One Category at a Time: Sound Mixing

This is another one of those categories that seems fairly transparent from afar. I suspect one film to be unanimously predicted by pundits, and then to win, naturally. But even though it looks to be an open and shut case, the other nominees sport excellent sound work, and very much deserve the recognition that their nominations imply.

The sound branch nominated four of the same titles that were cited by the Cinema Audio Society, with only Iron Man 3 failing to translate that CAS nod into an Oscar nod. That is all very usual. Also very usual is the high degree of overlap between this category and Best Sound Editing. Only one of the Sound Mixing nominees did not receive an accompanying nomination in its brother category, and that's the one we'll start with...

My Award nominations: Sound Editing

Sound Editing:

Black Swan (Brain Emrich, Craig Henighan):
Dance steps and swirling costumes sound suspiciously like fluttering wings. Creative ambient noise cranks up the tension considerably.

How to Train Your Dragon (Al Nelson, Randy Thom, Jonathan Null):
A plethora of wonderfully imaginative and persuasive dragon sound effects stand out, although let's not forget all those awesome Viking war machines!

Inception (Richard King):
Explosions and weapon-fire are subtly altered to give a convincing but slightly surreal palette of sounds for the dream world.

Robin Hood (Harry Cohen, Ann Scibelli, Wylie Stateman, Mark Stoeckinger):
Didn't care for the movie, but it sounded great! Those zipping arrows and combative clanks are what carried the action sequences.

TRON Legacy (Steve Boeddeker, Christopher Boyes, Addison Teague, Gwen Whittle):
Those digitized crashes, hums, vrooms, and booms feel right at home in The Grid. They sound appropriately dangerous as well.

Just missed: 127 Hours, Iron Man 2, Scott Pilgrim vs the World

My Award nominations: Sound Mixing

Sound Mixing:

127 Hours (Douglas Cameron, Steven Laneri, Niv Adiri, Richard Pryke, Ian Tapp):
The mixers of Danny Boyle's unique experience aurally expand and compress the space via their fine integration of everything from the bombastic (ie: reverberating echoes) to the subtle (ie: insect footsteps).

Black Swan (Ken Ishii, Craig Henighan, Dominick Tavella):
Darren Aronofsky's psychological thriller owes much of its tension-building panache to the intense sonic environment. The music and the ambient sound effects dance together in perfect tandem as Nina's mind becomes a wash of maddening noises.

Restrepo (Coll Anderson):It may not be a hugely sophisticated or polished mix, but the gritty sound of this cinema verite documentary is a huge part of the intensity with which it glows. Untidy production audio is translated into a comprehensible but jarring soundscape.

The Social Network (Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Mark Weingarten):
The sophistication and nuance of this mix is a really tough one to notice in one viewing, but after you've seen it a few times and have accustomed yourself to the dialogue and the editing rhythms, it becomes more apparent how crucial the aural detail is to the experience.

TRON Legacy (Michael McGee, Christopher Boyes, Juan Peralta, Gary Rizzo):
Much of what envelopes us in the world of The Grid is the distinctive sound atmosphere spun by these expert mixers. The marriage of the sound effects and Daft Punk's techno score (which is like a sound effect itself) is a feast for the ears.

Just missed: How to Train Your Dragon, Inception, Shutter Island, The Town