Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1542348
B O B B I B A N K S F E L L O W S H I P A N D S E R V I C E A W A R D 06 CINEMONTAGE SPOKE WITH BANKS ABOUT HER CAREER RECENTLY IN ADVANCE OF THE FSA HONOR. H O W D I D YO U F I R S T G E T YO U R S T A R T W O R K I N G I N P O S T - P R O D U C T I O N / S O U N D E D I T I N G ? Banks: Starting at Sound One as an administrative assistant and assistant bookkeeper I actually didn't know how a film was put together. I thought that it was filmed and recorded and released…I did not have a clue that there was picture and sound editorial and a mix that blended everything together before the release, until I went to visit the various departments at Sound One on my lunch hours. My first introduction to sound was from Roberta who was cleaning the fx in the library by taking out clunks and noise from an effect and spliced them out which were on ¼ inch tape! Well that started it all. I went from cleaning fx in the library to choosing fx for clients. I like challenges and truly wanted to be a re-recording mixer…however, when you're young, seven years for prep can seem like an eternity. I was given the opportunity to become a mix tech and I took it. I had six weeks to train with Peter Riley who was kind, supportive and a great teacher. At six weeks, I handled my first mix working with Mel Zelniker solo, also becoming the first African- American mix tech. W H O G AV E YO U YO U R F I R S T B I G B R E A K ? Banks: After a year, I wanted to challenge myself to see how sound editing would be and so I left Sound One, started handing out my resume, calling people, until Maurice Schell was kind enough to hire me as an apprentice on "Desperately Seeking Susan"... Madonna's film. We worked 60 to 80 hours a week for 6 weeks and that was my introduction to the sound editing room. As a mom with young children, these schedules were very difficult and unfortunately you miss spending quality time with your family and wishing you could get that time back! After working with Marice and Dan Sable and others, I made the move to Los Angeles and using the same search techniques I landed a job within a week. I worked with Amy Vincent on "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2." At that time there was a five-year waiting list to get into the union; however, since I was working at Canon I was able to get into the union within the first year that I was in LA. T E L L U S A B O U T YO U R S H I F T I N T O W O R K I N G I N A D R A N D T H E N S U P E R V I S I N G ? Banks: After several years working as an assistant, I then became an ADR assistant working with Beth Bergeron, who was an ADR Supervisor, for many years. She was a great human and mentor, and I was able to extract the artistic and humanistic side of our business with grace. You definitely have to be a "people person" and up for challenges working closely with actors, directors, editors and studio executives. I say you have about five-10 minutes to understand the personality of the room and begin to develop trust during a session which is key. Developing relationships with others builds trust and when working with others for a long time it becomes like working with family. Greg Hedgepath and I have worked together on 48 projects and have developed a working "shorthand" to the success of the projects we have worked on. As a woman and as a Black woman, there have certainly been barriers along the way. As an assistant, there was an abundance of work; however, as I started to edit, there definitely was a slimmer selection of work and then when starting to supervise it grew very selective. I am forever grateful to John Singleton who hired me on my first ADR supervising job on "Poetic Justice," as well Charles Burnett, who hired me on "The Glass Shield," my first supervising sound editor job. And by the grace and strength of God, I am still pushing through. 'Developing relationships with others builds trust and when working with others for a long time it becomes like working with family.' B O B B I B A N K S E A R LY D AY S : " A f t e r a y e a r, I w a n t e d t o c h a l l e n g e m y s e l f , " s a i d B a n k s ( i n a n u n d a t e d p h o t o ) A Sound Commitment