MPSE Wavelength

M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S I 49 the freedom of experimenting with sounds is tremendous. We also had many experimental attempts on picture edit as well, which brought so much fun for sound perspectives, too. For instance, the fl ash of stock footage and photos was added into the fi lm a few days before mixing. We realised that there were some crucial contents missing, and we needed more elements to reinforce the concept; however, there wasn't enough time to shoot new stop- motion footages, so our editor—Ona Bartrolí—believed that we could utilise the fl ash of images instead, and it indeed brought the whole fi lm to the next level. Until fi nally printing out the mix, there were still a few small changes here and there, but the huge difference was mostly made during sound editing, especially when we were struggling with how the afterlife should sound like. I personally feel The Unknown was alive, it had been growing and developing with the rich nutrition from various perspectives, and I believe it would keep growing by interacting with more audience! Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing Single Presentation A CHRISTMAS CAROL FX Supervising Sound Editor: LEE WALPOLE MPSE Sound E• ects Editors: SAOIRSE CHRISTOPHERSON ANDY KENNEDY Dialogue Editor: IAN WILKINSON Foley Editors: CATHERINE THOMAS ANNA WRIGHT Music Editor: CECILE TOURNESAC What was the biggest challenge you and your team faced? LEE WALPOLE MPSE, SUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR: Our show features a number of scenes set in purgatory which is depicted as a snowy forest with a fi re in the middle. Here we fi nd the Ghost of Christmas Past (Andy Serkis) burning Christmas trees. At the spotting session, the team explained to me that each tree in the Christmas Graveyard itself represents a Christmas gone past. We discussed how sound could help make this idea more explicit and decided that each time the Spirit drops a tree on the fi re, we should create the sense of the memories of a particular Christmas being engulfed by the fl ames. To achieve this, I created a palette of sounds that could represent the memories of a Christmas Day: a child's music box, a choir singing carols, family laughter, crying, an argument, a fl ute playing "Silent Night," sleigh bells ringing, a child singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Our dialogue editor, Ian Wilkinson, also recorded Christmas Day conversations with our loop group. I then took tiny snippets of each of these sounds and used various plugins to distort and morph them making them sound 'otherworldly' and overlaid them to make a specifi c sound montage for each tree we see go up in fl ames; a burst of moods, life and emotion. Why are the MPSE Awards important to you? LEE: The recognition sound is given is not proportionate to the impact the contributions of our community have on the fi nished show or movie. What recognition sound does get in the awards season is primarily focused on the supervising sound editor and re-recording mixers. Our craft is very much a collaborative effort, reliant on the endeavours of the whole sound team working together. It is fantastic to have the MPSE Awards where the complexities and skills of the different roles within our craft are all considered and that allow the whole sound editorial teams contributions to be recognised. Was there anything specifi c within the story that infl uenced your decision to take on this project? LEE: The show was being made by Scott Free with Hardy, Son and Baker. I have previously worked on a number of their productions and have always immensely enjoyed our collaborations. Their shows have great ambition, extremely high production values and are hugely varied in terms of content and genre. Their shows have also proved to be a gift for sound and world creation (Halo Nightfall, The Terror Season 1, Klondike Taboo). A Christmas Carol is of course, an absolute staple of Christmas; I remember doing a school play of it aged 10. If another version was going to be made, it had to do something different to its predecessors. I was familiar with the work and imagination of writer Steven Knight from having acted as supervising sound editor on the fi rst season of Peaky Blinders and Taboo, I knew with him scribing, we would be in for a fresh, original, and dark reimagining of the classic tale. How did the pandemic change the way you and your team worked on this project? LEE: N/A. We completed our work on this show December 2019. Was your vision seen through from initial spot to fi nal mix or did any interesting new perspectives arise along the way? LEE: This was certainly a show where I left the sound spot, following our brainstorming of various directions to pursue, fi nding myself wondering; "How am I going to pull all that off?" We managed to successfully execute much of what was discussed. However, one idea I suggested which was met by great enthusiasm in the sound spot, was that every line the Ghost of Christmas Past says to Scrooge

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