I felt I needed a bit more research after the first few blogs and videos I watched. I want to create a set of rules and notes to dictate the thought process of the sound designers for when I’m doing my recordings or mixing and even the foley for how to accurately depict the ideas the director and scriptwriters had. I think good sound design is when both visuals and the audio department work in synch to create a collective idea.
This interview starts with discussions about John Cage and the interviewer felt that a specific piece of writing that john cage wrote, where he walked into a quiet room and after a while, it wouldn’t be quiet anymore. He could hear his body and the room tone increase. The sound designers reflect on this information and say they know the piece. The room John Cage was talking bout is called an Ancolic chamber. A room within a room perfectly designed with foam absorption to create one of the quietest experiences on planet earth.
They then both speak about their experiences with visiting an Ancolic chamber. At first, he lost his balance, “we use our ears for balance so you’re asked to sit down. “and after a few minutes your ears open up and you start to hear your own body. The blood coursing the circular system. The small sounds become really big sounds and this inspired the sound design for a quiet place. To create a track to open ears up of the audience and then put them into the perspective of the characters and that’s what John the director wanted with the film.”
I think this last quote really gives a huge insight into how they came up with the overall idea of the sound design. It would be really good if I could perhaps visit an anabolic chamber and experience this myself to know what they are talking about.
They also said that when watching the movie with the first rough script the first thing they realised was the love between the family and how can we showcase this? The love of the family trying to survive. They felt they should strip out the music because there was so much in it. Also similar to Tarkovsky’s ideas of movies having no music. And after they removed the music, they were like how can we get close to them? Reagan one of the characters is deaf and John described to us that millie the actor became the spirit guide on set and taught them all American sign language. And when they started working on the sound design for the film they really wanted to get closer, they wanted the audience to feel what they’re feeling. So they thought “well she’s a deaf person In a world where sound is everything. Life or death even.”
So millie also became their spirit guide for unlocking the film. They received a description from John from how she experiences the world when her cochlear implant is on and she described it as a low rumble. And they reflected that to their experience from being in An anechoic chamber to be very similar. The sound of your own body, your heart your nervous system buzzing away. And they based the sound design on these experiences for specific moments in the film when we’re in Millie’s sonic perspective when her implant is on. And there are three moments in the film when she turns the cochlear implant off and digital zero happens. Which they thought is rare, when do any of us have a chance to experience total and complete silence. So the first time they tried it in the studio it took their breath away. Surreal. And in the context of the movie, it immediately connected you to her, her vulnerability and also unlocked so much for storytelling potential.
I know in my clip there is a scene where she is wearing the cochlear implant and the camera specifically allows you to see it. I want to try and take notes for this to impact my decisions on that scene.
They also spoke that when the volume is stripped and sounds aren’t as obvious, it really can make it attractive for the audience. The quiet makes the audience lean in. The picture editing was back to back with the sound. Which were a new experience for the sound designers and they really enjoyed it. The process was reflective with both forms. There was almost no dialogue in the film so Sound was really guiding it. The question was how do we guide the volume? Is it too quiet or too loud how do we balance it?