NZIFF Film Review: "Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound" (2019).

'"Sound is 50% of the cinematic experience."' This is Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound. This documentary film directed by Midge Costin and written by Bobette Buster. The film examines how sound designers create the most exciting cinematic experiences. Also, the film features the latest discoveries and advances in sound technology to learn how sounds transform the cinematic experience.

Films such as The Jazz Singer (1927), King Kong (1933) and Citizen Kane (1941) were the major examples of films shown to be the earliest pioneers of sound. Directors such as Orson Welles (the radio wunderkind), Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean and Stanley Kubrick stamped their individual creative style on the sound as well as the visuals. They showed how sound (and the lack of it) could enhance the drama. It wasn’t until the 1970s, however, that experimental and adventurous use of sound crept into the mainstream. In particular, the film highlights the stories of the three pioneers of cinematic sound: Walter Murch, Ben Burtt and Gary Rydstrom. Murch began began editing sound on Francis Ford Coppola's The Rain People (1969). He won his first Academy Award nomination for The Conversation (1974) and his first Academy Award for Apocalypse Now (1979). And then an unprecedented double Academy Award® for Best Sound and Best Film Editing on The English Patient (1996). On Apocalypse Now, Murch coined the term sound designer, and along with colleagues such as Burtt and Rydstrom, helped to elevate the art and impact of film sound to a new level. Burtt began his career creating and editing sound on George Lucas' Star Wars (1977), for which he received an Academy Award for his effort. Burtt would go later go on to win more Oscars on films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Rydstrom began his career creating sound on Backdraft (1991). He would later go on to design and mix sound for many films, including Terminator 2 (1991), Jurassic Park (1993), Titanic (1997), and Saving Private Ryan (1998). All of which he won Academy Awards for in both Best Sound and Best Sound Editing. Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, George Lucas, Ryan Coogler, Sofia Coppola, David Lynch, Ang Lee and Robert Redford all underline just how crucial sound is to our experience of cinema.

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound is a valentine to the sounds of cinema, a reminder of why we continue returning to the multiplex, and an abiding faith in the power of film sound to immerse us in the films themselves. It is an important part of the cinematic landscape and the documentary details exactly why that is. It is a riveting, under-the-hood distillation of over a hundred years of Hollywood experimentation, innovation and expensive bravery. The film offers a long-overdue look at an integral component of cinema whose abbreviated overview of the subject should only leave viewers ready for more. It is a celebration of the artists who create the soundboxes of the movies we love.

Simon says Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound receives:

Also, see my NZIFF review for Mr Jones.