This week, I spoke to the brilliant Anna Bertmark. Anna is a sound designer and supervisor who has worked on several acclaimed and award-winning British feature films including God’s Own Country, The Goob, Adult Life Skills, Lilting, You Were Never Really Here and more recently Blue Story, as well as episodes of Normal People as a sound effects editor.
I should also mention that Anna won the Best Sound BIFA in 2017 for her work on Francis Lee’s God’s Own Country and if you haven’t seen that film it’s a true marvel and definitely something worth seeking out.
Originally from Sweden, Anna has worked in the UK film industry for 15 years and been Vice Chair of The Association of Motion Picture Sound (AMPS). She’s passionate about mentorship and training, so we speak her experiences of that and how she’s providing that currently to up-and-coming sound professionals.
We also talk about her approach to designing sound, what those initial conversations with a director look like, where she gets inspiration, how software has changed over the years and what motivates her.
Personally I think it’s a great chat and my first with a sound designer so there was lots for me learn.
If you’re a sound designer or interested in it as a career I’m going to flag a couple of things you might find valuable. One is a documentary called Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound by Midge Costin who herself has extensive experience in the sound department and its a great introduction to both the history of sound, but also how valuable it is as a storytelling apparatus.
Secondly, next week on Friday 26 June, the Sundance Institute and their Collab offshoot are hosting a webinar with Alma Har’el who directed Honey Boy and Benh Zeitlin who directed Beasts of the Southern Wild all about sound design and the role it can play and how to make the most of it even with lower budget features. I’ve been watching quite a few of their talks and they are really really good and this sounds like it’s gonna be pretty fascinating, so yeah one to bookmark.
And finally, Anna recommended a book she was reading called 'Women in Audio' by Leslie Gaston-Bird and it features almost 100 profiles and stories of women working in various audio fields including sound for film & TV, so give that Google.
Episode 060: Grace Snell, Costume Designer
Episode 059: Mahalia John, Central / Clapper Loader
Episode 058: Rebecca Horsburgh, Grip (Key Grip & Best Boy Grip)
Episode 057: Lara Manwaring, Casting Director
Episode 056: Rina Yang, Cinematographer
REISSUE: Episode 045: Corrina Antrobus, Founder of Bechdel Test Fest
Episode 054: Cat Marshall, Production Supervisor at Warp Films & Producer
Episode 53: Emma Norton, Producer at Element Pictures
Episode 52: Meroë Candy, Story Research & Production Consultant
Episode 51: Rosie Crerar & Ciara Barry, Producers
Episode 050: Lizzie Francke, Senior Production and Development Executive at the BFI's Film Fund (Live at the Glasgow Film Festival)
Episode 049: Roxana Adle, Talent Agent at Independent Talent
Episode 048: Sanne Jehoul, Co-Director of Glasgow Short Film Festival
Episode 047: Clarisse Loughrey, Chief Film Critic at The Independent
Episode 046: Nia Hughes, Organising Official at BECTU
Episode 045: Corrina Antrobus, Founder of Bechdel Test Fest
Episode 044: Gini Godwin, Production Designer
Episode 043: Kharmel Cochrane, Casting Director
Episode 042: Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, Composer
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Sackhoff Show
Prestige Junkie
Toon’d In! with Jim Cummings
Team Deakins
You Can’t Make This Up