{"id":927,"date":"2020-02-19T14:53:32","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T21:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/?p=927"},"modified":"2020-02-19T14:53:37","modified_gmt":"2020-02-19T21:53:37","slug":"2020-directors-close-up-week-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/2020\/2020-directors-close-up-week-five\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 Director’s Close Up: Week Five"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The\nfinal week of Film Independent\u2019s five-week-long Director\u2019s Close Up<\/em> focused\non one of the most crucial aspects of cinema, an aspect that easily makes up\nhalf of the movie-going experience, an aspect that the viewer rarely notices,\nbut exists across nearly the entire run time of every film ever made. That\naspect? Sound design and scoring. Benh Zeitlin, director of Wendy<\/em>,\nand Dan Romer, composer of Wendy,<\/em> unveil the massive impact\nof cinematic sound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sound\ndesign involves the process of creating naturally occurring noises anyone would\nhear in the real world. This can include footsteps, creaking floors, squeaking\ndoors, rustling leaves and far more. Even though such additions may seem\nminuscule in the long run, they have a tremendous impact on how realistic the\ncinematic world feels. Imagine watching Star Wars<\/em> without\nthe wooshes of TIE fighters, the hums of pod racers, or the buzz of\nlightsabers? The film would lose many of its immersive qualities. So, director\nBenh Zeitlin puts careful attention into sound design. As an example, in his\nprevious film, Beasts of the Southern Wild<\/em>, the sounds of\nHurricane Katrina can be heard with the growling wind, the shrieking shaking\nshutters and the pounding rain. While very little rain or lightning appears on\nthe screen, the audience feels terrified by the audible aspect of the\nhurricane. Such elements can also help keep the budget to a minimum as rain\nmachines and lightning visual effects can increase the cost of production\ndramatically, but taking out a microphone and recording a thunderstorm has a\nnear-zero price tag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Composer\nDan Romer does a similar job with the score of a film, a lengthy musical work that\nhelps guides the emotional tone of certain scenes as well as the entire story. For Wendy<\/em>,\nbecause it re-imagines the classic Peter Pan<\/em> story of\nchildren who never grow up, the score mimics a child\u2019s perspective. That means\nthat it must be epic and orchestral when the children do seemingly minor things,\nlike play in the mud or chase each other. Zeitlin stated that he took\ninspiration from his own childhood when he would mentally play the grand Indiana\nJones<\/em> soundtrack while he did the small task of looking for an ant in\nthe grass. Dan Romer also tried to mimic a local band in the instrumentation of\nthe orchestra, by having a mix of traditional symphonic orchestral instruments\nand instruments found in smaller bands such as steel drums. This gives it a\ngrounded feeling that agrees with the world the children come from. Music can\nalso reflect tone shifts in the film. In the beginning, when the story takes\nplace in the normal world, the music has a searching, almost wanting quality.\nYet, once it goes to the magical world of Neverland, it explodes in triumph. At\ntimes, assembling an entire orchestra can be outside of a film\u2019s budget. So,\nRomer hired and recorded individual musicians and combined their performances\non a computer. This allowed the entire film score to require only nine\nmusicians and a small room, versus a dozen or more musicians and a symphony\nhall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes,\nscore and sound design merge as it does in Wendy,<\/em> when the\naudience meets a large sea creature called Mother. This involved so many layers\nof sound design that the production of Wendy<\/em> hired a sound\ndesigner from Animal Planet<\/em> to create whale noises for the creature. On\ntop of the sound design, Romer composed an ambient score that adds to the\ngrandeur of the creature being displayed on the screen. Such challenges can\nrequire unconventional methods. For example, the score utilizes whirly tubes, a\nchildren\u2019s toy that makes a humming sound when spun. This, on top of the whale\nsounds, creates a mysterious but peaceful atmosphere around the sea creature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\nit receives little attention in award shows, critiques or from the average\nmoviegoer, the sound and score of a film make up half the experience. Benh\nZeitlin said it best, \u201cit\u2019s impossible for the film to speak in any way\u201d\nwithout the sound to assist in communicating the character\u2019s perspectives,\nemotions and tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wendy<\/em> opens in theaters on February 28, 2020. For more\ninformation on Film Independent, go to https:\/\/www.filmindependent.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are interested in more\ninformation on sound in cinema, check out my interview with Midge Costin,\ndirector of the documentary Making Waves:\nThe Art of Cinematic Sound <\/em>at https:\/\/youtu.be\/zvlChCb138Y<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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