Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546054
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 17 Brian Johnson MPSE Principal Sound Designer of Cinematics - Blizzard Entertainment rowing up in rural Pennsylvania, the advice from my music teachers and loved ones was to not pursue my dream career as a creative in the entertainment industry. This turned out to be wonderful advice. When I made a commitment to study music and sound, it wasn't because anyone else thought it was a good idea and there was no promise it would be easy or lucrative. I was making the decision for me, and I couldn't imagine doing anything else. I didn't know what this career would look like, but I was raised on movies, games, playing music, and experimenting with sound. At the time, the only way I knew how to train for a creative opportunity was to study music in college. My best buddy since childhood and my music and gaming partner got a shocking terminal cancer diagnosis in high school. His Make-A-Wish Foundation Wish was to take his family, and me, to tour our favorite video game company, Bungie, on the Microsoft campus in Seattle. After signing our lives away, we got to see a super-secret project called Xbox, and Bungie's launch title, Halo! Our favorite part was going into audio director Marty O'Donnell's studio to experience his new Halo music, and hear sound effects from G Normandy, where we spent weeks living and working. The re-recording mixer was Vincent Arnardi, Academy Award nominee for Amélie. The experience left such a lasting impression on all of us that, 20 years later, Vincent and I still talk about it whenever we meet for lunch in France. I later contributed as supervising sound editor and FX mixer on internationally successful action films, including Taken 2, Taken 3, and Colombiana, among many others. In 2013, I received the opportunity to obtain a Green Card and relocated to Los Angeles in 2014. Rob Nokes was instrumental in helping me through this transition. The move was far more challenging than I had anticipated. I had to start over from scratch. My international credits carried little weight, and it took 21 months to join the union. Nevertheless, the experience taught me invaluable lessons and opened doors I could never have imagined while living in France. Since arriving in Hollywood, I have worked on projects such as Promising Young Woman for director Emerald Fennell, who later won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. I had the privilege of working as FX mixer alongside Mike Minkler on Peppermint and Kevin O'Connell on The Ambush. I have also contributed to international productions such as Jawan (India) and Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs (South Korea). Most recently, in 2026, the sound editing team of The Gorge received a Golden Reel Award, and I was honored to be part of that achievement. After all these years, I still follow the same principles. Even when times are difficult, remain passionate. Continue reinventing yourself. Sound post- production is not an ordinary job: It is a lifestyle. Jay Weinland. Marty even recorded my friend's voice for the game. Meeting our heroes was a dream come true. But even though this was my best friend's wish, it ended up being one of the most important moments of my life. I had never felt more of a sense of belonging than when I was inside a building full of creatives working passionately together to make a game. And for the rest of my life I would feel a pull toward working in game audio. After graduating school with a degree in music, I hopped on a plane for a trip to LA to hand out music and sound effects demos to game developers at the E3 gaming expo at the LA Convention Center. Even though I returned home with few leads, my sights were set on games. Among many odd jobs I took back home in the meantime, I taught music in school, ran live sound for off-Broadway productions, and scored lots of films from graduate level film students heading to LA. I began to drive out to Ohio from PA on the weekends to do production mixing for these student projects that would go to film festivals and occasionally to market. Because I was the only sound person they knew, I edited the dialogue and sound, scored the picture, and mixed them as a one-man post shop. But it wasn't all just free work. I got a crash course on production mixing, field recording, and broadcast workflows. I would also work as an extra in major motion pictures shot locally in Pittsburgh so I could watch the audio crews work. I began to fall in love with the creative freedom of sound designing shorts and low-budget films. Marty O'Donnell and Jay Weinland from Bungie remained in touch with me for all those years rooting me on and mentoring me. When I was 29, I found something on a job board I had never seen before. A sound design apprenticeship a few