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www.postmagazine.com 32 POST OCTOBER 2014 cent voice. We needed the new lines to sound younger and match the voice in the original recordings. We were missing that young, innocent sound." Nance and dialogue editor Marilyn McCoppen used a combination of Serato's Pitch 'n Time Pro and the pitch shift tool in Pro Tools 10 to smooth the transitions between the lines. The Boxtrolls was mixed in 5.1 on an AMS Neve DFC Gemini console at Sky- walker Sound. To make the extremely de- tailed soundtrack fit comfortably into the 5.1 setup, the team of re-recording mixers were "constantly dodging and burning between ourselves on the console to give the directors whatever sound they were most excited about in a specific moment," says Klyce. THE BOOK OF LIFE Director Jorge R. Gutiérrez delivers heart and humor to the somber subject of his 3D computer animated film, The Book of Life, in theaters October 17th. The story follows a young bullfighter, Manolo, who competes with the charming Joaquin for Maria's love. Two spirits bet on who will win over Maria, but when faced with losing, the evil spirit Xibalba sends a snake to bite Manolo, sending him to the 'land of the remembered.' In order to return to the human world and to Maria, Manolo takes an incredible journey through three fantastical worlds, where he must face his greatest fears. Formosa Group supervising sound editor Scott Gershin feels The Book of Life is a movie that will connect with all ages in different ways. "I think that's the success of great animated movies: stories that can speak [to] and entertain different age groups. Rather than being "just for kids," it's great when a film can be created for the whole family. We strived to create a soundtrack that would take the audience on aural journeys as well as creating depth and a sense of fun for the whole family." Gershin worked with Formosa Group re-recording mixer Andy Koyama on music and dialogue, and freelance re-re- cording mixer Beau Borders handling sound effects. Formosa Group in West Hollywood, CA (www.formosagroup. com), is a talent-based post production sound company serving film, broadcast, commercial and interactive clients. The Book of Life was mixed on Audio Head Stage B. Since it was recently outfitted with a Dolby Atmos setup, this was the first Atmos mix on that dub stage. Koya- ma notes, "Our engineers did an amazing job. It was very smooth and we had very few hiccups." To help achieve director Gutiérrez's goal for sound, Gershin balances the drama with impish fun, keeping intense moments from becoming overwhelming. For example, Gershin performed many of the vocalizations for a massive three-sto- ry bull. In combination with real animal sounds edited by Steve Robinson, Gersh- in's performance adds a touch of fun and emotion to the bull's voice. "We wanted to add just a little tension and give a little bit of size to the bull but not create something so ferocious that it would've scared our audience," explains Gershin. Since the film is based in Mexico, and Formosa Group is so close to the border, Gershin, dialogue/ADR supervisor Margit Pfeiffer, and sound effects recordist Charlie Campagna traveled to a bullring in Tijuana to capture a walla group of nearly 100 people chanting phrases, calling out characters' names, cheering, booing, and of course yelling the classic 'ole!' "Because the story takes place in a Mexican bullring, it makes sense to hire actors that speak Spanish as their first language. The tone and cadence of their delivery was authentic, adding to the realism of the scene," notes Gershin. In addition to crowd walla, they also captured the many different delays and acoustics of the bullfighting arena. With the walla group spread around the The Boxtrolls was mixed in 5.1 on an AMS Neve DFC Gemini console at Skywalker Sound. Sky- walker's (L-R) Nathan Nance, Ren Klyce and Tom Myers are inset. AUDIO FOR FEATURE FILMS