CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Are TV Dramas Too Quiet?

www.vulture.com: The first episode of Sharp Objects is beautifully confident. It moves between different timelines in a way that’s moody and meaningful, its performances are persuasive and mysterious, and the atmosphere is somehow both otherworldly and absolutely real.

But also, I couldn’t hear all of the dialogue.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Although I am not familiar with the show “Sharp Objects” I have watched “The Handmaid's Tale” and a few other shows where the dialogue was very quiet, and I found the best solution was to turn on subtitles and turn up the volume. However, the writer did bring up some interesting ideas about how television shows can be too focused on the visual aspects of the show. Which is understandable to an extent but if the high quality and complex visuals of a show are not met with equally as complex and high-quality sound then the show will only suffer. However, for the handmaid’s tale, I think that when the handmaids whisper and that comes across while you are watching it is an artistic choice that plays a significant part in the stories world. That did not seem to be an artistic choice for “sharp objects” and I would like to explore whether the directors don't care about the sound or if the way they are making the show creates a discrepancy in the sound quality for the watchers.