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April 2012

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sounds good An appetite for sound L OS ANGELES — The Hunger Games, a new film from Lionsgate and director Gary Ross, presents a post-apocalyptic Lon Bender and team create the soundtrack for The Hunger Games. world where young champions are forced to take part in a life or death competition for the entertainment of a live television audi- ence. The film is based on a series of young adult novels written by Suzanne Collins, who also produced the film and wrote the screen- play. Jennifer Lawrence stars as the young heroine Katniss. Sound plays a large role in establishing the atmosphere of the film's brutal, dystopian world as well as the mind of Katniss, from whose point of view the story is told. Soun- delux's Lon Bender (whose last project, Drive, earned him an Academy Award nomination) served as supervising sound editor for the film and took part in an unusually close col- laboration with Ross and other members of his production team. "I was more deeply involved in creating the aesthetic of the soundtrack than I've ever been before," he says. "Gary Ross and I devel- oped a list of sound impressions that might influence the visuals. These were discussed as elements to get visually in pre-production during some creative meetings with Gary, producer Jon Kilik and production designer Phil Messina." Bender notes that he and Ross share a passion for cycling and took several long rides together, during which they discussed the film's sound. In particular, Ross hoped to use sound to recreate the first-person point of view used in the books. "He wanted, aestheti- cally, to always stay in Katniss's head," Bender explains. "He wanted the audience to experi- ence things as she experiences them, all the time, full stop. That was true of all aspects of the production design, not just the sound. You can believe everything that happens." As an additional part of his pre-production Lon Bender: "I was more deeply involved in creating the aesthetic of the soundtrack than I've ever been before." 18 preparation, Bender voraciously read Collins' books. "The books provided us with wonder- ful direction in terms of what the author had in mind for her sonic reality," he says. "We had a lot of fun harking back to Susanne's prose in terms of what we were doing with the Tracker Jackers and MockingJays, and the arena itself. I tried to stay true to her vision of Katniss's personal journey throughout." ON LOCATION Bender travelled with the production to North Carolina, where much of the film was shot, to make a number of live field record- Post • April 2012 ings. In one instance, he recorded the foot- steps of children walking across an open field for the film's chilling "reaping" sequence. He also recorded more than 500 extras, cos- tumed and made up as "citizens," for a scene known as the Tribute Parade. "As the morning light approached along with a storm, I finally got 15 minutes with them before everyone ran for cover!" recalls Bender. "We used all this material extensively." Bender took advantage of his time in North Carolina to also record atmospheric elements that he later used to root the story in its location. "We recorded a most unique breed of crickets that are native to North Carolina," he notes. "They were combined with 'performances' on some unique wood- en frog instruments that I found in Dohr County, Wisconsin. Combining these ele- "That provided us with surfaces and mic place- ments that you could not get in a Foley stage. We were able to work on dirt and rock, hard grass, soft grass with leaves, all in realtime. It gives the film a unique exterior sound." IN THE STUDIO Sound editorial work was performed at Soundelux's facility in Hollywood. As it turned out, the film's picture editorial team was set up in the same building. "Having Gary Ross and picture editor, Steve Mirrione, in the same building was a big advantage," Bender notes. "They were able to spend a significant amount of time in my studio developing the sound. As a result, when we got to the mix stage (final mixing was performed by re-recording mixers Michael and Mike Prestwood Smith at Todd- AO), the film was already in the ballpark. The Pro Tools|HD and all of its 256 outputs were called on for The Hunger Games. ments within the arena created a sense that it had both a natural quality and a man-made element courtesy of the games keepers." Location sound was recorded in 5.1, 96kHz, 24-bit. Bender directly oversaw Foley work, which was done by Foley supervisor Gary Hecker from Todd-AO, Lantana. Some of the effects were recorded in-studio (including real torches recorded in extreme close-up), but many oth- ers were recorded on location for the purpose of greater verisimilitude. "We found some wonderful locations in Tujunga Canyon near Newhall where Catherine Harper performed all of the footsteps to picture, www.postmagazine.com arcs were in place." The careful preparation paid off in the mix " recalls Bender. sessions, providing more time there which could be spent making further refinements. "Gary liked to review and revise numerous times," Bender recalls. "Mike Prestwood Smith and Michael Keller, were able to really elevate the sound with each pass. Gary was involved until well after midnight all the way to the last night." Bender says that his editorial team, who included lead designer Bill Dean and sound editor Kris Fenske, were inspired by the chal- lenge of creating the film's soundscapes, and built them through a slow, evolutionary pro- cess. As that process was complete, the sound

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