MPSE Wavelength

M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S I 43 rig. Record, record, record your own material. Spend time with mixers and other editors. Don't take yourself too seriously. WILL: It's kind of obvious to say, but it's surprising to say how many young sound editors aren't really well versed in the classics, you know? A lot of directors are name-checking movies, they want it to feel like Apocalypse Now or 2001, they pull out references of movies and TV shows they love and if you're not familiar with those aesthetically and what they are trying to say, it puts you in a tough spot. When a sound editor says, "Uh, huh," and they really don't know what they are talking about. It's something we get into all the time with the Duffer Brothers, what works well with our relationship is that we all grew up with similar stuff, whether they are referencing Spielberg films, it's like a vibe reference or an aesthetic reference. We understand it because we grew up with that same sort of stuff. Sometimes you get filmmakers who watch older films and it's super useful to have that aesthetic background. PAULETTE: Does this Emmy nomination have a di‚erent meaning at this time in your life due to these bizarre tumultuous times we are going through? LEE: It's always nice to see a glimpse of sunshine on a cloudy day. WADE: It definitely was the coolest thing that happened this year! 2020 is the worst. NICK: I don't know if it has any more significance than any of the other nominations that I have had. Like I said before, it's always such an honor to be nominated, but I think this year it was nice to have it be a distraction to everything else that has been going on. It would have been fun for all of us to be able to get together and celebrate, but it was nice to have something to look back at and be very proud of. MATTHEW: It was nice to share this nomination with the crew, albeit virtually, because it allowed us time to catch up and enjoy the moment. And I think taking time to "enjoy the moment" is even more crucial given current circumstances. BENJAMIN: It's weird to experience the awards this way. We don't get many chances to rub elbows. We only see each other at awards shows and a few screenings here and there if you can go to them. We had to pre-tape it and everyone was in the Zoom call. WILL: It's just nice to have something good happen in 2020. That's my big takeaway. CRAIG: Absolutely. It's always nice to be nominated, you know ... it's a weird year. How else are you going to put it. On top of COVID, in California, half of our state is on fire right now. PAULETTE: Would you rather be living in the world you are nominated for? If so, why? LEE: I'd happily move into the palace for a few weeks. I'm not too sure I would want to stay in that world permanently though! WADE: Other than people with superpowers, it's basically the same world. Racist and sexist people in power, and the good guys trying to change that. NICK: I think I would like to stay in this pandemic world with the fires and earthquakes of Los Angeles than being lost in the desert with the cartel chasing you and having to drink my own pee. So, I think I'm good right here! MATTHEW: Hmmmmm ... yes? I'll leave it there because I could write an essay in response. BENJAMIN: Westworld is you know, the "Man in Black" is there, I don't want the "Man in Black" to find me. WILL: Then we'd have to be cutting on "mag." We don't want to go back to that! Paulette Lifton MPSE continues the conversation with the Emmy winners, Craig Henighan and Will Files, co-supervising sound editors on Stranger Things for Netflix. PAULETTE: You have such a huge fan base on Stranger Things. How did you get started on the show? CRAIG: I got called maybe 2015, the producer Rand Geiger, I worked with him and Shawn Levy on a lot of feature film work. He said, "We know you don't work in television but would you like to meet 'The Brothers'? Right from the get-go, it was one of those relationships that you knew that was going to click. I came away from the meeting and I just did a few sounds, just as ideas. I hadn't signed the deal, I only met with them and I said, "Here's a couple of mp3s, I had some ideas over the weekend." And that's literally how our relationship started. I told them, if I'm going to do this, I want to approach this as a feature film, I want to get involved earlier. I want to get sounds into the Avid earlier, I Stranger Things Emmy Winners Craig Henighan & Will Files

• Cover
• 02-03 TOC