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December 2017

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www.postmagazine.com 30 POST DECEMBER 2017 OUTLOOK AUDIO O cials that I would be called to do in an audio post facility. A show's production is now doing the advertisements." OUTLOOK: "I hate to say it, but I would say the audio post industry will remain on a plateau over the next year. I do not see anything significant coming for 2018 that will change the way I work in audio for commercials. I know that's a boring thing to say out loud, but yet an accu- rate one I think. Mobile will change that, I just don't know how or when. "However, I can say that one interest- ing trend I see in audio is with the promo work I do for Viceland. Vice has a very bold style of audio post that I really love. I often leave many of the audio files to be cut off or clipped mid-stream rather than a nice pretty fade out. Combine that with a liberal use of an air-horn, like on all of the What Would Diplo Do? spots and it's jarring, but in a good way. "Vice also incorporates what I call a kind of behind-the-scenes style of audio, where they will purposely leave in room tone, people talking in the background and production crew sounds for certain types of spots and shows. I did a TV show during Weed Week for April 20th called A Quiz Show, where we left in all of the camera, crew and production sounds. It was a case where they asked me to extenuate the various production sounds and room tone rather than try to remove it all. "But I think the best example of their bold audio style was a promo I did for F**k That's Delicious, where I had nine different audio tracks of Action Bronson's dialogue — all talking at once. Normally, I would have stopped and asked which one of the nine tracks of audio goes with the picture? But this was meant to be a cacophony of the sound of Action's voice and it wound up being one of the coolest spots I have ever mixed. The nine unrelated audio tracks of dialogue blended into some- thing I could never have imagined on my own. I was so impressed with their creativity to think like that. I would love to see more of the traditional audio rules being broken in the upcoming year." MARK MANGINI Oscar-winning supervis- ing sound editor/sound designer/re-recording mixer Mark Mangini has worked on over a 100 films. His incredible credit list includes Poltergeist, Gremlins, The Lion King, The Fifth Element, The Rite, Metallica Through the Never, Black Mass, The Accountant, Mad Max: Fury Road, Blade Runner 2049 and many, many more. He's also a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE), American Society of Composers and Performers (ASCAP), Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Motion Picture Film Editors Guild local 700 (MPEG) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG). STRENGTHS: "The biggest one for me is that filmmakers more and more — year in and year out, are appreciating the value that great sound design can bring to movies. The younger film- makers are learning how to appreciate and engage a sound designer early in a project and how to use that as a storytelling tool. I certainly never felt that 40 years ago; I've seen this very steady curve of deepening valuation for what sound brings to the process. I'm really happy about that. We're in the conversation that is being had with composers, writers, actors and film editors. Sound is becoming part of that important conversation about what does this movie mean and how do we tell it better with sound?" WEAKNESSES: "We're seeing less and less movies being made and more and more competition for post production dollars around the world. It's a more diffi- cult environment to find work in because there are a lot of really good people out there and producers can pick and choose as they see fit." OPPORTUNITIES: "The growth opportu- nity is in embracing an approach of multi- disciplinary skill sets. I think we're seeing a blending or a merging of the various skill sets in post sound that includes sound mixing, sound editing, sound recording… all of those. I see a future where to be the most successful you want to have a really solid foundation in all of those if you want to work at the highest levels." THREATS: "Because of this lack of work, the trend is this nagging feeling that we're killing each other on price. Because there is a lot less work, we're compromising ourselves financially to get what little work is really available. I wish there was a way for us to have some solidarity in that regard, and not compromise the value of what we do." OUTLOOK: "Everything I just said I feel will continue to trend in 2018. There will be fewer movies, and a continued stratification of the market with the Blade Runner 2049

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