Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1061972
60 CINEMONTAGE / Q4 2018 Lensed in England at Shepperton Studios and other locations, the sequel is set in Depression-era, 1930s London several decades after the original, with the magical nanny returning to help the Banks Family children through a difficult time in their lives, following a personal loss. Opening in US cinemas through Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures December 19, the film will be released in both 7.1-channel and Dolby Atmos immersive soundtracks. Spread between Los Angeles, New York and London, the film's post-production sound crew consisted of sound designers/supervising sound editors Renée Tondelli and Eugene Gearty, supervising music editor Jennifer Dunnington and executive music producer/music supervisor Mike Higham, and dialogue/music re-recording mixer Mike Prestwood Smith and sound effects re-recording mixer Michael Keller, CAS, working together on Stage A's large- format Avid S6 M40 Console at Warner Bros. Sound in New York. Other key members of the team included music editor Jim Bruening; dialogue editor Alexa Zimmerman, MPSE; sound effects editors Heather Gross, MPSE and Allan Zaleski; and Foley editors Frank Kern, Kam Chan and Steven Visscher. Tondelli has worked on all of the director's films, apart from Chicago (2002). "We all approached this project with such excitement, having loved the original Mary Poppins," she says. "For the most part, because our crew had worked together on Into the Woods [2014], we had a wonderful shorthand with each other that made for a very special collaboration. The film's 12 songs all have dramatic and emotional significance within the story, so dialogue and music have to hand off to each other in a seamless way. Rob Marshall never wants the film to signal: 'Here comes the song!'" The supervising sound editor says she worked closely with Dunnington, "sometimes syllable-by- syllable, from pre-records, ADR and production, weaving the dialogue in and out of the songs," adding, "Rhythm and timing are paramount to Rob so that A Spoonful of Sonics IMMERSING 'MARY POPPINS RETURNS' IN SONGS AND SOUNDS by Mel Lambert R eleased in 1964, director Robert Stevenson's original Mary Poppins, starring Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson and Glynis Johns, set a benchmark in the Walt Disney Studios canon of full-energy musicals, combining live-action performances with intricate cel animation. Fast forward 54 years, and the iconic character is back in director Rob Marshall's Mary Poppins Returns, this time played by Emily Blunt, with co-stars Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Emily Mortimer, Dick Van Dyke (again) and Angela Lansbury.