The Cinema Audio Society Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing Motion Picture – Live Action was presented on Saturday evening (2/18) to the sound mixing team of Steven Morrow, CAS, Andy Nelson, CAS, Ai Ling Lee, Nicholai Baxter, David Betancourt, and James Ashwill for La La Land. Director Damien Chazelle was on hand to support his winning sound mixing team.
Top Animated Motion Picture honors went to Finding Dory and the sound mixing team of Doc Kane, CAS, Nathan Nance, Michael Semanick, CAS, Thomas Vicari, CAS and Scott Curtis.
This year the first ever CAS Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing Motion Picture–Documentary went to The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble and the team of Dimitre Tisseyre, Dennis Hamlin and Peter Horner.
Held in the Bunker Hill Ballroom of the OMNI Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza with an after party hosted by Dolby Laboratories and emceed by comedian/writer/animal activist Elayne Boosler, the 53rd CAS Awards also celebrated the professional contributions of production sound mixer John Pritchett by honoring him with the CAS Career Achievement Award. Pritchett’s award was presented with a flourish by re-recording mixer Scott Millan, CAS and Jack Black. A special video tribute from Tom Hanks was included in the presentation.
Emmy Award nominated actor/writer/director/producer Jon Favreau (The Jungle Book, Chef, Cowboys & Aliens, Iron Man, Iron Man 2) received the CAS Filmmaker Award in a presentation that included remarks by Oscar® nominated and Emmy® winner Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, Sing, Ted, Ted 2), CAS president Mark Ulano and Academy® Award nominated and Emmy® Award winner composer John Debney (Sin City, Iron Man 2). Video-taped congratulations from Stan Lee and Ed Asner rounded out the tribute. Favreau joins an impressive list of previous CAS Filmmakers Honorees including: Jay Roach, Quentin Tarantino, Gil Cates, Bill Condon, Paul Mazursky, Henry Selick, Taylor Hackford, Rob Marshall, Jonathan Demme, Edward Zwick, Richard Linklater and Jay Roach..
The Sound Mixing team of The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story took top honors for Television Movie or Mini-Series. Television-One Hour honors went to the Game of Thrones episode “Battle of the Bastards” while the Modern Family episode titled “The Storm” won the award for Television Series-Half Hour. Grease Live! won for Television Non-Fiction, Variety or Music Series or Specials.
Wenrui “Sam” Fan a student at Chapman University, Orange, CA was awarded the CAS Student Recognition Award and presented with a check for $2,500. The CAS Student Recognition Award is supported by both IMAX and Avid Technology.
The CAS Outstanding Product Awards for 2016 were presented to Cedar Audio for its Cedar DNS2 Dialogue Noise Supressor, and McDSP for its SA-2 Dialogue processor for Postproduction.
The Cinema Audio Society, a philanthropic, non-profit organization, was formed in 1964 for the purpose of sharing information with Sound Professionals in the Motion Picture and Television Industry.
Here’s a full rundown of Cinema Audio Society Award winners:
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING and OUTSTANDING PRODUCTS FOR 2016
MOTION PICTURE – LIVE ACTION
La La Land
Production Mixer – Steven Morrow, CAS
Re-recording Mixer – Andy Nelson, CAS
Re-recording Mixer – Ai-Ling Lee
Scoring Mixer – Nicholai Baxter
ADR Mixer – David Betancourt
Foley Mixer – James Ashwill
MOTION PICTURE—ANIMATED
Finding Dory
Original Dialogue Mixer – Doc Kane, CAS
Re-recording Mixer – Nathan Nance
Re-recording Mixer – Michael Semanick, CAS
Scoring Mixer – Thomas Vicari, CAS
Foley Mixer – Scott Curtis
MOTION PICTURE—DOCUMENTARY
The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble
Production Mixer – Dimitri Tisseyre
Production Mixer – Dennis Hamlin
Re-recording Mixer – Peter Horner
TELEVISION MOVIE or MINI-SERIES
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Production Mixer – John Bauman
Re-recording Mixer –Joe Earle, CAS
Re-recording Mixer – Doug Andham, CAS
ADR Mixer – Judah Getz
Foley Mixer –John Guentner
TELEVISION SERIES – 1 HOUR
Game of Thrones: "Battle of the Bastards"
Production Mixer – Ronan Hill, CAS
Production Mixer – Richard Dyer, CAS
Re-recording Mixer – Onnalee Blank, CAS
Re-recording Mixer – Mathew Waters, CAS
Foley Mixer – Brett Voss, CAS
TELEVISION SERIES – 1/2 HOUR
Modern Family: "The Storm"
Production Mixer – Stephen A. Tibbo, CAS
Re-recording Mixer – Dean Okrand, CAS
Re-recording Mixer – Brian R. Harman, CAS
TELEVISION NON-FICTION, VARIETY or MUSIC SERIES or SPECIALS
Grease Live!
Production Mixer – J. Mark King
Music Mixer – Biff Dawes
Playback and SFX Mixer – Eric Johnston
Protools Playback Music Mixer – Pablo Munguía
OUTSTANDING PRODUCT – PRODUCTION
CEDAR DNS2 Dynamic Noise Suppression Unit
Manufacturer: Cedar Audio
OUTSTANDING PRODUCT – POST
SA-2 Dialog Processor
Manufacturer: McDSP
STUDENT RECOGNITION AWARD
Wenrui “Sam” Fan
Chapman University – Orange, CA
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More