Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1532010
C I N E M A A U D I O S O C I E T Y. O R G 27 C I N E M A A U D I O S O C I E T Y. O R G 27 around that time, I decided that I was only going to do television commercials in NYC. That idea was based solely on that I could stay at home, work three days a week, and have a life. I did it for almost a year, but I was starting to struggle with the content. I was dreading doing another auto repair shop commercial or spending 10 hours filming a bar of soap. I think commercials are more creative now, because the audience demands that for their attention. But back then, the commercial jobs that I did were just nuts and bolts. So, I had to reconsider what I wanted to do. With that, do you try to be selective about which projects you take? Yeah, so whenever a job comes up, I'll usually run through the script a few times. First time is just figuring out how sound plays in the story. But then I always go back to my three determining factors: quality of project, quality of life experience on the show, and quality of money. I always pitch it to the team because we all have to agree on a show together before we say yes. I think quality of project comes down to matters of: Is the subject matter engaging? Are we going to learn something? Is this something we want to be a part of? Quality of money speaks for itself. And so then, quality of life experience is really a round robin of possibilities. How many night shoots are scheduled? What season do they want to film in? Are we going somewhere nice? Who are these people, and do they know what they're doing? So, basically, we break it down, and two out of three wins. To me, this is important, it keeps us focused on the project at hand, and everyone has a stake in the process. It's funny, I'm not saying it's a winning formula or anything like that, but we've done movies for no money that have been great and jobs with loads of money that were just horrible. How did you get involved with teaching at NYU? Around 2019, Peter Schneider, a production sound mixer, founder of Gotham Sound in NYC, and mentor to the sound community, reached out to me asking if I might be interested in teaching at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts graduate film program. It seemed like an interesting idea, so I decided to jump right in and taught two semesters, opting out of films during that time. When I was sketching out how to go about this, I realized that my true benefit to the students was not so much about teaching them the technical elements of sound, but really, a three-hour lecture about the way I see sound in filmmaking and all the different elements that go into making a great soundscape for storytelling. I was sharing my experiences in which sound was impactful to a character or a plot in a movie and how, as directors, they could key in on these tools for their stories. Another great benefit of teaching these students is being able to talk about the relationships with different directors I've worked with and how they as filmmakers need to know that, yes, focusing on their film and writing is important, but seeing everything else that goes into the movie, all of the With Jerry Yuen on After Earth in Moab, Utah.