All language subtitles for 22 - The Importance of Sound Design

when films were first created

two things actually three things were

were expected and look forward to and experimented with

that was sound

color and 3D

and can go back to the very beginnings of film

and you'll see examples of that

people trying constantly

so sound is something that's very natural

of course uh

and that complements the medium right

compliments it

sound or lack thereof

you know and so um

the sound design

could be anything

it again has to come from

I think one vision or

and best as possible

combine with those around that vision who adhere to it

who feel similarly about it and um

we're all on the right track to expressing it

sound design is developed into a situation where

because the technology is there

because there are so many choices

because there's so many things you could do

in the mixing room um

people use it

and I think they using it because they could use it

rather than it should be used

and so you know

I'm always told that a 5.1

then there's a 7.1

I said how many

how much more sound could you have in a film

in a theater

um but there are certain films I would thank

or the majority of the films to be made

and the big budget pictures have a sound design

that an audience kind of

now in a theater

I would think expects

in a way there

I find that when I go into the mixing room

with Tom Fleischmann and our crew

I find that I saw Stripping away the sounds um

for for many films that we worked on

and I find that um

group I work with

Tom Fleischmann

everybody do incredible job

but technically at times I know that I'm told

yes the dialogue is clear

it may be clear

but it's not registering

and it's being

being covered or being a

kind of immersed in a sense of sound

and so I try to clear away as much as possible

but again films that are spectacles

so to speak or the you know

fantasy films or films that are in 3D and IMAX and yeah

the sound is a

sound has always been a very special part of um

a presentation of a film or play or anything in

in history to an audience you know

but we're in danger here

of expecting a certain kind of treatment of sound

that isn't necessary

let's just go what's necessary

everything is set up to go against you

so to speak

um because there are ways that people do things

and there are ways that the system works

or there are ways that the technology works

and you know

if you're new and you come into a situation say I want

I want this

I want that

they kind of know more than you do

in terms of technology

so there is a fine line where

even if they wanna help um

you may find that you have to be very firm about

standing by what you want

because sometimes people say just isn't done well

it's good reason to do it

you know I think in Orson Welles and Greg Tolan

in Citizen Kane

I think he told

I may be paraphrasing

I may have this wrong

but I think he told Greg told

let's do everything we were told not to do

and he said

the greatest thing I could bring to cinema

was ignorance

technology today

certain things work a certain way

that's true

learn how to use it

don't take that monolith of the technology

and don't let it forbid you

you know forbid you from

achieving something

years ago was

the mixes were not easy

course never was easy

but there was always a problem

of wanting something a little louder

and they always say

was going into the red

was that mental

would distort on the optical track of the film

I have so many fights about that you know

technically yeah

it may be going into the red

technically it would distort

but how far could we get it before it could distort

yeah and it's a tricky situation

because a lot of people have to protect what they do

and they are assigned a certain role in a picture

and they have to protect us to come out right

in terms of uh uh

in terms of their professionalism

but yet you have to find how to

how to work within the professionalism of others

to help you

um achieve what you want

I remember we were very proud

when Taxi Driver was being mixed

it was mixed in 5 days

um in LA where they

they complained

they said these dialogue tracks

are the worst dialogue tracks we ever heard

so that's right

that's right

I wasn't yeah

it wasn't being um

feisty in any way with the

with they they

they were the worst tracks

there's no doubt about it

them were shooting in the city

there are sirens

there are horns everywhere

there are people screaming in the streets

I mean this is what it is

this is the city

the city and that

those sounds under the dialogue go around the dialogue

that's part of the character of the film you see

I find that these days very often people want to

weed that up to a certain extent

in the famous scene that Genero improvised

are you talking to me

if you listen to it

there are bongo drums outside

there are sirens

there are planes going over

you talking to me

you talking to me

talking to me

who the hell are you talking talking to me

well I'm the only one here

these days people say

you want that plane out or something you know

maybe in some cases

but the object you find

as they're saying

it'll sound better

you'll be clearer in the dialogue

and sometimes dialect doesn't have to be that clear

you know anyway again

it depends on where you are in the movie at that point

as the filmmaker and what you

you think is important

the most important element you know

but it is a good example of sound design today

taking control

ultimately in the wrong way yeah um

I always thought sound design was a concept of

interpretive concept um

I remember Skip Libsy

I remember the sound of the fan in blood symbol

and liking the way that sounded

it's not it's a fan on the ceiling

but it was it implied something else

and I thought that was interesting

well Frank Warner's work of course

a Raging Bull

Frank Warner with sound effects

he was so protective of the sound effects

that he don't want anybody else to use them

so he would burn them afterwards

for the most part

don't forget

this was a time before video and before digital

so he had the power to throw them away

he came up with sounds um

that were elephant

elephant trumpets

trumpeting of elephants and wild animal sounds

and it was mixed in with the

with the sounds of the

the punches that were being thrown

Lamada comes at him

I stand knocked down

Robinson is well ahead on point

he hooks the left to the jaw

left to the right to the head by Robinson Lamada

all these kinds of uh

so the philosophical approaches to each

each fight scene yes

cinematically

I have worked it out

and we had shot it and we edited it

but the sound was layered in

later in the mix with Thelma

myself and Chris

Frank Warner

um and ultimately

at that point

into a toil fight

that punch was so

was so uh decisive

said least that um

how do we make it important in terms of sound

and we tried it

the problem taking out the sound

there's when does the sound come back in

and how hard is it come back in

how strong does it come back and come back

and soft it

does it fade in

all of this sort of thing

so we were feeling this out as we were doing

that mix was a very long mix because of that

when I was editing Main Streets

there was a scene where

in a bar that I simply did not get

um the right angle to be able to make um

the transition between a wide shot and a tighter

of these characters of men coming to walk into a table

I believe in the bar

and then suddenly they're sitting down

and I may be over simplifying it

now I haven't seen the scene in a long

long time but I remember just breaking through the form

I had no choice but to cut to them sitting

and the jump cut didn't work

and so what I did

was in the wide shot

the first part of the

the first shot

they pull a chair out

and there's a there's a

the dragging sound of the chair

and I use that sound over the cut

next thing you know

they're sitting

um and I think in the mind's eye

you think you've seen them sit down

what's the sound of chair dragging

and so um it's this kind of thing

that broke through the form for me

um and it relates back to

relates back to uh

the things I was talking about

about what hegmanusian said about the value of a shot

the value of a sound

take it and use it for

use it for purposes that you never intended

you know and it yet it it it you hope you

you should be able to test it to see but um

yet it it projects forth the forward

the narrative of the picture

I always find that the

the use of sound in some of the films

that had very low budget was interesting because um

they had no choice but to use certain sounds

or to use it

to use it imaginatively

more imaginatives

to suggest things and um

for example

cat people valutin

particular scene with the young woman

walking at night in the street

basically only had the sidewalk and a wall behind her

I believe and she feels she's being followed by a

leopard or panther

I should say

and if you study that scene

if you study how it builds in sound

between the footsteps

and what she thinks of the sounds of the panther um

camera angles

if you study up to that point in which the bus arrives

and the bus driver opens the door

is kind of like a hydraulic sound

the doors opening

it sounds like a piercing scream

and you reached um

a climactic point in the scene

with very little in terms of production elements

granted the lighting is very dark

it's a night time scene but um

this is something that I found inspiring

said least you find her in Sam Fuller's Pictures

to Shock Corridor

take a look at any of the sound cuts in Shock Corridor

and he had no choice because we're so low budget

um and there's a rawness or a

that's a different effect from the Belutin films

but there's a rawness and a power to the use of sound

has an authority to that use of sound uh

uh which is

was based on a very limited budget