Production Sound & Video

Winter 2021 – LOCAL695.ORG 25 I would watch the Bond movies in the cinema at every opportunity even when they were re-run on television, and each time I watched, I became more interested in the character and the franchise. When I eventually got a job in the fi lm industry, it was my absolute aim to work on a Bond fi lm. This was cemented during my time as an 'in house runner' (PA) at a commercials production company, as a teenager. I can remember clearly the respect for the crew members they were trying to book for a commercial by the Producers and Directors, when they were not available because "they're on the Bond." The more time I spent on fi lm sets, the more I would be exposed to stories being told during camera turnarounds, lighting setups, or at lunchtime by crew members waxing lyrical about "when we were on the Bond." During my childhood, I built the franchise up to be one of the pinnacles of fi lmmaking. When I arrived in the industry, I realised that working on a Bond fi lm was seen as a badge of honour; a sign that a technician was at the top of their game. And, boy—did I want be one of those technicians. Fast-forward thirty years and I found myself booked for a Bond movie. Not just any Bond movie either; this was to be Daniel Craig's last outing in the role, on the twenty-fi fth Bond fi lm. My crew and I had worked with Daniel on the fi lm Layer Cake before he was cast as Bond, and we really enjoyed working with him. Daniel is a perfectionist, and knowing how hard he works and how much he values production sound, made me more excited about the project. We have an easy rapport which extends to my team, especially Arthur Fenn, my Key 1st Assistant Sound, who gets on extremely well with Daniel. I knew based on our previous experience that working with Daniel was going to be a pleasure. As so many of you reading this will know, if the star of the show respects and collaborates with the Sound Department, then the rest of the cast generally will follow suit. I was invited to the offi ces of Eon Productions in Mayfair, London, an imposing building in the heart of the city. The production team wanted me to meet Cary Fukunaga; it is always quite intriguing meeting a director for the fi rst time. To get myself up to speed, I watched a bunch of Cary's work to learn his shooting style, and how he uses production sound. I was super-excited on how little ADR there seemed to be in his fi lms. When I arrived, I was warmly welcomed by Producer Chris Brigham and invited to join Cary, as well as Producers Michael G. Wilson and Gregg Wilson. There was an ease to the conversation as soon as we started, and it became clear how interested everyone around the table was about sound, not only production sound, but theatre sound systems, home Hi-Fi, Dolby Atmos; it was literally like talking to other Sound Mixers. Cary asked me if I'd ever recorded on a Nagra. I told him that I was fortunate enough to have spent my fi rst six years mixing on a Nagra, on hundreds of commercials, starting on a IV-S that I had converted to timecode when I'd saved up enough money. Cary looked excited and asked if I still had one, Gregg Wilson cut in saying, "I've got a Nagra, I adore them." Michael G. Wilson talked about the Swiss workmanship, at this point I knew I was sitting at a very special table full of real fi lm audio enthusiasts. I told Cary I still had my Nagra at home on display, and he said, "We have a fl ashback sequence on the fi lm that I'd really like you to record on a Nagra to give it an old school feel." I told him how interesting I found that, and that I'd also like to run my Deva 24, alongside the Nagra to give him a choice in post. I explained that perhaps when he listens to the Nagra through a modern digital theatre system, he may feel the analog sound is too old school. However, if he wished, he could use the Nagra as a reference, and treat the Deva digital recordings with a plugin to give them the warmth of the Nagra analog recording, but not going quite as far with the analog tape hiss. Cary said that is exactly how he likes to work—he wants choices in Post. I agreed, that is exactly my preference too: give the Director, Supervising Sound Editor,

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