Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1487730
through five temp mixes. Each time, the picture team's work informs us and our work informs theirs. And all the animations we've worked on, from The Lego Movie (2014), Batman Lego (2017), Legends of the Guardians (2010) and the Happy Feet films, all those projects start with editing the dialogues. Each iteration is constantly feeding back to the editors, and the animators, and then coming back to us with a new iterative angle. I find temp mixes are probably the most important part of the process. As painful as some of them can be on tight turnarounds, with the pictures coming in at the last minute, doing 24-hour shifts to pull off a final iteration, I find coming out of that experience is the most informed you are. All of the team, not just the sound team, but the editorial team, the visual effects team, the music team and of course the filmmakers, I think the process is informative to everybody, and you really do start to feel you are one cohesive unit. LV: And each temp is not necessarily a course correction, but a course affirmation. You come out of it knowing you're headed in the right direction. They are like compass points. You're never going to get to a final mix after having done five temp mixes and not know where you're heading. You're going to be constantly, incrementally getting closer, so that ultimately, the final mix is just a longer, more luxurious temp mix, where you're polishing the work you've been doing all along. They're exhausting, and there's never enough understanding of what needs to happen between picture, sound and delivering in order to finish a temp mix. But I think ultimately, they're always a blessing. JW: You've worked with many great location sound recordists, such as Ben Osmo, David Lee, Peter Grace, Toivo Lember, Guntis Sics. How integral is the contribution of the sound recordist to the resulting soundtrack? WP: I think one of the most important things about sound recording is to get the dialogue on the day, while the actors are in full flight and they're discovering the scene. So, it's important for me to talk to the sound Trophy for Best Artistic Contribution Sound for Kiss or Kill, Montreal Film Festival (1997). Photo by J. Ward Rick Lisle recording the supercharger, BBS, The Great Gatsby (2012). Photo by J. Ward Wayne & Libby, Best Sound for The Great Gatsby (2012). Photo by J. Ward Wayne & Fabian Sanjurjo recording antique fans, The Great Gatsby (2012). Photo by J. Ward