Sound design plays an essential and often unrecognized part of nonfiction filmmaking. It can set a mood, illuminate a point of view, or help set you in a place and time. We speak with sound professionals to see and hear what goes into their decision making and creative process.
Join us for a conversation with Pam DeMetruis-Thomas, Jacob Ribicoff, Steve “Major” Giammaria, and Becky Goldberg (Moderator).
Pam DeMetruis-Thomas is an expert in her craft of sound editing. She approaches Documentary Sound Design as an exploration. Her first priority is clean clear dialogue while using location sounds to add a sense of place. The more time budgeted for sound, the more she can enhance a film’s soundscape weaving in detail with sound effects, multi-channel backgrounds and foley. The job is to add sonic dimension while being mindful not to betray documentary ethos. Pam has over 30 years experience working on sound for feature films, episodic tv, and documentary film projects.
Jacob Ribicoff is an Emmy-winning sound designer, supervisor, and sound re-recording mixer, who has crafted the soundscapes of some of the most acclaimed feature films and documentaries of the past two decades. In 2018, Jacob was nominated for two Emmys for Sound Editing, one for his work on the dystopian HBO movie Fahrenheit 451, and the other for Ken Burn’s critically acclaimed PBS series The Vietnam War. Jacob has worked on twelve of Ken Burns’ iconic series, including The Vietnam War, Jackie Robinson, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, The Central Park Five, Prohibition, Baseball:The Tenth Inning, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, The War, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson and Jazz. Other documentaries Jacob is proud to have worked on include Long Strange Trip, Where to Invade Next, Roger Waters The Wall, Uncertain, Little White Lie, Leviathan, Beware of Mr. Baker, Buck, and Startup.com.
Steve “Major” Giammaria is a supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer at Sound Lounge Film + Television in New York City. Over the past 14 years he has edited and mixed dozens of documentaries with such filmmakers as Alex Gibney and Liz Garbus. Recent documentary credits include Human Nature; Enemies: The President, Justice & The FBI; and Parched.
Becky Goldberg is a freelance film and television editor devoting her time to cutting both nonfiction and documentary projects. Her work ranges in style from verité, to interview, to archive-based, and in subject matter from comedy to crime. Most recently she worked on a nonfiction series debuting on Netflix this year. She is originally from Omaha, Nebraska and now lives in New York City.
Produced by Becky Goldberg
This program will take place virtually as a webinar via Zoom. Please register in advance, and all registrants will receive a link to attend the webinar the day of the event.
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NYWIFT programs, screenings and events are supported, in part, by grants from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
