Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1470109
74 I m ps e . o rg then the collaboration comes out because Guillermo takes what is presented and runs with it or makes changes to it or other suggestions based on that. There were a few scripted lines for the loop group which are in there, like "bite that chicken," that sort of thing. MA: Nathan what about your layers? NR: With most of these crowds I just supplied the volume of bodies. The stuff Dash and I supplied would have given a nest for all the loop group and production sound that Jill was cutting to live. We can't discount the physical presence that we got from the foley team. From Andy, Malcolm and Goro Koyama and their crew over at Footsteps, because there was a lot that went into changing surfaces that people were walking on from the dirt onto the boardwalks inside the Geek pit, and even the geek down in the straw. JP: I have to say, too, that there was a lot of production crowd in that specific scene, which was amazing and great to work with, and there were specifics that were pulled from that as well. It was a nice little dance that went on there between production, loop group and backgrounds. The layers really paid off, and the combo between what was chosen and placed, how it was chosen and how it was woven, our mixers had their hands in as well. NR: A lot of time was spent on that. Brad Zoern and Chris Cooke, the mix team, did a phenomenal job. Guillermo was very hands on through that scene. It was a frame by frame, track by track endeavor. He does this thing where he just says, "I don't care what the track is called, just list the tracks and solo them one by one," and he just writes them each down. And then when you're done going through those tracks, "this is okay, mute this one. Drop this one by three dB, play this one as it is. Lose this one and this one." He'll just read that out of his notes, and then we'll play back. He's got a really good ear, and he understands the process. In his head, he can edit sound. MA: The first time we see the Geek he sounds like a beast and then there's this beautiful moment where this vulnerability comes through as he begins to sound more human. Can you walk us through this? NR: I wish Brad Zoern and Chris Cook were here, because they contributed a lot with the Geek. It's so much so that it gets hazy as to how it started. I remember Cam saying, "We want this to feel like we're in there with him. Like it's okay that it starts kind of crazy". It was a game of being selective about what you play, what you mute, how much can we mute so that you only hear what you need to hear to really connect with the Geek and feel what he's feeling. And if I'm honest, I'd say that Jill and I brought a lot to the table, but that battle was won on the mix console. With the guidance of Cam and Guillermo, hunting out the layers that they wanted to hear and how they wanted to present that scene. JP: We cannot discount the performance of Paul Anderson. I don't think anybody else could play the Geek. Guillermo would say, "I want that specific scream in this specific place to kind of ride that emotional wave of that character from having to perform this for the crowd." MA: There are so many different kinds of wood floor surfaces in the carnival sequences and you guys did a fantastic job of covering those. Whether characters were walking over wet wood, dry wood, hollow wood or wood boards they all had such distinct sounds. Was this all covered with foley or were you able to use some detail from the set? NR: The foley team knocked it out of the park right off the bat. They hit every board, creek, every grain of sand and blade of grass; it was a real treat to receive their work. And one of the things that they do, too, is they like to record in natural spaces, they will pull curtains and set the rooms up so that you get natural sounding reflections. In that first Geek chase in the rain, that was a whole blend of their foley work. They did so much in there to make sure that when we stepped from wet straw into a puddle onto a boardwalk, into some mud, into the fun house, into that metal tube, like every single surface was considered, and it sounded vibrant and alive. MA: Jill, there's a lot of dialogue in that storm. We start in the tent before Stanton runs off and you can physically see the downpour, it's not something that was added in post. How were the dialogue tracks from the set? © Searchlight Pictures