We almost always talk exclusively about what we see onscreen in a movie, but Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound is all about what we hear, and it will make you want to go back and watch — and listen to — your favorite films with new ears.
Sound inherently takes on a background role in movies but this surprisingly riveting documentary shows how something we take for granted can dramatically change the impact of a scene. Just try watching a boxing match or a war movie on mute.
Thanks to director Midge Costin, Making Waves makes a subject that could be very technical and, let’s face it, boring, into a thrill ride that will captivate movie fans. A-listers from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg to Sofia Coppola and Ryan Coogler share their challenges and secrets about creating some of the most beloved movies of all time and how sound played into them.
You may be surprised to learn, for example, that the terrifying roar of the T. Rex in Jurassic Park was actually made by a baby elephant and that Oscar winner CeCe Hall used animal noises to help make those jets shriek in Top Gun.
Making Waves features many female sound mixers, editors and designers including Anna Behlmer, who was told women couldn’t work on war movies and went on to be nominated for an Academy Award for Braveheart.
Barbra Streisand also figures prominently in the development of sound, and Making Waves deserves kudos for pointing this out. She’s the one who brought stereo sound into the theaters with A Star Is Born yet she never receives the kind of credit Apocalypse Now got for introducing 5.1 surround sound.
Making Waves is a celebration of the movies and the people who make them. Because it reveals the creative side of sound, it is likely to get audiences more interested in those categories come Oscar time.
It’s also likely to inspire a new generation of innovative filmmakers, many of them women — and I like the sound of that.
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