Meet the Experts Film Sound Design roundtable: ‘Blitz,’ ‘Emilia Pérez,’ ‘Wicked’
Whether it’s the bombing of London in World War II, a former cartel boss bursting into song, or a gravity defying witch of Oz, finely crafted sound design is essential in completing the vision of a movie. Aural artists James Harrison (“Blitz”), Cyril Holtz (“Emilia Pérez”), and Nancy Nugent Title (“Wicked”) joined us for Gold Derby’s Meet the Experts sound designers panel to discuss their work in some of the year’s top films and clear up some misconceptions about their field.
Watch the complete panel roundtable discussion above. Then click on each name above to watch their individual interview.
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“My late grandparents, right until they passed away, they thought that I basically played the organ in the cinema when it was coming out of the floor, and I gave up trying to explain to them what I actually did,” confesses Harrison. All three artists are in agreement that audiences are often mystified, or just completely in the dark, when it comes to the mountains of work that go into the audio for a film. “They just think that all the sound is just recorded on set and then that’s pretty much it,” Harrison elaborates, “And then you go through and explain or even play some material to them about what you’re doing, and they’re just blown away by what we contribute and the level of detail that we have to put in to make the film come to life.”
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“I’ll say my favorite reaction, if someone asks what I do and I say, I do sound for movies, they say, oh, does that mean you get to see the movie before it comes out?” reveals Nugent Title with a laugh. “I feel like if we’ve done our job properly, it’s maybe not noticeable, maybe it’s transparent, maybe you’re just immersed in the experience of the film,” she continues, “but every moment of every frame is a deliberate choice and months and hours and sometimes years of work.” Holtz is in agreement, but offers that it may be a “good thing” that the average moviegoer isn’t keyed into the minutiae of their labor. “Sound is a powerful way to convey sensations and emotions often without the audience even realizing it,” he states, “So it’s incredibly meaningful for us to reach people’s hearts through this work.”
So does that mean these artists don’t want audiences to be focused on sound when the movie ends? “I think it depends on the context,” explains Harrison, “if it’s creating an emotional context, then yes, hopefully the audience won’t be aware of it. It’s just affecting them on a deeper level.” Nugent Title is in agreement, adding: “I think our job is to support the story, and if the audience is fully immersed in the story, then hopefully we’ve had some part in making that happen.” “Sometimes we say the sound is bigger than life,” offers Holtz, “but actually I don’t really like this idea. Because life is a constant surprise and in many ways I believe life itself is always bigger than anything. So, it’s a good sign for me when people are not noticing all the sound. It means this is the thing that touched them.”
Elsewhere in our discussion, the panelists reveal the directors with whom they dream of collaborating and discuss the ways in which different genres affect their process.
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