Directed by Midge Costin

Dogwoof, in UK cinemas now

The history of sound in cinema…

Directors often make claims that sound is one of the most important elements of their movies, and yet it’s one of the areas that isn’t paid much heed to very often. You find plenty of featurettes on even the most basic DVD or Blu-ray about the creation of a film’s special effects, but chances are sound is represented by an interview with the composer, whose role is vital, don’t get me wrong, but by no means all the story.

Midge Costin’s documentary sets the record straight. Copiously illustrated with clips from movies from the dawn of filmmaking right up to date, it shows how movies developed from piano accompaniments in the cinema (as recently shown to good effect at the start of the Watchmen TV series) to sound-on-film to stereo, surround and all points beyond. The technical side is well-explained with simple, but not simplistic, graphics, which demonstrate how the parts form the whole, while the interviewees – including Lucas, Spielberg, Ang Lee, Barbra Streisand and three of the key sound designers – explain how sound is created and used.

There are plenty of anecdotes (the Jurassic Park one from Spielberg is great fun), and a lot of behind the scenes footage – stretching back nearly a century to the 1933 version of King Kong. It’s a movie to be seen and heard in the best conditions possible, yet works even on a laptop!

Verdict: A fascinating look behind the curtain at one of the less well documented areas of filmmaking. 9/10

Paul Simpson

 

Click here to read our interview with Midge Costin (including an anecdote about Terminator 2 that didn’t make the final cut of the movie…)