I just happened upon a great interview with filmmaker William Friedkin done by Elvis Mitchell on KCRW on their brilliant show The Treatment. They talk for a long time towards the end (and I haven’t gone back to start from the beginning yet, so maybe more than just the end) about how Mr. Friedkin has used and continues to use sound in his work. I should let him speak for himself, but the upshot is he approaches sound and visuals with two entirely different mindsets and gives each one equal emphasis. He even uses our favorite word to describe the finished product of our work: soundscape.

I was doing some poking around about a new workflow idea and came across this gem of a blog post. To be honest, I haven’t read the whole thing because it was interesting but didn’t actually answer the minute question I was looking for. Having said that, I will come back to it. If you are at all interested in making your own movie, you should read it, bookmark it, commit it to memory, print it out and wallpaper your bathroom with it, whatever it takes.

The blog starts with some great quotes from A-list directors. I’ve encountered the Lucas quote summed up as “half of what you see is what you hear,” although I’ve also been told Lucas didn’t say that, he was quoting Scorsese or one of his film school chums. In any event, regardless of who said what, the quotes at the top and the whole premise of the blog post underline something Kat & I have been saying to anyone who would listen since we started this business: nothing telegraphs says “boring indie film” to an audience faster and more effectively than poor sound.

This blog post also inspired a pretty lively conversation over on the DUC, which is also worth reading/bookmarking/wallpapering/etc.

I’ll go ahead and admit it, I didn’t even know his name until yesterday when I saw his obituary. But when I looked at his credits, I’ve loved his work, and I think this (very well-written) obituary really nails why he is being remembered so fondly today and why he’ll be missed:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/r-i-p-cinematographer-harris-savides-1957-2012-20121011#

“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what made Savides so distinct” is extremely high praise, in my book, for anyone in this business. Too many artists in his position, or similar positions, either consciously work at developing a unique style or sincerely don’t know how to do anything else and thus settle into their own style. But having your own style is a trap, and one I work hard to avoid every chance I get by questioning my instincts and constantly reminding myself that it’s the story I’m here to serve, not “my style.”

He’s quoted as saying “I don’t think you can ever make a movie that looks amazing when you’re trying to make it look amazing.” That really struck me. The same can definitely be said for sounding amazing, at least for sounding amazing in the way we like to sound amazing. We can do flashy sound design, and it’s fun, but if it doesn’t help tell the story then it’s just a distraction. If it does help tell the story, chances are it doesn’t draw much attention to itself because the audience is paying attention to the story.

And that’s what movie making is all about, isn’t it? Telling the audience a story. That’s why we often tell people who aren’t in the business that if we did our job well, they didn’t notice any of it.