Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1525020
Fall 2024 – LOCAL695.COM 31 In late 2022, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and working with the very talented director Lee Isaac Chung. We met on the first day of filming his episode of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. And as much as I'm excited to write about Star Wars, this article is about chasing tornadoes! Isaac had told me after the Christmas 2022 holiday break that he was asked to direct Twisters for Universal Pictures and was hoping to get me on his team. It was early in the process, but hopes were high. My name was certainly in the hat and I had several instances of correspondence with the production team. It was just a waiting game. There were many decisions yet to be made on the studio level as to where filming would take place before settling on the decision to shoot the entire thing in Oklahoma where the story is set. Then, on an afternoon in mid-February 2023, I got the call from the UPM offering me CHASING THE MOVIE the movie! I was shocked and ecstatic and at a loss for words. Filming was set for early May 2023 and we'd be in Oklahoma the whole hot summer. CHASING MY CREW I have time-stamped proof in my phone that the absolute first thing on my Twisters checklist was to hire Patrick Martens to be the Boom Operator. This is a supervisory position and a highly skilled, technical, and artistic job that requires people skills and both an immense amount of knowledge and experience with sound. I've known Patrick since the first day filming second unit of Angels & Demons in 2008 where I was his Utility Sound Technician. His express set of skills, experience, and charm (plus the fact that I consider him a very close friend) made him a shoe-in to fill this extremely important position that I could not do the job without. Luckily, Patrick was a go for Twisters! Next on deck was to navigate the process of hiring a local Oklahoma Utility Sound Technician. I didn't know anyone in this particular market, so I had to start from scratch. Production provided a list of local union and nonunion sound professionals and there is a community of expats and crew residing in the area that are covered by the Area Standards Agreement. I interviewed six candidates before landing on Brian Gililland. Born in California on an Air Force base, Brian traveled around as a military brat before he finally settled in Oklahoma City. He's a member of IATSE Local 484 in good standing, a phenomenal human being, delightful to be around, enthusiastic about the craft, and way more experienced than I realized when I picked him. Basically, we hit the jackpot and I felt very lucky to have him on board. CHASING A PROCESS Most of us in production sound have done a fair share of moving-vehicle work. The big differences on this production were the sheer amount of it, the fact that we intended to do it practically, and the overwhelming variety of principal picture cars that were intended to interact in both a stunt and dialog capacity simultaneously. This is a tornado-chasing movie after all, so working at a fast pace while block shooting multiple versions of the same characters' picture cars with very high expectations from a director whom I adore and producers whom I had yet to win over was on the forefront of my mind. I've been trying to find a stronger word than "intimidating." During pre-production, I learned that only a very small percentage of the car scenes were going to be done static on stage as "Poor Man's Process" shots. Only very, very heavy wind, rain, hail, and destructive tornado elements were to be done on stage, overseen by our genius Special Effects Artists and with our VFX Artists filling in the rest. This was a creative decision born out of necessity owing to just how powerful the weather conditions in the storyline were for each of those specific scenes. But the production's goal was to shoot as much heavy wind, rain, hail, and tornadoes practically and out on the real dirt roads. My team needed multi-pronged solutions to achieve practical moving-car work with a large cast, a lot of chaos, and a heavy reliance on pod-driven picture cars instead of more typical tow-rig configurations. Sound Mixer Devendra Cleary, Boom Operator Patrick Martens, and Utility Sound Technician Brian Gililland on location in Kingfisher, Oklahoma