Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1469840
20 S U M M E R 2 0 2 2 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y MOTION PICTURE – LIVE ACTION DUNE by CAS ASSOCIATE SAM CASAS Unless you were living under Arrakis this last year (sorry, my sad attempt at an "under a rock" pun), it would be hard to ignore all the accolades the sound team from the movie Dune won this last year. Among many are the Oscar, the BAFTA, the AMPS Award, the Golden Reel Award, and of course, the CAS Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Picture – Live Action. This year's CAS winners include production mixer Mac Ruth CAS, dialogue and music re-recording mixer Ron Bartlett CAS, sound effects re-recording mixer Doug Hemphill CAS, scoring mixer Alan Meyerson CAS, ADR mixer Tommy O'Connell, and Foley mixer Don White. I had the privilege of discussing the film with four of the six winners (Tommy and Don were unavailable due to scheduling conflicts and turnaround time demands). They all had high praise for director Denis Villeneuve's strong vision, but also for fostering a communal environment that allowed each team member to be creative and contribute to the film at their highest level. I spoke first with Mac, and then Ron, Doug, and Alan. Here are some highlights from our conversations. Mac, I imagine situations arise on large productions when sound is not the number one priority and there must be some give and take. How did you and your team manage to get the job done in a collaborative manner? Mac Ruth CAS: Everything comes from Denis Villeneuve in this film, and he knows how to focus on the performance at hand. One of the things that was unique was our ability to stick to a fundamentalism in audio capture that resulted from this being a one-camera movie. This is an old way of doing things where all departments are working to the same frame lines. We were able to allow the boom to operate properly, and that creates such an intuitive, natural acoustic reproduction of the space that plays to the listener and the viewer. I don't think he compromises his vision in any way; I think he enhances it. It's really that focus that makes it happen. A lot of credit goes to the crew and the collaborative environment we were in. I've got a great team that has stuck together over the years. My main boom operator is George (György) Mihályi. Being best friends with camera, he couldn't have more street cred with the grips, electric, and everybody. Áron Havasi is my second boom. He's super smart, super cool, and really good with the communications and equipment. Eliza Zolnai, she's a sound mixer in her own right, and she's so good with the cast. That's always been a wonderful part of our workflow; creating an environment that's welcoming and creating a trust relationship where we can have access. You have to earn it and be there and participate in what an actor goes through to prepare for a scene. We work hard to foster a conducive environment for them to do what they have to do. It seems the collaboration had a big part in helping you to capture rich full dialogue, but I feel like you were also able to capture the space the actors inhabit. What about these locations helped you to capture great audio, and what were the challenges? Mac: Interior scenes like the living quarters in Atreides were shot on these big analog sets, built in Budapest with really good acoustics. These big spaces allowed us to capture that raw perspective by allowing us to keep the boom so workable, even on long corridor shots, so that you get the Production mixer Mac Ruth CAS MEET THE WINNERS