Dolby Creator Talks

We recently sat down with legendary filmmaker Guillermo del Toro ahead of the premiere of his latest film, the slick and stylish noir thriller, "Nightmare Alley." Our conversation was so inspiring that we decided to release this podcast in two parts. Today, enjoy this inspiring, one-on-one conversation for a unique glimpse into the creative process of one of the greatest directors working today. If you are at all interesting in filmmaking, consider this podcast episode a must-listen. This is especially true for anyone interested in what a film director does:"One of the functions of the director is to make sure that there are no departments that are independent in the visual realization of the film. Meaning... you create a series of parameters that are narrative, and that can be broken [down] into color, light, shape, form. That those disciplines are understood by all those departments. When you say, 'what great cinematography,' you're saying, 'what great production design.' When you say, 'what great production design,' you're saying, 'what great wardrobe.' And when you're saying, 'what a great image,' you're saying, 'what great set decorating.' And that's when the director does the job of the director — which is to make sure that these efforts are symphonic, to story and to character. So one of the mandates I give is: We're not creating eye candy, we're creating eye protein. And it should be nutritious. It should tell you something about the character. It should immerse you in a motif."— Guillermo del Toro, Director, Co-Writer, Producer, "Nightmare Alley"Part two of this discussion, with the "Nightmare Alley" sound team, will be released later this week, so make sure you are subscribed to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.In the meantime, be sure to check out "Nightmare Alley" in a Dolby Cinema near you!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 Jane Campion joins us today to discuss her harrowing new drama, "The Power of the Dog." It is a dark, psychological thriller made even more thrilling by the incredible sound work by Academy Award-winning supervising sound editor Robert Mackenzie, sound designer Dave Whitehead, and re-recording mixer Tara Webb, all of whom joined in our discussion.So many aspects of making this film were unique to Jane's filmmaking approach. Or as Robert put it:"With Jane, you have to throw out all the rules. There are no rules."— Robert Mackenzie, Supervising Sound Editor, "The Power of the Dog"This episode offers a fascinating glimpse into their unconventional process: How they experimented with Dolby Atmos® to sharpen tension in what is a particularly quiet film, how they crafted the sonic character of an old house, and how they worked with Jonny Greenwood's brilliant score... which came in before the film was even edited."That's something I learned from 'The Piano' — how powerful that was. Obviously because Holly Hunter's character, Ada, needed to play the piano during the scenes quite often, we needed to have those piano pieces from Michael Nyman. And so he really wrote most of the music before we began shooting that film. And I loved that so much. And saw the benefit of it and the freedom of it — for the composer, actually. And so ever since then, I've tried to create a situation where the music comes really at the same time as the shooting."— Jane Campion, Director, Writer, and Producer, "The Power of the Dog"Be sure to check out "The Power of the Dog" in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos® on Netflix.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. 

Today we are joined by director Sir Kenneth Branagh to discuss his deeply personal new film, "Belfast." The film tells the semi-autobiographical (fictionalized) story of "Buddy," a 9-year old boy living in the city during the "The Troubles" of 1969. It is an intimate portrait of a small family on a tiny city block surrounded by chaos and upheaval. To help convey the overwhelming feeling of menace, seemingly just around every corner, the director tapped Simon Chase — Sound Supervisor and Re-recording Mixer, Niv Adiri — Academy Award-Winning Re-recording Mixer, and James Mather — Emmy Award-Winning Sound Supervisor, all of whom join us today on the podcast to discuss how they crafted such a rich soundtrack for such an intimate film. And, as it turns out, the inspiration for this project was actually a sound from Sir Kenneth Branaugh's memory:"A lot of people have asked me, 'why did you want to write it?' And interestingly, given what we're talking about today, what I found myself coming up with was to revisit the moment when I heard a sort of surreal twenty seconds where literally my life changed. And it was to do with hearing. 'Is that a bumblebee I'm hearing? Are those bees I'm hearing? They're not. What are they? What is that fuzzy thing at the bottom of the road? Those aren't bees. Oh no, those are people. Oh no, this is a riot.' But all of that in my mind [and] in my memory is what drove the writing of it... You might describe those 20 seconds, in sound terms, as an element of the film that describes the last day of my childhood. Because after that, everything changed."— Sir Kenneth Branagh, Director, Writer, and Producer, "Belfast"Be sure to check "Belfast," available in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®.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. 

For his feature film directorial debut, director Lin-Manuel Miranda chose to adapt the autobiographical stage musical "tick, tick... BOOM!" by Jonathan Larson — the Broadway phenom behind "Rent," who died so suddenly and tragically in 1996. This film is so clearly a labor of love for Miranda, who took on quite the challenge of adapting this small stage show (often performed by no more than three people) and turning it into a fully realized movie musical with a big cast, elaborate set pieces, and a lush soundtrack worthy of Larson's legacy.We recently sat down with the director along with Tod Maitland the sound mixer, and Paul Hsu, the re-recoding mixer and supervising sound editor for the film, to discuss the unique challenges this production faced — especially considering how they filmed during the Covid-19 pandemic before vaccines were readily available to the cast and crew."We had to really circle the moments where we were making a decision to sing live, because we had special protocols we had to put in place for the crew's safety. The camera's gotta be a certain distance from the actors. Now, the cameramen are going to wear face shields and like... raincoats! In fact, I think one of the first days, once we started up in September, Andrew got an impulse and he sang live in the room and it wasn't one of my pre-approved moments. And I got to talking to at the end of the day. And I deserved that talking to, because this is about our safety."— Lin-Manuel Miranda, Director and Producer, "tick, tick... BOOM!"Be sure to check out "tick, tick... BOOM!" on Netflix.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. 

We're turning back the clock to 1984 as we talk about "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" with Supervising Sound Editor & Re-Recording Mixer Will Files and Composer Rob Simonsen. Unlike many modern action-adventure films, this team, led by director Jason Reitman, tried to make everything sound as authentically '80s as possible, eschewing modern sound design and film score aesthetics, in order to give the audience an experience reminiscent of the beloved original film (which happened to be directed by Jason's father, Ivan Reitman). The result is a delightful throwback to the action-comedies of yesteryear. And the three of us absolutely NERD OUT today, as we talk about all the ways they pulled this off, from both a technical and aesthetic perspective."When Jason [Reitman, the director] and we sat down to talk about the movie, he said, 'You've got to put yourself aside. This is... really about being custodians of what was done." So we had a lot of conversations about that and he said, 'I'm telling every department that that is the mission here. It's not to do what necessarily is, like, cool and modern and hip. This is about discovering the original, keeping it, and - where we can - walking forward, but in the clothes of the original.' So, I think it was really important for Jason to signal to everyone, right at the opening logos: 'We got you!'"— Rob Simonsen, Composer, Ghostbusters: AfterlifeBe sure to check out Ghostbusters: Afterlife 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. 

The latest James Bond film, from director Cary Joji Fukunaga, is a veritable feast of emotion and tone. Along with the requisite jaw-dropping action sequences, the film is chock-full of emotional pathos and tender moments, appropriate for Daniel Craig's sendoff as the titular British super-spy. But also, perhaps surprisingly, some very humorous sequences, as well. With a running time of over 2 and 1/2 hours, the sound team had their work cut out for them, and on a very tight timeline. So how did they manage to craft such an exciting, yet tender, and often hilarious new Bond film under such tough deadlines? Today we sit down with supervising sound editor Oliver Tarney and re-recording mixers Paul Massey and Mark Taylor to find out exactly that. Did they go back in and make changes after the film was "finished?" After all, the release was delayed substantially due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "Sometimes on a really focused tight schedule on a big film there's a certain energy about that. And if you had more time, you could explore more, it can become over-polished. Something a little bit sterile can creep in sometimes. I've been on movies that felt like that a little bit. So there is an energy with everyone just going full-tilt, trying to get something done. And there might be a few little rough edges, but that's part of it. It doesn't feel over-produced. Maybe there would be that danger if you opened it up again and just said, 'we've got all this time.' You start maybe just making it a little bit too sanitized or something. I think it's just got a really good energy about it, the film. And I'm glad it finished when it did."— Oliver Tarney, Supervising Sound Editor, "No Time to Die"Be sure to check out No Time to Die 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. 

For our 100th episode, we are very pleased to welcome back to the podcast acclaimed director Edgar Wright, along with his frequent collaborators, composer Steven Price and sound designer Julian Slater. We discussed their latest mind-bender of a film, the psychological thriller – featuring (as Stephen King put it) "time travel with a twist" — "Last Night in Soho."As always, this team has crafted an incredibly rich soundtrack, this time seamlessly melding sound design, score, and classic hit songs from the 1960s. They accomplished this by beginning work on the film well before filming even began."The great thing about working with Steve and Julian, and also my editor Paul Machliss, is that we've worked together so much, that it's great to be able to think about those [soundtrack] elements when you're writing, and also to be able to talk to everybody about it before we've shot a frame of the movie. That's an unusual thing to do with a composer, and an even more unusual thing, probably, to do with Julian — to talk to a sound designer about a film where you haven't shot a frame of it yet. But, as with 'Baby Driver' and with this, it's something where I include everybody very early on."— Edgar Wright, Director and Co-Writer, "Last Night in Soho""It's kind of how it goes with Edgar. As I leave one movie he's talking about three or four possibilities for his next ones. And sound is always entwined in there. And conversations start, even at that point, even as we're finishing the current movie. He's already thinking about the next one. When there's a collaboration that runs as deep as ours does, including Paul [Machliss] as well, it just makes for a great breeding ground of ideas."— Julian Slater, Supervising Sound Editor and Re-Recording Mixer, "Last Night in Soho"The film is now playing in Dolby Cinemas and it is spectacular to experience in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®, so be sure to get your tickets soon.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. 

The incredible new adaptation of "Dune," from director Denis Villeneuve, has some astonishing sound work, fully embracing the immersive capabilities of Dolby Atmos®. Creating this soundtrack was a long and painstaking process, which began in pre-production, as Denis took a novel approach by bringing his sound team and composer on board very early in the process. This gave them extra time and creative freedom to unlock some truly next-level artistry on this film. We recently sat down with Denis and his all-star sound team of Mark Mangini, Theo Green, and Ron Bartlett, to discuss this and their approach to this very ambitious project. "[A]t the end of the day, you're not mixing sound, you're mixing an image. It's storytelling. And everything that pulls you away from the screen is bad for me. But with the sound of Atmos, what I like is that I just have the impression that I'm diving INTO the image."— Denis Villeneuve, Director, "Dune"In the US, "Dune" is available to watch in a Dolby Cinema near you and on HBO Max.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. 

We're taking a few weeks off of our regular posting schedule to put together some exciting new episodes for you.We will be back to our regular schedule at the end of October with our special coverage of "Dune." We recently sat down with director Denis Villeneuve and his all-star sound team, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, and Ron Bartlett, to discuss their approach to this unbelievably ambitious project. This was our first in-person podcast in well over a year and we can't wait to share it with you upon our return. So make sure you are subscribed. You won't want to miss this episode. Also coming up, we have our 100th episode! So, we'll be doing something special to mark that occasion, as well. And in the coming weeks and months, we will have even bigger episodes of the Dolby Institute podcast, including more deep dives into the careers of legendary sound artists and some explorations into a some new terrain for us. We are in the planning stages of our first-ever episodes about some very exciting new video game releases. As you may already know, there is some truly incredible sound work being done in that world, and we can't wait to explore it further with you. So stay tuned for all of that. See you again in late October! And thank you, as always, for listening.

Today we're speaking with the creators of "Come From Away," the Tony Award-winning Broadway show, and the latest to get a streaming release, this time on Apple TV+. Joining us are the creators and writers of the book, music, and lyrics, David Hein and Irene Sankoff, and director Christopher Ashley.The show is set in the week following the September 11 attacks and tells the true story of what transpired when 38 planes were ordered to land unexpectedly in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland when the US unexpectedly closed its airspace. The characters in the musical are based on real Gander residents as well as some of the 7,000 stranded travelers they housed and fed.If this sounds like a big story, that's because it is. And just how do you pare that down into a tight, Broadway show, with no intermission? It was a challenge:"I feel like one of the first questions you ask about a musical or a film or a play is, "who's the lead?" And ["Come From Away"] doesn't have one. It's got twelve actors playing hundreds and thousands of people. So its emotional event is so spread out. But one of the things we do have that kind of replaces that is the delight of twelve actors transforming. And you come to know those twelve, even despite the fact that they're gonna play many different parts. So the pleasure in theatrical and acting transformation gives us a lot of juice that you wouldn't have with just a lead. And also, there's no villain! But everybody does have this shared trauma around 9/11, if you were old enough to have lived through it. And how you deal with that trauma turns out to be the problem that everyone's trying to solve."— Christopher Ashley, Director, "Come From Away"The musical premiered on Broadway in 2017 and was nominated for seven Tony awards, including Best Musical, Book, and Score, and Christopher Ashley won the Tony for Best Direction.You can watch the filmed version of the Broadway show, right now, on Apple TV+.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.