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Emmy Winners Jon Michaels and Cameron Frankley Talk The Beatles and More In Studio
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00:03Hi, this is Mariah Gullow from The Hollywood Reporter and we're in studio with some Emmy winners today.
00:08This is Meet Your Emmy Winners. Hi, guys.
00:10Hello.
00:11So I'm here with John Michaels and Cameron Franklin, and they are sound editors on the wonderful documentary that's by
00:20Hulu, directed by Ron Howard, and it's called Eight Days a Week, and it's the touring years for the Beatles.
00:26Yeah, Beatles touring years.
00:28All right, so let's talk a little bit just about Emmys Night. How did it feel to win your Emmys?
00:35And then we'll talk a little bit about the project.
00:39Yeah, a surreal experience for me. John and I have been fortunate enough to be nominated on a couple of
00:45other shows. We did a show about Kurt Cobain and another one about the Rolling Stones, and we're nominated and
00:52didn't get to walk the aisle, and you kind of get conditioned for that.
00:56A little bit to temper your expectations, but this was a mind-blowing experience. It still is.
01:04How did you get involved in working on this project with Ron Howard?
01:09We were working with Chris Jenkins, who has done several projects with Ron, and he asked us if we wanted
01:16to get involved, and it was like, are you kidding?
01:19We're going to work with the Beatles and Ron Howard? It was, I mean, it's been a thrill right from
01:26that first conversation.
01:27Yeah. What was it about this project that was different than what you've done before?
01:34Well, it was the Beatles, for one.
01:39Just an incredible collaboration with great people, from the Abbey Road Group, Giles Martin, Sam O'Kell, who just did
01:48amazing work with the music.
01:53The whole team was amazing. It was great working with Ron.
01:56Yeah. And how many people are working on the sound editing and the sound mixing side? I think you are
02:04both among...
02:06There were five sound editors.
02:08Five sound editors.
02:09Yes.
02:10Who worked on the project.
02:11Five? Am I right on this? Let me make sure I'm correct.
02:13Yeah, including Melissa.
02:15One, you and me.
02:16You and me, Harris, six.
02:19Oh, Will.
02:20Six.
02:20Six of us.
02:21Six of us, yeah.
02:22Right, including a music editor, Melissa.
02:25And what was it like, I mean, did you have to have like a plan of attack going into this?
02:30You're working with archival footage, you're working with these amazing interviews with the two surviving members of the Beatles as
02:38well as, you know, all of their friends and loved ones and people who are like amazing fans of the
02:46Beatles like Whoopi Goldberg.
02:47Yeah.
02:48What was it like kind of compiling all the footage and what was important to you to like kind of
02:53bring forth with this project?
02:56Well, regarding the archival footage, it's kind of critical as you're adding in all these sounds and environments. None of
03:04that existed. And as we added it in, we had to age it in a way so it sounded like
03:11it was accurate from the time.
03:14So it's kind of weaving in and out of that, all of that old footage.
03:20We also, we'd done a couple of documentaries before, as we said, we did a Rolling Stones, we did a
03:24Kurt Cobain. And so we kind of came in with like our theories about how, what makes an interesting documentary.
03:33So we, we used similar ideas. I mean, it wasn't exactly the same, but it was similar. And you kind
03:40of work on them cut to cut to cut. So it's like, oh, this one's from, you know, it's early
03:44on and it's 63. Oh, this is an interview from later in the 70s. Oh, this is whatever. And so
03:48you like tailor the sounds for each of those shots. It's, it's actually a lot of work.
03:54Yeah. I mean, in comparison, we do just like dramatic features mostly. And it's on some levels, they seem almost
04:01easier, you know, because you're just like, here's the scene. You just let the scene play out as opposed to
04:06like every single shot.
04:07It's a, it's a tapestry of weaving all these, these themes together, whether it's something visual or a storyline, it's
04:16constantly changing. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I mean, kind of taking us back to the early sixties, uh, when, uh,
04:24a lot of this documentary takes place, are you, you're creating kind of, uh, like a newsreel kind of feeling
04:32because that's where people would learn about Beatles news back in that day.
04:36They would go to the movie theaters and get that newsreel at the beginning before they're feature. Right. Right. And
04:42that's what you're kind of creating.
04:44Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's an art project. So it varies. Sometimes it's, you're trying to be true to the
04:50time and other, other points you're trying to make a creative transition. Um, you know, you can just tying it
04:58all together.
04:59Yeah. Yeah. A lot of it. I mean, I think early on, like during that first song, She Loves You,
05:04there's a lot of like flashbacks.
05:06The different audience, you know, people being interviewed and you see the car by, so you cut the car by,
05:11but you make it sound like it's from that era and it matches the rest.
05:14But then later on, it was that like, um, that train transition tomorrow never knows. And you know, where these
05:22other ones were like, well, you see this, you cut it.
05:24That one, we went a little further afield and kind of tried to tie into the music a bit more.
05:29And it's like a feel thing. I don't know.
05:32There's not like a guideline, like make sure that every time this comes up, you do it this way, you
05:37play a bit and find the thing that seems to make sense.
05:40Yeah. Oh, one of the really cool things about this documentary is it's, it's showing Beatle mania in a way
05:48that's never been shown before.
05:50We've all seen the photos of people just kind of losing their minds when the Beatles are performing. Um, but,
05:56uh, you've been able to kind of do some really fun things with the sound.
06:01Um, that I think kind of takes you there in a way that maybe we haven't been able to see
06:08that before.
06:09Um, can you tell us a little bit what it was like working with like these rare, uh, live, uh,
06:16concert sounds and recordings?
06:20I, I've been told that it's just kind of rare to get a lot of concert. Um, what am I
06:27trying to say?
06:28Footage. Yeah. Recordings.
06:30I've been told, yeah, I've been told that the live, uh, recordings of the Beatles, there's not that many out
06:36there.
06:36Like there, there are some people that recorded some bootleg performances, but this is the early sixties.
06:41So, um, you're just working with a certain few concerts that were actually recorded for posterity.
06:50That is true. I don't know exactly. I mean, we're not, we're not Abbey Road, so I don't know exactly
06:55where they got everything.
06:58There's a few key ones, that Hollywood Bowl show. Right.
07:01Actually, it's two shows over two years. You know, there's like a, it was like 64 and 65, I think
07:06if I'm correct on that.
07:07Uh, there's the Shea Stadium concert. There's a few that were like, like the, yes, there's, there are recorders running
07:14and all this kind of thing.
07:15Some of those others, I'm not quite sure exactly where they came from.
07:18Um, but one of the key things in all of this is like, is the screaming girls.
07:24I mean, that is the Beatles concert were screaming girls.
07:27Yeah.
07:27And when what was given to us had, they managed to get those screaming girls out of that recording.
07:33Wow.
07:34Or at least minimize them.
07:35Yeah.
07:36And they were on their own.
07:38We had an, like these, this is the 5-1 of the screaming girls.
07:42And we did a version that had essentially no screaming girls.
07:45We built out crowds that didn't have it and it didn't sound like a Beatles concert.
07:50Yeah.
07:51It was like.
07:52There's that tone.
07:53Yeah, you played it and you're like, this isn't right.
07:55Like it's great to get all those, the screen, you can actually hear them now and it didn't sound like
08:00a Beatles show.
08:00Yeah.
08:01So we had to put it back in. We just tamed it more.
08:03Oh, that's amazing.
08:05What, what is your personal experience with the Beatles? Did you grow up listening to them?
08:10Oh yeah.
08:11Is there anything new that you learned from this experience about them?
08:18I don't know if I learned anything new, but my parents, my parents were like those screaming kids.
08:23That was my parents.
08:24Yeah.
08:24Me too.
08:25Yeah.
08:26And going insane over that.
08:28So I was in this, you know, child of the seventies, you know, wings over America and all that kind
08:33of thing with Paul McCartney.
08:35And we had like every Beatles album on eight track.
08:38Mm-hmm.
08:39And so you had to listen to it come around.
08:41And all I wanted to hear was Yellow Submarine.
08:43That's all I wanted to hear.
08:44Play me Yellow Submarine again.
08:45And you had to wait till it plays.
08:48Cause you can't fast forward.
08:48You can't rewind.
08:49It's just like wait till it loops around again.
08:51So I heard a lot of revolver.
08:53You learned patience.
08:55Yeah.
08:56I don't know.
08:57Do you?
08:57Yeah.
08:58But it was.
08:59Yeah.
09:00And you're a Ringo guy.
09:01That's what we've learned.
09:02Yeah.
09:03There you go.
09:06Yeah.
09:07He says he loves it.
09:08So that's cool.
09:09We didn't get to meet them.
09:10So that's amazing.
09:11That's amazing.
09:12Uh, but how cool is it that you get to, you know, kind of give them a fresh look at
09:18their
09:18own music?
09:19Yeah.
09:20Yeah.
09:21Um, so is there anything, is there anything that you wish that you had that you weren't
09:26able to get?
09:27Because like I said, you're dealing with rare archival footage.
09:29Was there anything that you kind of wish that you had that you didn't get to have?
09:34Not really.
09:34There's a lovely transition in the picture where we go from touring days into the studio
09:40when the guys have just, they've had it on the road.
09:43Um, and that's, that's just a lovely transition after being on the road with these guys for half
09:50of the picture.
09:51Um, and it was just a different experience.
09:55I mean, dealing with all of their, their material.
09:57Yeah.
09:58Yeah.
09:58That transition seems really important to, um, understanding like just how one of a kind
10:05of the Beatles are that they went from this like band that really, really loves to play
10:10and perform to becoming so big that they needed to go into the studio and, and just leave that
10:18all behind to like go into their next phase of creativity.
10:22Yeah.
10:23Which is just amazing.
10:25Yeah.
10:25Yeah.
10:26Well, and I mean, I don't, I'm going to say it throughout a number here that everyone's
10:29going to say, that's totally wrong.
10:30How could you be wrong with that?
10:31But they released five albums, like studio albums, non touring, something like that.
10:37Yeah.
10:37Yeah.
10:38Right.
10:38And then of course it's different, whether you're in the U S or UK, there were different
10:42albums, but something like five albums in three years, right?
10:4566, 67, four years.
10:49Yeah.
10:49I mean, it's like the amount of material that they created was just insane.
10:54Yeah.
10:55Yeah.
10:55Yeah.
10:55It's there, there's a part in there where that musicologist is like a number of, uh,
11:01you know, great melodies made by these people.
11:03Mozart has all these, you know, a hundred plus melodies.
11:07The only people who come close is the Beatles, like 250 years later.
11:11Yeah.
11:12Wow.
11:12That's, I mean, yeah.
11:15They're kind of, they're kind of a weird cultural phenomenon that I don't know if we'll
11:19ever see again.
11:20Yeah.
11:21So true.
11:22How did it feel to end the documentary on their rooftop performance in 1969?
11:28Oh, I love that, that moment.
11:30Yeah.
11:31Yeah.
11:31Yeah.
11:32They actually shot that, like, they played it like three times or something.
11:35And that's, I don't know what take that is.
11:37They didn't have a permit, so the police were trying to shut them down.
11:39Yeah.
11:40That's the advantage of being on the roof.
11:43Can't get up there.
11:44Yeah.
11:44So amazing.
11:45Yeah.
11:46What do you, each of you feel personally as like your proudest contribution to this,
11:53to this movie?
11:55You know, just being a part of it for me.
11:59It's, you know, to be there, to contribute to, to watch everyone else contribute.
12:05It was just as special as they get, you know.
12:09Yeah.
12:10Yeah.
12:10It's hard to say like, oh, I did that one thing.
12:13It was so great.
12:13Yeah.
12:14Because, and it's, it is a team.
12:15I mean.
12:15Yeah.
12:16And it's a lot of people that worked on it and we all had our part of it.
12:21And your contributions are always subjective.
12:23You're never really sure if you're, if it's, if it's, if it's elevated enough or if it's
12:28too much.
12:29You're always, you're always questioning it.
12:30Yeah.
12:31So though my voice is in there once.
12:32That's true.
12:33John.
12:34There you, I won't tell you which it is, but one of those announcers on there is actually
12:38me.
12:38Nice.
12:39That's true.
12:41There's a bunch of big British crew and they're like, wherever are we going to find
12:44an American to say this line?
12:47Yeah.
12:47This is in Hollywood.
12:48Yeah.
12:49Yeah.
12:51Loaded with, with, you know, Americans around here.
12:54Yeah.
12:55Yeah.
12:56It was good fun.
12:58So, um, we're giving you a platform right now with your lovely Emmys.
13:02All right.
13:03Is there anybody who you didn't get to thank or any other, anything you wanted to say that
13:08maybe the music played and you were happy, you were having to walk off stage?
13:12Yeah.
13:13Um, gosh, um, well to everybody involved.
13:19Um, of course, um, then probably a shout out to my lovely bride, Dana and my mother and
13:26my father, my father passed in April.
13:28So he was, he was very excited when we got the job, um, being a Beatles fan himself.
13:33But, um, anyway, um, for you dad.
13:37Oh, thanks.
13:39Sweet.
13:39Um, I was gonna say hey to the engineering staff at Warner Brothers.
13:44Yeah.
13:45Cause, you know, there was some fabulous people, um, Tony Pilkington, Ryan Murphy.
13:50Indeed.
13:51And, uh, Mark Purcell.
13:52Yeah.
13:53And those aren't the guys who usually, you know, get the, well, they don't get this.
13:57And, and you really couldn't do it without them.
14:01Yes.
14:01Indeed.
14:02And I didn't, I said, I said hey to my parents, but I didn't, I didn't thank my wife and
14:07my
14:07kids.
14:07So, gonna have to do that.
14:10Thank you, Rain.
14:11Thank you, Lachlan.
14:12Thank you, Brianna.
14:14Papa will be home any, yeah, I'll be home any time.
14:18Very soon.
14:20So, uh, do you think that Ron Howard is, uh, uh, equipped and capable of handling some
14:27more documentaries?
14:28Would you like to see some more documentaries from him?
14:30Oh, absolutely.
14:31Yeah.
14:32Yeah.
14:33Yeah.
14:33It's a real pleasure.
14:34What a, what a thoughtful, sweet guy.
14:36It's a, um, great vision, great, just wonderful.
14:40I mean, there's some people you get to collaborate with and you just wish it, that collaboration could
14:44last the rest of your career.
14:46Yeah.
14:46Yeah.
14:46When are we doing this again?
14:47Yeah, exactly.
14:49Yeah.
14:49Let's get the band back together.
14:50Yeah.
14:51Yeah.
14:52Um, so, uh, for each of you, uh, what, what's your favorite part of the movie?
14:58For me, I think, as I mentioned before, that transition into the studio is just, there's,
15:04it becomes, um, very artistic at that point.
15:08It becomes very personal.
15:10Um, sound-wise, it's, story-wise, the guys are exhaling.
15:15Um, the, the, the sonic clarity of, like, all the, you know, dealing with all those live
15:21recordings and then getting into the studio.
15:24It just, it's just, oh, it feels so good.
15:26I love that part.
15:27Where we go in the doors of Abbey Road.
15:29Yeah.
15:30It's a cool one.
15:31Yeah.
15:32I, the thing that always blew me away is that bit with Sigourney Weaver.
15:36Yeah.
15:36I, I mean, it's super simple, but it's, they're, you know, they're interviewing her and talking
15:41about how much she loved the Beatles and then they show footage of her from 65 or whatever
15:46it is.
15:47Amazing.
15:47And it is so obviously her.
15:49I mean, yeah.
15:50I mean, it is.
15:51Cut to the audience and there she is.
15:53There, yeah.
15:53In the sea of women.
15:54It is.
15:55Crazy.
15:56And they said there were a few others and they all denied, like, no, no, that's not me.
15:59That's not me.
16:00You know, where they, they saw somebody like, I think that might be you.
16:03But Sigourney Weaver's like, yep, that was me.
16:05I was there.
16:06Yeah.
16:07And then they interviewed her about it.
16:08It was, it was amazing.
16:10Yeah.
16:10Yeah.
16:10I hear that they got some footage from people who would, you know, who had never shown the
16:15footage publicly before, who were just like, oh, I have something.
16:19Yeah.
16:19No, definitely.
16:20Yeah.
16:21That's so cool.
16:22Well, my personal favorite thing is that this was the first time I got to hear the Beatles
16:28performing where I really got to hear that separation of their guitars.
16:32Yeah.
16:32And it just kind of brought up their personalities even more for me.
16:36Absolutely.
16:36Yeah.
16:37So.
16:37Yeah.
16:38Giles Martin and Sam O'Kell did an amazing job on the music.
16:43Yeah.
16:44Cool.
16:45Well, guys, what's next for you?
16:49Well, yeah.
16:50Well, we have a movie coming out next month.
16:51Mm-hmm.
16:53Should we talk about that?
16:54Sure.
16:55Yeah, Geostorm is coming out next month.
16:57Wonderful.
16:58Yeah, we did a, yeah, End of the World thing with Jerry Bruckheimer.
17:01Excellent.
17:03And right now we're working on a little thing for New Line.
17:05Yep.
17:06Pretty fun.
17:07It's a cool game night.
17:08Yeah, game night.
17:10Awesome.
17:10Yeah.
17:11Great.
17:12Well, we look forward to hearing from you.
17:15Yes.
17:16Oh, nice.
17:18Yeah.
17:19John, Cameron, thank you so much.
17:21Yeah, what a pleasure.
17:21Congratulations on your Emmy wins.
17:23Thank you so much.
17:24And many more to come.
17:25Yes, indeed.
17:27Thanks for having us.
17:28You're letting me hold this.
17:29Cheers.
17:30Cheers.
17:31Cheers.
17:31Cheers.
17:31Cheers.
17:32Cheers.
17:33Cheers.
17:34Cheers.
17:35Cheers.
17:36Cheers.
17:36Cheers.
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