Harry Snodgrass has dedicated his life to editing, mixing, and producing sound in films. After his first foray into the business as a student at Temple University’s School of Radio Television & Film, Harry moved to Hollywood where he launched a career as a post production sound supervisor, sound editor, and sound mixer.
After beginning work for 20th Century Fox in 1988, Harry was credited as being one of the first to utilize electronic editing by developing and adapting software tools such as Avid and Digidesign to fit the needs of studio sound editors and mixers.
After his success at 20th Century Fox, Harry was offered a position at Universal Studios where he eventually became the manager of the post-production sound editorial department. While serving as Manager of Editorial, he oversaw a large production staff and worked with other studio departments such as film/TV production and studio operations.
From his work on the cult classic Napoleon Dynamite, to the restoration of the 1958 Orson Welles masterpiece Touch of Evil, Harry’s work spans many film genres. In addition to Touch of Evil, Harry’s sound restoration work includes Rear Window, Vertigo, and The Big Red One. Recognition and appreciation for his multifaceted, 100+ film career has led to multiple Emmy award nominations culminating in a win in 2006 for his work as a sound editor on the film Flight 93.
Harry accepts 2006 The Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Mini-series, Movie or a Special. Photo Courtesy of IMDb.
Harry recently brought his skills and talents to the National Archives and Records Administration where he is now working with the Motion Picture Preservation Lab as a preservation technician. Although sifting through thousands of hours of fragile World War I and World War II era films and stills can be extremely tedious, Harry has enjoyed working on the myriad of thought-provoking, interesting and unusual films that reside in the NARA vaults.
Harry uses a non-linear editing system to prepare an HD transfer of 35mm film for transcode to access files.; Location: Archives 2 – Motion Picture Preservation Lab, College Park, MD; Photographer: Richard Schneider
In addition to the hands-on aspects of sound/film preservation, Harry also documents and promotes the work that the Motion Picture Preservation team does in the blog The Unwritten Record.
Harry is setting up the Altra for an HD transfer.; Location: Archives 2 – Motion Picture Preservation Lab, College Park, MD; Photographer: Richard Schneider
The films that Harry and the rest of the Motion Picture Preservation Lab are currently working on will be assessed, digitized and uploaded to the National Archives YouTube channel. Users can view the digitized films as part of this project on this playlist.
NARAtions and The Unwritten Record will continue to highlight the works of the Motion Picture Preservation Lab team in the coming months.
It’s great to hear that someone so talented and renowned is doing such important public service work here at NARA!