Best Sound Editing 

What is sound editing and how is it different from sound mixing? I myself didn’t know until today and understanding the difference is sure to give us some advantage in our Oscar pools. Sound Editing, which used to be called sound effects editing, is basically just the recording or creation of a sound. For example, in American Sniper, the sound editor would either have to find or make a recording of a gunshot or something that sounds like it. Speaking of sound effects, if you haven’t seen Berberian Sound Studio, you definitely should.

The nominees are…

American Sniper

Birdman

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Interstellar

Unbroken

Ihaven’t seen Unbroken or The Hobbit so I can’t comment on thosee. Luc, Jay, and I have all predicted a win for American Sniper while Sean went his own way by putting his money on Interstellar. Now that I know what sound editing is, I think he may have made the right choice. When I first reviewed Interstellar last year, I complained that I could barely hear the dialogue over the score and sound effects. Now that I’ve done my research and know that I should be taking this up with the sound mixer, I’m thinking about what it was like to see Interstellar in IMAX. The sound was as impressive as the picture. I was as blown away as I was when I first saw The Dark Knight or Inception on the big screen, both of which won the Oscar.

Sound Mixing 

Sound mixing is exactly what it sounds like. All the sounds that have been collected by the sound editor must now come together in a way that makes sense. The gunshot in American Sniper has to ring out over the sounds of the city and, I’m talking to you now Interstellar sound mixer, never drown out the dialogue.

The nominees are…

American Sniper

Birdman

Interstellar (seriously?)

Unbroken

Whiplash

Sean, always marching to the beat of his own drum, has strayed again and predicted a win for Whiplash. The rest of us are sticking with American Sniper. Sean has a point. There’s a lot going on around the sounds of live music in the movie but war movies have a lot of sounds and must be complicated to mix so I’m sticking with my guns.

Film Editing 

This is always an exciting category, Even if we don’t comment on it, we aall appreciate good editing and know it when we see it. The hnominees are…

American Sniper

Boyhood

Thel Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Whiplash

These five film’s are so well made that I’m amazed that three of us were able to agree. Luc, Jay, and I all picked Boyhood and Sean is going with Whiplash. Boyhood edited together 12 years of footage so that’s tough to beat. I’m hoping for a tie between Boyhood and Grand Budapest though.

Original Score 

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Interstellar

Mr Turner

The Theory of Everything

I thought the music in Interstellar was too manipulative and- as I’ve said before- loud. The score for The Imitation Game was too conventional and the one in Mr Turner seemed to belong in another movie. That leaves Budapest and Theory of Everything, both of which are very nicely done. Sean, Luc, and I have picked Grand Budapest Hotel while Jay is banking on a win for Theory of Everything. TOE won the Golden Globe which is something. Not to mention that it’s beautiful music that fits the tone of the movie. I still like Budapest though which may make an even better marriage between images in music. I’ll be interested to see what happens on Sunday.