With its recent slew of awards nominations (notably the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Critics’ Choice), Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 seems destined to go all the way to the Oscars.
One of the key components of this film is its sound. The noisiness of the story—the riot scenes and the circus-like trial scenes, in particular—requires a meticulous balancing act: there needs to be noise in order for viewers to understand the grandiosity of the moment, but, at the same time, the noise needs to be streamlined so as to remain aurally legible.
I had the opportunity to ask the film’s Sound Supervisor Renee Tondelli some questions about her work in Chicago 7. Tondelli is best known for her work on films such as The Passion of the Christ (2004), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), Django Unchained (2012), Lone Survivor (2013), American Hustle (2013), Into the Woods (2014), and Deepwater Horizon (2016) for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 is available to stream on Netflix.
First of all, congratulations on the film and its successes so far, most notably—and recently—the Golden Globe nominations. What initially drew you to the film? How did you get involved? Were you familiar with the history beforehand?
Thank you. Aaron Sorkin and the story drew me to this film. I’m from Chicago so I was familiar with the 1968 riots, they were a big deal in Chicago. I found out about the film when it was in pre-production and saw my friend Alan Baumgarten was the picture editor. I asked Alan if there was any way I could do the film. He told me it was going to be done in New York, so I forgot about it. Then about 9 months later, Alan called and asked if I was still interested. I was thrilled and then very quickly we started on this project.
For our readers who may not be familiar with this facet of post-production, can you provide an overview of your respective roles in the sound department, and what a typical workday looked like for you on this film?
As the Sound Supervisor, I’m responsible for all the sound elements that create the soundtrack, the Dialog, sound effects, Foley and ambiances. In post-production, there isn’t really a typical day. Especially in the middle of the COVID lockdown. The usual set-ups and procedures were unavailable and I had to do a lot of improvising. I wore several hats on this film and had to find creative ways for getting things done. But on a typical day I would be working with my sound editors, helping actors set up recording booths in their homes, directing them while they recorded, selecting performances, sending material to the picture department, getting on a Zoom call, reviewing a sound editor’s reel, monitoring the Foley recording, getting on another Zoom call, recording the BLM protests, editing a scene, getting on another Zoom call, repeat..
Aaron Sorkin—not to sound dramatic—is a god for many writers, particularly screenwriters and those who write about films (including yours truly). You can see in his work that he’s very much a word-oriented filmmaker. How did he approach the sound for this film? How did his approach form your own? What was it like to collaborate with him?
I think he sprung from the head of Zeus. Working with him was on my bucket list. I have predominantly worked with writer/directors in my career, so this was a thrill for me. He was very collaborative and encouraging. There were some directives he gave us and then let us go for it. It was very important for him that this film not be mired in the 60’s. It had to be relatable to what is happening today. He very much wanted to feel the heavy hand of the Federal government coming down and we approached things through that lens. Judge Julius Hoffman was a good example of that. We worked with his voice and gavel with EQ and reverb to make him overwhelm the room. The Courtroom represented the Federal government. He wanted it to feel cavernous and alive. We spent a lot of time constructing each moment through movement, vocal reactions, and playing with the echo of the voices in the room. It seems simple, but it can be simple to be complex and complex to be simple. There was a lot of detail in these scenes.
The sound, specifically in the riot scenes, feels, if you will, like a harmonious cacophony: how did you go about capturing, and ultimately balancing, the different elements of the film’s sonic mayhem?
I like that you call it harmonious cacophony. Before we started, I had my crew watch the Haskell Wexler film, ‘Medium Cool’, which he shot during the 1968 protests, riots and convention. Wexler filmed his actors walking through Grant Park while these events were unfolding around them, giving us a documentary record. The protest scenes in our movie were another character that needed an emotional arc. They went from innocence to violence in a few short days. The chaos in our lives now is so overwhelming and palpable, I wanted the audience to have a sense of intimacy and connection with the protestors. Because the film was often shot and edited in micro scenes happening in the park, it allowed us to craft these moments choosing the point of view. I wanted the sounds to be visceral and real. There was a female protestor screaming as she was being beaten in ‘Medium Cool’ that I will never forget. We worked very hard to get just the right tone between too much and not enough. Our amazing SFX Mixer, Michael Babcock was a maestro. The score played the unstable chaos and we percolated beneath it.
Were there any special challenges you encountered on this project? Did you learn anything new about your craft?
COVID was a game changer for all of us. I think we all had to be creative in ways we hadn’t thought of before. I learned that recording singular voices for big crowd scenes had some surprising effects. Because of COVID, all the actors recorded in their homes. Even though we were all on Zoom watching and hearing each other, they were still recording alone. I had hundreds of individual tracks that were combined to make thousands in the riots. They became an articulated chaotic chorus. I had much more control of the voices but had to work a lot harder to get them to be harmonic. It’s like playing the cello alone or playing with the other cellists in the symphony. You play differently. I for one, am looking forward to getting back on a stage..
What would you tell the audience to listen to in particular while they watch this film?
The story and of course the words.
What’s next for you?
The next Aaron Sorkin film this summer and then working with Rob Marshall on ‘Little Mermaid’.
