Hugo Adams recording location sounds in the Utah desert
USA / UK - Danny Boyle's latest film, 127 Hours, famously recreates the ordeal of young mountaineer Aron Ralston, who gets trapped in a Utah canyon when a boulder slips, trapping his arm. The soundtrack, which was nominated for a BAFTA and a Satellite in the Best Sound categories, was almost entirely recreated in post production.

A large selection of DPA microphones provided by UK distributor Sound Network was used extensively to record the dramatic tension and ambience of the surroundings. Boyle has described 127 Hours as "an action movie in which the hero doesn't move".

The sound crew from Sound 24 included sound designer and supervising sound editor Glenn Freemantle, sound effects recordist Hugo Adams, Foley artists Nicolas Becker and Adam Mendez and Foley editor Jon Olive. Adams was the only member of the crew to travel to Utah, spending 24 hours at the canyon recording the full audio picture of where the film had been shot. Recording during shooting was almost impossible due to the noisy gyro-stabilised camera mounts being used.

(Jim Evans)


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