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| Ben Burtt | ||||||||||||||||||||
| It was Ben Burtt's sound design work - creating the voice of R2-D2, the hum and crash of lightsabers in battle, and the zooming rush of the speeder bike chase - that gave the original Star Wars its convincing feel of audio reality. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ben Burtt | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Twenty years later, Burtt worked for over six months on the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition, re-mixing and re-editing sound effects, music and dialog from the original track. When asked about his biggest challenge in the Special Edition, Burtt immediately says: "Re-mixing enormous laser battles for all three films...for six continuous weeks!" Born in Syracuse, New York, Burtt earned a college degree in Physics. In 1970, he won the National Student Film Festival with a war movie called Yankee Squadron. For his work on the special effects film Genesis he won a scholarship to USC, where he earned a Master's Degree in Film Production. Burtt has been in the film business for over 23 years as a sound designer, mixer, editor, writer, and director. Some of Burtt's interests include "my kids, the history of film, mountain biking, skiing, and reading history, astronomy, and science." | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ben Burtt | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Burtt has worked with George Lucas since 1975, and he remembers his first experience with the Star Wars films: "A year before the filming began, I was shown the artwork by Ralph McQuarrie--I realized then and there that working on Star Wars was going to fulfill a dream of working on a truly imaginative, innovative fantasy film." In Burtt's 15 years as a sound designer for Lucasfilm, he won Academy Awards for Sound and Sound Effects Editing in four films: Star Wars, E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Burtt has also done sound design for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Always, Willow, Alien, More American Graffiti, Howard the Duck, The Dark Crystal, Nutcracker the Motion Picture, The Dream is Alive, Alamo, and Niagara. In 1990, Burtt became independent and started working as a director. He directed Second Unit for 20 episodes of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, also serving as picture editor for four episodes of Young Indy, and occasionally, sound designer. Burtt directed and co-wrote the Young Indy movie Attack of the Hawkmen. He directed the IMAX film Blue Planet and directed and co-wrote the IMAX film Special Effects. Burtt was also a writer on the Lucasfilm Droids television animation series, including the one-hour ABC Droids special called The Great Heep. When asked to reflect on his favorite moment in the Star Wars films, Burtt mentions the moment when "Vader threw the Emperor into the Power Trench--it represents the resolution of the storyline in the first trilogy." However, though this scene from Return of the Jedi is his favorite, Burtt believes that the first film has had the most impact on him. "The first film, New Hope, represents innocent fun and adventure that makes me enjoy film as I did as a child." I'm sorry but that's the only pic I could find of Ben Burtt. | |||||||||||||||||||
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