Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545202
36 S U M M E R 2 0 2 6 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y M E E T T H E W I N N E R S NON-THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES OR LIMITED SERIES ADOLESCENCE S01 E01 by Patrick Spain CAS This year's CAS Award winners for Non-Theatrical Motion Pictures or Limited Series are the London-based sound crew behind Netflix's acclaimed drama Adolescence. The show's first episode hits you with the very jarring surprise arrest of a sleeping adolescent boy; taken directly from his bedroom with panicking parents in tow. The show's oner (one shot) style follows the police, administrators, and parents all the way through booking and to the interview rooms with the accused boy and father. I will not reveal the ending, but needless to say, it is as dramatic and jarring as the opening's breach. The effect of the whole episode is disturbing, gripping, off- kilter, and hyper-realistic. There is virtually no music as extreme tension rules the day. And that is where I started when I had the pleasure of chatting with our CAS Award winners: re-recording mixers James Drake (who is also the supervising sound editor) and Jules Woods CAS; production sound mixers Kiff McManus and Rob Entwistle; and ADR mixer Simon Diggins. Foley mixer Adam Mendez and ADR mixer Mike Tehrani were, unfortunately, unavailable. There is almost no music in this episode! In my opinion, this really serves to heighten the tension and make things feel more gritty and emotionally raw, but as a re-recording mixer myself, this also presents a real challenge. Music is often a convenient way for mixers and editors to draw attention away from a myriad of other audio and even sometimes picture issues. Could you talk a bit about not having that safety blanket during this mix? Jules Woods CAS: Largely, it came down to Rob and Kiff doing their job properly; and they did a beautiful job of it! Which meant we didn't have to search for many things to hide behind. We wanted to make sure that our atmospheres and sound effects were delicately placed. We didn't want it to sound like too much of a mess. It had to be quite intricate to allow us to shape things properly. It was tricky, but it was fine, really. James Drake: Yeah, work in sound editorial was, at times, a lot harsher, harder and cut in a way, especially with dialogue, very tight. We used the reverbs to smooth through and fix problems. Are you talking about room reverbs or center-fill type stuff? James: We used Accentize Chameleon, had it running throughout and automated to each scene so we could dial in as we were going on those little ends of words and their tails