185 - Director Gareth Edwards and the Oscar-Nominated Visual Effects of The Creator

This week we discuss the sound, music, and cinematography of “Masters of the Air,” the epic WWII limited series from Apple TV+. With so many films and shows about World War II over the past several decades, one of the biggest challenges of the series was keeping things fresh. So the creative teams took some ingenious approaches to give every episode and action sequence a unique look, sound, and feel.“Because there's so much time spent in the air with these planes, and so many different planes, we really wanted to sell the geography of each location within each plane and also each and every different plane. So one of the ways that we did that was that Mike [Minkler] and I had the different sequences cut by different people, with a fresh take. Or I did this particular sequence, and then I would hand it off to another editor. Or they would do that, and then pass it to me. And so we had a lot of interplaying around with each other's material, which I think keeps it really fresh, whilst not just copying and pasting material. When you have this much time in the air, you really need to keep the listener involved and their ear kind of excited at all times.”—Jack Whittaker, Supervising Sound Editor, “Masters of the Air”Joining our conversation:- Supervising Sound Editor Jack Whittaker - Re-recording Mixer Duncan McRae- Re-recording Mixer Michael Minkler- Composer Blake Neeley- Cinematographer Jac FitzgeraldBe sure to check out “Masters of the Air” on Apple TV+.Please subscribe to Dolby Creator Talks, wherever you get your podcasts.You can also check out the video for this episode.Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Recorded live at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, Academy Award®-nominated director (“Raya and the Last Dragon”) — and Dolby Institute Fellowship winner — Carlos López Estrada brings together another all-star panel of Hollywood talent, this time posing the question: Is “No Budget Filmmaking” even possible in this day and age? “There's just so much pressure on a film and on a filmmaker that has nothing to do with the film being good, or them arriving at their artistic voice. I've worked on zero-dollar budgets, I've worked recently on $150 million budgets. And the problems on both ends of the spectrum are exactly the same. Your energy and your attention goes to so many places that have nothing to do with the actual movie, have nothing to do with the art, because of the capitalistic requirements of us, as artists. And if we really care about art and we really care about cinema… We have to change the way we talk about cinema… We want to advance the medium and we want to have a discourse around film that is not just, ‘did you like it? Did you hate it? Did it make money?’”—Justin Simien, Film & Television Producer, Writer, and DirectorToday’s panel includes independent filmmakers:- Bao Nguyen (The Greatest Night in Pop, Be Water)- Rishi Rajani (The Chi, Being Mary Tyler Moore, A Thousand and One)- Justin Simien (Dear White People, Bad Hair, Hollywood Black)Once again, this discussion was part of Antigravity Academy’s Satellite Sessions — free monthly conversations with high-level individuals in film and tv, whose objective is to decentralize resources/information and make them available to as many up-and-coming filmmakers as possible — co-presented by CAPE USA (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment). Many thanks to the co-presenter of this panel, MACRO: “a multiplatform media company representing the voice and perspectives of Black people and persons of color.” Learn more about MACRO:https://www.staymacro.com/Learn more about Antigravity Academy:https://antigravityacademy.co/Learn more about CAPE — The Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment:https://www.capeusa.org/Be sure to follow @antigravityacademy and @capeusa for more information on even more upcoming panels.For more inspiring Satellite Sessions just like this one, be sure you are subscribed to Dolby Creator Talks, wherever you get your podcasts.You can also check out the video for this and all our episodes on YouTube.Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. #LoveMoreInDolby

2-time Academy Award®-winning composer Hans Zimmer joins us on the podcast to discuss his work on “Dune: Part Two,” after winning an Oscar for his score to the first installment of the sci-fi franchise, directed by Denis Villeneuve. And like Denis, Hans had been dreaming about working on these films since he was a boy. And he also knew he wanted to take them in a less traditional direction, sonically:“These were the things which probably had been on my mind ever since I read the book. It's just… I never had the opportunity to try them. I could never understand why, in a science fiction movie — I loved them all — but why we would hear a sort of a European orchestral sound. Why the strings? Why the French horns? Everything else looked futuristic. Everything else was different. Except the music still stuck to the rules of the romantic period. I'm not criticizing it. There's nothing I love more than ‘Alien’ or ‘Star Wars.’ They're phenomenal things. But I saw my duty very much as going beyond that.”—Hans Zimmer, Composer, “Dune: Part Two”Be sure to check out “Dune: Part Two,” now in theaters, in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®, where available.Don’t miss our previous episode this week, with “Dune” cinematographer Greig Fraser, available in our podcast feed. You can subscribe to Dolby Creator Talks wherever you get your podcasts.You can also check out the video for this episode.Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Academy Award®-winning Director of Photography Greig Fraser, ACS, ASC, returns to the podcast to discuss his work on “Dune: Part Two.” The film is a stunning achievement, from both the technical and artistic standpoints, which benefitted greatly from being a continuation of his work from part one:“Whenever you do a movie, you've got to solve a series of problems... And a lot of the technical stuff had been solved for us in advance, because we'd done part one. So this allowed us the opportunity to dream a little bit. And I wouldn't say, ‘dream bigger.’ But it allowed us to dream with more opportunity… We felt empowered that we were doing the right thing. At least, people were appreciating the job that we had done. And instead of having that paralyze us... We were able to make bold decisions and bold choices. Like the infrared photography on Giedi Prime and the eclipse scene. So we were able to do that a little bit more boldly.“—Greig Fraser, ACS, ASC, Director of Photography, “Dune: Part Two”Be sure to check out “Dune: Part Two,” now in theaters, in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®, where available.Don’t miss our upcoming episode with “Dune” composer Hans Zimmer, by subscribing to Dolby Creator Talks wherever you get your podcasts.You can also check out the video for this episode.Previous podcast episodes with Greig Fraser:118 - Best Cinematography Nominees: Academy Awards 2022YouTube - https://youtu.be/9frtE4gEoy8Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/118-best-cinematography-nominees-academy-awards-2022/id1549901182?i=1000554057034Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/6OqK3Gl6rZcmfA6heBRYZa117 - The Cinematography of The BatmanYouTube - https://youtu.be/S2GkwC6neiUApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/si/podcast/117-the-cinematography-of-the-batman/id1549901182?i=1000553525163Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/5J1z9srezZiiAEAHln0GCpLearn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Table of Contents: 01:28 - El Conde - Edward Lachman, ASC12:53 - Killers of the Flower Moon - Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC24:12 - Oppenheimer - Hoyte Van Hoytema, ASC, FSF, NSC33:29 - Poor Things - Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISCWelcome to our continuing coverage of this year's Academy Awards®. We have compiled interviews from the nominees in the Best Cinematography category. So, if you are an Oscar voter — either as an Academy member or as a fan participating in your annual office pool — you'll have a much better idea of what to watch (and listen) for as you get to this category on your ballot!NOTE: As always, all nominees are invited to join our conversations. Unfortunately, due to scheduling, Matthew Libatique (Maestro) was not able to join us.FULL EPISODES:El Conde - Edward Lachman, ASC (episode 183)- YouTube - https://youtu.be/qPGWnTpbLos- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/57upYs823lwPV73VEHz0Cv- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/183-the-cinematography-of-el-conde-with-dp-edward-lachman/id1549901182?i=1000645550716Killers of the Flower Moon - Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC (episode 181)- YouTube - https://youtu.be/sgmgucJET3o- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Kc8kJeA9NiTugkR5saAw5- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/181-the-cinematography-of-killers-of-the-flower/id1549901182?i=1000645277847Oppenheimer - Hoyte Van Hoytema, ASC, FSF, NSC (episode 179)- YouTube - https://youtu.be/6RFAfB5RCT0- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Di5azunCq4ZoBsA6ttdo4- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/179-the-cinematography-of-oppenheimer-with-dp/id1549901182?i=1000644731650Poor Things - Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISC (episode 182)- YouTube - https://youtu.be/Sy38cINMetA- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Aoz7KynItLfBspCjjhgBK- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/182-the-cinematography-of-poor-things-with-dp-robbie-ryan/id1549901182?i=1000645419205If you enjoy episodes like this, where we share our in-depth conversations with artists and filmmakers, please subscribe to The Dolby Creator Talks Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.You can also check out the video for this episode.Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Table of Contents: 01:30 - The Creator12:26 - Maestro23:13 - Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One33:55 - Oppenheimer44:36 - The Zone of InterestWelcome to our continuing coverage of this year's Academy Awards®. We have compiled interviews from the nominees in the Best Sound category. So, if you are an Oscar voter — either as an Academy member or as a fan participating in your annual office pool — you'll have a much better idea of what to watch (and listen) for as you get to this category on your ballot!FULL EPISODES:The Creator (episode 165)- YouTube - https://youtu.be/JUPgZbDdTLw- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/36J65DI2AfqFKu6jzxPDZu- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ru/podcast/165-the-sound-of-the-creator-with-director-gareth-edwards/id1549901182?i=1000630007062Maestro (episode 184)- YouTube - https://youtu.be/vx9KXRYkU84- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/1MM7vRYhFFi6kcUDyuF0Cr- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/184-the-oscar-nominated-sound-team-behind-bradley/id1549901182?i=1000645837427Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (episode 155)- YouTube - https://youtu.be/SJJjnIv5VcA- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/1TIbSDJ2CHCIyOBnJsKAP3- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ro/podcast/155-the-sound-of-mission-impossible-dead-reckoning-part-one/id1549901182?i=1000621729514Oppenheimer (episode 180)- YouTube - https://youtu.be/GJGxVtFX2bg- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/6DLn4JKf2lfMuyjJ4zQq9y- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/180-the-oscar-nominated-sound-team-behind-oppenheimer/id1549901182?i=1000645197114The Zone of Interest (episode 173)- YouTube - https://youtu.be/R_TZTCQ53ss- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/2D9L5xwea1NrfiaABWuRx5- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/173-director-jonathan-glazer-and-the-sound/id1549901182?i=1000638761975If you enjoy episodes like this, where we share our in-depth conversations with artists and filmmakers, please subscribe to The Dolby Creator Talks Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.You can also check out the video for this episode.Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Table of Contents: 01:55 - American Fiction - Laura Karpman13:45 - Oppenheimer - Ludwig Göransson25:48 - Poor Things - Jerskin Fendrix Welcome to our continuing coverage of this year's Academy Awards®. We have compiled interviews from the nominees in the Best Original Score category. So, if you are an Oscar voter — either as an Academy member or as a fan participating in your annual office pool — you'll have a much better idea of what to watch (and listen) for as you get to this category on your ballot!NOTE: As always, all nominees are invited to join our conversations. Unfortunately, due to scheduling, John Williams (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) was not able to join us. And as you may know, Robbie Robertson (Killers of the Flower Moon) sadly passed away this past summer at the age of 80.FULL EPISODES:American Fiction - Laura Karpman (episode 178)- YouTube - https://youtu.be/9SKt-6iUViw- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/5jbQRQvmLBvbxQ6EjShrQx- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/178-oscar-nominee-laura-karpman-on-the-music-of/id1549901182?i=1000644320575Oppenheimer - Ludwig Göransson (episode 156)- YouTube - https://youtu.be/qZCsZCyHFRM- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/19gsiyueEWeBPKqPtBdgLt- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/156-the-music-of-oppenheimer/id1549901182?i=1000622416209Poor Things - Jerskin Fendrix (episode 171)- YouTube - https://youtu.be/Gf0r-Xzr35w- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/1D7MdFq51RIF0pkTC98miy- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/sn/podcast/171-the-music-of-poor-things/id1549901182?i=1000638278317If you enjoy episodes like this, where we share our in-depth conversations with artists and filmmakers, please subscribe to The Dolby Creator Talks Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.You can also check out the video for this episode.Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

The Academy Award®-nominated VFX team joins our returning guest, director Gareth Edwards, to discuss how they created such a visually stunning, effects-heavy science-fiction film with a comparatively minuscule budget. Rather than utilizing extensive previz, green screen studios, and fully-rendered CGI environments, “The Creator” was filmed on-location in Asia, documentary-style, with a very small crew, completely upending the usual methods of shooting for VFX:“You do concept art. That's typically one of the first things that happens — storyboards, concept art. And then you spend the rest of the life of the film chasing that artwork. They immediately say, ‘well, this is science fiction. It doesn't exist. So we'll build all this. And we have to build it in a studio…’ And you just get trapped immediately in the straight jacket of every big film ever. And everything's all green screen. And it was like, ‘Forget that. We'll have concept art. But forget the specifics of it. Just trust that it'll look as good as this. But it won't be exactly this. We'll go around the world for every scene. We will find a location that's the best location in the world for that scene. We'll shoot it there. And then we'll design it in post.’”—Gareth Edwards, Director, Producer, Co-writer, “The Creator”Joining Gareth:- Director of Photography, Oren Soffer.- Jay Cooper, Visual Effects Supervisor: Industrial Light & Magic.- Andrew Roberts, Visual Effects On-Set Supervisor: Industrial Light & Magic.Be sure to check out “The Creator,” in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos® (where available), ahead of the Academy Awards, live from the Dolby Theatre® on March 10th!For more awards season coverage, please subscribe to The Dolby Creator Talks Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.You can also check out the video for this episode.Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Continuing our coverage of the 2024 Academy Awards®, we have another all-star team of sound artists whose work on “Maestro” is nominated in the Best Sound category.Today’s panel includes:- Richard King, Sound Designer & Supervising Sound Editor.- Tom Ozanich, Re-recording Mixer.- Dean A. Zupancic, Re-recording Mixer.- Steven Morrow, Production Sound Mixer.“Maestro” is a highly stylized yet intimate film about Leonard Bernstein: his fraught marriage, his affairs, his family, and - of course - his storied career. This gave director Bradley Cooper an amazing opportunity to conduct extensive recreations of some of the composer’s famous concerts, all recorded live on set — including that unforgettable concert at Ely Cathedral:“We shot for the first day and, in Bradley's words, he was saying he wasn't really feeling it. He was just nervous about the whole thing. Because it's decades of building up to this moment, in front of the best orchestra in the world, and you're pretending to be the conductor. And the pressure that you're putting on yourself to be perfect and you're just not hitting it. And so he came in the next day and said, ‘let me do it one more time, and let's just do this one shot where the camera goes around… Our film is really just this big wide shot. Let's shoot this shot with a crane. Come all the way around, come back around, by the end of the song, be over Felicia's shoulder, and that's it.’ We shot that on the last day, the last take. And that was it. I mean, that was done. As soon as that take was over, everybody knew we had it.”—Steven Morrow, Sound Mixer, “Maestro”Be sure to check out “Maestro,” now streaming on Netflix in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®, ahead of the Academy Awards, live from the Dolby Theatre® on March 10th!For more awards season coverage, please subscribe to The Dolby Creator Talks Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.You can also check out the video for this episode.Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. 

Legendary cinematographer Edward Lachman, ASC, joins us to discuss his Academy Award®-nominated cinematography for “El Conde,” Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín’s satirical horror-comedy which reimagines Augusto Pinochet as a 250-year old vampire. The film features stunning black & white photography, which required the invention of a new kind of camera sensor in order to capture the unique look and feel of the film. Edward discusses that, his use of vintage glass, and the advantages of having his director as camera operator:“He's excellent. He's always been around the camera, he studied still photography at one time, and he's very good with wheels. They always say the first audience is the operator — and that's why I like to operate. But there was so much I had to do with the language [barrier]. The key grip, Mumford — who's a wonderful key grip — didn't speak English. So [Pablo] had the direct communication to the grip about moves and the crane. So it made sense that he operate. And then that gave me the freedom to do what I could do with the electrical [department].”—Edward Lachman, ASC, Director of Photography, “El Conde”“El Conde” is now streaming on Netflix, in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®. Be sure to check it out ahead of the Academy Awards, live from the Dolby Theatre® on March 10th!For more awards season coverage, please subscribe to The Dolby Creator Talks Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.You can also check out the video for this episode.Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.