Superb example of sound design in film

S

szegedin

Member
Ok maybe this will get bumped to audio post, but it's not really a technical audio thing but rather creative.

This is not really to everyone's taste, and you kind of have to have seen the film. But it's a favorite. The finale to 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. It's the contrast between how the song feels in the film (first link), and how it sounds dry (second link) that kills me. I tip my hat, Mr Mungiu.

http://youtu.be/Ay1kVedr2lM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9atB4K2AXWk
 
I think I have lost the plot? We are listening to a treated audio track in the background of one clip, and the same track raw? The sound in that first clip sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom by somebody hiding behind the camera. The banging on the door sequence sounded like a students first outing with a boom!
 
Gosh, I reckon you have! Because 'them students won the Palme D'Or at Cannes on their first outing with a boom.... Why don't you watch the film, man?
 
szegedin said:
Gosh, I reckon you have! Because 'them students won the Palme D'Or at Cannes on their first outing with a boom.... Why don't you watch the film, man?
Click to expand...

Because you are commenting on the effect done to the music track in this specific scene, not the whole film.

In the scene in the film the music is cut in like it is playing as background music for the environment, so it is appropriately effected. That's pretty standard operating procedure. That's not really sound design as much as it is music editing and mixing. There really isn't much sound design at all for the rest of it. It sounds like it is just the production dialogue and production effects. No Foley, no hard effects (not that it needed much of that) and no backgrounds. It sounds like all the sound is just coming right off the mic, minus the car engine right at the very end. Maybe it's a stylized thing the director was going for. I've worked with directors that are trying to be innovative and want to only use the sound that was captured on set, not realizing that they are missing the entire point of production sound and post production sound.
 
szegedin said:
Ok maybe this will get bumped to audio post, but it's not really a technical audio thing but rather creative.

This is not really to everyone's taste, and you kind of have to have seen the film. But it's a favorite. The finale to 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. It's the contrast between how the song feels in the film (first link), and how it sounds dry (second link) that kills me. I tip my hat, Mr Mungiu.

http://youtu.be/Ay1kVedr2lM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9atB4K2AXWk
Click to expand...

Perhaps it would help if you described what you find impressive about it.
 
WEll he kind of did say. He is "blown away" because they treated the music to make it sound like it was in the space that the scene is in.

As Dave mentioned this is more mixing than design, though it may well have been also design. Ren did a bunch of "design" work on the music in the club in "social network" to make it louder than He&* and still keep the dialog clearly heard.

But it's not "new" or particularly surprising, it's done all the time. Take a listen through "American Graffiti". It's loaded with music that has been treated to place it in the world that the film takes place in.

No budget filmmakers often don't do much/any of this because few of them actually do a real audio post with someone who knows what they are doing.

So good for you for noticing, remember what sound post can do for your film and hire someone who knows how to do it.
 
BTW don't tip your hat to the director, stay long enough to see the sound department credits.

Sound Department

[TABLE="class: simpleTable simpleCreditsTable"]
[TR]
[TD="class: name"]Dana Bunescu[/TD]
[TD]...[/TD]
[TD="class: credit"]sound editor[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: name"]Cristian Coroiu[/TD]
[TD]...[/TD]
[TD="class: credit"]boom operator[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: name"]Constantin Fleancu[/TD]
[TD]...[/TD]
[TD="class: credit"]sound editor (as Titi Fleancu) / sound recordist (as Titi Fleancu) / sound[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: name"]Christinel Sirli[/TD]
[TD]...[/TD]
[TD="class: credit"]sound mixer[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: name"]Cristian Tarnovetchi[/TD]
[TD]...[/TD]
[TD="class: credit"]sound recordist[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
 
You're right on there with the reference to American Graffitti. I figured some people here would have seen the flick, maybe it's not that well known. In context, that piece of music is extremely dark. What's interesting to me is that it's not like just throwing some Coldplay song through a convolution reverb of the space and calling it "worldized" as Walter Murch would say. They even do that on TV these days. If you listen to the original here, it has this cheesy 80s synth slap bass line. When you take out the low end and get it wet, it's a whole different tune. It effects the chord structure. Extremely dark. I loved it.

My point was that we can go on and on about technical stuff, but in the end those who know how to make emotion with technical manipulation ....

You're right the whole sound crew deserves credit; I am just assuming this was a director's decision since it's such an 'auteur' flick.

BTW: I do sound post, and I find it perversely encouraging that this "sounds like the sound is coming right off the mic" to some.
 
Not to be rude, but it's not really meant to be encouraging. You see, microphones behave differently than your ears, so things on production recorded by the microphone other than the dialogue don't sound as natural to your ear when they are off axis on a mono mic.
 
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