Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1014407
70 CINEMONTAGE / Q3 2018 children about loss, with which they will connect, but not make them feel the complete and utter devastation." Kung Fu Panda was previewed three times, with sequences — and sometimes specific jokes — adjusted throughout. In one scene, a joke about Mantis (Seth Rogen) performing acts of acupuncture was received so well that the scene that followed had to be adjusted. "I had to lengthen the next scene so much because of the laugh," Knight recalls. "Over the three previews, we kept changing the timing of that because we'd lose the next piece of dialogue." When released in June 2008, the film was popular with audiences, grossing upwards of $215 million in the US. For Knight, more important than the box office receipts were the personal and professional relationships she forged on the film. When Nelson was chosen to direct Kung Fu Panda 2 and 3, Knight joined her. "I loved her sense of story," the editor attests. And, in the midst of making the original Kung Fu Panda, the then-Miss De Chenu met her future husband, former Seinfeld actor Wayne Knight. "Somewhere halfway through the movie, I got married," Knight says. "The producer suggested, 'Why doesn't he do a voice?' Wayne did a cameo at the beginning of the movie, so that was very nice." Their son, Liam, contributed the voice of Baby Po in the first sequel. "When we were looking for baby sounds, I noticed all the sound effects were about 50 years old," she comments. "So, I came home with a recorder and recorded Liam. It gave character to Baby Po." The Kung Fu Panda series was a boon to Knight, who in June was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). "Joining AMPAS is very meaningful to me," the editor reflects. "When I first came to Los Angeles, I secured a position as a seat-filler at the Oscars to feel 'part of it,' if only vicariously. Now, as a newly minted Academy member, I am not an interloper or pretender but a peer." And upon traveling to China for the release of Kung Fu Panda 2, Knight finally met a panda — not a toy or an animated panda, but a real one. "I love pandas," she says. "It was really, really special — but I was shocked at their claws." f director, Welles. The images' details can barely be distinguished. This use of cost-cutting reproduction quality should not be allowed in a paperback book that costs over $40, but sadly, the publisher does this repeatedly in its publications. Frierson's punctilious efforts go beyond the pages of the text, multiplying the usefulness of Film and Video Editing Theory. Examples from many of the sequences that he discusses, both classic and surprising, are available online in capsule form at Critical Commons (www.CreativeCommons.org). This site, begun and hosted by USC Cinema, allows teachers to post and use written and audio/visual material in compliance with the Digital CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 65 CUT / PRINT MY MOST MEMORABLE FILM the shows expand," Earle states. "The exception is 9-1-1; the action is unusual and the time crunch short. We've had houses blow over a cliffside, elevator shaft rescues with moving elevators — even a jetliner crash into the ocean just short of LAX, with a rescue taking place as it's sinking into the ocean. Two days…two playbacks!" Andham agrees that the team's biggest challenge on most of these shows results from "getting such a large volume of sound effects mixed in a short amount of time," adding, "Preparation of each show for these series is a key factor. I can't say enough about how much I appreciate the diligence with which Gary and his team prep the show. Not only is it a very creative mix of sounds that I get to enjoy mixing, it is so well prepared that I'm able to move as quickly as we need to. Decisions are made fast, which perhaps helps infuse the mix with some of the high energy that these show are all about." The re-recording mixers provide their supervising sound editor with feedback at the end of each episode of each show, in terms of reactions to the tracks they receive and/or ideas regarding how subsequent episodes could be improved. "It's a two-way street," Megregian concludes. "We're always talking about ways to improve the process. The more we all communicate, the better we can help tell the story." The collective awards and nominations these three post sound professionals have amassed are testament to how they have improved their collaborative process. Megregian, with two Emmy and two MPSE Golden Reel Awards, was recently nominated with his sound editing team for a 2018 Emmy Award for an American Horror Story episode. Meanwhile, Earle (with four Emmys and one CAS Award) and Andham (two Emmys, four Daytime Emmys, two Golden Reels and one CAS Award) were nominated together with their team for a 2018 Emmy Award for The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. f American Soundtrack Story CONTINUED FROM PAGE 59 Millennium Copyright Act. It is available to everyone who cares to register. So when Frierson describes Deren's use of a whip pan by a subjective camera — and a hidden cut within the pan — the reader is referred to www.criticalcommons.org/Members/m_friers/ clips/meshes-of-the-afternoon-female-figure-dreams. A search for Frierson's contributions to the site will return over 40 video examples, ranging from use of flash-forward in Easy Rider (1969) to flashback in Iron Man (2008) and beyond. Each relates to a section of the book and each contains more commentary by the author. This astonishingly rich resource should be used by anyone tasked with training editors and can be a valuable reference tool for even the most experienced. f The re-recording mixers provide their supervising sound editor with feedback at the end of each episode of each show.