DRAMA | SOUNDTRACK
Oscar-winning sound editor Nina Hartstone explains how the music and sound production from Bohemian Rhapsody struck gold FILL YOUR HEAD WITH ROCK
WORDS PH I L RHODES / PICTURES FOX SEARCHLIGHT
I t’s difficult to imagine a more sound- dependent production than Bohemian Rhapsody . The film built its soundtrack from a combination of sources, including Queen’s archive of studio material and new vocal recordings, with crowd and environment effects from recent live shows. The task of building all this into a complete soundtrack went to supervising dialogue and ADR editor, Nina Hartstone. Recognised for her work on Bohemian Rhapsody with the BAFTA for Best Sound and the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing, Hartstone presented at this year’s BVE alongside Justin Shirley-Smith, Queen’s senior studio engineer and co-producer.
Bohemian Rhapsody began shooting in September 2017, though Hartstone’s involvement began in early 2018, after discussion with post-production supervisor Miranda Jones and supervising sound editor John Warhurst. Hartstone worked from April to October, just before the film’s release – a relatively compressed schedule given the scale of the job. “The schedule depends on the film,” Hartstone explains. “With films with heavy VFX, you can be working for a year, or you can do a talky drama in twelve weeks.” Preparation, though, began years before. “John Warhurst started talking to Queen in 2014, but it took a long time for the film to
BELOW Nina Hartstone talked about the movie’s sound at BVE, two days after winning the Academy Award
42 DEF I N I T ION | APR I L 20 1 9
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