I have to apologize though, I screwed up on starting the recording…and it’s missing the first minute of the discussion. Here’s a recap. I asked Randy to describe the goals of the sound design for the film. He started by describing how the director, Robert Zemeckis, explained to him that there was going to be a sizable portion of the film that would have no music and very little dialogue. He mentioned how this excited him, but also that it put a lot of pressure on him as the sound effects would be integral to carrying the story over such a large portion of the film. He went on to describe that Zemeckis didn’t want any sounds of other life on the island with Hanks…no birds, no insects…and this is where the recording starts.

I hope you all enjoy the discussion.

For the next Film Sound Discussion Group, we’ll be taking a look at the film Cast Away (2000)…directed by Robert Zemeckis, with sound design by Randy Thom. This session is going to be different from the previous two, we aren’t going to have any special or central presenters. This is going to be a moderated free form discussion to take a look at the use of sound and effects in Cast Away. In particular, I think it would be interesting to focus on the scene where Tom Hanks wakes up on the beach after the plane crash (pictured above). We won’t restrict it to just that scene, but it is an excellent starting place. There is a lot that we can talk about in that scene alone.

So grab the movie, watch it and pop in to the discussion with your opinions and  webcam/mic. [note: There's also some interesting commentary from Randy Thom available on the disc.] The group will meet on Saturday, December 17th, at 11AM (U.S. Eastern Standard Time). You can sign up for the discussion here.

Hope to see you there.

A recording of the webinar is now available here.

Ends June, and the Randy Thom Special too. Let’s see some interesing interviews and articles by Randy talking about his work, his techniques, and special sound development for several movies and games.

What is Sound Design?

You may assume that it’s about fabricating neat sound effects. But that doesn’t describe very accurately what Ben Burtt and Walter Murch, who invented the term, did on “Star Wars” and “Apocalypse Now” respectively. On those films they found themselves working with Directors who were not just looking for powerful sound effects to attach to a structure that was already in place. By experimenting with sound, playing with sound (and not just sound effects, but music and dialog as well) all through production and post production what Francis Coppola, Walter Murch, George Lucas, and Ben Burtt found is that sound began to shape the picture sometimes as much as the picture shaped the sound. The result was very different from anything we had heard before. The films are legends, and their soundtracks changed forever the way we think about film sound.

What passes for “great sound” in films today is too often merely loud sound. High fidelity recordings of gunshots and explosions, and well fabricated alien creature vocalizations do not constitute great sound design. A well-orchestrated and recorded piece of musical score has minimal value if it hasn’t been integrated into the film as a whole. Giving the actors plenty of things to say in every scene isn’t necessarily doing them, their characters, or the movie a favor. Sound, musical and otherwise, has value when it is part of a continuum, when it changes over time, has dynamics, and resonates with other sound and with other sensory experiences.

That is only a part of an entire article called “Designing A Movie For Sound” written by Randy Thom for Filmsound.org. (link below)

Articles

• Designing a Movie for Sound
• The Machinery Aimed At The Ear
• Confessions Of An Occasional Sound Designer
• More Confessions Of A Sound Designer
• A Few notes on “FORREST GUMP”
• Are Movies Getting Too Loud?
• On Being Creative
• A Few Notes On Music In The Final Mix

Interviews

• Buskin, Richard: Making Contact
• Shatkin, Elina: Randy Thom, Sound Designer,  ‘What Lies Beneath’
• Harnessing The Elements On Cast Away
• Cast Away
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Here ends the Randy Thom Special of June.

For July I prepared an amazing featured Sound Designer. Names like Finding Nemo, Peter Pan, Minority Report, Hulk, Monsters Inc sounds familiar? Wait for more info about the July’s featured coming soon ;)