Welcome to part 3 of our exploration of how sound designers
conquer the vacuum of space. Today, we once again take a look at the work of
Ben Burtt. If you missed either of the previous parts, you can find them here and here.
Wall-E is a fantastic example of using hyper realism in
order to achieve a motif, and also elicit emotion. Wall-E contains no human dialogue that has
not been processed to the point of sound human. Instead, the film relies on
mechanical and organic sounds to push the story and emotion. Burtt actually recorded different types of
motors in order to bring different emotion into the movements of Wall-E. If
Wall-E was attempting to be quiet, one motor was used, while a different was
used for when it was energetic or moving
quickly.
He also decided to use human voices in order to create
effects in order to bring them to life, and help nonhuman entities feel a little
more organic. Once vocals were recorded, Burtt would use vocoders to dismantle
what it is to sound human, but allow enough familiarity for the audience to
recognize the voice as being a natural voice.
On a side note, the mixing in this film is fantastic. Even
only hearing the mix in stereo, the amount of depth and space and the attention
to detail is just incredible. Every sound moves perfectly with the image on
screen, which becomes important when the entire film is told through sound.
Burtt had an interesting philosophy about this film, that
sums up why I like his work, and I love the genre of hyper realism. He says
that so many of the sounds we place in film can be used for many things.
Especially sounds we invent, like force fields or laser guns. The deciding factor as to how these sounds are
interpreted is every individual audience member. As Hyper Realists, we don't
stay true to nature, because sometimes nature cannot draw the emotion we wish
to excite.
Burtt is quick to
point out that adding organic sounds to a mix does, however, lend credibility
to your work. It allows the audience to feel comfortable with something that sounds familiar,
even if they are hearing it in a totally different way.
I didn't get very deep into how sound was created for this
film. Because of that, I strongly suggest checking out this video, which is one
that I referenced for writing this article. I believe it is worth a watch or
two. Burtt has great philosophy on what it is to be a sound designer, and the
techniques he demonstrates are truly legendary.
Great article. I had a blind music teacher that used to say Wall-e was his favorite movie because of its unique and vast soundscape. I remember watching several videos on the sound design used in this film and I was awestruck at the various tweaks and alterations of sound that were used to relay the emotional perspective of the characters. In many films (especially in the science fiction genre), certain sounds just don't exist naturally - at least not in the context that we would like to use them. As such, many sound designers tend to use synthesis to alter or change sounds so that they can be used in a different context. I really enjoy "hearing" movies like this because even the minute details of a scene's sound give it a life of its own.
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