Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1124770
46 CINEMONTAGE / Q2 2019 needed, design for particular moments and the general feel of the scenes," relates Benson. "In other words, identifying the dramatic beats so that our design can support and enhance them. After the spotting session, we would discuss the director's notes and expand on them, figuring a plan for that part." As the action moves for the first time into a squad room full of police officers, there are lots of phones, typewriters, talk and activity, according to the supervising sound editor. "We go to a reception area full of worried parents trying to get information about their children who were picked up in the park the night before," he elaborates. "There is a holding room where the boys have been all night, and the interrogation rooms away from the busier station where the boys are questioned. All these specific rooms within the police station need to support their part in the story of the creation of the park attack narrative. "The quiet of the interrogation room, the buzz of the fluorescent lights, squeaks of the chair...," Benson continues, describing the sonics of the scenes. "Similarly, the courtroom is often quiet so that the movement of lawyers making their points is featured. This is in contrast to the busy police station areas and, in the case of the court scenes, the crowds and media outside the courtroom." ADR/dialogue supervisor Dudeck recorded chants for the protesters and call-outs for the law-and-order crowd to create a cultural collision that the boys walk through to get to the courtroom, according to Benson, which is quickly contrasted with the authority and the order of the court itself. Dudeck is candid about her editorial options, specifically for dealing with the "very dirty" dialogue tracks. "Because Ava shot many scenes using multiple cameras, the boom channel was very often unusable — and unfortunately, the lavalier tracks, which were all we had to depend on, were often full of clothing noise and other contamination," she concedes. "Normally, due to those conditions we would have done a good deal more ADR, but Ava was protective of her performances. So we had to use a lot of iZotope RX solutions, going a bit deeper than we normally would, or that we would have liked to do. But there was no other way to get audible dialogue." Due to that dialogue issue, Dudeck and her crew hit the ground running. "We had to jump right in," she recalls. "Of course, I flagged certain scenes, having done my own very quick RX sessions on each piece of dialogue as I cued ADR — to make sure it was at all salvageable. There was a lot of group ADR, more than a day's worth on two parts. That was mostly because of the variety of different ages, genders and ethnic groups required for each part. Also, a few parts had several news reporters, both on-camera and wild, that needed to be recorded; those took quite a bit of work to cast and shoot and, in a few cases, reshoot." REINFORCING ENVIRONMENTS THROUGH SOUND Tanis maintains that his sound design was focused on character motivation: "A lot was based on coming up with 'fear' and 'dread' tones, plus accents for when the boys are being interrogated and, later on, sentenced in court. It's a pretty dark sequence in the first part because these children are being held and questioned by police, and it's very intimidating." Benson asked if he could come Susan Dudek. Bruce Tanis.