Oscar-winning Sound Designer Johnnie Burn on why being a runner is still the best route to success and how he creates the unsettling unorthodox worlds for Yorgos Lanthimos, Jordan Peele and Jonathan Glazer.
Oscar-winning Sound Designer Johnnie Burn believes there’s no shortage of people wanting to come into the industry but that postgraduates often have a preconceived notion of what to expect that may not align with commercial pressures.
“Having a degree is a great way to get in but anyone who wants to succeed still has to maintain the attitude that there’s a lot to learn,” he says. “The learning you have from college will take you through the later part of your career much more quickly but unless you go and make tea, no one else in the company going to have that respect for you because they’ve all done it.”
Burn, who created the sonic world for films including Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things, and Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest, runs Academy Award and Bafta-nominated audio postproduction house Wave Studios, having grown it with...
You are not signed in
Only registered users can read the rest of this article.
NAB preview: Automation, reinvention and politics to steal the show
NAB 2026 looks set to bring a raft of creativity and technological innovation, yet serious political and environmental questions remain.
How vertical video became the new frontline for live sports
Live sports entertainment remains the most powerful driver of real-time engagement in media, but the format through which it’s delivered is rapidly evolving.
From green screen to Unreal worlds: The tech stack driving virtual production
As broadcasters and content creators embrace in-camera VFX and data-driven workflows, a new technology stack is redefining what can be achieved on set and who can afford to achieve it. Framestore’s Connor Ling explores the possibilities of this evolving ecosystem.
Software studios: How inevitable is fully software-defined production?
With the rise of free, high-quality media tools, physical broadcast production hardware is looking less and less essential. IBC365 investigates.
Is the race to 6G being driven by necessity, or FOMO?
6G is coming and promises massive improvements in efficiency across society. But beyond those with vested interests, 6G may not justify either hype or investment. Adrian Pennington reports.

