A former Yellowknifer with humble beginnings in a “small, dusty video room” at St. Patrick High School was on the sound team for Guillermo del Toro's Oscar-winning film, The Shape of Water.
That video room in Dashen Naidoo's high school contained one linear editing machine and was the birth place of his aspirations toward a creative career, he told Yellowknifer in an email.
“It pretty much became my home,” said Naidoo.
“I was also very fortunate to have a teacher like Rob Hart of SPHS not only acknowledge my drive, but encourage and help me in any way I needed. That’s the kind of work teachers don’t get paid or credited for, but means the most in the long run,” he said.
In late 2016, Naidoo was hired as a sound editor for del Toro's film, which is a romantic story of a mute cleaning woman named Elisa and an amphibian-humanoid in a cold-war era government lab in Baltimore.
Elisa, played by the actress Sally Hawkins, forms an unlikely bond with the creature.
Earlier this month, the film won four Oscars including best picture.
As sound effects editor, Naidoo created all of the ambient and background sounds heard in the film, including the winch and chain the “fishman” is attached to.
“As sound editors we record, create, and edit sounds together for general and specific elements and ideas, and deliver those elements to a mixer who then makes it fit into the respective world,” he said.
One of the most rewarding parts of the film was seeing it evolve “layer by layer,” and to watch “a great filmmaker like Guillermo del Toro orchestrate sounds with extreme precision,” he said.
The entire sound editing team was made up of eight people, with del Toro in charge of the overall vision, said Naidoo.
“From that we got to create, design and experiment as much as we’d like. Aside from the dialogue of an actor, most everything in movie-sound is re-created,” he said.
The chance to work with such an accomplished director would have felt like a “pipe dream” in his youth, he said.
Dasheen's mother, Neela Naidoo, who still has his early awards in her living room, said the family was excited to see her son's team recognized at the Oscars.
“When he was at St. Pats, he won the film festival twice there,” she said. “It was really cool to see his name on the big screen at the screening here in Yellowknife.”
“The creative industry is not recognized enough as a sustainable career,” she continued. “But what should be so inspiring for all creative people and the next generation is to know that if he could come from a small city like Yellowknife and be able to pursue his passion and to reach the stage, the opportunity is also there.”
In his early days, films like the American sci-fi classic Back to the Future were a source of obsession, said Naidoo.
“When I was younger I was very interested in films and the craft of film. Back to the Future was the catalyst that lit a fire in my brain. As I got older and more wise to the process, they became even more impressive bodies of work,” he said.
“I had to figure out on my own that there is a path to this and every other niche career imaginable,” he said.
“I think it’s important for younger people in high school and coming out of high school to understand that the creative world doesn’t just have to be a hobby, it can be a career. I encourage high schoolers to seriously think about and explore their dream careers, even if it seems far-fetched.”
“Trust those instincts even at a young age.”