Over the course of our first week in Hollywood we’ve met with quite a few important people in the entertainment industry, yet no one outside of Hollywood knows their name. Their work is necessary to the success of film and television but few take the time to even notice, much less thank them. I would like to take the time to thank these unseen men and women.
Much of the work these people do goes completely unnoticed. For example, when meeting with the sound mixer at NBC Universal we learned about the work he does on comedies like “The Office,” “Scrubs,” and “Brooklyn 99.” He isolated various mixes within the sound, showing us the underlying layers of sound and the e.q. mixing he used to create them. Sound effects that go completely unnoticed by the majority of viewers are actually integral to maintaining the realism of TV and film. We saw another example of unnoticed work when we went behind the scenes on the soundstage for a dramatic hour-long show. Approaching the soundstage from the outside, we saw the raw wood on the back of flats, but the moment we stepped inside the house, we were transported into a period home in another state. The set decorator we met discussed the detail that the production designer inserted into each room, detail that is unseen by viewers as it is often in the background and out of focus. This detail is incredibly important, however, because without it, a set would appear flat and empty and thus not realistic as someone’s home. We also met with archivists in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences archive. The archivists here save copies of films and documentaries including all their dailies and other unused footage, and store them in an archive. This preservation work is incredibly important to the entertainment industry, yet an average person doesn’t even know this work is happening.
The statistics say 2% of people living in Los Angeles work in the entertainment industry, but of those 2%, only a few are ever recognized by the general public. These un-thanked people work hard, and though their work is incredibly important, when it’s done well, very few people ever notice it. This is the life of any technical film staff other than, perhaps, the cinematographer, whose work only in recent years has begun being noticed and rewarded. So Thank You, to all those whose work in the entertainment industry goes completely unnoticed. Thank You, for working hard to create something that no one will ever thank you for.
