2. I visited the Designing Sound website and looked
at the interviews of sound designers.
Designing Sound is a website which focuses on
sound in films and how it is used. They had many
exclusive interviews with the sound
designers, and even had an interview with
Richard King who is the sound supervisor and
designer of the 2010 thriller film, ‘Inception’.
3. Exclusive Interview
Designing Sound (DS): In an interview with Film Comment
magazine Nolan said this about the use slow-motion in
film, “The audience doesn’t understand what it means but it
gives something a visceral resonance.” While slow-motion visuals
achieve this resonance he’s talking about, how did you and your
team accent sequences with sound design?
Richard King (RK): We didn’t adhere to any particular rules
in approaching these sequences, it more depended on what was
happening and the particular application of the change in picture
speed. In general we either ignored the change or used sounds
which had nothing to do with what was going on.
4. DS: You’ve stated before that Nolan doesn’t spot films the way
most directors do. What is the inception of the soundtrack on his
films and what kind of conversations does he have with you and
the mixers before you start work?
RK: I do send him mix-downs of particular sequences for
feedback well before the first temp mix. And notes sprinkle
in as he’s cutting the film and ideas about sound occur to
him. But I think he wants to see what we come up with,
knowing we can quickly alter it on the stage if needed.
5. DS: You do a lot of recording in the field on your shows, how do
you decide what to record and what to pull from you existing
libraries?
RK: I feel it’s very important to get new sounds for each film. It’s
so important to get the sounds which you feel and imagine could
be there. There’s always a lot of manipulation afterward of
course, but recording new raw material is so important. I’d love
to record everything every time, but the most important thing is
to find the sound which provides that feeling you’re looking for
regardless of where it comes from.
6. DS: In these recording sessions are props, vehicles, or weapons
cast with their literal on-screen counterparts? How do you
decide on what to embellish sound-wise while recording?
RK:We do cast the vehicles and weapons, sometimes with a
duplicate of the picture prop, sometimes not. It all depends on
the film. The film tells us if accuracy is important (or would even
be noticed and add something to the audience’s experience), or
if what we want is a particular ‘sound’. The film tells us how
subtle or how bold to be with ‘sweeteners’.
7. DS: I felt that specific movement in background ambiences
were subtle and of what I could remember (the interior airport)
they had a ghostly or muffled character. What are Nolan’s
thoughts on how backgrounds are used in his films? Does it
differ from the approach of other directors you work with?
RK: It all depends on the situation. The airport at the end is an
emotional sequence, the conclusion of the film and music in this
case lends more emotion. The establishing shot of Paris (for
instance) early in the film relies on background sounds to
establish a new location. There are no rules, it depends on the
situation.
8. DS: I read that this is the first film of this scale that you
predubbed in-the-box. How well did this work for Inception? Do
you plan to mix future shows this way?
RK: It worked great. We learned a lot, but I don’t think we
would have changed very much in our procedure. Lora, Gary,
Tony Pilkington of WB engineering, Andrew Bock and I had an
ongoing email thread and many phone conversations about it
beforehand so we had thought through most of the pitfalls. As
far as doing it again, it depends on the director. The schedule has
to be designed very early with this approach in mind. Visual
effects delivery and the completion of the score have to be
accomplished earlier than usual. I know Chris will mix this way
from now on.
9. DS: You’ve mentioned in other interviews that there were
sound cues that helped the transition between the different
levels in dreams? Were there any other changes in sound from
level to level?
RK: There’s an additive sound which functions as the cue
for the audience. At Chris’ suggestion, we also altered the
pitch of all the real-world sounds when we transition from
level to level (much like the watch ticks change speed in the
first sequence). So all the sounds slow and change and
become a different sound in the next sequence – interior jet
roar becomes traffic when we transition to the first dream
level, for instance.
