Dolby Creator Talks

Scottish composer Lorne Balfe joins us to discuss his incredible original score for the latest addition of the Mission: Impossible franchise. Guest host Jon Burlingame returns to delve into Lorne’s process — including some on-the-fly performances during his interview — and why he so badly wanted to record elements of the soundtrack in so many locations from around the world. “You sometimes have th...

Academy Award®-winning composer Ludwig Göransson returns to the Dolby Institute Podcast to discuss his 2024 Academy Award-nominated score for auteur filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s latest film, with guest host Jon Burlingame. They discuss the composer’s process which, on this film, was anything but traditional, including why he composed over three hours of music before principal photography even beg...

Fresh from their Academy Award®-winning work on “Top Gun: Maverick,” supervising sound editor James Mather and re-recording mixer Chris Burdon return to the Dolby Institute Podcast, along with picture editor Eddie Hamilton, to discuss the sound of the latest installment in the action-spy series — 2024 Academy Award-nominee in the Sound category, “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One.” If...

A new, exclusive interview with Phedon Papamichael, the director of photography of the latest (and final?) installment of the Indiana Jones franchise. He and director James Mangold had to contend with a myriad of unique challenges on this film, including matching and updating the classic “Indy look,” filming more chase scenes than you can count, and working with cutting edge VFX to “de-age” Harris...

Director and Co-Writer Peter Sohn and Director of Photography Jean-Claude Kalache join us this week to tell us about the making of Elemental, Pixar Animation Studios’ most ambitious movie to date. We discuss Pixar’s famously demanding story development process and why this film took years just to get to an outline, how this film deals with some much more grown-up themes than the typical Pixar fare...

Former DGA president, and one of the most successful directors working in television, Paris Barclay joins us on the podcast to discuss his remarkable work on episodes six and ten of DAHMER, season one of Ryan Murphy’s series, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.” But it was work we almost didn’t get to see, because he was initially very reluctant to take on the job. “This one was a hard NO. Um, ‘I'...

Key members of the team behind DAHMER, season one of Ryan Murphy’s hit series “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” join us this week to discuss the challenges of balancing this gripping portrayal of the notorious serial killer, and his impact on the communities he preyed upon, without glorifying or redeeming Jeffrey Dahmer’s horrific acts. “‘Monster’ doesn't just relate to the guy with the knife....

For our 150th episode of The Dolby Institute Podcast we’re delighted to bring you filmmaking advice for first-time filmmakers… FROM first-time filmmakers. We have gathered a panel of emerging directors, fresh off the premieres of their very first films, to share their insights, triumphs, and challenges in this candid round-table discussion.  What hard lessons did they learn? And what would th...

Independent filmmaking legend Robert Rodriguez joins us this week, along with his composer and son Rebel Rodriguez, to discuss their mind-bending new action-thriller, “Hypnotic,” starring Ben Affleck. We discuss how they finally completed this film after years of Covid-related delays, why the director still prefers Austin over Hollywood (as his production hub), and how he’s made filmmaking a truly...

Polite Society had one of the biggest debuts at this year’s 2023 Sundance Film Festival and it’s easy to see why. The film is wild, fun, chaotic mashup of genre and style, everything from kung fu action to dark comedy to paranoid spy thriller to coming-of-age drama (and more!) is deftly mixed into this little firecracker of a movie, which was made with an astonishingly small budget during the heig...

Today we have an exclusive interview with the writer and director of Evil Dead Rise, Lee Cronin, along with sound designer and supervising sound editor Peter Albrechtsen. We discuss how they made this super fun addition to the Evil Dead franchise as well as their collaborative process in crafting one of the creepiest soundtracks you’re likely to experience this year. “Despite the fact that it was...

Making an independent film today is even more challenging than it was in its heyday of the 1990s. So we’re bringing you a panel discussion with directors of two of the festival favorites at this year’s SXSW Film Festival. Directors Hannah Pearl Utt (“Cora Bora”) and Emma Westenberg (“You Sing Loud, I Sing Louder”) take a deep-dive into the state of the independent film industry and the challenges...

6-time Emmy Award winning (Stranger Things, Love Death + Robots) sound designer, supervising sound editor, and re-recording mixer Craig Henighan has worked with director Darren Aronofsky since Requiem for a Dream. And with A24’s 25th anniversary re-release of Pi, Craig discusses the challenges of updating its original soundtrack. The indie film’s razor thin budget only allowed for a four day mix b...

It is a time of great disruption in both independent and studio cinema. Join us for a conversation on the evolving role of film festivals in this dramatically changing landscape. We delved into topics such as the role of streaming platforms and online vs in-person festivals. And tackle questions such as how festivals can develop the next generation of talent, and how exactly DOES one get a film in...

Table of Contents: 00:02:17 - ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT - James Friend, ASC, BSC. 00:29:23 - BARDO, FALSE CHRONICLE OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHS - Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC. 00:51:23 - ELVIS - Mandy Walker, ASC, ACS. 01:22:59 - EMPIRE OF LIGHT - Roger Deakins, CBE, ASC, BSC. 01:59:27 - TÁR - Florian Hoffmeister, BSC. We are thrilled to bring you these interviews with ALL FIVE of the nominees in the...

Table of Contents: 0:02:03 - ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT 0:22:49 - AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER 0:53:44 - THE BATMAN 1:05:44 - ELVIS 1:39:20 - TOP GUN: MAVERICK Welcome to this year’s coverage of the Academy Awards. Like last year, we have compiled interviews from each of the nominees in the Best Sound category. So, if you are an Oscar voter — either as an Academy member or as a fan participating i...

Our coverage of the 2023 Academy Awards continues with another film on the Best Sound shortlist — “Babylon.” The work of director Damien Chazelle (“La La Land,” “Whiplash”) is certainly no stranger to awards season, so this is definitely a film to watch out and, in this case, listen for. Joining us today is re-recording mixer, sound designer, and supervising sound editor Ai-Ling Lee; supervising s...

As we continue our 2023 Awards coverage, today we are talking to the sound team behind another film on the Best Sound Academy Awards shortlist — “Avatar: The Way of Water.” Joining us is four-time Academy Award winning re-recording mixer, supervising sound editor, and sound designer Christopher Boyes; supervising sound editor Dick Bernstein; re-recording mixer Michael Hedges; sound mixer Julian Ho...

This week we sit down with the writer/director and sound team behind the harrowing new adaptation of "All Quiet on the Western Front." Joining director Edward Berger is sound supervisor and sound designer Frank Kruse, sound designer Markus Stemler, re-recording mixer Lars Ginzel, and production sound mixer Viktor Prášil. This film has been shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Sound, and as B...

The 2022 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner was the first ever horror film to win the top award at the film festival. But before that, "Nanny" — the feature film debut from Nikyatu Jusu — was also the recipient of the 2022 Dolby Institute Fellowship, which awards a low-budget Sundance film with a post-production grant to finish the film in Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®. Now that "Nanny" is availabl...

Two-time Academy Award winning director Guillermo del Toro and his co-director Mark Gustafson join us to discuss their latest work — appropriately titled — “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.” Despite being stop-motion animation, the film features a rich sound design and complex mix. One which the directors had to fight for. “Mark [Gustafson] and I had to fight for the time that we needed on the mix...

Multiple Academy Award winning director Alejandro G. Iñárritu joins us to discuss his latest work, the surreal, yet somehow pseudo-autobiographical film, “BARDO, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths.” Since this episode focuses almost exclusively on the sound of the film, joining the conversation is much of the film’s sound team: Martín Hernández - Supervising Sound Editor and Sound Designer San...

Director Ron Howard joins us to discuss his thrilling new film, “Thirteen Lives,” a harrowing dramatization of the real-life rescue of thirteen young Thai soccer players who were trapped in a flooding cave in 2018. Joining the discussion is much of the film’s post-production team: Rachael Tate, Supervising Sound Editor Oliver Tarney, Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer Chris Burden, Re-recordi...

Director Ryan White and Academy Award-winning sound designer Mark Mangini join us today to discuss the making of “Good Night Oppy.” This charming new documentary tells the story of the two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which were sent to the red planet back in 2003 and were expected to survive long enough to collect data for — hopefully — 90 days. Instead, they blew everyone’s expectations...

Director Joseph Kosinski and his sound team discuss their groundbreaking work on the hit sequel to the classic 80s film "Top Gun." Joining the discussion are re-recording mixers Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor, as well as supervising sound editors James Mather, Al Nelson, and Bjørn Schroeder. Since most of the movie's flight scenes were filmed practically (or "in-camera") without relying on too many...