Tag Archives: continuing ed

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.

We couldn’t have been happier than to see Hugo win both sound Oscars this year. What a spectacular soundscape they all built for us to enjoy. The Foley work alone was worthy of the best sound editing Oscar and when you add the sound effects it only deserves it more. The mix was transformative–playing with other worldly sounds without being heavy-handed; continually underlining the story and the character drama without ever distracting from it. In short, brilliant. Well earned Oscars.

I guess this video has been making the rounds for awhile, but I just came across it. There’s some good info and some great techniques in there:

SoundWorks Collection: The Sound of Inception on Vimeo on Vimeo

via SoundWorks Collection: The Sound of Inception on Vimeo.

If you’re a sound geek and you have some time, you might invest 90 minutes in watching this whole thing like we did.

If you only have a few minutes and you’re a sound designer, start at the beginning for some great little details.

If you’re a producer or director and want to know what the pros would like you to know before you get into your next project, skip to 1:07:54 and check out what they say about production sound.

http://www.livestream.com/fullsailuniversity/video?clipId=pla_c80c3cdd-ea03-4f93-8770-acdd45c87caf

via our facebook page.