Dolby Creator Talks

On today's episode, we welcome the filmmaking team behind the new 3-part documentary about Kanye West from directors Coodie Simmons & Chike Ozah, which debuted at this year's Sundance Film Festival and is now available on Netflix.This film features some of the most intimate and vulnerable footage you may ever see of the iconic and enigmatic hip-hop star. It's clear that Kanye gave the filmmakers not just unprecedented access to his personal life, but also a great deal of his trust."Kanye was always my brother. We had like 500 hours of footage on Kanye, but it was years of us being connected, you know what I mean? So it was more than just filming... It was a relationship. He was definitely a little brother, which I always wanted. I think I found a little brother in Kanye."— Coodie Simmons, Co-Director, "jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy"Joining the conversation is re-recording mixer Paul Hsu, to tell us how he crafted such an incredible soundtrack, often from single audio sources and decades-old videotapes.Please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute 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. 

Part two (of two) of our exclusive, in-person interview with the filmmakers. If you missed part one, be sure to check out that episode (#121) from earlier this week, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts.Joining us again are directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (known collectively as "Daniels"), as well as the film's sound designer and sound effects editor, Andrew Twite, and the re-recording mixer and sound supervisor, Brent Kiser.Today we're devoting the entire episode to the music of "Everything Everywhere All at Once" because it was such an intensive process. So much so that the composers, the indie band Son Lux (comprised of members Ryan Lott, Ian Chang, and Rafiq Bhatia) spent an unusually long time working very, very closely with the filmmakers on this project:"They came on before we started photography. They helped us write some songs that needed to be on camera. Like the fake musical and stuff. They gave us their entire library of all their personal projects, as well as all their records [and] instrumental versions. And we cut the whole movie to their music. And then they were on during the whole edit, working on the score. So they were part of the project for over two years and created over two hours of original music."— Daniel Scheinert, co-director, co-writer, and co-producer, "Everything Everywhere All at Once"If that sounds like a lot, that's because it was. As part of this episode, we also speak with Ryan Lott, the founding member of Son Lux, to describe his journey working on this film and all its many parts, including crafting different musical styles for each multiverse, collaborating (and singing a duet!) with Randy Newman, as well as discovering the artistic potential of working in Dolby Atmos®."There were times where we were very specific about 'the front wall' and keeping most things really focused on the front wall. And then, finding moments and specific elements too that could basically embrace you, sonically. And I started to think, during that mix, how that is a musical choice. That's an artistic choice. That's not just a technology choice. That's not just an engineering thing."— Ryan Lott of Son Lux, composer, "Everything Everywhere All at Once"Be sure to check out "Everything Everywhere All at Once" at a cinema near you, now playing in Dolby Atmos®, where available.Many thanks to our friends at A24 for helping us pull this conversation together! If you enjoyed this two-part conversation with the filmmakers, please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, as we have many more episodes just like this one coming up in the near future!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. 

Part one (of two) of our exclusive, in-person interview with the filmmakers of this mind-blowing new film, now playing in cinemas. We are joined by the directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (known collectively as "Daniels"), as well as the film's sound designer and sound effects editor, Andrew Twite, and the re-recording mixer and sound supervisor, Brent Kiser.If you haven't seen "Everything Everywhere All at Once" yet, it is an incredible example of genre-bending experimentation taken to the absolute extreme. And the directors worked closely with the sound team, in order to craft one of the biggest independent action films in recent memory."We knew we wanted to create something that somehow bridged the gap between big blockbuster action films and really intimate risk-taking indie films. And we wanted to find a way to do both at the same time. To carve out space for independent films in theaters, because that's something that's slowly being carved out more for these big, big IP blockbuster films. And we wanted to create a family drama that could basically stand up against those films. So we knew we wanted to make it really entertaining, but also we wanted to give ourselves a challenge of creating a multiverse film — that actually stared at infinity and actually went all the way to its logical, terrifying conclusion — and yet still pulled you back from the brink of meaninglessness and gave you a warm hug by the end."— Daniel Kwan, co-director, co-writer, and co-producer, "Everything Everywhere All at Once"To see just how the filmmakers pulled off that incredible challenge, be sure to check out "Everything Everywhere All at Once" at a cinema near you, now playing in Dolby Atmos®, where available.Many thanks to our friends at A24 for helping us pull this conversation together! Remember: This is only PART ONE of our conversation with the filmmakers of "Everything Everywhere All at Once." Please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, so that you don't miss PART TWO, which will debut later this week.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. 

Our guest host this week, Tom Graham, is joined by some of the top colorists working today to have a roundtable discussion about HDR workflows and working in Dolby Vision®. This is a passionate conversation, with lots of technical detail, which highlights why so many of these artists are so excited to be working with these new tools available to them."We've had the ability to have bright TVs for the longest time, right? That's only a part of the equation. I think what's most exciting to me about the HDR conversation, particularly about the Dolby Vision workflow, is the conversation about better images, better data. More of it. And that includes wider color. That includes more intelligent tone mapping, that includes the ability to better represent artists' intent throughout the entire pipeline, no matter where that image is going to show up."— Robbie Carman, Lead Colorist & Partner, DC ColorMany thanks to this week's guests:Robbie Carman — https://dccolor.com/about/Joey D'Anna — https://dccolor.com/about/Dan Moran — https://www.danmorancolour.com/Patrick Inhofer — https://mixinglight.com/author/patrick-inhofer/Learn more about Dolby Vision® for Content Creators here:https://professional.dolby.com/content-creation/dolby-vision-for-content-creators/Dolby Vision® Training and Certification can be found here:https://prostore.dolby.com/To learn more about Mixing Light, check out:https://mixinglight.com/Please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute 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. 

Welcome to our continuing coverage of this year's Academy Awards®. Like last year, we have compiled interviews from the nominees in the Best Animated Feature Film 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 for as you get to this category on your ballot! Here are the nominated films, in alphabetical order:ENCANTO: Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino, and Clark SpencerFLEE: Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen, and Charlotte De La GournerieLUCA: Enrico Casarosa and Andrea WarrenTHE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES:  Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Kurt  AlbrechtRAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON: Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer, and Peter Del VechoHere's a table of contents of interviews, in case you'd like to jump around:0:01:28 — ENCANTO - Byron Howard and Yvett Merino0:21:15 — LUCA - Enrico Casarosa 0:37:51 — THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES - Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, and Christopher Miller1:03:02 — RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON - Carlos López Estrada and Osnat ShurerNOTE: As always, all nominees were invited to join our conversations and we regret that we weren't able to connect with the talented filmmakers behind FLEE in time for our podcast posting deadline.Thanks to all the studios for helping us pull these interviews together! Be sure to check out ENCANTO, FLEE, LUCA, THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES and RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON before Oscars voting ends!Please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute 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. 

Welcome to our continuing coverage of this year's Academy Awards®. Like last year, 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 for as you get to the Best Cinematography category on your ballot! Here are the nominated Directors of Photography, in alphabetical order by film:DUNE: Greig FraserNIGHTMARE ALLEY: Dan LaustsenTHE POWER OF THE DOG: Ari WegnerTHE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH: Bruno DelbonnelWEST SIDE STORY: Janusz KaminskiHere's a table of contents of interviews, in case you'd like to jump around:0:01:48 — DUNE — Greig Fraser0:15:51 — NIGHTMARE ALLEY — Dan Laustsen 0:38:35 — THE POWER OF THE DOG — Ari WegnerNOTE: As always, all nominees were invited to join our conversations and we regret that Bruno Delbonnel and Janusz Kaminski were unavailable to join us in time for our podcast posting deadline.Thanks to all the studios for helping us pull these interviews together! Be sure to check out DUNE, NIGHTMARE ALLEY, THE POWER OF THE DOG, THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH and WEST SIDE STORY before Oscars voting ends!We have one more episode of our special Academy Awards® coverage, coming coming in the next few days. That episode is devoted to the Best Animated Feature category. So if you haven't already, please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute 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. 

Director Matt Reeves joins us again this week to discuss The Batman. This is part 2 of our special 2-part episode on this movie, where we discuss the film's incredible cinematography. If you haven't already, be sure to check out part 1, where we break down the sound and music of The Batman, in our podcast archive from earlier this week, or on YouTube:https://youtu.be/uZ_3Kdm_ZhEJoining Matt is Director of Photography Greig Fraser (who joins us separately, later in this episode, as he is currently on location in London), and Supervising and Lead Digital Colorist, David Cole.But this episode is not just a deep dive into the technical aspects of their fascinating post-production process, but also includes details on how Matt and Greig managed to make such an epic movie feel like you, in the audience, were right there in the middle of all the action."When we shot things, even like the Batmobile chase, even though there's a tremendous amount of visual effects in the movie, I didn't want you to be aware that we were doing them at all. And so we always used the parameters of how you would do it if you were doing it practically. And so [with] the Batmobile chase, we're putting cameras and we're locking them onto hard mounts, so you're watching a lot of hard mounts and that kind of stuff. And then, 'what's in focus?' And it's in the middle of rain. And 'what does that rain look like?' And there were times when Greig would take a filter and put a little bit of silicone on it... so that when you put it in front of the lens and when it got wet, you had the sense that it wasn't just that we were in rain that was perfectly photographed. The lens itself got wet. So you feel like you're in the middle of it. And so everything was about putting you squarely in that experience."— Matt Reeves, Director, Co-Writer, and Producer, "The Batman"Be sure to check out The Batman at a Dolby Cinema near you.Please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute 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. 

Director Matt Reeves joins us this week to discuss The Batman. This is part 1 of our special 2-part episode on this film, since there is so much to discuss with Matt and his team. So be sure to check out part 2, where we discuss the cinematography of The Batman, which will debut this Thursday!In this episode we are joined by Matt and his incredible team of sound and music artists:Michael Giacchino - ComposerWill Files - Supervising Sound EditorDouglas Murray - Supervising Sound EditorAndy Nelson - Re-Recording MixerSomehow, despite their very busy schedules, we managed to spend over an hour together (in-person!) discussing the amazing work this team did. And as you'll soon discover, this is a group that works incredibly well together, each bringing their exceptional creativity and craft to the process. But we also spend a lot of time discussing how Matt manages to bring everything together so seamlessly as the director:"You have to become an emotional compass. To me, that is the job of the director. Because you have so many incredibly creative people who you're working with. Here: I make a movie in my head and a piece of paper — that's one version of the movie. And it's a very narrow band of what that movie could be. And then you work with these artists and you want everyone to bring something... And I have to be an emotional compass to say, 'that idea is great! That idea really works!' Somebody has to do that. And the way you do that is by immersing yourself into that thing."— Matt Reeves, Director, Co-Writer, and Producer, "The Batman"This episode is a master class in filmmaking and collaboration, with a ton of insights into the process of crafting this latest superhero epic.Be sure to check out The Batman at a Dolby Cinema near you.Please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute 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. 

Welcome to our continuing coverage of this year's Academy Awards. Like last year, we have compiled interviews from each of 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 for and (more importantly) what to listen for as you get to the Best Sound category on your ballot! Here are the nominees, in alphabetical order:BELFAST: Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv AdiriDUNE: Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron BartlettNO TIME TO DIE: Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark TaylorTHE POWER OF THE DOG: Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara WebbWEST SIDE STORY: Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn MurphyEach of these interview excerpts is taken from our full episodes dedicated to the sound design of each of these incredible films. Here's a table of contents, in case you'd like to jump around, as well as links to the full episodes from our back catalogue:0:01:33 - BELFAST - from episode 104, December 9, 2021Sir Kenneth Branagh — Director, Writer, and Producer Simon Chase — Sound Supervisor and Re-recording MixerNiv Adiri — Academy Award-Winning Re-recording MixerJames Mather — Sound Supervisor0:16:56 - DUNE - from episode 99, October 26, 2021Denis Villeneuve — Director, Writer, and ProducerMark Mangini — Supervising Sound EditorTheo Green — Sound Designer / Supervising Sound EditorRon Bartlett — Re-recording Mixer0:33:02 - NO TIME TO DIE - from episode 101, November 10, 2021Oliver Tarney — Supervising Sound EditorPaul Massey — Re-recording MixerMark Taylor — Re-recording Mixer0:46:04 - THE POWER OF THE DOG - from episode 105, December 13, 2021Jane Campion — Director, Writer, and ProducerRobert Mackenzie — Supervising Sound EditorDave Whitehead — Sound DesignerTara Webb — Re-recording Mixer (1st nom)0:57:39 - WEST SIDE STORY - from episode 114, February 22, 2022Gary Rydstrom - Re-recording Mixer, Supervising Sound Editor, Sound DesignerShawn Murphy - Scoring MixerBrian Chumney - Supervising Sound EditorTod A. Maitland - Sound MixerAndy Nelson - Re-recording MixerMany thanks to all the studios for helping us pull these interviews together! Be sure to check out BELFAST, DUNE, NO TIME TO DIE, THE POWER OF THE DOG, and WEST SIDE STORY before Oscars voting ends!We have two more episodes just like this one — for the Best Cinematography and Best Animated Feature categories —  coming up. So if you haven't already, please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute 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. 

If it seems like the Hollywood musical is making a comeback, that's because, in many ways, it is. And after decades of promising to one day direct one, legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg finally decided to tackle a new interpretation of "West Side Story." The film is now nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Sound.Joining us today is the sound team behind this film, who collectively took great pains to use as many modern recording techniques available to them to create this impressive, cutting-edge soundtrack.Gary Rydstrom - Re-recording Mixer / Sound Designer / Supervising Sound Editor - this is his 20th  Academy Award nomination (seven wins)Shawn Murphy - Scoring Mixer - fourth nomination (one win)Brian Chumney - Supervising Sound Editor - first nominationTod A. Maitland - Sound Mixer - fifth nominationAndy Nelson - Re-recording Mixer - 22nd nomination (two wins)"I think the most remarkable thing in this movie is you never, for one second, don't believe that the singing you're hearing, or the acting you're hearing, is not happening on that set. It feels completely believable at every time. And seamlessly goes in and out of the music. I've never heard a musical be that seamless before. I think that's one of the great achievements of this particular movie."— Gary Rydstrom, Re-recording Mixer / Sound Designer / Supervising Sound Editor, "West Side Story""West Side Story" is now playing in cinemas and will be streaming on HBO Max and Disney+ as of March 2, 2022. Please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute 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.