INTERVIEW
Osmo says that he hasn’t
stopped working since Oscar
became a part of his family.
“Funnily enough, you sometimes
get what they call the Oscar
jinx. People think you will be
too expensive and, particularly
in Australia, it could be the tall
poppy syndrome. Fortunately,
the Ridley Scott film Alien: Cov-
enant was already slated for me.
Now, however, I still send emails
with my CV particularly for
Australian films. Not everyone
knows who you are even though
I’ve been doing it for 40 years.
But I have always had TV com-
mercials to fall back on. I enjoy
that. It gives me a good lifestyle
because it allows me to take a
breath between films and have a
balance in life.”
Osmo’s parents emigrated to
Australia from Greece, and his
father had a strong work ethic.
He urged his son to take jobs in
his holidays, which he did – dig-
ging trenches, hefting wine box-
es onto trucks and working in an
iron foundry in Sydney’s western
suburbs. Why? His father figured
that his son would realise he
needed an education so he wasn’t
forced to do work he didn’t like.
When he left school, Osmo started as
a mail boy in an advertising agency. He
thought he would be a graphic artist, like
others in his family. He did a layout and
design course at the University of Technol-
ogy Sydney. Half way through, the agency
promoted him to the screening room where
clients came to see their commercials and
where screen tests were done. He learned
to thread a projector. When a video oper-
ation was started, he became an assistant
and was in charge of sound. “I didn’t have
much of an idea but I was a musician and
had an idea of what I wanted to hear. I was
taught there. Based on that experience, I
joined a film production house. There I
was threading the projector and dubbers
and helping sync rushes with the editors.”
When the sound mixer went freelance, he
was handed the job.
Osmo took a TAFE course for sound
recordists and passed the exams but he was
failed for missing too many classes because
of work. “Now film school or a TAFE course
is crucial. There are so many people who
want to get in. You have to have the will to
workinthefilmindustry.Itcanbehard
work. It’s not glamorous.”
His first real career break came in 1975
when he joined the ABC. That gave him
broad experience in different production
types such as news, current affairs, doc-
umentaries, dramas, light entertainment
and music, both indoors and outdoors. “I
loved drama, and that is what challenged
me the most. It was more to do with the
psychology of things. It was like reading a
book, and then seeing the book come to life.It also involved more teamwork.
In documentaries, you are captur-
ing what is there. In drama, you
create the willing suspension of
disbelief.”
Osmo became a freelancer in- He has worked on plenty
of movies since – The Sapphires,
Charlotte’s Web, The Man Who
Sued God, Babe: Pig in the City,
The Phantom, Strictly Ballroom
and Dead Calm to name a few. He
has also recorded episodes of TV
shows such as Beyond 2000 and
60 Minutes. But there have been
times when there was no work. He
puts money away for them.
“I had a personal loan for my
band and a mortgage for the
house. I did everything I could to
be mortgage free, which we are
now. A few years ago, my wife
said we needed to do some forced
saving. We invested in an apart-
ment in the city, and fortunately
that is mortgage free now and
provides an income for us.”
Osmo has bought plenty of sound
equipment over the years, which
he has always paid for upfront.
When he started his business, it
was good secondhand gear. But
technology changes, and he has
to keep up. Now his mixer is bespoke, made
in Switzerland.
He protects his income via super and
insurance, thanks in part to advice from
his accountant. Insurance for his gear is
critical. Without that, he couldn’t work. “It
isabigdealwhenIgooverseas.Imightbe
working in a sandstorm, in snow. In the last
month, we have been filming in the rain.”
Two attributes that are critical for any
award-winning sound recordist are plan-
ning and flexibility. On one recent job,
filmingwastakingplaceonanEnglish
country garden set but it was under a flight
path. Osmo knew aircraft noise would fre-
quently interrupt filming but it was too late
to make a change. It was a comedy, so there
was plenty of improvised dialogue that the
director didn’t want to interrupt. The solu-
tion?Hefoundaflightappwithreal-time
information. Dialogue was halted when an
incoming flight was detected but the camer-
as kept rolling. That way, cameras could roll
again within just 30 seconds and the crew
could make the best of a bad situation.
“The film industry
can be hard work.
It’s not glamorous”
WILL HORNER