Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1487667
42 PRODUCTION SOUND & VIDEO – Winter 2023 We filmed on location in Savannah, GA, including at a military base. On an airfield landing strip, a full-scale set of the top of the Leyte aircraft carrier ship was constructed with green screen extensions so that actual working fighter planes from the Korean War could land and take off during the scenes to be filmed. A variety of authentic Korean War fighter planes were brought in from out of state, including F4U Corsairs, F8F Bearcats, AD Skyraiders, a Mig 15, and Sikorsky H0S5-1s. These were the last propeller-based planes to be used in combat before the jet age started. Coincidentally, Glenn Powel and our aerial camera unit had recently completed flight sequences for that other Navy fighter pilot movie in the pipeline, Top Gun: Maverick. I knew this was going to be a fun and satisfying production sound shoot, and it didn't disappoint! For my part, I just enjoy working on motion pictures with historical stories. Any script set prior to the 1980s always seems to give us an extra edge in recording good clean production tracks. The lack of all the modern technology noisemakers and generally slower pace of life in the past makes for a less acoustically polluted set atmosphere. Frequently, the props from a bygone era afford us opportunities for onset sound effects recording as well. I find that directors on films taking place in the past are often more open to discussions with me about production sound. The environment triggers nostalgic sounds from their childhood, which puts them in a good frame of mind to imagine the soundtrack of the story we set out to tell. My Zoom interview with Director J.D. Dillard went as well as a Sound Mixer could hope for. Most of the interview was spent discussing the needs of production sound and what he envisioned for his story. The first thing he told me was that his father had been in the armed services and had always felt that movies and TV shows that portrayed military stories were rarely accurate in the details. He promised his dad he would make this movie as true to life as possible, and that included the soundtrack. To achieve this, J.D. wanted to record the authentic propeller planes we would be filming with as much as possible. In flight, take off, landing, etc., the Korean War was the last time propeller-based planes were used by the Navy. After that war, the jet age was upon us and propeller propulsion was a thing of the past. So it was important to him that the soundtrack be as authentic to these planes as possible. He also wanted to record dialog while the planes were in the air. This was an understandable request, but a challenging one to fulfill. At times, the cockpit canopy would be open, and even when closed provided very little supression of the engine/propeller noises in flight. Moreover, these original Korean War planes had very small cockpits. Whatever available room wasn't being taken up by an actor or the pilot was occupied by multiple cinema cameras. The Sound Department was told we had to use the smallest recorder possible. At first, we didn't think this would be a problem. The plane did have a communications system that we were told worked and that we could tap into to record during flight. With modern aircraft and helicopters, I have successfully recorded an actor in the scene by using an aviation