www.livedesignonline.com: When Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960, it became an instant American classic: Her tale of a small-town lawyer called upon to defend an innocent black man accused of a horrific crime won the Pulitzer Prize, has been translated into 40 languages, and was immortalized in a 1962 film that earned Gregory Peck an Oscar.
3 comments:
I find sound design to be an incredibly compelling part of storytelling, especially when it follows an extensive design process, such as that of Scott Lehrer. His research is detailed and thorough, specifically because he traveled to Monroeville, the location that inspired the setting. Physically experiencing an environment is so different than researching it online or reading about it from a book. When I took art history my junior year, I was fascinated by the images and descriptions of classic Greek and Roman architecture. Yet I did not feel the impact of the size and grandeur of the Pantheon’s painted ceiling or hulking columns until I saw it in person on a trip to Rome. My family didn’t understand my fascination with these large pieces of stone, especially when I begged to see multiple different churches in the same day. For me, the concepts of my class had come to life. The beauty of turning the intangible into something tangible is an idea that Lehrer utilizes, by bringing the sound of Macomb to the stage.
I really admire the way the sound designer treats truth in their sound cues. Using room tone is something I always find interesting. There are many noises that are going on around us that we don’t pay attention to, but affect our subconscious. This shows that this artist accounts for beyond what the audience will notice, to influence the bodies experience of it. By using low tones, the artist can create a pressured feeling in a crowd. The sound designer also speaks of the relationship to the music and large dialogue that goes on. Navigating around music can easily turn jarring and off. Using music to tell the time can also be challenging when trying to keep it from being tacky. Too many bird calls and having a cue that can naturally jump times in days are also things can be very jarring. I am interested to hear how the sound designer created them. It is somewhat frustrating in these articles when the consumer has no idea what this persons design even remotely sounds like.
I think quite often, people assume that if a show is realistic, or even if it is not outright absurdist or surrealist, synthesized or other “unnatural” sounds cannot belong in the production. I’ve always found this idea to be flawed; sounds that you might not hear every day can be extremely effective to create tension or dissonance in a realistic play. As for those that might say this is only accomplished because of the contrast between ‘unnatural’ sounds and the rest of the production, I would point to music and regular underscoring: a violin is not a ‘natural’ sound, and an electric guitar certainly is not. I feel somewhat vindicated by Lehrer’s use of unnatural subwoofer effects in what appears to be a realistically staged production. He even notes that most audience members might not realize the effects are not part of the music, and that it serves to create another level of tension.
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