Technicolor Sound Tackles The Big Short

Under the direction of Adam McKay, Technicolor sound mixers offered The Big Short a unique soundscape that complimented the film’s unique style.  The Big Short is a stunning depiction of the genesis of the 2007 US housing market crash. McKay, generally known for comedy, offers an at times humorous and equally mordant  take on the underlying absurdity of the housing market crash. His irreverent approach to the material is fully realized through the editorial work of Hank Corwin, ACE, along with the film’s sound design and execution.

Working with McKay and sound editor Becky Sullivan, Technicolor Sound re-recording mixers Anna Behlmer and Terry Porter provide the production with an equally unique and imaginative soundscape for the film.

In McKay’s words, “Technicolor and mixers Anna Behlmer and Terry Porter just killed it. I’ve never done a mix quite like it, where it was shot about 80% verite, but the rest is framed more traditionally and we go into montages. The sound had to be ambient and real, but then sometimes it isn’t. It had to be moment by moment.” 

Anna Behlmer, who worked previously with McKay on his Anchor Man 2 project, noted that, “Adam is very easy-going and collaborative [and was] very open to our input. There were no rules as far as the soundscape went -- as Hank’s picture editing was non-traditional and the sound had to follow suit.” Terry Porter was thrilled with the results they achieved, “I’ve done about 120 films in my career and this project ranks in the top 2 or 3. One very challenging aspect was the use of all the production recorded dialogue. Most movies can have between 10% and 50% of the production dialogue replaced in post. Adam wanted a documentary type dialogue track. This kept it all very real.”

Source credit: Randi Altman, Post Perspective​