In a film, no sound is a coincidence.
Every shot, every angle, and every sound is deliberate. Each of the three elements of a soundtrack—dialogue, music, and effects, including sounds that don’t occur in nature—is recorded and evaluated. In the editorial phase of production, as the director determines which dialogue performance is the best among multiple takes, thousands of edits are made to produce the final dialogue track that we hear in the theatre. The score is recorded, then cut into thousands of pieces to match the pace and feel of the movie’s final cut. From footsteps to rustling skirts to bellowing dragons, sound effects real and mythical are designed and recorded, often combining the most unexpected sounds to enhance the movie’s hyperreality.
Finally, it’s up to the rerecording mixers to blend those components in a way that represents the film’s drama. They create the illusion that sound is occurring where the action is happening, whether it’s looming ahead, passing you by, or approaching you from behind. Because it’s impractical to set up microphones where they will be visible in a close shot or pick up a lot of extraneous noise, the mixers recreate the soundscape by carefully placing sounds that were created in editing, with the help of giant mixing consoles.
The effectiveness of the illusion of a sound’s location depends in part on our sense of hearing. We assess the timing, loudness, and frequency of sounds. We also take into account visual stimuli and oursense of body position and effort of movement (known as proprioception) to judge where the sound originates. In fact, visual input can override the other senses.
You can get an idea of how your brain works to process and make decisions about multiple inputs when you watch a movie shown in 3D with surround sound. Try watching the film without moving your head; now try looking all over the screen, allowing your head to move and follow the action. You may notice more sounds or feel more aware of their presence in space.
If that movie happens to be The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in 3D, pay close attention to the ponies. From whinnying and snorting to hoofbeats and the jingling and creaking of bridles and saddles, even the subtler effects are deliberate. They not only help make the ponies’ fidgeting presence more lifelike in a scene, they also heighten the air of danger. And as Wargs’ jaws are snapping overhead, you feel just as threatened as Bilbo Baggins in that tree; it doesn’t matter that you’ve never met a Warg. Your perception of sound located with action makes for a richer emotional experience of the story.
Find how the sound team sweeps you into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug, and get director and producer Peter Jackson’s behind-the-scenes look at intensive final preparations for the premiere at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington, New Zealand—even as production wrapped hours before the press preview.
What scene made you most aware of sound around you?
The scene with the dwarves snoring is a total success !! there is a lot of great other scenes in the movie where we feel the power of ATMOS ! but in this one the sound was so well placed in space that i felt like there is pepole snoring inside the theatre !!
When Smeagel and Biblo were doing the riddles in the cave and pretty much every nature part with the bird chirps.
And definitely the Atmos test. THX what? The Atmos test I look forward to equally to the movies I watch in that format. I also work at a theater that has it so I’m spoiled and can’t really go back to thinking 7.1 was cool anymore. Team Atmos.
Brian from the Dolby PR team here. So great to read these reactions about the Dolby Atmos experience! I had a opportunity to catch the movie during a media screening last Friday night, and there was one scene where (mild spoiler alert?) Bilbo and the dwarves ran into some trouble in the Misty Mountains. At that moment I started hearing some pretty sinister giggling behind me, but as I was about to “shush” my fellow audience members whom I thought were responsible, I realized that the sound came from the movie itself!
The one scene that impressed me was the giant rock creatures fighting and when the huge boulders smashed against them and broke the bigger pieces into smaller ones and to hear the smaller pebbles falling over and around you was pretty cool. The other thing that I don’t think I ever felt while watching a movie was how encompassing the score was. And it’s not that it felt as if I was sitting at the scoring session, but it felt just like I was in the middle of a crescent shaped orchestra instead of just hearing it coming from the front if the screen. I’m looking forward to what comes out from the creativeness from the mixing crews.
Would love to hear Atmos track, but can not stand 3D.
Is there any 2D Atmos presentation in Hollywood area?
On the whole, I wasn’t that impressed with the Atmos mix, due to the fact that the volume level on the ETX screen (AMC Tysons) was set way TOO LOUD – at times it was just a mush of sound, you couldn’t appreciate or even hear where exact sounds were coming from. The best use of Atmos were the placing of the Trolls voices above the dwarves voices. The ‘Riddles in the Dark’ sequence was the standout where at one point, when you hear Gollum’s voice reverbing – it literally was coming from all around you – strangely it was the quiet moments that revealed how great the mixers used Atmos to it’s full potential.