Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/681510
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y S P R I N G 2 0 1 6 21 that's kind of where I started. I work at Formosa, but it's the Santa Monica branch. It used to be POP Sound and this coming September, I've been in that same ADR stage for 20 years." A s many sound professionals can be "workaholics," I inquired as to what Michael does in his leisure time. "I try to spend as much time with my family because I'm so locked away at the studio that family time means a lot to me and I rarely see the kids. And the hours, as you know, are grueling sometimes. Just as much as I can be at home with the children and go off and do things, you know? Just go on little vacations or even going down to the park [Disneyland] is great. Well, yeah, we have a season pass!" Michael expresses very honest thoughts on his and his colleague's CAS win this February: "I'm honored just for the nomination and the award was great. When they called our name, I was blown away. I mean, the whole experience was great. I thought for sure Mad Max was going to win, to be honest with you! But, it was a team effort and Lisa and I and everyone that was involved—the actors, producers—we all—they all—put their 100 percent in and we got what we got. And it's a lovely film." Conclusion There is no way that a movie of this magnitude could get pulled off without everyone involved being at the top of their game. I was humbled, impressed, and excited to meet and talk to these amazing professionals. The education I get in just being in their presence is invaluable and I'm honored to do so. I have watched this film three times and I almost can't believe what they all achieved. Learning about this next adventure, I realized all of the challenges I could have ever dreamed up, no matter how unrealistic, were not only true but even more amazing than I could have imag- ined. Production sound mixer Chris Duesterdiek shares his experience of his final days on the film: "The last week of filming in Alberta, [Alejandro] gave me a list of sounds he wanted, most of which I had already recorded—but there was one thing I didn't have. It was the bottom of a waterfall we had shot at a month earlier. I told him I had many recordings of the waterfall but he questioned whether I had any of the bottom. I had many recordings from the top, various perspectives including over the edge pointing down. This wouldn't do, he wanted both 7.1 and stereo tracks from the bottom. So on the last day of shooting, I left my team with the main unit in southern Alberta while I traveled five hours north to the waterfall in question. Our ALM [assistant location manager] Flemming [Lund] set me up with a GPS and said just follow the arrows. Well, the arrows pointed me up a back route that hadn't seen any vehicles all winter from what I could tell. I ended up getting stuck in the snow with my 4x4 rental truck. I tried every trick in the book. I dug out around the tires, placed fir boughs and branches under the wheels, tried rocking it. Nothing worked, I wasn't going anywhere. I called the police and production to let them know the situation and my GPS coordinates, turned off my phone to save power and settled in. After a few nature recordings, I looked around and thought, 'What would Hugh Glass do?' So I hauled some wood out of the bush and made a fire. I had a bottle of Chianti and a bag of beef jerky with me and enjoyed my last day on The Revenant by myself. Well, not quite my last day. Help arrived at nightfall and we had to leave the truck there until the next day. The following day, I finally made it to the waterfall and preceded to record as many per- spectives from the bottom that I could. After that, I continued with more nature recordings in the area and, when I was satisfied with what I got, I packed up for the long drive back to southern Alberta to wrap out and prepare to head home." This story made me smile with joy and the thought that, as hard as this must have been, this is what filmmaking is all about. C M Y CM MY CY CMY K AD-695ad-050816.pdf 4 5/9/16 4:27 PM