Gallery Spotlight: Cinematic Effects with Shane P. Mahan 

Join Academy Award-winning sound mixers Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill in conversation as they discuss their works of mixing Blade Runner 2049 (2017). Both were nominated for Blade Runner 2049 and won for Dune: Part One (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024).

Following our Gallery Spotlight: Sound Mixing Blade Runner 2049, we will explore the art of sound mixing in the Shirley Temple Education Studio. Visitors can practice mixing a simple soundscape to learn about how sounds, music, and dialogue combine to create a cohesive soundtrack. No previous sound experience is required, and beginners are encouraged. For inspiration, visit the Sound gallery in our Stories of Cinema exhibition on Level 2.

About Ron Bartlett:

“Having been a musician all my life, sound has always been a huge part of my work and my art. Getting the chance to collaborate with great directors and fellow sound editors and mixers is a fantastic thing to be a part of. I love being creative and watching a film come together with a great mix!”

Ron Bartlett started as a musician at the age of 5 playing drums. He performed in various groups ranging from drum corp., classical percussion, big band and jazz combos, world percussion for modern dance, and film scoring. He then turned his focus to film sound.

Starting as an assistant and then sound editor on such films as Die Hard (1988), Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and Total Recall (1990), he moved on to become an Oscar-winning re-recording mixer. Working with directors like Quentin Tarantino, Michael Mann, Denis Villeneuve, Ang Lee, Peter Weir, and Cameron Crowe. He received Oscar and Bafta nominations for Life of Pi (2012) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017) and two Oscar and BAFTA wins for Dune: Part 1 (2021) and Dune: Part 2 (2024).

About Doug Hemphill:

Doug Hemphill comes to film sound from a background in psychology and music. He attended the USC School of Cinema and was hired while still a student to work on Apocalypse Now (1979). After several projects in the Bay Area, Doug moved to Los Angeles to work on the film Gremlins (1984) as a sound effects field recordist, a job he feels combines much of what he learned through psychology and music. His break as a re-recording mixer came from fellow Texan Willie Nelson. After learning that Doug’s family had been farmers in the Rio Grande Valley, Nelson offered him a job mixing on his film The Red Headed Stranger (1986). Doug has won several awards for his work: Oscars, BAFTAs, and Cinema Audio Society awards among them. He is most proud of being able to give his mother his first Oscar and of being a dad to his two children, Kathryn Rose and William.

The Education and Public Engagement team invites visitors to explore Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema, the exhibition that examines the global impact and lasting influence of the science fiction subgenre cyberpunk on cinema culture. Cyberpunk features 18 reproductions of iconic cyberpunk movie posters, an original costume from Tron (USA, 1982), 13 props, the original Vid-Phon booth from Blade Runner (USA, 1982), and concept art from celebrated films like Blade Runner, Tron, and Night Raiders (2021).

Gallery Spotlights

During Gallery Spotlights, the Education and Public Engagement team invites visitors to explore Stories of Cinema, the Academy Museum’s ongoing core exhibition that presents the diverse, international, and complex stories of moviemakers and the works they create.

Join us in conversation with Senior Exhibitions Curator Jenny He and Assistant Curator Emily Rauber Rodriguez as they discuss Jaws: The Exhibition, the newest and first-ever exhibition of this scale dedicated to a single film at the Academy Museum. The conversation will explore the development and curation of the exhibition that revisits Jaws (1975) scene by scene, featuring original objects, behind-the-scenes revelations, and interactive moments. This conversation will be moderated by author and professor J.D. Connor

Curator Bios

Jenny He is Senior Exhibitions Curator at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Since 2021, she has curated exhibitions on John Waters, Pedro Almodóvar, Hildur Guðnadóttir, animation filmmakers, special and visual effects artists, and other subjects for the museum. Previously, she independently curated and toured The World of Tim  Burton  to worldwide institutions, after co-curating the retrospective exhibition Tim Burton at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which toured to venues such as LACMA, Cinémathèque Française, and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. For MoMA, among other exhibitions, Jenny has curated retrospectives on the Coen Brothers, Lillian Gish, and Kathryn Bigelow.

Emily Rauber Rodriguez is an Assistant Curator at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and has contributed to the exhibitions Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971, John Waters: Pope of Trash, and Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema. She holds doctoral and master’s degrees in Cinema and Media Studies from the University of Southern California. Her scholarly work focuses on race and ethnicity in speculative fiction.

About Gallery Spotlights

During Gallery Spotlights, the Education and Public Engagement team invites visitors to explore the Academy Museum’s ongoing exhibitions that presents the diverse, international, and complex stories of moviemakers and the works they create. If you have any questions or need assistance planning your visit, please email museumeducation@oscars.org.

Cyberpunk films juxtapose technological advances with social upheaval, ecological crisis, and urban decay. Central to these stories are characters who fight against technology gone haywire, global mega-corporations, or colonialism.   

Join the Academy Museum with director and filmmaker Ngozi Onwurah as she discusses the history and impact of Afrofuturism within the cyberpunk genre. They will also discuss the making of Ngozi Onwurah’s first feature, Welcome II the Terrordome (1995), the first theatrically distributed British feature directed by a Black woman.  

About Gallery Spotlights

During Gallery Spotlights, the Education and Public Engagement team invites visitors to explore the Academy Museum’s ongoing exhibitions that presents the diverse, international, and complex stories of moviemakers and the works they create. If you have any questions or need assistance planning your visit, please email museumeducation@oscars.org.