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Does Christopher Nolan's 'Interstellar' Have Major Sound Mis Issues?


Doug Beatty

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http://www.slashfilm.com/interstellar-sound-issues/

 

“The sound mix is my favorite part of the process,” Nolan told Entertainment Weekly. “Your biggest creative decisions have been made—the shoot, the cut of the film—and you’re really in there putting the finishing touches on things or exploring different possibilities. It’s a time of pure imagination, where you can just play.” Maybe he’s just playing too much.

 

Seeing this at TCL Imax tomorrow, hoping that this is just a tech issue. Anybody on this board have a hand in the final mix and want to shed some light on this?

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Yep. Heard from some colleages that the dialog is completely crowded by music and fx and is hard I hear.

What Ive come to expect from a Nolan film.

Too bad he don't as much effort into his mix as he does on picture.

I won't be seeing this in theatre.

I kinda like to able to the story. And if I can't hear half the dialog, then what's the point.

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I did some coverage of the screening at the Chinese Theatre for Imax and measured part of the film with my SPL meter when I noticed that the sub woofer was so loud that it distorted and shook the building. It measured at over 100dB SLP. I cant imagine what that is like for a child (there were some very young children on the audience) to experience.

If you do go see it I suggest bringing ear plugs.

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J: " M+E completely overpowering dialogue."

there is a Senatorium for this: 'If it happens once, it is a mistake, if it happens repeatedly, it is a style'

 

and, after all, Mr. Nolan is the Director.

Decision made by someone with a possible hearing problem is t a style, it's a continuous mistake.

Just like Michael Mann, who shoes ken be making mix decisions , as he has hearing aids in both ears.

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I have to wonder if some of these directors have the dialog so ingrained in their head that they hear it fine even if it was muted

Agreed. This is a common psychological phenomenon.

During recording I've noticed that directors often seem unaware of poorly enuciated words that audiences will have difficulty comprehending. Once you're aware of what a word is you can understand it clearly, whereas, that's not a certainty upon first hearing.

Maintaining fresh perspective is one of the biggest challenges a filmmaker faces.

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I have had to train myself to be able to hear the dialog spoken as if for the first time, even when we have done 20 takes! When I go to a Director to alert them to the possibility of an intelligibility problem, the hope is that they understand this phenomenon of familiarity with the words and trust that I have identified a real problem. The audience only gets one chance at it and do not have the benefit of weeks of script writing, rehearsals, 20 takes on set, etc.

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Considering other threads on this forum and opinions heard from other people in the real world, mumbling and intelligibility problems seem to be quite common these days. Some shows here in Sweden also seem to have these issues.

I like what you are saying about trying to have a fresh mind while recording each line over and over. I guess in some cases this awareness of familiarity is something that could be discussed with the director during preproduction, especially since some shoots tend to go quite quickly and there's no good time to explain it on set.

Is articulation often a problem from actors on set? Do you always try to inform of such situations, no matter what?

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JG: " Is articulation often a problem from actors on set? Do you always try to inform of such situations, no matter what? "

yes, no.

 

what will be interesting (?) is whether the ~400 director members of the ATAS will nominate this pic and it's director  (respected critics are saying it deserves both these nominations.)

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Saw it over the weekend. Couldn't get into the IMAX screening, so just saw it in a regular theater. Was absolutely the loudest movie I have ever seen. Painfully loud at times in fact, and I have spent the last 30 year years playing in bands with my ear pressed against a Fender Twin. Lots of the dialog was indeed buried, and the score and effects were so far over the top that it had the opposite effect of distracting me from enjoying the film at all. In general, the visuals were cool, but I didn't care about any of the characters or situations they were thrown into, and it was way too long. Not a winner in my book.

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Could some of this be a surround system not properly set up for clear dialog (or not mixed appropriately for the system in theaters)? 

I could see the issues hearing Bane in the one Batman film, but otherwise didn't hear a significant problem. I saw those in IMAX, and maybe just lucked out that the theater was set up well. Not sure. 

I haven't seen Interstellar yet, but hope to this week. 

 

There have been many DVDs that I felt the dialog was lost to other sound levels going up and down to an annoying degree, but I wrote some of that off to the differences in home theater systems making it hard to do right. 

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JohnPaul,

 

It is under Dolby requirements (expensive requirements). Dolby guarantee what you mixing in the dubbing stage (Dolby certificated) you will hear it in the theaters (Dolby certificated theater). Funny, because this is not happened at all.

 

Maybe if the post production had more time in their hands could be done more detail work. If the movie has problems in the mix it is responsibility from producers department, director and final the post production department. Aka under permission. 

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Vasileios- yeah, but in practice a lot of the big multiplex theaters here in the USA are practically run by kids. Obviously some pay attention to detail, and maybe the IMAX often have somebody better on them. The regular theater screens, many states have a rule that a licensed projectionist must be in charge of the projector room. The loophole was to make 10 or 20 screens all have one giant common projector room so that licensed projectionist can oversee them all, with some teenage assistants or whatever. That's why it's not uncommon for sound to be off, or even focus to slip.... because the person that knows what they are doing is prepping 19 other projectors. I was told (truth or folklore?) that the requirement of a licensed projectionist in many states (all?) goes back to some terrible theater fires and the mishandling of film in the projector room. Whatever the reason, my brother had to be licensed in the mid-1990s to run projectors in college in Massachusetts. They would do the student run films in theaters there, and because of their projectors had to do reel changes and everything. He LOVED it. Though in his case, being an MIT student, he was projecting in a theater where Dr Bose personally supervised the sound install and folklore is that he would pull out a stepladder and make fine adjustments. He was an MIT professor, so he was often on campus. 

 

This is nothing new though, watching the behind the scenes interviews on DVDs there are stories of directors in the 70s that would chase down theaters because they knew some would run the lamps at lower outputs to save bulb life and electricity, but then the film is crazy dark. I can't remember who this was, but one director had the phone numbers of the projection booths and would call them (across the country) and ask what the settings were on their system. One of those things I really hope isn't just a story. :) 

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Vas: " It is under Dolby requirements (expensive requirements). Dolby guarantee what you mixing in the dubbing stage (Dolby certificated) you will hear it in the theaters (Dolby certificated theater) "

actually:

It is under THX certification requirements (expensive requirements). THX guarantee what you hear mixing in the dubbing stage (THX certificated) is what you will hear it in the theaters (THX certificated theater).

actually I don't think they guarantee anything, but they will take complaints, mostly about the playback experience in THX rooms, and follow up on them, yanking the license from those that don't straighten up and play ball...They regularly recheck all their rooms, and THX certified technicians keep them adjusted properly for the theater to be licensed to display the THX logo.

http://www.thx.com/professional/cinema-certification/

 

I've been with producers before preview screenings (for critics) in a theater they had not used before watch the movie, and order a new print, processed differently (usually brighter), before the press screening.

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I have had to train myself to be able to hear the dialog spoken as if for the first time, even when we have done 20 takes! When I go to a Director to alert them to the possibility of an intelligibility problem, the hope is that they understand this phenomenon of familiarity with the words and trust that I have identified a real problem. The audience only gets one chance at it and do not have the benefit of weeks of script writing, rehearsals, 20 takes on set, etc.

 

+111

 

FB users can look at Simon Hayes' post on this. 

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Saw it last weekend and I agree with everything that's been said about the mix, but.....I enjoyed the movie immensely. The hard to hear parts didn't detract from the basic comprehension of the plot lines and story advancement for me anyway. Great movie and very thought provoking in that it bridges some gaps between religion and science.....but that's for another thread.

Mick

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