Ironically, the thing that struck me the most about our class trip to the Museum of the Moving Image were the presentations focused on sound. We started with the ADR booth in which three students were tasked with performing lines from the Eddie Murphy film Coming to America in sync with the actor as the scene played out on a large screen monitor. While the students had trouble with laughing at first, when the scene was played back it was actually surprising how well the illusion worked.
I was instantly reminded of how when I was little and would watch classic movies with my parents, my mother would always point out instances in which the actor or actress’s singing was actually done by someone else. I can also remember instances in which the voices of the performers didn't sync up. It really hammered in just how methodically constructed (especially during their golden age) films are.
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| A lumbering beast howling in it's final moments. |
This was proven even further by the following segment of the tour that had our guide deconstruct the audio in a scene from James Cameron’s Titanic. It was here that we learned about not only the various foley sounds that were placed in the scene for dramatic effect (none of which are sounds that occur in real life) but rather the inclusion of animal sounds that are blended in with the soundtrack to give the ship in the film an almost beast-like quality. For me, this made the scene (of the ship sinking) all the more effective and ominous. The Titanic a leviathan, groaning and writhing in agony as it’s swallowed by the dar and treacherous seas.
It’s this type of intentional and nuanced sound design that effectively taps into the subconscious of viewers and gives the images in the film more impact. I definitely walked away from this experience with a newfound appreciation for sound.
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