How do you transport a movie audience to a racetrack, recreating the visceral experience of roaring engines, the ear-splitting squeal of tires on pavement and the screeching of brakes?
That was the challenge faced by the sound team behind the edge-of-your-seat Oscar-nominated Formula One blockbuster "F1: The Movie".
"It was important to keep the energy of an actual Formula 1 race alive", Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, a sound engineer who has worked on dozens of productions including "Titanic" and all three "Avatar" films, said.
Yates Whittle confesses she was not exactly a fan of motorsports when she took on the film.
Brad Pitt stars as a grizzled veteran brought in to shore up a foundering F1 squad run by his one-time teammate, played by Javier Bardem.
The team's talented rookie driver (Damson Idris) resents the older man, with their difficult relationship forming the emotional backbone of a movie whose plot shares similarities with director Joseph Kosinski's previous hit "Top Gun: Maverick".
Yates Whittle — who is nominated alongside Gareth John, Juan Peralta, Al Nelson and Gary A. Rizzo — said the sound designers wanted viewers to feel as if they were inside the cars.
The team wanted "to try to recreate for someone who's never been in an F1 car, what it feels like to be an F1 car, what it feels like to be in the stands if you've never been to an F1 race".
Yates Whittle, whose resume features more than 120 credits, said the devil was in the details, ensuring that the movie's rapid cuts interspersed the sounds of engines, tires, brakes and radio communications — and that all were "crystal clear" for audiences.
"It was a challenge, but a good one", she said with a smile.
The end result has so far earned the team a BAFTA and a Critics Choice Award.
At the Academy Awards on March 15, they will compete against engineers for "Frankenstein", "Sinners", "One Battle After Another" and the Spanish film "Sirat".
Veteran vs rookie
"F1: The Movie" has been a hit for Apple, raking in more than $630 million worldwide and surprised industry watchers with a nomination in the prestigious best picture category, to sit alongside those in sound, editing and visual effects.
John, who won an Oscar last year for his work on "Dune: Part Two", said it had been "fantastic" to see the reaction to the film, which features cameos from real-life drivers including seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, as well as Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris.
The sound team had to quickly immerse themselves in the sport when work started, heading straight to the racetrack to study the sounds of the circuits.
"We had so much fun making it just being thrown into the world of Formula One", John said.
For Peralta, the sound mixer who is a first-time nominee, combining his profession with a long-time passion added an extra layer of complexity.
"I've been a Formula One fan for a long time, so I was very nervous to try to represent Formula One the best way I could and also put it in the theatre, which is something we're not used to", he said.
"That environment was a challenge, but I accepted it and I had a lot of fun". — AFP
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