The topic/subject of a programme really defines the tone for the mix – my job is to amplify the story/underlying message that is being told, while working in harmony with the visuals.
For Greta Thunberg: A Year to Save the World, I opted for a nuanced approach during interviews to uphold the organicness of the doc and prevent dramtisation – which could be interpreted as sensationalism. Alternatively in the montages & scenes displaying the impact of climate change (such as the lighting storms) we decided to push the audio so to enhance the effects of the natural world rather than holding them back. Essentially this multi-layered approach enabled us to convey the important message of the series/consequences of climate change in a raw yet controlled manner.
With the documentary being shot on the road, the audio was exposed to many unique circumstances, environments and external influences – as such it’s inevitable that some unwanted noise will creep into the postproduction. I started the process by removing the noise bleed followed by cleaning all the affected speech via Isotope’s RX noise reduction – maximising the quality of the dialogue.
In line with this, the documentary also featured various audio sources/samples (such as in person interviews, zoom calls and archive) in which small discrepancies will always be present. It was important to create a seamlessly interwoven track to uphold the flow and congruency of the documentary. However, it’s also equally important to prevent eradicating the naturally distinguishable variances of the recordings as this can be equally as jarring to a watching audience. Ultimately in a documentary so powerful you want to enable each moment to have its time and be appreciated.