CGI and 3D: two of the greatest leaps forward in
movie-making in the past two decades without a doubt. But of late, the greatest
evolutionary step has come from foley artists.
Step back the best part of 20 years to Saving Private Ryan
and The Sixth Sense and we get to some astonishing foley work. In Spielberg’s
WWII drama, live rounds were fired into cattle carcasses to create the
‘realistic’ sound effect of bullets piercing flesh; while M Night Shyamalan
insisted his legendary frightfest should feature no library sound effects
whatsoever – he wanted sound effects nobody had ever heard before to ensure the
film would be as chilling as possible.
Now I’m sure accomplished foley artists can point to further
advances/examples of best practice, but a handful of recent movies have really
moved the sound of gun shots on to the point where every shot makes me jump out
of my seat.
The recent examples that spring to mind include Jonas Cuaron's Desierto, Johnny Depp's Boston mob drama Black Mass, and offbeat Dutch assassin thriller Schneider vs Bax, which all screened at the London Film
Festival. The gunshots cut through each film's soundscapes with shocking clarity. The former benefits from some slight echo as well as befits the
desert canyon environment in which the action takes place.
Special mention should go to Denis Villeneuve’s muscular but intelligent Sicario,
which I saw during my LFF break: the people sat behind me must have thought I
was having a heart attack every time an onscreen character fired a weapon. I felt like I had concussion in the aftermath of the film.
Great sound effects coupled with great sound systems in
cinemas mean films that are meant to feature ‘heart-stopping action’ achieve
their goals with an almost immersive experience.
Sicario is on release.
Black Mass opens on 27 November.
Desierto has no confirmed release date yet.
Schneider vs Bax has no confirmed release date yet.
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