SCORE Snags Golden Reel Nomination for Sound Editing
The Motion Picture Sound Editors announced nominations for the 2017 Golden Reel Awards, which included SCORE: A FILM MUSIC DOCUMENTARY (Gravitas Ventures) nominated in the Feature Documentary category.
One of the major awards to be announced on February 18, the category also includes high-profile documentaries An Inconvenient Sequel (Paramount), Icarus (Netflix) and Jane (National Geographic).
Unlike other films in the category, SCORE's scrappy sound editing team had just two members, Peter Bawiec and Kari Barber, both of whom took on multiple roles in notching their first MPSE accolades.
Bawiec took on dialogue and music, while Barber handled sound effects and Foley. The duo shared Supervising Sound Editor credit on the film with Peter Bawiec also being the Re-recording Mixer.
The SCORE team after a final early-morning mixing session at White Light Audio. (Left to right: Bawiec, Barber, director Matt Schrader, producer Nate Gold, producer Kenny Holmes.)
"After watching an early cut of the movie we understood that this will be a massive undertaking," Bawiec said. "With a soundtrack of nearly all source music, unique opportunities arose in the way music would be edited – driving the story forward without drawing attention to the process – binding the movie into a seamless experience."
Much work was put into blending everything into one cohesive mix that would be emotionally moving to the audience, covering more than 80 cues from the last century of film in the 93-minute documentary.
"I jumped at the opportunity to help tell the narrative of the unsung heroes who provide the emotional heartbeat of stories told across different media," Barber said. "Scores are the soundtrack of our lives."
SCORE pushed a new frontier in the field of sound design and mixing, melding together nearly a century of film sound into something for modern audiences to hear and appreciate.
Bawiec took on a daunting task: Wrangling thousands of audio sources of varying qualities to create rich 5.1 and 7.1 soundscapes for viewers to immerse themselves in the music.
"Peter pushed hard to create a truly immersive experience," director Matt Schrader said. "The methods he used to do this were really innovative. It became clear that our approach was breaking new ground in the documentary genre."
Peter Bawiec at work on SCORE at White Light Audio. (Photo by Kenny Holmes.)
Bawiec and Barber saw those creative and technical decisions as fitting into the needs of the overall film, supporting the story.
SCORE follows in the footsteps of last year's Golden Reel winner for Feature Documentary, The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble, which also focused on the international appeal and cross-cultural power of orchestral music.
Winners will be announced at The 65th Annual Golden Reel Awards Ceremony on February 18, 2018.
Continue reading about Golden Reel Nominees at Deadline Hollywood or The Hollywood Reporter.
