (you can have easily-heard dialogue while still imparting that the characters are in danger!), so I find this nomination also veering into "gimme" territory even though it's better than The Revenant.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Cinema Audio Society splits their nominations between live-action and animated features, so with Live-Action we got almost an exact replica of the Academy Awards, with only The Martian getting skipped in favor of The Hateful Eight (The Revenant took the trophy). For Animated, we saw Inside Out triumph over Minions, Hotel Transylvania 2, The Peanuts Movie, and The Good Dinosaur. At the BAFTA Awards, The Revenant also took the win, this time over an exact replica of the Oscar lineup. I actually think this nomination lineup was so well-established that a sixth place finisher was a distant sixth place finisher, but if I had to ponder one I think I'd go outside the box, not hitting The Hateful Eight or Sicario, but perhaps something like Furious 7 which had a lot of steam at the time in the wake of Paul Walker's death and a huge box office (for the film and the series).
Films I Would Have Nominated: I'd probably throw in three new names to this mix and keep Mad Max & Star Wars in the running. Sicario deserved the Oscar nomination here for that sequence at the Mexican border alone, and I probably would throw in a movie like Carol, which doesn't stand out in a major way (though if Bridge of Spies counts...), but combines its score elegantly with the dialogue, and I think some of the hushed tones of the conversation scenes, especially in public (Rooney & Cate in the restaurants, Rooney & Jake on the street) are particularly well-done and we should occasionally recognize the subtle. My final choice, and my favorite sound mixing of 2015, would be Son of Saul, which had those haunting, jittery tracking shots where we come in and out of conversations & discover characters almost as background noise.
Oscar’s Choice: Oscar struck away from the precursor awards, giving Mad Max the trophy over well-bandied The Revenant.
My Choice: I'm going to flip my Sound Editing verdict here, giving the trophy to Mad Max over Star Wars, as it feels just a bit more unique. In third is The Martian, followed by Revenant and Bridge of Spies.
Those are my choices-how about you? Are you with Oscar & I that Mad Max rose above the competition, or do you stick with the precursors' selection of The Revenant? Can anyone explain to me what made Bridge of Spies so worthy here? And in a very established race, any ideas on who was in sixth place? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Those are my choices-how about you? Are you with Oscar & I that Mad Max rose above the competition, or do you stick with the precursors' selection of The Revenant? Can anyone explain to me what made Bridge of Spies so worthy here? And in a very established race, any ideas on who was in sixth place? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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