Hey everybody. I thought I’d finally put up the post that I half wrote during the xmas period. Mainly this post is the result of watching too many films, but more importantly Wall-E. Most of you have probably seen Wall-E by now, and would probably agree that it’s fantastic in every sense of the word. If you haven’t seen it, you need to go out and buy it right now, and read this post at a later date. On the DVD or BLURAY if you have the capital to invest in such technologies, you will find an interview with Ben Bertt, the four time Academy Award winning sound designer who worked on Star Wars, Indiana Jones, the list goes on…
Wall-E, Disney DVD/Bluray
True believers… I finally got round to getting hold of THX 1138 on DVD. I’m a big Star Wars fan, and I’ve wanted to see it for years. I have to say, after watching it last night, it’s a great movie.
THX 1138 4EB
I of course watched it primarily for the sound design aspect which in my opinion is first rate. The DVD release has obviously been given Lucas’ Star Wars treatment i.e. The film has been re-mastered with a few new effects shots, but largely the visuals are untouched. The sound I imagine was also re-mastered, but I would imagine it largely resembles the original cut.
One thing I did notice whilst watching THX 1138 was that whilst the score reflects the atmosphere and mood of the scenes, the sound effects did not entirely match the actions depicted. There were several shots in which actions on screen has no audio counterpart (for example a cupboard door being closed would not slam shut). This I found quite interesting, especially after doing the foley work on the Jurassic Park clip, in which I matched every action to at least one or more sounds. I can only deduce that this was intentional in THX 1138 in order to expand the feeling of well oiled non intrusive dystopian furniture. With this in mind I decided to watch the original sound to my Jurassic Park clip. Again I noticed that not every action was mimicked with a sound. I’m sure this was not the case during production, but it seems that only key hit points have been accentuated during the mixing stages, perhaps not to overcrowd the soundscape of the kitchen.
Another thing related to the sound in THX 1138. After comparing the escape sequences in the original 15min student movie and the full 85min feature film, I personally think that, although un-refined, the soundtrack to the student film is more ‘on the money’. A real sense of disorder is felt as the dystopic administration panics to bring THX-1138 to justice. In the full length movie it feels relatively calm by comparison. As a whole though, the full length movie provides much richer soundscapes, and the dialogue spoken by the funeral director for the robots is spot-on, eerie and oddly calming.
Blessings be on you. Buy. Buy more. Buy and be happy.
Filed under: Dear Diary...
We have our first task. Scoring 30 seconds of Ingmar Bergman’s “Persona” (1966). Theres a lot to work with potentially. It will be interesting to see what everyone comes up with. I’ve got a few ideas myself, but after following the link from Julio’s blog and attending the screening this morning, I now know where to start. I’d imagine it will start off being a nightmare and gradually get to the point where 30 seconds just isn’t enough. But if you don’t work to the brief, you don’t get paid. 30 seconds will have to do.
Also, THX1138 looks superb. I’ve wanted to see it for ages but never quite got round to it. Was good to see some King Kong too. I’ve seen it loads of times but it never even occured to me that he had a lion’s roar. What can I say, it’s totally believable that a 50ft ape would roar like that.
x
Filed under: Dear Diary...
Well, where to begin…
Well I suppose I should start at the beginning. This week we attended our first “Music for Digital Media” workshop. It was mainly an administrative event in order for us to understand what we have to do in order to pass the module: do the work, turn up to lessons, etc. However Julio is taking the class so there were strong undertones of how we were all going to fail it! I remember last year Julio was taking one of my classes and he said (and I quote) “Guys, next year I take a module called Music for Digital Media. You shouldn’t take it.” But yet here I am.
I can see why he said that though. After seeing some of the example movies from previous students, it is clear that this module is going to be a tough one. But it seems that it will also be one of the most beneficial and rewarding come the end. I personally am looking forward to it, especially if we get to do live foley with shoes (I’ve wanted to do that ever since I was a kid!).
Blogging is an interesting thing for me though. I’m 24 years old, so I just missed out on being part of the YouTube generation, and am more accustomed to writing my thoughts on paper. But I figure if thousands of teenagers around the world can master it, it cant be that hard.
Anyway, good luck everybody. See you at the finish line.
Pete
