Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545099
36 M PS E . O R G all week on shooting Johnny Mnemonic and then recreating his performance on Speed. here's a special thing that happens on an ADR stage when everything is perfect—perfect sync, perfect performance, perfect levels and projection. Everyone gets goosebumps. One Sunday night, Keanu was ADRing the line "Arizona Wildcats," which is when he notices the jacket on the back of Annie's (Sandra Bullock) seat. It's a crucial line because it's when Jack realizes that the bad guy has a way to see into the bus and discovers the video spy cam. We did about 25 takes of that two-word sentence. I've found that one or two or three-word sentences are the hardest to ADR because the actor has to put so much subtext in those words. They don't have the luxury of a lot of words in order to get a feeling across. Even though all of the takes sort of sounded the same, they just weren't giving us goose bumps! So, we stopped the session and resumed the next weekend, doing another 20 takes or so. FINALLY, a take that gave us all goose bumps! That was it—whatever the magic was in that take, that was the one. have shown the production sound versus the finished mix sound to my classes since about 1995 and it wasn't until recently that I realized a very important lesson. If I was to work on Speed today, in Pro Tools with all the plug-ins we have, and I got to that bus scene, I probably would have noise-reduced it using VX Clarity Pro or iZotope, and we could have "saved the production sound." I may still try to do that as an experiment. But doing that wouldn't have improved the film the way that the ADR has. Knowing that the bus scene had to be ADRd gave the actors the impetus to give it their all. They understood the sound problems. The director understood and accepted the sound problems. Everyone was on board with looping the whole bus scene. Audiences had been used to Keanu as a "dude"—(i.e., Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure). In Speed, he was an action hero. He made a conscious decision to lower his voice and become more authoritative. If I had just cleaned up the production track, he wouldn't have had that option to make his performance as authoritative as it was. And because there was no production noise to fight against, his performance was also more intimate. The sound effects were able to hug his dialogue instead of overpowering it. I'm very proud of the work I did on Speed, along with Gary Gerlich and Greg Gerlich and all the dialogue and ADR editors we had on the show. I even had my mom editing ADR on it! (Since we were still on Moviolas, she could edit on it!) Some actors love to ADR because it gives them the chance to improve their performance. Like Donald Sutherland. He was notorious for purposely speaking softly on the set so that he could come in and redo everything on an ADR stage. It drove production mixers crazy! he bus scene in Speed is a great example of problem- solving and using ADR to make the scenes better. Audiences don't like not hearing dialogue and if we're able to recreate good performances and balance out the music, dialogue and sound effects, it makes for a great experience for the audience. They can feel like participants instead of voyeurs. I have so many more "stories from the trim bins" to share with you. With some amazing and some crazy actors, including Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp, Charlie Sheen, Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Diane Keaton, Sigourney Weaver, Katharine Hepburn, Mary Tyler Moore, Donald Sutherland, Timothy Hutton, Shirley MacLaine, Bette Midler, James Caan, Henry Fonda, and Harrison Ford. And some great directors like Hector Babenco, Robert Redford, Richard Brooks, Alan Pakula, Michael Patrick King, Sydney Pollack, George Lucas, Bill Paxton, Wes Craven, Mark Rydell, and Blake Edwards—so many! I can't wait to share more stories with you because I think they give insight into the process, as well as give you a peek into the inner workings of post-production. And they're fun! We all have some amazing stories, and I hope you will be inspired to share your stories from the trim bins. I T The moment in Speed where Jack realizes the bad guy can see into the bus. T