Best Picture For Sound Design

There are numerous films that are worth mentioning when looking at good sound design; Star Wars, Saving Private Ryan, Wall-E, Apocalypse Now, Das Boot to name just a few. Generally speaking they nearly all fall into one of the four categories of Sci-Fi, Horror, Action or Animation. Understandably, each of these categories has sound design requirements but one film that doesn't fit any of these categories and a film that superbly illustrates sound design principles is the Robert Zemeckis film Cast Away starring Tom Hanks.

As an added bonus the DVD features a "Director & Crew Commentary Version" which discusses many aspects of it's sound design and visual effects.

The film has no music for most of it's running time, and very little dialogue. Most of the location sound of Chuck Noland stranded on a remote island was unusable because of the all pervasive sound of the distant breakers. The bulk of the reconstructed soundtrack contains wind, rain and wave sounds, all of which are, in themselves, difficult subjects to record. And of course, all Chucks movements were re-recorded in Foley and all the location dialogue (or should that be monologue) was replaced by ADR.

All in all, the film is a masterpiece in natural sound reconstruction, and the special feature commentary is a must for anyone interested in how Hollywood features manage to produce such exceptional soundtracks when presented with such impossible location conditions.

Get Better Sound For Your Movies

Ever wondered why so many low budget productions have awful sound, or how to get that big hollywood sound for your movies?

Every director and producer should read this book, not just aspiring sound people. It is the most enlightening book I have read on sound recording for film and television.
The book is peppered with anecdotes that illustrate good and bad practices, and a thorough understanding of all the processes involved in producing a good soundtrack could save the production company thousands. Highly recommended reading.