Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1057439
64 F A L L 2 0 1 8 C A S Q U A R T E R L Y Composer Justin Hurwitz, sound designer/re-recording mixer/ supervising sound editor Ai-Ling Lee, supervising sound editor Mildred Iatrou Morgan, re-recording mixer (FX) Frank Montano, re-recording mixer (dialogue) Jon Taylor, and picture editor Tom Cross deconstructed the sonic approach of First Man. The director, Damien Chazelle, had previously directed La La Land and Whiplash. He himself is a musician. Again, here the music was an integral part of the sound. Justin began composing from the very first script. Ai-Ling Lee was also recording effects while they were shooting dailies. Damien wanted it to look like a documentary to complement the archival NASA footage and the astronauts' movies which were shot on 16mm. He wanted a grounded, gritty feel so where normally in the dialogue you would clean it up, they elected to keep some of the dirt and grit. Mission Control had 20 tracks of isos. This led to the dialogue being too clean, so they ended up using the mix tracks to keep the real feel. A documentary design approach was used for the sound effects. This was used in the backgrounds and Foley. A narrower image field was used for the effects in the personal stuff. Tom Cross said that he used lots of close-ups to keep it intimate so that sound would have to be used to establish what is outside of the frame. Tom also explained: "The music informed the picture cutting." Ai-Ling Lee said that original sounds were used to get the emotional feeling of being in Neil Armstrong's head. The effects were embellished by using distortion and over- modulation to get into the documentary feel. Somebody said that great sound design moments don't happen by accident, so a lot of thought was put into how this movie would sound. Ai-Ling was told to watch Das Boot to get inspiration. The sounds had to give you a sense of unease and surprise. Even animal sounds were used as part of the sound design with angry elephants put into Decapitator to change them and make them a blendable part of the soundscape. Damien wanted the capsule experience to be totally immersive and it does really feel like the capsule may come apart with the rattling and creaking that was put in the sound effects. A lot of the creaks were made by Foley walkers and the sound of a centrifuge was recorded and made part of the capsule experience. The walla was recorded on set so it is very natural sounding. Justin Hurwitz explained, "I started composing when Damien was prepping. I had to figure out the themes and the sounds I would use. I would do mock-ups and give them to Damien before he shot the scene. The landing sequence was a full orchestra mock-up." Justin provided a big folder of material that they could temp with. There were no temp mixes, explained Jon Taylor. "This lets you expand as you go along. Knowing music will be close. We asked ourselves, 'How can we make this better and carry it forward?'" This is a movie to be seen in Dolby Atmos as it is constructed as a true immersive experience. Much of the music used Atmos to immerse us in it. And as Ai-Ling put it, "We would like to surround the whole audience with sound, taking care to let it be dictated by the story." THE SOUND OF FIRST MAN MODERATOR: Glenn Kiser (director of the Dolby Institute) Production mixer Steve Morrow CAS, music mixer Nick Baxter, and re-recording mixer Dean Zupancic described this film as a completely music-driven experience. Lady Gaga always sings live so Bradley Cooper, who stars in and directed the movie, was challenged to make that happen and also sing live himself. THE SOUND OF A STAR IS BORN MODERATOR: Glenn Kiser (director of the Dolby Institute) OBSERVATIONS BY Peter Kelsey CAS