Simone Petrillo is sound editor for most of Brazil’s important films. She first joined up with Lucia Murat in “Brava Gente Brasileira”. Today she is one of the partners in “Meios e Mídia”, a sound and mixing studio.

How did you like doing this film?

It was very interesting. It was the first time we’ve worked with a musical. It is a different experience having the music in the foreground and filling in with the effects and the sounds. People may think it’s not much work, just putting in the music, but its just the opposite, we have to layer the track mixing the effects and the music and that’s much more difficult.

How did you go from reality to fantasy and vice-versa?

My method is to start by placing all the reality sounds. Then as the music and the other sounds are added we can start to think about how to handle the scenes with more fantasy, and we add all these sounds and finally in the mixing Emmanuel puts in an effect here, another there, adding to the feeling of fantasy.

How was it on the Linha Vermelha Expressway with off-screen car sounds?

It was a bit complicated because you can’t see the cars and you have to create the sensation with sound. We decided to leave in all the cars, horns etc. only at the start of the sequence and then bring in the musical part without the interference of reality. So despite having Avenida Brasil under us, with the sound of cars etc., we decided to have just the music and Foley effects. At the end, returning to reality, the sound of the cars returns, but the cars were then moving in the foreground so it was easier.

How did you choose the sounds in the mixing?

We added all the sounds at the mixing stage. Emannuel didn’t want to have an indistinct mass of sound, each scene should have one sound standing out. This sound we decided in the mixing, so in the invasion, the shots are important and the music is low... while in “Pneu Queimado” the contrary happened, and the music was louder.

What was the difference between working in Quase Dois Irmãos and this film?

The two films are completely different. “Quase” is a darker film, the scenes are very bass-heavy, and this film is more up-beat. Despite all the tragedy, the film takes place in open spaces. The other was all locked in inside a jail.

In France I was scared, I didn’t know the people, I wasn’t sure about the monitoring, didn’t know the mixing engineer. Here it was more relaxing, where I can control everything and with Emmanuel who I already knew.

As for the rest, Lucia is the same in all her films. She drives us mad, but in the end everything comes out right....