My approach to collaboration with a director is never the same but begins with a few basic tasks. The first is to develop an understanding of what the film is saying dramatically, in the way the writer or the actors might.  This involves not just reading the script but developing a thorough understanding of what it is trying to achieve dramatically. Until I have that, there isn’t a basis for discussion for the second task which is to work with the director to explore how sound tells the story they want to tell. For that collaboration to be effective, I need first to learn through research (their previous films) and discussion (spotting sessions) their particular cinematic language and methodologies to best serve her/his needs.

    On BLADE RUNNER 2049, I met early on with Denis Villeneuve, before any sound was created, to discuss the meta-concepts, the design of the film and how they would inform our subsequent work. We didn’t go into the granularity of what Theo Green and I would eventually do, the “HOW” of the film, until till we understood Denis’ bigger concepts, the “WHY”.  Denis exhorted Theo and I to “compose” with sound, to think of sound transcending diegetic functionality, blurring the lines between music and sound effects to achieve a more cohesive single sound track that was, simply, the sound of BLADE RUNNER.

    George Miller’s language for MAD MAX FURY ROAD, was that of focus and dominance. He would tell me early in our discussions “Mad Max is a film we see with our ears”. As such, just as George used digital tools such as shot repositioning to direct your attention visually, so too did he encourage David White and I to find the sound(s) that, at any specific moment, best focused the audience to hear what was most important. He called the pinnacle of sonic dominance in a scene the “Top of the Pyramid”, literally represented by a physical 3 point pyramid diagram used to create the hierarchy of sound for story telling purposes. Just as, for any given SHOT, there is a visual focus, framing and lighting that puts your eye in a position to see what the director wants the audience to see, so too does George strive, shot to shot, to have clarity of sound, with focus on the one or two things we need the audience to hear.

    Gavin O’Connor, whom I’ve done three films with including THE ACCOUNTANT and WARRIOR, sees sound as vital part of his storytelling toolkit. Not content to relegate sound to post where it becomes an appurtenance or a varnish to an already good film, Gavin will include me in pre-production and his early development of a script, even calling me, at times, to ask how sound might help move the story forward while he’s writing, in ways that perhaps words cannot. He’s one of the few directors that, when he says “Sound is really important in my films”, means it and backs it up.

   As I have spoken about in other lectures, learning the language each director speaks, cinematically, is as important as the technical expertise you bring as an artist. As such, your people skills, your ability to communicate and understand people on a personal level, is as important as your abilities to design sound.