Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1530210
30 PRODUCTION SOUND & VIDEO – Winter 2025 by Simon Hayes AMPS CAS After a quick introduction, Jon got straight down to business. He said, "My instinct tells me this has got to be live; we have two actresses who are absolutely incredible singers and are completely used to performing live as they are also recording artists in their own right, but, this film is going to be SO big. Everything about it is big, the sets, the scale, the choreography, the stunts, the number of cameras I intend to use. Do you think it's possible to record live under those circumstances?" I responded to Jon that those are exactly the kind of scenarios that me and my crew are used to working in and that I had no doubt we could deliver live singing. The secret is in the prep: the collaboration with other departments, the symbiotic filmmaking relationships we make during those months of preparation. The analytical breaking down of the script to discover exactly what unique challenges each song would have with regards to costumes, dancers' footfalls, wire rigs, manufactured wind and shooting style, and the way each department would work together to capture all the vocals live. I spoke about my experiences with the live process and musicals in general, both of us bonding over our passion for the genre. Jon is an incredibly easy guy to be around; warm, welcoming with his obvious enthusiasm for cinema and performance driving the conversation. "OK, final question, how many earwigs do you carry?" Jon asked. I answered: "Seventy-five but we have access to more if required." A smile broke out over Jon's face and he said, "I think you understand how big this is going to be!" Rewind five years. I was on the set of Mary Poppins Returns and was introduced to Producer Marc Platt. I knew that Marc was responsible for the stage show of Wicked and how successful it was. There were rumours that he was considering a movie version. I said to Marc, "You know I love making musicals. If Wicked you make a movie of Wicked, I'd love to be considered." Marc gave me a wry smile and said, "Watch this space." Over the next few years, I'd work with Marc on multiple projects and on each film, we got to know each other better and a trust developed. It was Marc who asked Jon to meet me and was instrumental in me being considered for the biggest musical in movie history. The next day, I was officially offered the project and with absolutely no hesitation I accepted. I knew I had a monumental task in front of me after Jon had explained the size of the sets and the special effects that would be involved in the filmmaking process. That same afternoon, I got into talks with Line Producer Joan Schneider who explained that Producer David Nicksay was exploring building a music recording studio from the ground up to service all pre-records on the film. Despite the fact that it was Jon Chu's instinct that we would record the vocals live on the movie set, we still needed to pre-record the songs for a bunch of different reasons: choreography rehearsals where the actors would not be present for, second unit, and background element shoots, extreme wide shots so we could save the actors' voices for the closer performances that their live vocals would be used for, and as a safety in case the unthinkable happened and an actor got a sore throat or a cold that affected their voice. The sense behind wanting our own recording studio on the lot was that we were going to be based at the newly built Sky Studios Elstree, which is an hour from Central London. David Nicksay felt that Cynthia and Ariana's schedules would be so compressed, it would be too time-consuming to have them making the journey across London, amongst their rehearsal time, costume fittings, and all the other pre-production responsibilities they had. He could ease the load by providing a recording facility on site so that they could do their pre-records without having to leave the world of Wicked. Like so many US and UK filmmaking collaborations, it started with a Zoom meeting. I was speaking to Jon M. Chu, who was in Los Angeles whilst I was in our music room in London's Pinewood Studios, where I was just finishing Disney's Snow White. Pro Tools rig, Simon Hayes on the right