Definition June 2021 - Newsletter

GREYHOUND | PRODUCTION

Production sound mixer David Wyman discusses how he reinvented an entire 1940s ship communications system

WORDS CHELSEA FEARNLEY / P I CTURES LUMOS PR

DAVID WYMAN SOUND MIXER

ABOVE Tom Hanks wrote the screenplay for Greyhound and also stars as Commander Krause

Wyman studied sound acoustics and dynamics at the Polytechnic of North London, then worked in production audio recording in the UK, before moving to Los Angeles in 1996. He landed his first major motion picture, The Haunted Mansion , starring Eddie Murphy, in 2002. Since then, Wyman has earned a reputation as one of the most in-demand sound mixers in Wyman has handled the sound mix for Your Honor , Grown Ups , The Big Short , 22 Jump Street and Deepwater Horizon , which earned him his first nominations from Bafta, AMPS and Gold Derby. the film industry. KNOWN FOR:

D irected by Aaron Schneider, second world war. The film is based on the novel The Good Shepherd by C. S. Forester, from a script written by Tom Hanks, who also plays Commander Krause. With the story focused heavily on Krause’s command as he fights turbulent seas, deep fatigue and German U-boats, there’s a frenetic energy to the film that never lets up. For Krause and his men, it’s either kill or be killed. What that meant for Oscar-nominated production sound mixer, David Wyman, was being able to ratchet up the intensity of war, without romanticising it. Production set sail in Baton Rouge, shooting exteriors on the USS Kidd, a Greyhound tells the story of the US destroyer assigned to lead an allied convoy across the Atlantic during the

decommissioned World War II destroyer. The interiors of key locations from within the ship were moved to a sound stage, built on a gigantic gimbal in order to imitate the motion of the sea. Much of the action took place in the pilot house and bridge wing, which served as a balcony overlooking the ship, while a second set was constructed nearby to represent the CIC (radar and course-plotting room) and sonar room. One of the biggest challenges behind the film was authentically recreating communication between officers throughout different parts of the ship. To relay instructions from the captain, crew members – called ‘talkers’ – wore headsets plugged into the ship’s intercom system (not so affectionately called a ‘bitch box’) and would repeat orders down the line, often

JUNE 202 1 | DEF I N I T ION 21

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