Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/830490
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y S P R I N G 2 0 1 7 23 MEET THE WINNERS From left: Production mixer John Bauman, Foley mixer John Guentner, re-recording mixer Doug Andham CAS, ADR mixer Judah Getz, and re-recording mixer Joe Earle CAS TELEVISION MOVIES AND MINISERIES THE PEOPLE V. O.J. SIMPSON: AMERICAN CRIME STORY by Karol Urban CAS MPSE The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story was the first season of the FX Network's true crime anthology. The production at times, mirrored the footage we all remember from the infamous televised 1994-1995 trial and, at other times, plunged up into a docudrama world. There was also an ever-present suspenseful feeling—typical of Ryan Murphy Productions—that some- thing you couldn't know was going to be unveiled was lurking on the very next frame. The sound mix team that artfully pulled us all back into this tale of mystery consisted of production mixer John Bauman, ADR mixer Judah Getz, Foley mixer John Guentner, and re-recording mixers Joe Earle CAS and Doug Andham CAS. I reached out to each of them and they opened up to some crazy experiences and masterful decisions. JOHN BAUMAN: PRODUCTION MIXER How did it feel on the set recording such a televised and infa- mous story? We had some of the real locations. It was interesting in the Kardashian house where O.J. basically got in the Bronco and drove away. See, that house was shot. Well, [all] the Brentwood locations were very close to the original. They weren't in fact, the actual locations. But, the Kardashian house was the actual house. There's a scene where O.J.'s in what is Kim's bedroom. And Robert Kardashian comes in and says, "Don't kill yourself in Kimmie's bedroom." And you start think- ing about the fact that that may have gone down just like that at that house, I mean, those conver- sations were happen- ing because, appar- ently, O.J. was sui- cidal. And I'm sure they took some dramatic license, obviously, to tell the story … but details like: Did he have a gun? Yes, he had a gun. Was he suicidal? Yes, abso- lutely he was. He wrote a suicide note. So, extrapolating out from those facts, it seemed like that, in that [house], it was pretty interesting. What was the most challenging aspect of working on this production? It's hard to say because every show's different, but the chal- lenges often are the same. What I mean to say is, yes, I think the most challenging thing about this show was it was our first time working for Ryan Murphy Productions. So, I think the biggest challenge to really any show, and this one was no different, is just learning how they want to operate. Because, in order to do our job on set, we have to anticipate. We have to anticipate the needs of production, whatever that's going to be. And some- times it's easy because you have lots of information from which to sort of anticipate the needs of production. Other times you don't. This was a time where you didn't have a lot of informa- tion. So, that was a challenge. Oftentimes, we just weren't sure one way or the other how things were going to be going. And it was new for us at the time. So, we needed to learn how the production staff wanted to work and how the energy and the sets were going to be. It was that more than the actual technical nuts and bolts of, well, we can boom this or how the lighting is or what the shots are. This show had lots of Steadicam. So, [there was] lots of movement. We wired 90 percent of the show probably, at least. How was the cast to work with? They were all awesome. The cast was fantastic. How were the ADs to deal with? They were fantastic. You know what I mean? Everybody was really great, really professional. And I got the sense very early on that when you work for, you know, and this was true for when I'd go and work on shows with him, but when you work for Ryan Murphy, there's a level of expectation. And if you don't meet it, you're gone. But, if you do meet it, you're gold. You're gold. He really loves his people, you know what I mean?