Summer 2001 - The Association of Motion Picture Sound

A SUIET DAY IN THE SOUND DEPARTMENT
- TRtrBUTES TO KBN WESTON *
From Saruly MacRae :
It was a sad day, Ken's funeral. Amongst
the mourners, there was a large turnout
from the Industry Sound Department and
this caused me to wonder who was doins
the sound that day. Maybe it was a mute
day.
I had the good fortune to visit Ken a
couple of weeks before he died. I was
acting 'Messenger Boy' on behalf of
AMPS, delivering congratulations on his
Oscar win. It was a good meeting; Ken was
on new painkillers and was comfortable
enough to sit and chat for a couple ofhours.
He was amazingly philosophical about his
predicament. His only regret was not being
well enough to make the Ceremony but he
pointed out that had been there before for
the Evita Nomination so he knew what it
was like. He was really chuffed with his
Oscar and, to quote the man himself, "What
a way to go!"
I'd known Ken for quite a few years and
he recalled the first series of Poirot where
we worked as two crews on alternate
episodes. We discovered we had similar
ways of working and the same aim - to get
the best out of the production. We were two
voices in the Production Office saying the
same things, supporting each other.It made
the difference and he remembered the
experience as I did, great for both of us.
We consequently became friends and
occasionally we met for lunch in town on a
Friday with Ivan Sharrock and Richard
Daniel. It soon became dubbed'The Friday
Whinge Club'- what else do four soundmen
do when they meet socially! But it was the
'crack' we all met for, and Ken was always
up for that.
That was all too many years ago I'll
miss him - it will be quieter without him.
From Lionel Sn'utt
As a Sound Technician Ken was one of the all time
greats. His list of credits is phenomenal, with thirty
films as Boom Operatorcommencing withThe Eiger
Sanction (I975) directed by Clint Eastwood and ending
with a Hollywood OscarAward and Cinema Audio
S_gciety Award for Best Sound on Ridley Scott's epic
GkuJiator, one of around twenty five major films on
which he was Production Mixer. This, in itself, is a
fitting tribute to Ken.
To achieve this within just twenty five years, is an
indication of how prolific a worker he was. Ken
notched up around fifty major credits including such
marathons as six episodes of the Poirot TV series in
1989, for which he received BAFfA awards. And the
numerous long term stints in far away places on such
epics as Evita(1996) on location in Buenos Aires and
Hungary, with Alan Parker directing. A particularly
complex shoot and a challenging taskfor any
Production Sound Mixer.
Ken often worked on Alan's films over the years and
they got along famously - Bugsy Malone (1W6),
Midnighr Express (1978), The Wall (1982), The
Commitments (l99l) and Angela's Asltes (1999). At
other times he was working with Stanley Kubrick as
Boom Operator onThe Shining (1980), and with
Ridley Scott on White Squall (1996) as Production
Sound Mixer which was soon followed by the multi
award winningGkxliator (2000), also with Ridley. The
rest of his credits, though prestigious are too numerous
to list.
Ken was a founder member of the Association of
Motion Picture Sound. Proof of how popular he was
came in the mid nineties when an informal meetine
tabled'An Evening With Ken Weston' proved to 6e
one of the most well attended and successful gatherings
of it's kind ever held by AMPS ! He gave a lot of his -
time to the Association and also helped many younger
members. He was kind, generous and considerate.
Not only was he popular amongst his fellow workers
but he was also well known for his rather dry brand of
humour. Alan Parker shared this and loved workins
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