Which movies have inspired you?

[sonnenstudio]

Dear all,

 

I recently watched "Barton Fink" (Coen Brothers-1991), pretty much by accident : I found a box of old DVD's on the street a few months ago and I'm watching them one by one without looking up what they're about beforehand.

2 min into the film I smiled a broad smile and thought "wow, this is why I love sound in film". Not very surprisingly, the sound supervisor was none other than Skip Lievsay.  I thought of the following :

 

I would like to start a thread which compiles a list of great-sounding films/series/can even be specific scenes. This could be for whatever reason : technical, artistic, because the dialog sounds so perfect, because of the witty sound design, etc...

Which films have inspired you? Which film have taught you new things? Which films showed you things in sound which you previously thought were impossible, not allowed or nonexistent? Which films have shown you the power of sound in storytelling and how did they do so? Which movies remind you why you love working in sound for film?

 

It would be great if you specify why you chose those films : this could be very general ("very original sound design") to more specific ("Ambiences sound great") to hyper specific ("Scene 5 in  this film shows how beautifully one can play with perspective in dialog mixing" or "the wind sounds greatly enhance the emotional complexity of this character")

 

Also, considering learning is as much about knowing what to do as is knowing what to do, it'd be great to also include films which, in your opinion, show how not to do things (e.g. the controversial dialog mix in Tenet 😉) and why you think so.

 

I think this could be a great database for those wishing to learn more about sound in film, or simply those looking for inspiration. 

 

Thanks in advance to those who wish to contribute!

 

 

 

[Olle Sjostrom]

Not sure if there isn't already a thread about this, but what the hey.. Here goes :

 

The film that wanted me starting with sound in the first place without me really noticing was probably THX1138. I had seen American Graffiti and loved the way it played (back then I wasn't  aware of sound design really, even though I was quite into music and composing, probably knew it instinctively..) and so I was just curious what George Lucas had done before that, so I saw thx1138 and was just floored with the sound design. I haven't dared to see it again, I want that memory.. But in my mind the movie isn't all that great in itself, but it's the aesthetics. The images and sound are kind of apart in a way. It just spoke to me I guess.

 

Can't point to a specific scene.. But there's one sound I remember that I also remember Walter Murch talking about. In the end of the movie there's a motorcycle chase scene (?) and the bad guys' motorcycle has the sound of women screaming instead of an engine, or maybe it's the car... Can't remember. 

 

https://youtu.be/J5nmxHjPuvY