'War Horse,' 'Super 8' win with MPSE
'Hugo,' 'The Muppets' and 'Tintin' also go home with goodies
A scene from "War Horse"
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The Motion Picture Sound Editors' (MPSE) 59th annual Golden Reel Awards were held this evening, celebrating excellence in sound editing. "Super 8," you'll recall, led the way with nominees (and was nominated by the Cinema Audio Society), yet failed to score an Oscar nod in either sound category.
Tonight, the film managed to take home an award, for dialogue and ADR in a feature film. So it gets to hold its head up high. However, it was "War Horse" that triumphed in the sound effects and foley department, which is the area that most corresponds to Oscar (at least in terms of how the category is largely viewed).
After last night's CAS win for "Hugo," I started to lean toward a split between that film (mixing) and "War Horse" (editing) in the sound categories. I'm feeling that even more after tonight, but both categories could just as easily end up going to one film or the other. Pick your splits carefully.
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Speaking of "Hugo," which is considered the favorite to win the Best Sound Editing Oscar by most pundits, it did win the only award it was nominated for tonight, for music editing. Elsewhere, "The Muppets" won in the musical category, while "The Adventures of Tintin" took the animated prize.
The other nominees up for Best Sound Editing along with "Hugo" and "War Horse" are "Drive," "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and "Transformers: Dark of the Moon." They were up for two awards each tonight but went home empty-handed.
Previously announced, eight-time Oscar nominee and two-time winner George Watters II, best known perhaps for his work on Jerry Bruckheimer films stretching back to "Top Gun," was honored with the Career Achievement Award, while Gale Anne Hurd received the MPSE Filmmaker Award.
Check out the full list of winners below.
Sound Effects and Foley in a Feature Film: "War Horse"
Music in a Feature Film: "Hugo"
Dialogue and ADR in a Feature Film: "Super 8"
Music in a Musical Feature Film: "The Muppets"
Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue and ADR in an Animated Film: "The Adventures of Tintin"
Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue, ADR and Music in a Feature Documentary: "George Harrison: Living in the Material World"
Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue and ADR in a Feature Foreign Language Film: "The Flowers of War"
Career Achievement Award: George Watters II
Filmmaker Award: Gale Anne Hurd
Remember to keep track of the ups and downs of the 2011-2012 film awards season via The Circuit.
For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.
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2012-2013 OSCAR PREDICTIONS
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupRichard Green
February 20, 2012 at 7:49AM EST Reply to CommentAt the moment I agree with your split Kris and its probably going to be my final guess but if i went for both for just the one film it would almost certainly guarantee me getting at least one right.
DylanS
February 20, 2012 at 9:33AM EST Reply to CommentKris: Aren't you the one who always preaches that it's foolish to predict a split in the sound categories? I'm not say it won't happen, and I wouldn't be surprised if it did, but I think it's always better to predict one film to win both so you don't end up picking opposite in both categories, especially when you consider how infrequent splits are in those categories.
Kristopher Tapley Yeah but years like this freak me out, where you could easily predict the wrong film and miss two!
February 20, 2012 at 1:17PM ESTDylanS Here's the question: Would you feel more like an idiot if you predict "War Horse" for both and than "Hugo" wins both, or more like an idiot if you predict "Hugo" for mix and "War Horse" for editing and than see the academy go for the inverse?
February 20, 2012 at 3:45PM ESTI think it's always safer to just predict one film for both, because it increases the odds you get at least one right, in the event of a split. The academy has split the awards plenty in the past, but it's impossible to assume when they choose to do so.
Kristopher Tapley The former. Easily.
February 20, 2012 at 3:49PM ESTKristopher Tapley (And you're preaching to the choir re: predicting one film for both, Dylan.)
February 20, 2012 at 3:50PM ESTKristopher Tapley Just an addendum, these are the films of recent years that have won both sound categories:
February 20, 2012 at 4:21PM ESTInception
The Hurt Locker
The Bourne Ultimatum
King Kong
The Matrix
Saving Private Ryan
Titanic
Speed
Jurassic Park
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Just on that list alone, it's IMPOSSIBLE for me to predict Hugo to win both sound categories. So that option is out.
No film not nominated by the CAS has ever won the sound mixing Oscar. So that really hurts War Horse. Yet looking at that list, it's the film that makes the most sense to take both categories. It's had such a strange awards journey, though, that it's hard to really figure how the Academy will react to it. It has resurrected once already, though, in the nominations process.
So to me, it's either Hugo for mixing and War Horse for editing or War Horse for both. My original instinct, as you know, was and still kind of is War Horse for both, but I still need to figure out how seriously to take the fact that no CAS snubee has won the Oscar.
DylanS "Hugo" would no doubt be an unusual addition to that list, but this is an usual lineup where none of the films really fit the quintessential mold. "War Horse" is the closest, but it feels like a tarnished film to me, and I can't shake the feeling that it's going to go home empty handed. "Hugo" has enough distinct sound elements that it seems like an appropriate winner here, even without the loud action sounds.
February 20, 2012 at 6:30PM ESTKristopher Tapley How does it feel so tarnished, though? It was disavowed and then the Academy resurrected it. It has six nods, third behind Hugo and The Artist of the Best Picture nominees.
February 20, 2012 at 7:23PM ESTHugo doesn't have enough "distinct sound elements," I'm sorry. It could win, but it will be way, way out of the ordinary. No Country couldn't even beat The Bourne Ultimatum, and there was a full blown narrative going on throughout the season about No Country's sound work. (And it won the CAS, too.)
DylanS a) It feels tarnished because if it was a truly popular film, then it wouldn't have had any problems getting a director nod or an editing nod (which it got from ACE). Spielberg and Kahn are both legends of their craft, and while the film certainly did better with the academy than with the guilds, I still think it's very telling that neither of them are nominated.
February 20, 2012 at 8:04PM ESTb) There are most certainly "distinct sound elements" in "Hugo". Those CGI clock gears and that CGI train certainly didn't make sound on their own.
c) "War Horse" isn't "The Bourne Ultimatum", and the reason "No Country" lost was because its soundwork was very subtle. I'm not saying "Hugo" is showy, but it's certainly more so than "No Country"
Kristopher Tapley You're really missing my point left and right. I KNOW there is quality sound in "Hugo." I'm saying no one but people like you and me and sound people and maybe a handful of educated industry people who work outside of the sound arena grasp that. The Academy at large doesn't grasp that, so when I say there aren't "distinct sound elements," I'm obviously talking about what's memorable to the Academy. And it's just not memorable sound work.
February 20, 2012 at 8:11PM ESTYou're stretching for reasoning in "c." Either you go with the logic that the Academy blindly picks its favorite film or you don't (and therefore explain past examples away with nuance). Can't have it both ways.
I say again, Hugo could win. It will be completely out of the ordinary if it does, though, and you can't really argue against that.
Kristopher Tapley And War Horse not being nominated for editing and directing means nothing more than War Horse wasn't nominated for editing and directing. You can't stretch whatever logic might have dictated those specific branches (considering specific elements) to the Academy at large.
February 20, 2012 at 8:12PM ESTSix nominations.
DylanS I'm saying they pick there favorite film within reason. If it's a popular film with quality sound design that's too subtle, they won't vote for it. If it's a popular film with more noticeable sound elements, then they will. I see it as a spectrum. "Hugo" falls rather awkwardly in the middle of that spectrum. It's not overtly aural, but it's definitely not invisible technique. I could see any person who likes the film seeing enough there to vote for it, but I honestly don't know, this is a tricky category.
February 20, 2012 at 8:29PM ESTAnd stop stating "Hugo" not having distinct sound elements as a fact. Sure, that's the way YOU perceive the film, and I'm sure a number of people share that perception. But that doesn't mean that "Hugo" factually doesn't have noticeable sound work, it just means that you don't think it does. I'm not saying you're right or wrong, because it's neither, it's purely one's perception, and others perceive "Hugo" differently in those terms, I know I do.
Kristopher Tapley It's actually hilarious how you keep missing my point on the "distinct" thing. I almost wonder if you're fully reading what I'm saying.
February 20, 2012 at 8:34PM ESTDo me a favor and read it again because retyping it would be a bore. It's not at all how I perceive the film. I'm watching it again right now and I think it has a lot of interesting bells and whistles. I'm saying I don't think it has "distinct" sound design to the point that people who aren't all that well versed in sound elements in film will notice. I think I've actually been REALLY clear on that.
Anyway, I hear you about it falling somewhere in the middle. But I can't imagine it winning both sound categories. My jaw would drop.
DylanS I read it again, and I hear what you're saying now. I took me a while to fully connect with your point, it was reading much differently in my head. But I'm going to stop thinking about this category for a while, because I honestly feel like my head is going to explode if I keep thinking this hard about things to the point where I just confuse myself even more. I'm sure you can relate.
February 20, 2012 at 9:31PM ESTKristopher Tapley Absolutely. I've re-watched War Horse and Hugo both today. But at the same time, I have always enjoyed how thinking about things in terms of awards actually makes you consider the minutiae of filmmaking all the more.
February 20, 2012 at 9:39PM ESTDylanS Couldn't agree more, it's certainly one of the positives of awards season. Learning how to analyze film not just as a whole, but as the sums that make that whole, and how they are mini-artforms of their own.
February 20, 2012 at 9:51PM ESTIn connection with your statements about re-watching BP nominees. I will be re-watching "The Artist" (I felt pretty much the same way you did about it) again tonight at the suggestion of a friend (who has the benefit of not paying attention to awards season) who loved it. I've always found that I'm at odds with the best picture winner (or frontrunner) every season ("Slumdog", "Hurt Locker", "King's Speech) because of expectation, and I never can really enjoy them on their own terms. I'm attempting to re-watch "The Artist" with a more open mind, and hoping that I'll be more receptive and that I won't be rolling my eyes when it inevitably walks away with Best Picture on sunday.
Here's to hopefully not having a jaded, cynical view of this awards season!
JJ1
February 20, 2012 at 10:06AM EST Reply to CommentSound is so tricky for Oscars. I mean, let's just say the Sound Editors in the Academy favor War Horse. Great. But I'm sure there'll be quite a few in the Sound branch of the Academy who vote for Hugo in Sound Editing anyway. And then the rest of the massive Academy could follow suit with Hugo. So something like a War Horse win for MPSE could mean something or absolutely nothing. And that kind of goes for every other category, no? Let's say the Cinematographers in the Academy vote for The Tree of Life. I'm sure there will be a few of them who vote for, say, The Artist anyway. And then the rest of the massive Academy may say 'yep, The Artist had the best cinematography'. And bingo, an ASC WIN and probable favor with the Cinematography branch means little for TToL (though, I'm still predicting it). I like the unpredictable nature of Oscar predictions; even if it makes you crazy for my Oscar pool. :)
Matt
February 20, 2012 at 12:48PM EST Reply to CommentPutting my AMPAS hat on I'm going with War Horse for Sound Mixing, and Hugo for Sound Editing. Because the other away around would make too much sense.
Kristopher Tapley lol
February 20, 2012 at 1:18PM ESTJJ1 very funny
February 20, 2012 at 2:12PM ESTMark G. Johnson
February 20, 2012 at 1:50PM EST Reply to CommentSplit.
Tom C
February 20, 2012 at 2:26PM EST Reply to CommentInteresting note: If "Hugo" were to win, it would be the first non-animated film without any gunfire to win since "LOTR: Two Towers" in 2002.
And with that, I go with "War Horse."In all seriousness, this category's all about the action. Always has been.
Kristopher Tapley Indeed.
February 20, 2012 at 2:28PM ESTDylanS There is action in "Hugo". Awkwardly edited and staged action, I'll admit, but it's still action.
February 20, 2012 at 3:46PM ESTKristopher Tapley Not really. Not compared to what we're talking about here.
February 20, 2012 at 3:50PM ESTDylanS So what? That train just decided to go off the rails to take a leisurely stroll through the station?
February 20, 2012 at 6:32PM ESTKristopher Tapley That doesn't address what I said at all. Of course there is quality sound work in Hugo, but it doesn't stand out as a "sound film," and like it or not, that's how the Academy views things.
February 20, 2012 at 7:21PM ESTAlso, you're talking about one...sequence.
DylanS You said it doesn't have action, I'm saying that if a trainwreck isn't action, then I don't know what action is.
February 20, 2012 at 8:12PM ESTMaybe it is "War Horse", the more I think about it, it's the most obvious choice. But I don't know if the Academy will even bother thinking about it that hard, and "Hugo" wouldn't be all that unconventional a winner for mixing. Editing, now that's a different story.
Kristopher Tapley So now you're just saying I said things I didn't actually say? Let me re-run the exchange by you:
February 20, 2012 at 8:14PM ESTDylan: There is action in "Hugo". Awkwardly edited and staged action, I'll admit, but it's still action.
Kris: Not really. Not compared to what we're talking about here.
That's somehow arguable?
Kristopher Tapley "I don't know if the Academy will even bother thinking about it that hard"
February 20, 2012 at 8:16PM ESTExactly, but the point that I'm screaming here is that it has to make SOME sense. And I just don't think people will remember the sound in Hugo.
And Hugo actually would be an unconventional winner for mixing. You can't point to Slumdog because it was a near clean-sweep Best Pic winner. Hugo isn't a musical. No war elements involved. No big action set pieces throughout.