OK Kanmani: Maniratnam-ARRahman-PC Sreeram

[mappi]

isnt live sound suppose to be clear? English film are shot live rite?

Mahen,

We are getting into analysis, which is very difficult for me to be short, but I will try my best.

Sounds can be anything - dialogues or a noise or Music - and going live is not only to be clear, but to create a realistic environment by capturing (or re-producing) the sound events as a wholesome sound bubble and enveloppe the audience inside it to make them experience the moment. Sound can be written. Yes, a film maker who knows what he is doing includes sound in his script. Its nothing to do with the MD & his BGM score, but purely an end-to-end cover of his imagined scene. Take for exemple, the temple scene in Thalapathi where Rajini and Sujatha turn to the sound of the goods-train whistle. Or the way Subbu runs up and down the stairs all the while her 'Golusu' rythms her happiness. It depends on the film maker, how convincingly he adpats paper (script) medium into motion (film) medium.

Loudness is entirely different from Sound. And that is entirely a different topic. Talking about English film/Live sounds :

"
The boom operator's job is to clearly record the dialogue, and only the dialogue. Going for live sound, every noise is captured including the disturbances in the indoor shooting spot or traffic noise during the outdoor. During post production the same ambience is created and added to the original dialogue bits making it look quite real and live. These needed noises are created by engineers in a lab with the mediums which are the originators of these desired sounds. An average audience member may not take note of every detailing, but they will notice an indefinable realism and professionalism to the film that sets it apart from the others.
"

On the other hand, the major drawback that we cannot use the recorded live sounds entirely into a film is due to editing. Editing cuts the footage into meaningful sequences, thus, there are lot of missing noise particles and lose of continuity. Apart from the sound engineering on the sets, they team up in a studio, re-record these noises over the full cut film.

Also, the sound is similar to cinemotography while it comes to cover a moving or static element. It also depends on the POV - First person or Third person, location - indoor or outdoor : Here an indoor is quite complicated as the outdoor. Imagine 2 people sitting and talking in a room with open window. The sound also changes whether its an urban or rural or industrial or natural setup. It gets even more complicated in 'indoor-outdoor' suituation, for eg., while driving a vehicle - sounds heard from a car is different from a truck, is different from an auto-car with wide glass windows which are comanded by the outdoor scenary - city drive, highway, hills etc. In a Live Sound scenario, all these are considered, filmed, sounds recorded live, film edited, sounds re-recorded (enhanced or sometimes re-produced) - just to give the audience ample experience. BGM/ added musical bits are yet another huge topic.

Last month in a film festival, I was very much interested to know how they pulled 2 shots sequenced together with a jumpcut, and the sound setup was extra-ordinary. I asked the film maker how they did it. He explained to me some fabulous techincs on my favorite field - editing - and how they recorded the sound and pre-prepared it for the editing which was already deceided that it should be like that. Just a scene which is less that 10 seconds, these guys had not only spent time, but a whole lot of imagination and new ideas. There is an Palestinian Film - Omar - and in it the whole market place chase sequence is one of the best Live Sound experience I had.

There is much more to it, but I end here by giving you this term, if you are interested to know about Dubbing - ADR: Additional Dialogue Recording. This should allow you to come at a full circle and depending on your interest you can explore more.