Hans’ Oscar Bites

Oscar Bites #7 – BEST SOUND
This category features the first appearance this round of Oscar Bites of a particular film that built up its below-the-line credentials enough to muscle its way into a Best Picture nomination. Otherwise, kudos to this branch for trying a few different things, in particular with a certain International Film, to assert its identity, though will always miss the days of arguing over the difference between Sound Mixing and Sound Editing

The nominees are
-F1
-Frankenstein
-One Battle After Another
-Sinners
-Sirat

In order of preference:
5) FRANKENSTEIN (Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke, and Brad Zoern)
A lot of different elements are at play here in the Frankenstein soundscape, from Desplat’s sweeping score to all the science-y sounds of the goings-on. The sound element of this film that intrigued me the most, however, was definitely the treatment of Jacob Elordi’s voice. While apparently his voice was not digitally modulated, and indeed he has spoken about how he almost blew out his vocal cords to achieve the otherworldly deep sound of the Creature, it is very notable that the sound team appears to almost turn up the resonance or emphasize the sound of his voice as to make him sound even more othering.

4) ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (José Antonio García, Christopher Scarabosio, and Tony Villaflor)
Probably one of the most important elements of the sound work I would say is making sure that Jonny Greenwood’s score plays a prominent but supporting role throughout the entirety of this narrative. While this might seem like mostly namecheck nomination for a Best Picture frontrunner, I really have to commend some of the unique ways the sound team bring to life some of the more tense and suspenseful scenes throughout the film, in particular the final chase scene that is played almost wordlessly over the course of about 20 minutes.

3) SIRAT (Amanda Villavieja, Laia Casanovas, and Yasmina Praderas)
The opening 10 minutes of this film feature a sound crew setting up sound speakers in the middle of a desert for a desert rave, followed by another 20-30 minutes of non-stop pulsating and pounding rave music completely occupying the soundscape and screen as to be incredibly engrossing. Part of me was hoping that this would keep up for the majority of the film but understandably other parts of the narrative had to follow. The rest of the film is mostly business as usual, with a particularly explosive finale, but the feel and thrill of those first 30-45 minutes from a sound perspective was something incredibly unique and experiential. A shame I wasn’t a fan of much of the movie.

2) SINNERS (Chris Welcker, Benjamin A. Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor, and Steve Boeddeker)
When this film out of nowhere turns into a secret vampire musical is when the soundwork shines the most by far. The Scene that we’ve been talking about over and over is most emblematic, engaging sound spanning multiple decades and backgrounds, as is the rest of the interior sound work of the Juke Joint. That said, I also have to give a shout out to a lot of the other subtle but world-building soundwork, such as the town scene when the twins are off to buy their supplies, the train station scene, and of course the vampiric Irish dancing. Truly an engrossing soundscape from beginning to end.

1) F1 (Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo, and Juan Peralta)
I mean, what is there to say, the Academy loves a car racing film that starts with the letter F (even if Ferrari didn’t get nominated, it almost certainly came in #6 for a nomination that year). And for good reason, this is just expert vroom vrooms all around, and its hard not to get caught up in the excitement of it all even if you’re not a particular F1 fan. Add to it candid scenes that include real-life footage from F1 races and you’ve got an engaging soundscape that tells you from the get go to buckle in.

-WILL WIN: F1
-COULD WIN: Sinners
-SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE: Probablt something like Mission Impossible but that’s boring; I’ll say The History of Sound – lowkey hated this movie but I’m a sucker for when a movie gets a craft nomination for the craft it’s about