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Monday, September 23, 2019
How ‘Ad Astra’ Got Around The Issue Of No Sound In Outer Space
www.forbes.com: Then comes the sound design...or lack thereof. Since no sound can exist in the vacuum of space, the filmmakers found a clever way to incorporate noises into sequences that unfold in the cold silence of the celestial frontier.
In reading about and watching a variety of clips (falling down the rabbit hole of “Suggested Because You Watched “Ad Astra “Moon Rover” Clip”), the premise and design of this film are so fascinating all in their own rights. Firstly, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon both have now done their own astronaut movies (i.e. the Martian and now Ad Astra). Secondly and more predominantly, both films are incredibly entertaining and super scientifically accurate (as far as I can tell thus far at least). First, in the Martian, the amount of attention to detail that the original author incorporated into his book (yes, I read the book too, it was AMAZING) was incredible. So much of the scientific facts blew me away and made me look up facts I never thought I’d know. Flash forward to today, and Ad Astra is doing similar things, including the masterful sound design of sound only through communication stream systems. In my opinion this creates an intensely unique environment for viewers, in addition to creating a super cool way to stay factual and still remain entertaining. I will not stop saying it, these based-on-fact examples of media that continue to come out are incredible, and I am loving it so much thus far. Scientific films, psychological based-on-history television shows, and even some songs written about historical events (see Brand New’s “Limousine” for an example), catch my attention so much and I can’t get enough of them. Great job Ad Astra, and keep it up Hollywood!
I am very excited to see what Ad Astra is going to turn out to be. I remember going to see Interstellar when it first came out, adn I was completely blown away by the scale and scope of the storytelling masterpiece that is that movie. When I saw Interstellar, however, I went in completely blind. Up to that point, I had literally closed my eyes and plugged my ears at every trailer I was confronted with, and I knew nothing about the movie apart from the fact that it had to do with space and that it was directed by Christopher Nolan. Unfortunately I will not be having the same experience with Ad Astra, although given what I have seen, I think it will live up to my expectations.
I am also very glad to see more and more science and fact based justifications and constraints for design and art in mainstream media nowadays. Perhaps it is a sign of an increasingly educated populace, or that this kind of science has now almost become pop culture, nonetheless it is refreshing to see. I think that using such constraints elevate fiction almost to the same level as dramatized history, in that there is a level of believability and a shared communal knowledge that the piece of fiction is based on. Extremely inaccurate historical fiction can leave a bad taste in your mouth, and I think this is much the same as poorly justified science fiction. Books and films like The Martian, Interstellar, and hopefully Ad Astra, celebrate science in fiction, and push the boiundaries ,and are all the better for it.
I recently started rewatching all the Star Wars movies, and something that bugged the science side of my brain was how much sound there was being heard in the vacuum of space – and I know that it is a fantastical universe and I should suspend all predisposed notions of how physics works in the galaxy far far away, but still it bugged me. I was intrigued by the editors’ approach to designing and augmenting sound effect in the silence of space, and after watching the small clip from the film, I think that the minimalist and muted technique they used is very effective. It does feel like all the sounds are distant and being echoed around the inside of a helmet. Does it really stick to the science – no, but based on this small clip, it feels like the right choice for this sci-fi thriller. I had honestly never heard of this movie before clicking on this article but it definitely seems to have already amassed a significant following and I honestly would not mind seeing it.
In other areas of design, like lighting, sometimes the choices are realistic, but most of the time the design is symbolic. I never really considered how sound design could do the same because it seems to be used mostly for practical effects in theatrical productions, but film has endless possibilities. Composition, of course, can tell a story, but the sound of an explosion or the ringing of a phone as called for in the script never struck me as a particular design challenge. The way sounds differ from what we are used to hearing, like in Ad Astra, can set the tone and tell the story just as much as a score. Obviously, the quality of the sound and the types of sounds we hear should differ between movies like Star Wars and Ad Astra, and that is what sound design is about. Ad Astra is a science fiction thriller and taking the silence of space plays into that tense thematic energy.
4 comments:
In reading about and watching a variety of clips (falling down the rabbit hole of “Suggested Because You Watched “Ad Astra “Moon Rover” Clip”), the premise and design of this film are so fascinating all in their own rights. Firstly, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon both have now done their own astronaut movies (i.e. the Martian and now Ad Astra). Secondly and more predominantly, both films are incredibly entertaining and super scientifically accurate (as far as I can tell thus far at least). First, in the Martian, the amount of attention to detail that the original author incorporated into his book (yes, I read the book too, it was AMAZING) was incredible. So much of the scientific facts blew me away and made me look up facts I never thought I’d know. Flash forward to today, and Ad Astra is doing similar things, including the masterful sound design of sound only through communication stream systems. In my opinion this creates an intensely unique environment for viewers, in addition to creating a super cool way to stay factual and still remain entertaining.
I will not stop saying it, these based-on-fact examples of media that continue to come out are incredible, and I am loving it so much thus far. Scientific films, psychological based-on-history television shows, and even some songs written about historical events (see Brand New’s “Limousine” for an example), catch my attention so much and I can’t get enough of them. Great job Ad Astra, and keep it up Hollywood!
I am very excited to see what Ad Astra is going to turn out to be. I remember going to see Interstellar when it first came out, adn I was completely blown away by the scale and scope of the storytelling masterpiece that is that movie. When I saw Interstellar, however, I went in completely blind. Up to that point, I had literally closed my eyes and plugged my ears at every trailer I was confronted with, and I knew nothing about the movie apart from the fact that it had to do with space and that it was directed by Christopher Nolan. Unfortunately I will not be having the same experience with Ad Astra, although given what I have seen, I think it will live up to my expectations.
I am also very glad to see more and more science and fact based justifications and constraints for design and art in mainstream media nowadays. Perhaps it is a sign of an increasingly educated populace, or that this kind of science has now almost become pop culture, nonetheless it is refreshing to see. I think that using such constraints elevate fiction almost to the same level as dramatized history, in that there is a level of believability and a shared communal knowledge that the piece of fiction is based on. Extremely inaccurate historical fiction can leave a bad taste in your mouth, and I think this is much the same as poorly justified science fiction. Books and films like The Martian, Interstellar, and hopefully Ad Astra, celebrate science in fiction, and push the boiundaries ,and are all the better for it.
I recently started rewatching all the Star Wars movies, and something that bugged the science side of my brain was how much sound there was being heard in the vacuum of space – and I know that it is a fantastical universe and I should suspend all predisposed notions of how physics works in the galaxy far far away, but still it bugged me. I was intrigued by the editors’ approach to designing and augmenting sound effect in the silence of space, and after watching the small clip from the film, I think that the minimalist and muted technique they used is very effective. It does feel like all the sounds are distant and being echoed around the inside of a helmet. Does it really stick to the science – no, but based on this small clip, it feels like the right choice for this sci-fi thriller. I had honestly never heard of this movie before clicking on this article but it definitely seems to have already amassed a significant following and I honestly would not mind seeing it.
In other areas of design, like lighting, sometimes the choices are realistic, but most of the time the design is symbolic. I never really considered how sound design could do the same because it seems to be used mostly for practical effects in theatrical productions, but film has endless possibilities. Composition, of course, can tell a story, but the sound of an explosion or the ringing of a phone as called for in the script never struck me as a particular design challenge. The way sounds differ from what we are used to hearing, like in Ad Astra, can set the tone and tell the story just as much as a score. Obviously, the quality of the sound and the types of sounds we hear should differ between movies like Star Wars and Ad Astra, and that is what sound design is about. Ad Astra is a science fiction thriller and taking the silence of space plays into that tense thematic energy.
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