‘A Complete Unknown’ Sound Team and Editors Break Down Recreating Bob Dylan’s Iconic 1965 Newport Folk Fest Performance
variety.comCarolyn Giardina Bob Dylan’s iconic performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival brings James Mangold’s “A Complete Unknown” to its culmination, with Timothée Chalamet singing and not lip-synching Dylan’s songs.
Behind the camera, it was one of the film’s toughest scenes. “Jim wanted everything done on this film as if it were a live show,” production sound mixer Tod A.
Maitland says, explaining that the director filmed the scene as a set with 23-minute takes and roughly 200 extras. Production designer François Audouy and his team created the venue on location in New Jersey, where cinematographer Phedon Papamichael lensed the scene with multiple cameras. “I had microphones everywhere,” Maitland says.
This included “the MC [and] audience. Everybody was wired on stage. And the practical microphones were all period.” To create an immersive sense of being there live, the crowd (which was expanded to a size of roughly 1,500 with visual effects and sound) was a key component. “They allowed the crowd to react however they wanted to [during filming].
Read more on variety.com