Ranking the Oscar Nominees: Sound Editing and Sound Mixing

Blade Runner 2049; Star Wars: The Last Jedi
The Shape of Water; Dunkirk
Baby Driver 

The nominees for the sound categories at the Oscars this year are pretty interesting, in that they have the exact same films nominated for both editing, and mixing.

Baby Driver 

- Sound Editing: Julian Slater

Slater's been working with Edgar Wright on almost all of his past few films bar Hot Fuzz, as well as other Edgar Wright-related films (with Joe Cornish on Attack the Block, Nick Frost on Cuban Fury). He's been nominated for other awards in the past for his work on the likes of Shadow of the Vampire and Hilary and Jackie but this year brings about not one, but two first Oscar nominations for his work.

Julian Slater - sound editor for Baby Driver

- Sound Mixing: Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin

Ellis started out in television and moved on to work in films as varied as Robocop 3 to Hidalgo to Zombieland and most recently, Prisoners and Goosebumps, the former which has some excellent sound mixing for its genre. This is also her first nomination in the category, as it is for Cavagin, the re-recording mixer (who essentially work in 'mixing' the dialogue, music and sounds together for the final soundtrack), of whose past filmography the likes of Senna, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and World War Z are particularly notable.

Blade Runner 2049 

- Sound Editing: Mark Mangini, Theo Green

Mark Mangini

Greene's previous work was largely as a composer, working with Rupert Wyatt, a director whose films always sound pretty good, on the likes of The Gambler and The Escapist before, and this is his first nomination as a sound designer. Mangini's reputation as a sound editor has been tremendous over the years, and this is his 5th Oscar nomination. He won for Mad Max: Fury Road a few years ago which is a great achievement in all things sound, often neglected in light of its tremendous visuals.

- Sound Mixing: Mac Ruth, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hephill

L-R: Ron Bartlett, Denis Villeneuve, Joe Walker, Ben Wallfisch and Doug Hemphill. Credit: Clint Bennett

Bartlett was previously nominated for his work on Life of Pi (a great sounding film, no doubt, especially those animal noises merged with the soundtrack), and as a re-recording mixer has quite the background as a sci-fi/blockbuster stalwart. This is Ruth's third consecutive nomination, after The Martian and 13 Hours, and also did Atomic Blonde this year which, while I did not love, had impeccable sound mixing. As for Hephill, this is his 9th nomination - and looking down the list of his previous noms, he's had quite the career, from The Last of the Mohicans (a great underrated film he won for) to Air Force One to Life of Pi to Master and Commander, which probably would have won in any other year besides 2003 where Return of the King was sweeping the Oscars.

Dunkirk 

- Sound Editing: Alex Gibson, Richard King

Richard King, Hans Zimmer, Alex Gibson 

King's another Master and Commander stalwart who won for the film back in 2003 (rightfully so), and has been collaborating with Christopher Nolan on multiple occasions, nominated for his work on The Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar. Gibson too has worked as a music editor on  many of Nolan's previous productions, many other blockbusters, and acclaimed television work in the likes of John Adams. This is his first nomination.

- Sound Mixing: Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo

All these chaps have been nominated plenty of times previously, with special note to Landaker whose first nomination goes all the way back to 1980 for The Empire Strikes Back. This exact same team also collaborated on Interstellar which they got a nomination for. Rizzo and Weingarten actually competed against one another back in 2010 for Inception and The Social Network, respectively, which must've been a bloody difficult decision to make.

The Shape of Water

- Sound Editing: Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira

Just in case you didn't realize, the Academy loved The Shape of Water. Like, really, really loved it. This is the first nomination for both Robitaille and Ferreira. Looking at their respective filmographies, this is probably the most impressive project they've done yet (though Robiaille's work on action films like Death Race and Ferreira on Aronofsky's Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream are certainly not to be sniffed at).

- Sound Mixing: Glen Gauthier, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern

Also first-time nominees all-around here. All three have had impressive bodies of work to this date, with Gauthier's work on Pacific Rim and Crimson Peak, Zoern's huge body of television work and Requiem for a Dream, and Cooke for his stellar contributions to David Cronenberg's recent filmography.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi 

- Sound Editing: Ren Klyce, Matthew Wood

Wood also got a nomination for his work on The Force Awakens and also worked on Rogue One, and his last two nominations - Wall-E and There Will Be Blood - make for quite the impressive back catalog, alongside his other work in the Star Wars franchise (also working on the Clone Wars series). Klyce is another one of this year's nominees who worked on The Social Network, in addition to several other David Fincher collaborations going all the way back to Fight Club, and the Netflix series Mindhunter and House of Cards, and the very first film he worked on was Se7en. Woah.

- Sound Mixing: Stuart Wilson, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick

Klyce is here again. Speaking of which, this is his 7th Oscar nomination, well done sir. Wilson and Parker worked together and were nominated for Rogue One, with Wilson having worked on all three of the new Star Wars films, getting nominated for Skyfall back in 2012 which was spectacular in terms of its sound design. Parker has won two Oscars for The English Patient, and The Bourne Ultimatum, of which the second is particularly deserving - the visuals in those Bourne films didn't always work for me but the use of sound certainly did. Semanick has worked on the Lord of the Rings trilogy (won the Oscar for Return of the King), the Hobbit trilogy, the Peter Jackson King Kong (won the Oscar for that), couple of Pixar movies (including Wall-E and Ratatouille which he was nominated for), a couple of David Fincher movies, some of Tim Burton's best films, the Twin Peaks film, just going down the list of films he's worked on is amazing.

Well here's my ranking for the nominees.

For Sound Editing,

5. The Last Jedi 

As always, the sound editing work on Star Wars is very good. I wouldn't say that it stood out as well as it did on Rogue One, but that's more to do with the nature of the story which isn't as focused on the space battles and spectacle, as it is on character interactions. The lightsaber sounds are as pleasant to listen to as always, there's nothing to fault with the laser beams, Chewbacca sounds like Chewbacca, all the creature noises are done well. I wouldn't say it's the most impressive work on Star Wars we've ever seen - the Original Trilogy may well have spoiled us - but it's good work. 

4. Baby Driver 

While I'm glad Edgar Wright films are finally getting awards attention, I do kind of wish it wasn't for my least favourite Edgar Wright film so far. Having said that, this is still a good, entertaining film, and it was appropriately nominated given that its sound, and editing are easily the strongest assets of the film. The sound editing here is very well done, though it's the way they are mixed which creates something truly special. Every gunshot, the revving of the engines, and the last act which I'm not that big a fan of, are all amplified by the excellent work on the sounds, and it made the action scenes compelling even when I didn't find the story itself all that engaging. 

3. The Shape of Water

The main praise in this regard has to go to the fishman noises made, which seem just right for the fishman created by the visuals. Those sounds are of course the highlights, but everything else is touched upon to perfection, from the sound of water to the sound of the electrocutions, to some of the more grisly sound effects (again, you might want to stay away from the film if you love cats). Impeccable work. The following link - http://soundworkscollection.com/news/the-sound-of-the-shape-of-water WARNING: NSFW if you love CATS- just shows the sheer detail that goes into every step of the sound editing and mixing process, from the dialogue, to the creature sound effects, to the background sound, in creating the tone of the scene, and driving forward the narrative. Same goes for just about every film, but I thought this link could probably explain better than me how important the process is. Also a very interesting podcast can be found here, featuring the artists below. 

2. Blade Runner 2049

Perhaps my slight reservations towards The Last Jedi and the sound editing is the stellar work in Blade Runner here. Like the new Star Wars films it takes the existing sound effects that we know and love from the sci-fi genre but takes a new spin onto them. I have particular affection for the sound editing in the opening fight, the rain scene, the sound emitted whenever JOI appears/has to be shut down, the sex syncing scene. And in the action scenes, I thought they managed to capture each bone-crunching kick and punch with particularly vivid detail, though for me the standout moment was that absolutely devastating destruction of what was essentially a USB (context required for why it hit me that hard).  

1. Dunkirk

Great as the sound editing on Blade Runner 2049 is, my choice has to go to Dunkirk, in what might be the best sound editing on any Christopher Nolan film yet, which is saying something. Its a requisite for a war film to have good sound effects, and here every fired gunshot, every spitfire engine roar, scream, is realized in a haunting, viscreal and utterly immersive fashion. As it moves from the skies to the sands to the seas, the sound editing, utilizing recordings of boats, planes, and waters to create such an incredible audio experience. Even in the quieter, 'silent' moments, the sound of sand blowing on the beaches, or the final sputtering of Farrier's (Tom Hardy) plane when his job's been done, creates such an incredible effect. 

For Sound Mixing,

5. Dunkirk 

Another great lineup, I'm putting this last essentially because you can't quite hear the dialogue properly over some of the sound mixing. This really is a nitpick, and even perhaps intentional by the team, but it's a nitpick that makes me put it last among these strong nominees, though I won't mind if it wins because it's almost uniformly great work, just not Hacksaw Ridge levels of perfection IMO.

4. The Shape of Water

Also very stellar, low-key work, particularly in how it makes the creature's noises always be heard over the background noises and never allowing one to overshadow the other, and I thought the dialogue here was particularly crisp-sounding, and of course the sound of the water that courses throughout the film as a recurring motif is great.

3. The Last Jedi 

I'd consider this pretty spectacular work on many fronts, particularly in the key scenes, for example the battle with Snoke's guards I felt blended the score, the lightsaber sounds, and the background noises to particularly striking effect. Even in the weaker scenes, like the casino planet, the sound mixing was never at fault, though Rey's journey to the underground 'lair' where she discovers her past was a bit underwhelming in a storytelling context it was amazing in terms of the sound mixing design, and the final confrontation between Kylo Ren and Luke blended all the sounds together perfectly. Incredible work.

2. Baby Driver 

The highlight of the film, and honestly given how bare-bones and overly simplistic the story and characters were I think Baby Driver would have worked best as an experimental, dialogue-free film where the storytelling is done entirely through the sound mixing alone. The integration of Baby's music playlist with his surroundings is incredible, particularly in the 'Tequila' scenes where the gunshots co-ordinate with the beats on the song, any of the driving scenes where the revving of the engines fit in perfectly with whatever songs are playing. Sound mixing has always been a highlight of Wright's films and here it's taken to the next level, shame the rest of the film is a bit underwhelming but the sound mixing here is perhaps the best of any film he's done.

1. Blade Runner 2049 

Masterful work. I'll just leave two of the film's best examples of sound mixing here and let you admire the perfection of every little detail in the sound mixing department, one more overt, two more subtle examples.