Wow. Leaving the Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Wilshire last night I couldn’t help feel inspired, The Science and Technology Council of AMPAS presented a show called **The Sound Behind the Image. Kevin O’Connell, re-recording mixer and 19 time oscar nominee was the MC and introduced Ben Burtt one of the first people to coin the term sound designer, who took us on an informative and exciting tour of the history of sound in action adventure films arriving at star wars where he expanded upon some of his experiences while on the working on the film. After Ben’s solo presentation Burtt, O’Connell and almost all the re-recording mixers from the star wars trilogy, arguably the most influential few films in the world of sound, sat down on stage to rap about their experiences and journeys while finishing those soundtracks. Its amazing to think about how far our craft has come in 30 years, all in all a tremendous event highlighting some of the great pioneers of our community. The Academy is planning more of these, I can only hope that they help the rest of the academy and with any luck some of the general public understand how much creativity and effort go into what they hear while in a darkened theater. Hopefully, events like this that can attract broad audiences with the academy’s reach, so filmmakers and audiences alike can discover how important a quality soundtrack is to the storytelling process. Bravo to the sci tech council, way to toe the mark!
Data preservation for the cinematography community.