Of Giants and Windmills...
Words to voices...
The voices & sounds
Narration & dialogue
Sheep, shirts & the kitchen sink
Creating soundscape
Just a little bit more...
An aspect of filmmaking I eagerly anticipated was audio. And, I knew from the outset that it needed to work in it’s own right – be it the characters, foley or music.
Throughout the process, we repeatedly referenced as our benchmarks – Richard Lester’s Three (, Four and Return of the) Musketeers and Sylvain Chomet’s Belleville Rendezvous for their audio styles.
From The Musketeers, it was the dialogue of incidental characters and particularly Roy Kinnear’s Planchet. Belleville, by contrast has virtually no dialogue, but its pace is driven beautifully by judicious use of foley and music.
Audio parts for the film have all been generated from scratch. And, with years of musical background, I’d be selling the project (and myself) short if I didn’t supply it with an original soundtrack.
As important as a strong visual silhouette is the establishment of a character’s audible identity.
Characters should be recognisable without need for visuals. It’s not just about throwing on an accent, but subtle nuance, characterisation and dynamics. They also need to be complimentary.
Quixote, Sancho and Carrasco all have clearly distinguishable characteristics to their voices.
Not just accent, but pitch, timbre and dynamics contribute to create their character.
Read Ade’s take on process and development under ‘characters’.
Foley establishes the environment, or stage, on which the characters perform and music set the atmosphere and mood.
Did you know...
By coincidence, Roy Kinnear, amongst the audible inspirations, took the lead part in James Saunder’s 1969 play “The Travails of Sancho Panza”