The SOUND of SILENCE
Lot of people tell me that the sound in Bhoot was very frightening. But it’s actually the silence which comes before that which makes any sound effective especially in the scary film genre. Apart from camera work and background music, sound obviously plays the most important role in creating a state of heightened tension.
Irrespective of the genre I always took tremendous interest in sound right from my first film Shiva.
Sound is of 2 kinds; one which obviously is put on visuals that we see such as footsteps, trees rustling in the wind etc and then there’s a creative sound which necessarily does not show the source of the sound. It partly works on the same principle as that of how background music is supposed to work.
In my beginning days, I read in American Cinematographer magazine an account of a scene in a film where a young boy is looking at his braces in the mirror and suddenly the braces creep out of his mouth and start entangling him. To create the sound for this the sound designer apparently recorded thin wires scraping across certain rough surfaces mixed with sand shuffling in a wooden box and as an undertone he added the sound of a dentist’s drill. His reasoning was that along with the background music and other sounds nobody will consciously realize the sound of the dentist’s drill but it will arouse the subconscious fear which is in all of us could have been embedded in as children as we see the drill coming towards our mouth.
In the context of certain films sound design can be of incredible complexity especially when you don’t have a reference point to create a sound which would be both effective and believable.
In AGYAAT since the audience does not get to see the antagonist it was a challenge for Dwarak Warrier my sound designer who worked with me earlier in Bhoot and Company to be able to create the character of the creature purely through his sound play.
Also the sounds of the forest which are pretty exciting and eerie in themselves obviously in the genre and subject of AGYAAT call for even more dramatic treatment. The forest needed to be felt seemingly alive by itself as an entity and its various moods could only be reflected through its sounds and I must say Dwarak literally breathed life into the jungle through his sound application.
Of course the most difficult task for him was to create the sound for the creature. Like I said since no one can see the creature in the film he literally had to invent new sounds through a variety of experiments which finally are intended to give a form to the creature in the imagination of the audience. The most difficult part of this exercise was that the creature cannot sound like something one has heard before, as that of a lion’s roar or what you have heard from a dinosaur in films etc. At the same time it has to be organic and also it has to match the expressions of the actors. The sound of the creature also has to give an indication to the characters and the audience of its mood whether it is playing with them or whether it’s angry or whether it’s in pain or whatever else.
This near impossible task Dwarak has achieved far beyond my imagination. The most ironical part is that Dwarak is the quietest man I have ever met in my life. When he speaks he is barely audible. He is so shy as a person that one will miss him even if he is in the same room.
The concept and the imagination might have come from me, but the astonishingly innovative sound of AGYAAT came from the ultra silent Dwarak Warrier.
Tagged as Agyaat, bhoot, company, Creature, Dwarak Warrier, Scary, Shiva, Silence, Sound + Categorized as Entertainment, Film
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:28 PM
Hey RGV,
Reading your posts one by one, is just like a recap of my memories. I watched Rathri while I was very young, My mom took to me the film, because she had a liking for Horror films..and she wanted me to watch them just to become courageous. I became more timid after that, because I always used to imagine there is someone living in the basement and would come put her arms around me from behind in the midnight. Later somehow I got rid of that fear.
Anyways my mom always used to say that, U never should see the horrifying image or figure on screen except for the feeling that the audience experience imagining something because of the sound effects in the background. Once the horror is revealed there will be no horrifying aspect in the film, except for routine drama. I believe Rathri has got that effect to some extent.
Keep showing some difference in the genre of the films.
Jyostna
July 10th, 2009 at 8:34 AM
it’s actually the silence which comes before that which makes any sound effective especially in the scary film genre.
Arbogast’s murder in the film “Pshycho” is the best example of the above statement.
July 7th, 2009 at 11:23 PM
How about generalizing the word PROSTITUTION for activities that you are forced to do due to circumstances?
July 6th, 2009 at 8:37 PM
I loved the title of this article!!
July 5th, 2009 at 5:22 PM
And dude… u know how obvious u can get sometimes? Y did u have to invent a girl and that slapping story to convey ur views regarding the celebration of birthdays? I feel it wud ve made a greater impact had u used a direct approach…
July 4th, 2009 at 2:14 AM
Hey Prateek,
I had similar experience with SHIVA when I watched it in Anjali talkies on the first day. After that I might have watched it umpteen times and still cannot resist whenever aired on TV.
I am sure many in this blog had similar experiences with SHIVA. That was/is the AURA/MAGIC of SHIVA.
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I watched the SHIVA shooting in Keyes High School (which is just opposite to St. mary’s High School where Ramu studied untill 10th). I have seen Nagarjuna, Amala and others but didnot paid attention to “who the director is?” at that time and didnot see him.
I still repent that moment even now. Probably that was the greatest mistake I have ever done.
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:47 PM
HI,
one night when i was in 7th class i watched SHIVA in my grandmas home in a video casette.After that night i watched it continuously for about a week or the whole of my summer holidays at her house.Now even after watching that movie for a million times i still never change the channel whenever it is aired on TV.My proudest posession in my life till now is that video casette.I have many academic certificates and trophies but whenever i have to show anyone something that i preserved and will preserve throughout my life that will be the video casette of the movie called SHIVA.i love the movie Shiva to that extent that i dont like watching other movies and the ONLY reason for that is the fear of watching a better made movie.
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:51 PM
The “Hylite Cafe” shown in Shiva was really there that time? Or was it made specifically for the film?
say its real n help me win 100 bucks, bet is ‘on’ with a friend…
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:42 AM
I have been a regular reader of your blog and have many a time wondered why I waste my time here. I guess I’m a film buff and it is in search of posts such as this one about the sounds of silence that I even bother to come here in the first place. Stick to stuff about film-making. It is much more interesting than your usual rebel-without-a-cause-my-mind-is-rather-fucked-up-and-I-wish-the-rest-of-the-world-had-their-mind-fucked-up-too kind of posts — like that one about celebrating birthdays. Incidentally, has it ever struck you that birthdays are not to be celebrated by oneself, but by others in celebrating your life and for the time that they’ve had with you? The worst of that post was the ending. You have some nerve sending the woman in question a HB SMS. Pity that she did not walk over to you to slap your face all over again. Cheers and keep the good posts coming.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:30 AM
why did u not make a saddy flim like pyassa by guru dutt