Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1470109
28 I M PS E . O R G you're insecure and not willing to take a position, then that just makes more work. SS: Working with Ron Howard kept you in attention-focused detail, instead of doing a lot of choices. You'd stick with the one element and if the element didn't work, then you would change it right at that time. CC: Exactly. When Steve Patterson did Apollo 13, there were a lot of sound effects that Steve had to work with. What he did is effects mix. You know, that's fine, but there's just so much that can penetrate speakers, I mean, especially in the takeoff of the rocket, and it was impressive. But what was even more impressive, was the music that came with it. It was the sum of the sound effects and the music together that really built your emotions. And then of course, when they cut to the different shots of the reaction of people watching it, you got goose bumps from what it was. That's one thing about Ron and his two editors, Mike and Dan, they comb through everything. When they're done, and the film is locked, they have gotten the best of the best. No compromises whatsoever. And that's remarkable. I'm sure most of the picture editors have to go through that as well. What's getting really difficult is the shooting digitally, and instead of the director starting each scene, each take from scratch with a slate, the whole nine yards, it was just "keep it rolling," "do it again," "keep it rolling,""do it again." So now you're relying on timecode to make sure you got the right take, especially when we're working in sound and we got to take what they did and finish it properly. SS: Things changed, things changed drastically. The technology got ahead of us and it's like, time to move on, to let go, time to let the kids... CC: Being computer-literate doesn't give you the knowledge of knowing how sound works and what elements need to be put together in order to give you what you need, which you have to have. That to me is important, having that knowledge to be able to do that. SS: Analog gives that to you, analog allowed us to learn how to listen. CC: Right. But even with digital, even those that did not learn digitally, you need to understand what is important in the scene. What you need to do. I've worked on films where editors would take stuff that was going on in the backgound a block away and unless it's something really dynamic that calls attention to what's going on in the foreground, then you do something, but if it's just superfluous material, it's atmosphere. That's all it is. It's not putting shit in and they go, "What was that?" It's like the days when everything was all recorded at full game, full level. And it really was the mixer who set the level. So at least with us at the computer, we can have as many tracks as we want, and we can adjust the sounds accordingly. I don't mind doing that because then you're presenting how it should all come together, and the mixer has an idea of what you had in mind, and then he can work with it and embellish it. Now, the guy that I worked with that I really loved working with was Jim Jarmusch. I did three movies with him. One was called Night on Earth [1991], and another one was called Ghost Dog [1999], and another one was called Coffee and Cigarettes [2003]. I had a lot of fun working with this guy, he is a lot of fun. He is very talented. He writes, directs, produces, and he doesn't take shit from any American studios. He gets his money from abroad. And he makes good movies. I mean, it's very interesting. They're quirky, and he has a following. SS: Is he in New York or LA? CC: He is a New Yorker. And I love him and his editor who I don't know if he is still working with him, but Jay Rabinowitz, who is well renowned. He did Requiem for a Dream [2000]. SS: One of my all-time favorites! Should have gotten Best Picture that year. CC: It was such a… SS: …brilliant movie! CC: Brilliant is right! Intense. And working with Jay and Jim, Danny worked with me on a couple of projects, and it's wonderful, you get to work with some great guys. David Mamet was another great guy to work with. I worked with Frank Oz. This is a little anecdote that was really Chic with Sly Stallone boxing with Rabbi Jacobs during Rocky Balboa [2006]. Chic & Ron during Cinderella Man [2005]. Photo by Kfir Ziv