Addicts 2008: Sound Editing & Sound Mixing

Sound Mixing

The Dark Knight
Ed Novick & Agce Ulas

Heath Ledger's distinctive cackle may be the most resonant snippet of audio that The Dark Knight has to offer, but it's only a towering component of the film's sound library. While the heavy, dramatic, overloaded score threatens to dominate, the sound mixing ensures that this seems like a rather tense countdown of the ilk you're accustomed to seeing every five minutes on 24, and the dialogue, similarly heavy, is punctuated with booming effect. This film is loud but rarely turgid.

Doomsday
Derek Mansvelt

Another loud film; not that I think loud necessarily equals worthy, as you'll see further down. Neil Marshall's Doomsday is a runaway fledgling of B-movie anarchy, and the vehicular carnage that becomes its trademark custom feels wholly diegetic to the senses. The mobbish, grating platform of sound feels über-pulpy, and heightens the on-going battle, perpetuating the 'doom' half of its appropriate title.

The Strangers
Jeffree Bloomer, Marti D. Humphrey & Chris M. Jacobson

Horror movies are churned out ten-a-penny these days, so finding one that legitimately "scares" you is a tiresome task in itself. Enter The Strangers, which understands that the success of shocking the audience relies primarily on the quality and effect of the soundwork, as well as its mystery and unpredictability. The film is not perfect, but neither is it predictable, introducing bursts of sound that stir you to the point where you can't really accept them as manipulative devices. The contrapuntal bursts of folk music provide a certain eeriness by themselves.

The Wackness
Ken Ishii, Eric Justen & Jeffrey Perkins

Set in a time when Hip-Hop was still a revelation, The Wackness has a rather catchy and relevant song score to accompany its vehemently 'indie' circumstances. I realise that this is a sound mixing category, and was incredibly impressed with both how the film was put together, and particularly how it integrated the sounds of the period into its plot, without these moments appearing too focus-pulling, deliberate, or self-conscious. These moments also gave the film a much-needed (at times) energy.

Wall-E
Ben Burrt, Zach Martin, Tom Myers, Michael Semanick & Tony Sereno

Wall-E is a quiet, patient, and modest film that does everything you'd really want it to, and the sound is indicative of this. From Wall-E's voice, robotic but intricate and emotional, to the subtle, pattering score, to the institutional chaos of life in outer space. It's all interesting, involving, and perhaps encourages us to ruminate a little more about what's going on. Kind of like an animated version of 2001.

Winners: Jeffree Bloomer, Marti D. Humphrey & Chris M. Jacobson (The Strangers)
Runner Up: Ben Burrt, Zach Martin, Tom Myers, Michael Semanick & Tony Sereno (Wall-E)

Sound Editing

The Dark Knight
Michael Babcock, Richard King, Michael W. Mitchell & Hamilton Sterling

More bombs than you can shake a stick at (although why you'd want to, I don't know) and countless numbers of crashes, smashes, and thuds litter the latest Batman installment, and it's testament to the sound department that it doesn't become repetitive or tiresome, like other parts of the film.

Eagle Eye
Christopher Assells, Karen Baker Landers, Albert Gasser, Per Hallberg, Peter Staubli & Bruce Tanis

If action films are supposed to be thrill rides, Eagle Eye is a pretty top-billed fairground attraction. You know this when it almost deters you from seeing the flaws through sheer energy and confidence. The film feels so mapped-out and is full of plot holes, but its super-slick, never-say-die attitude extends to some wonderful sound effects (explosions, electronics, mammoth vehicles) that it's often a joy to sit through.

The Strangers
Scott A. Hecker, Rick Hromadka & Cliff Latimer

Containing some of the sharpest sound-work I've ever seen in a horror film it playfully and torturously terrifies; whether it be banging, scraping, shooting, or otherwise.
Taken from Review

Wall-E
Ben Burrt, Dustin Cawood, Teresa Eckton, Al Nelson & Matthew Wood

The mechanism of the sound in Wall-E is far from standard. The sharp, clanging, rickety nature of the moving robot a fascinating observation in the film's opening minutes, and the introduction of the highly-strung, bubbling electronica of Eve another smart touch. The conveyor-belt consumerism of space allows for more recognition, but in theory, so it should. All-in-all, fascinating variety.

Wanted
Margit Pfeiffer, Wylie Stateman & Jon Title

Although I doubted that Wanted would be embraced by the Academy's sound branch, I did enjoy the film's audio work in a similar way to Eagle Eye. In fact everything in the film is flash, but when you've got a budget as huge as this film was afforded, you'd kind of expect the soundwork to be good. A standout in that area is the gunfire, which feels wickedly gratuitous and certainly grips your attention.

Winners: Ben Burrt, Dustin Cawood, Teresa Eckton, Al Nelson & Matthew Wood (Wall-E)
Runner Up: Christopher Assells, Karen Baker Landers, Albert Gasser, Per Hallberg, Peter Staubli & Bruce Tanis (Eagle Eye)

The Strangers (Bertino, 2008)

The Strangers

Directed by Bryan Bertino

Starring: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Glenn Howerton

Grade: B+

There are many things that can dismantle a relationship. From the moment Kristen McKay (Tyler) and James Hoyt (Speedman) fade into vision through a rain-splattered car windscreen, it's apparent things aren't too cosy at the inn. That this should come after an opening narration about the authenticity of the events on show and a recording of a frantic 911 call (effectively two immediate disruptions) unsettles without the main characters ever having spoken a word. It's a sign of things to come for The Strangers, which continually takes you out of your comfort zone. As unrelenting and merciless as the 'strangers' themselves.

As for the 'strangers', their cameo is a slow, drawn-out one, and is as much an intrusion on the couple's relationship as it is a threat to their lives. Upon return rose petals and champagne are greeted with tension and disdain; a proposal shunned, a celebration tempered, and so what's interrupted is more frosty fall-out than suburban bliss. To the film's credit, as danger is foisted upon them the couple never overtly put their issues to bed, and there's resistance to explore their tiff any further, itself perhaps serving as a statement that bad things don't always have to happen to the happiest of people.

When it becomes clear that they aren't the only ones on their wooded expanse is when The Strangers is at its level best. Containing some of the sharpest sound-work I've ever seen in a horror film it playfully and torturously terrifies; whether it be banging, scraping, shooting, vocalwork, and even the use of existing folk tracks in the film, which linger for what seems like an eternity at times. Director Bertino gets the tension all right, escaping the tedium of suspense that plagues many modern attempts at the genre, and creating a hella scary experience that on more than one occasion made me want to dive into a cushion and put my fingers in my ears. It evokes such a sickening feeling that the mere presence of weapons at all feels unnecessary; it's cold, clinical, life-sucking atmosphere an awesomely effective exercise likely to render you empty and shaken.

There are always moments in a slasher film you wish you could change, and protagonist's decisions that are frankly rather difficult to comprehend. There's never a manual about how to survive such an attack, but if there were, Kristen and James have got it at least the right way up. They don't remain exempt from queries about decision-making but crucially The Strangers acts quickly to limit their choices, and so when faced with the option of shouting and gesticulating at such stupidity, a despairing shrug seems more the appropriate option. It's fair to say, however, that Bertino does get a little too excited at times, and doesn't seem to know how accessible he wants to make the 'strangers' themselves, never showing their faces but making deliberate attempts to align them with 'normality'. I'd also like to have seen the initial 911 call pursued later in the film. There's never any reference to it in the attack, and its only purpose, as far as I can see, seems to be an aesthetic one.

I have difficulting condemning The Strangers for one or two errors/wild assumptions that horror films (especially of the slasher variety) are renowned for having, because as a dramatic sequence the movie is so wickedly punishing and wonderfully constructed. At one point in the film Liv Tyler's Kristen lights a cigarette. Stressed and terrified she potters about in the kitchen, oblivious to a masked 'stranger' standing just metres behind her. You know that the 'stranger' isn't going to touch Kristen but it doesn't matter. Time is frozen, and while our heroine numbs her tired brain in hope of rescuing a tired situation, we're no longer able to be with her. Now that's scary.