Underwire | Wired.com: If Alien taught us anything — besides that Sigourney Weaver is awesome — it’s that in space, no one can hear you scream. It’s true. There’s no air up there, so there’s nothing that sound can travel on. It’s just deadly silence. It’s also a bit problematic for any director looking to make a scientifically accurate movie about space.
8 comments:
I applaud the director of "Gravity" for his decision to make space as real as possible in the world of sound, and respect the silence that prevails in the land of zero gravity. It frustrates me that classic movies such as "Star Wars" and "Star Trek," and even more recent movies involving time spent in space find it necessary to punctuate actions in the void with sound effects. None should exist! There is a moment in the 2002 television show "Firefly," which is set mostly in outer space, when two of the characters are suited up and floating outside their spaceship, and the only sounds that can be heard are their voices as they talk to each other through ear pieces and their overly loud breathing. That scene always sticks with me as the most real and compelling of all space scenes I have ever seen; the lack of noise is what makes it more powerful than a cacophonous bombardment because the simplicity is real and makes the audience think for themselves more. I would like to see the movie "Gravity" to see how this percussion-less score weaves the story of loneliness in space together cohesively.
I don't see any problem with sound effects in space because it adds to the layers of action being done on screen, and Emma, the movies/show that you cited are fantasy so they can have whatever space conditions that they want. Imagine what they would have sounded like without sounds. That would have been terribly boring. A laser fight without the classic laser sounds? No, thank you.
It is cool that he decided to go with a more "real" feel, but I don't think that it was necessary. People have been using music underscoring to add to the emotion of movies for years. All he did was revert back to the silent movies were there was no sound coming from the movie, only from the orchestra or piano playing up front. It is nothing new; he just used an old technique to fulfill a new requirement.
Percussion is a part of music to keep beat, so I don't think I would have a problem if there was a few cymbal rolls in there.
When I saw "Gravity" in the movie theater on Monday, Steven Price's score kept me so emerged in the world of the story, and always on the edge of my seat. As a compliment to Rice's seamless matching of his score to the story, I often forgot it was there, and that it was having an effect on me, until it when away. The moments of silence throughout the film were powerful, and well chosen. I also loved the times that Kowalski had the radio playing while he was speaking, and in the timbre of his voice and the music, you could hear that he was in this great void. It made the world around him that much larger and more terrifying! I appreciate this article for highlighting that artistry that goes into scoring a movie like this, and what a unique challenge it was for Rice to work primarily without sound effects and percussion. Every artistic element of this film deserves to be applauded.
I haven't seen this movie yet, but everything I have heard about it is good, and the realism that the article describes makes me want to see it even more. I think the idea of having a more accurate representation of sound, or lack thereof, in space is a really interesting concept and I would imagine that it really adds to the feeling of anxiety that the director is trying to create. I disagree with Kristen that all he is doing is reverting back to old technique. He is clearly making the very conscious choice to make the movie as real as possible and not use sound, just because silent movies didn't have sound doesn't mean this is the same. Silent movies are just that, silent, and to do that in this day and age is a truly new and experimental idea.
"In space no one can hear you scream" there is nothing to carry sound and space and thus makes things that much more terrifying. Emma makes the perfect reference to Firefly, one of few shows that appropriately portrays what it is like to be in space. I have yet to see the film and so I am going to hod off on actually watching the interview. What makes space so terrifying is the lack of sound, when there isn't anything actively stimulating our senses our minds will fill in the void and typically with what our subconscious has already determined to be the worst case scenario.
As I listen to the Soundcloud tracks within this article, I really understand what they meant by using tracks to convey the message with still trying to make it as real as possible. It's great to see people take into account the scientific elements of a show to make it as real as possible to the audience so the true effect of what is happening comes across. Hearing this score and knowing that they thought the tracks, I am finding myself to become more excited to see this movie which is weird because I normally don't like science fiction, and the fact that just the soundtrack is doing that for me is a truly amazing thing. I can't wait to see how the other design elements and directing and acting come together in this movie.
I find it great that the director chose to try to keep things as real as possible. Having not seen the movie, I can imagine that the choice to not include any background noise other than the soundtrack serves to make scenes more tense, as humans are wired to not like silence, because silence usually means that something dangerous is sneaking up behind us.
I totally appreciate the fact that the director decided to actually portray space with no sound. I think not only does it keep it more realistic but it creates a stronger and more emotional connection to the scene. With the score adding to the emotional aspect of whats happening you can hear whats happening in your head or if you dont you can imagine being there, in space and not hearing a single thing when there should be something incredibly loud, its so frightening. Not only that but the composition is amazing the use of silence and echo is fascinating and compelling.
Post a Comment