Oscar nominee Glen Gauthier will be joining us as an expert in three of our panels this year! The multi-award winner will be speaking at Figuring Out Film Unions And Representation, You’ve been Greenlit – Now What? and the Breakfast Mentoring.
As a sound mixer and dialogue editor, Glen has gained invaluable experience in this industry, working on projects such as The Shape Of Water, IT, Crimson Peak, Molly’s Game and much more! Want to get to know more about Glen and his expertise? Check out our conversation we had detailing sound capture, design, and film production development.
Can you speak to your process for developing the best methods for capturing specific sounds for your projects?
When recording on location, the environment plays a huge role in how to capture sound or dialogue. The soundscape can determine whether radio mics, shotgun mics, are the most practical or a combination of three or more different sources. Wind, rain and background noise all play a part in the decision.
Does the genre of film you are making influence the method of sound capture? For example, your work on IT compared to A Family Man.
Genre does play a role. I would treat a Drama differently than I would treat an Action film. Usually, because an Action type would be shot with multiple cameras at the same time, whereas a Drama may be shot a bit more intimately.
The Shape of Water was nominated for many sound design awards – including an Oscar. Having the sounds of the creature, the lab, the soundtrack, were so crucial to the success of the film… Can you walk us through the challenges you faced in your role regarding sound mixing on this project?
In this film visual effects played a big role in the atmosphere of the production. Particularly the movement of water, steam FX and Rain which played through much of the film exteriors and interiors. Balancing and separating the dialogue from the background sounds was integral to having usable dialogue performances that did not need to be redone later via ADR.
How does your knowledge and experience as both a sound mixer and dialogue editor interact when working through a project’s post production in either role?
As a Sound Mixer following the production through as Dialogue editor was invaluable in the post process, because I was aware of takes or backgrounds that may be needed as I was editing, because I had recorded them and knew what existed. Additionally, when I was mixing a scene and had an issue with an undesired sound element I would know if it was fixable in post or if we had to go again to get a cleaner take.
You are joining us for our You’ve Been Greenlit seminar, can you share some aspects of dialogue editing and/or sound mixing you think are crucial to have set in stone before production?
In Pre-Production, surveying the locations you will be shooting in is crucial to heading off any potential sound issues and having time to be proactive in addressing and reducing shoot day problems (ie., building transformers, traffic control, etc…).
You are also attending our Breakfast Mentoring panel, so can I ask what is one piece of advice you wish you had at the start of your career and something you have learned along the way which you deem a crucial aspect of filmmaking?
Try to anticipate problems ahead of time and have a Plan A and a Plan B. Never let them see you sweat or panic!!!
