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D Frankenweenie, being presented in IMAX 3D and RealD, had its premix at Skywalker and final mix at De Lane Lea. ifferent 3D formats look different and, of course, the look of a film has a direct impact on the sound. The IMAX 3D film, Resident Evil: Retribution is a huge action movie that is all faders up. The sound matches the larger-than-life IMAX 3D visuals. Hotel Transylvania uses the RealD format, which is currently the most widely used 3D technology in theaters. RealD is more subtle than IMAX 3D. Rise of the Guardians will also use RealD 3D, and they are also exploring the use of 3D sound, which goes beyond the popular 7.1 setup. Frankenweenie used the Disney Digital 3D, which is Disney's version of RealD. Frankenweenie is also being released in IMAX 3D. FRANKENWEENIE In early October, Disney's Frankenweenie hit the- aters in IMAX 3D as well as RealD. Frankenweenie, a Tim Burton film, is about a young boy named Victor, who brings his dog Sparky back from the dead, a la Frankenstein. Oliver Tarney, the supervising sound editor, began working on Frankenweenie back in January at De Lane Lea in Soho, London (www.delanelea. com). All the sound editorial and design were done in Pro Tools. The film was pre-mixed at Sky- Sound and then brought walker Sound and then brought back to De Lane Lea for the final mix in July. The film was mixed on an AMS Neve DFC console. There are a lot of strong visual aspects to Frankenweenie. Tim Burton films are known to be quirky and slightly askew. Now add to that a stop-motion animation style, plus it's in black and white, in a mid-'60s setting, and then there's the 3D factor as well. Tarney had to find the right level of sonic detail that felt natural with the film. "Tim mentioned early on in the process that he didn't want the sound to be more sophisticated than the stop- motion look, so we simplified our work a little and found it sat much better with the picture." The visuals really exaggerate the per- sonalities and quirks of each character, and Tarney wanted to use sound to also portray that uniqueness. He used Foley f Foley footsteps to help create a signa- ture sound for each main character. "If Hotel Transylvania features a mix of classic cartoon sounds as well as new and unique ones. you hear any of the main character's feet, you should be able to tell which character they represent, at least we hope so!" Victor and his dog Sparky are best friends. In creating Sparky's vocals, Tarney had to convey all the emotion of that relationship without humanizing the dog too much. "Tim is a master of dog noises, and was fantastic during the mix at articulating the type of noise or emotion he needed to hear from Sparky." In addition to Sparky, Victor re-animated other neighborhood pets. These monsters included Sea Monkeys, a Turtle Monster, a Wererat and a Vampire Cat. Tarney had to develop a sound pal- ette that would define each monster. For the Turtle Monster, Burton really liked the sound being used in the temp track, which happened to be an original Godzilla sound. "Replacing that sound was probably the hardest for us, as I think they'd become quite attached to the temp sound," says Tarney. "We had read that the original sound had been created using a leather glove, a lot of resin and a double bass. We had tried a few pitched-down roars, but nothing had been working. So we ended up buying a double bass and trying to recreate the sound. We recorded the bass with extended-frequency mics and with very little manipulation, other than a little slowing down. We man- aged to get excellent results." Another challenge for Tarney was designing the sound for the lightning. Since real recordings of thunder were too complex, and didn't fit the 1960's feel of the film, Tarney went to the Foley stage and recorded thunder sheets. Using those recordings, he built a library of lightning-cracks that fit the B-movie-style of the lightning but still sounded like a modern recording. "The 'retro' look of this project forced us to think in more traditional terms," reports Tarney. "It really made us appreciate how previous generations of sound editors have created such influential soundtracks, which still form the filmgoer's expectations today." HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA Hotel Transylvania, created by Sony Pictures Animation, opened in theaters in late September. The story focuses on Dracula and his hotel, which caters to monsters. The hotel is discovered by a human, who falls in love with Dracula's daughter. The family-orien- tated 3D movie uses the more subtle RealD format. Instead of intense visuals that constantly jump out at the audience, Hotel Transylvania relies more on adding background and foreground depth to create a 3D space. According to re-recording mixer Michael Semanick, who han- dled the music and dialogue on Hotel Transylvania, "The 3D in this is not blatant. It doesn't jump out and grab you. It's set back. It doesn't call attention to itself. Visually, there is so much going on in this film that you don't want to distract the audience too much, or be fatiguing, visually or sonically." The film was primarily mixed in the Kim Novak Theater at Sony Pictures Post (www.sonypicturespost.com) in Culver City, on a Harrison MPC3-D digital console. The Foley and dialogue were mixed in the William Holden Theater next door, which mirrors the Novak Theater. "The rooms are physically the same, so you can pop back and forth whether you're pre-dubbing or if you're doing different versions on a film while you're finishing," explains Geoffrey Rubay, supervising sound editor on Hotel Transylvania. www.postmagazine.com Post • October 2012 35