Why do movie makers get the HiFi so wrong?

[LTig]

...in space you can only hear Strauss...

.., Katchaturian and Ligeti.

 

[AdamG]

You mean every science fiction movie ever made except 2001 and Gravity...

The Expanse is a pretty accurate show. In case you haven’t seen it yet.

 

[Ken1951]

So much so, that I will pause the show to proclaim that some detail is wrong or not scientifically accurate. It drives my wife batty. But she will nod her head and pretend to care for a few seconds. It’s a problem I am working on….

With me it's cars. ID or having the wrong year. And as someone else already said, it's the revving and gear-shifting with old-school automatics.

 

[MattHooper]

So much so, that I will pause the show to proclaim that some detail is wrong or not scientifically accurate. It drives my wife batty. But she will nod her head and pretend to care for a few seconds. It’s a problem I am working on….

LOL. Your poor wife!

Not as sensitive to that because it’s almost a given we are going to hear the sound of spaceships, etc., in space in comic books and sci-fi. (that doesn’t mean I don’t really appreciate it when the occasional sci-fi gets it right).

What bothers me the most and takes me out of movies are period pieces or historical movies in which all sorts of effort has gone towards re-creating in terms of sets and costume, etc. But the actors speak in a way that sounds entirely modern, like people who have just left a downtown Chicago bar or something. Just a total lack of effort to even pretend to be “ of the time” and lazily assume that the costumes do all the work.

(Which is one reason why I appreciate Robert Eggerrs movies, like The Witch, and his obsession with certain historical details).

Which also brings up the sort of third rail topic which I won’t get into of modern casting methods for historical movies. Sometimes for me, it can be the equivalent of seeing all that effort to re-creating a historical period, and then somebody just whips out a smart phone. I have a hard time, not being taken out of the movie sometimes.

 

[Axo1989]

So much so, that I will pause the show to proclaim that some detail is wrong or not scientifically accurate. It drives my wife batty. But she will nod her head and pretend to care for a few seconds. It’s a problem I am working on….

I guess the question then is do you press 'play' after that?

Sometimes I don't. I think I've managed to get to the end of just one of the Star Wars movies.

 

[beeface]

I’m not a gun guy, but surely this is a bit excessive?

 

[MattHooper]

I’m not a gun guy, but surely this is a bit excessive?

Oh God, that’s some over enthusiastic Foley!

This is the type of area where I has a sound editor have overlap with Foley: I cover some gun handling and of course any trigger pulls and clicks, and they will too. The mixers will choose one or the other or mix and match as needed.

And this brings up another pet peeve about guns: whenever somebody pulls out a gun or holds up a gun at somebody else “ hold it right there!” there HAS to be a gun cock sound. Even if the gun clearly does not need it, or was not cocked… it’s got to be there.

 

[Axo1989]

LOL. Your poor wife!

Not as sensitive to that because it’s almost a given we are going to hear the sound of spaceships, etc., in space in comic books and sci-fi. (that doesn’t mean I don’t really appreciate it when the occasional sci-fi gets it right).

It's rare we profoundly disagree on a thing !! But there we are ... I'd say it's a given in the sense of a pervasive disease we'll one day eradicate. But then I still enjoy the Dogme 95 manifesto.

What bothers me the most and takes me out of movies are period pieces or historical movies in which all sorts of effort has gone towards re-creating in terms of sets and costume, etc. But the actors speak in a way that sounds entirely modern, like people who have just left a downtown Chicago bar or something. Just a total lack of effort to even pretend to be “ of the time” and lazily assume that the costumes do all the work.

(Which is one reason why I appreciate Robert Eggerrs movies, like The Witch, and his obsession with certain historical details).

Which also brings up the sort of third rail topic which I won’t get into of modern casting methods for historical movies. Sometimes for me, it can be the equivalent of seeing all that effort to re-creating a historical period, and then somebody just whips out a smart phone. I have a hard time, not being taken out of the movie sometimes.

True, although sometimes my assumptions about details of the time, including the people, have benefited from reading up. On the Moors for example. Noting also the topographical kind of moor, and courting controversy via accuracy apparently, have you seen Andrea Arnold's version of Wuthering Heights?

 

[mlsstl]

Are period cars and period clothes in movies better ? I think soo , but I’m not nerdy enough to recognise 1958 hub caps on a 1957 Oldsmobile .

I have a good friend who was a history buff in college with a special emphasis on WWII. I remember him frequently getting upset with movies not getting the uniforms of German soldiers correct.

 

[AdamG]

I guess the question then is do you press 'play' after that?

I can’t remember the last movie I have finished. Just watched the new TV series on Winston Churchill. “Churchill at War” on Netflix. It’s a pretty good show and sticks to historical records and uses refreshed and up scanned film stock. Another show that was fairly enjoyable was “1923” on Paramount +. It has some technical issues but the story and acting is really good. JMHO.

 

[Chrispy]

I can’t remember the last movie I have finished. Just watched the new TV series on Winston Churchill. “Churchill at War” on Netflix. It’s a pretty good show and sticks to historical records and uses refreshed and up scanned film stock. Another show that was fairly enjoyable was “1923” on Paramount +. It has some technical issues but the story and acting is really good. JMHO.

So movies you've turned off but continued with serial tv shows? Why?

 

[AdamG]

So movies you've turned off but continued with serial tv shows? Why?

Maybe it’s just me but here is my nickel opinion. Movies of late seem more interested and focused on special effects and sound than an interesting story. I just seem to lose interest as the movie progresses. The art of storytelling has been lost. I don’t care how much FX and amazing sets you have if you don’t have an interesting plot and story to tell. I watch more movies on TCM than any other source and I do so for the storytelling aspect.

 

[Chrispy]

Maybe it’s just me but here is my nickel opinion. Movies of late seem more interested and focused on special effects and sound than an interesting story. I just seem to lose interest as the movie progresses. The art of storytelling has been lost. I don’t care how much FX and amazing sets you have if you don’t have an interesting plot and story to tell. I watch more movies on TCM than any other source and I do so for the storytelling aspect.

Mainstream stuff perhaps, but some good independent stuff persists and often with big $ stars participating for nothing relatively. I've not looked to major studio stuff for much storytelling aside from their bottom line type story telling....

 

[Astoneroad]

How many of these can you identify from Boogie Nights?

 

[mhardy6647]

Well, there are two Weltron "2001" radio/8 track players behind the salesman. I had a Weltron... it wasn't bad, actually.
The salesman has his hand on some AM-FM/8 track monstrosity; perhaps Lloyds, perhaps Fisher. The unprepossessing little receiver below it is pretty generic. Could be entry level Sony from the very early 1970s, or something like a Concord (low end US brand, mostly Pioneer OEM, but not all).

 

[Chr1]

Into motorcycles myself and personally love movies where a two stroke dirt bike sounds like an inline four fourstroke sportsbike. Or vice versa. Also seen a fair few cheesy movies, (usually from the 70's/80s), where the engine sound changes completely from one scene to another. Most likely dictated by whatever the sound designers felt like (or had smoked) at the time. Continuity... Nah. Love it.

 

[Chr1]

... Another personal fave when it comes to kooky dubbing/sound design are the mirriad of kung fu movies that came out of Hong Kong in the 70's.

There's a very amusing doc from the 90s featuring the NY hip hop outfit Wu Tang Clan, talking about their love of the genre. Well worth a watch for the prosthetic eyebrows alone. Link.

 

[DSJR]

I seem to remember (I think I have this right) in The Kings Speech, a record player playing something or other just before 'the speech.' Said record player was a UK Pye Black Box with BSR UA6 changer fitted, dating from the mid 50s or so, many years after this scene was supposed to take place. No idea why Pye called it a black box, as most were a polished walnut colour with speakers either side of a curved front (place in a corner to spread the smooth sweet tones around) although some were lavishly finished (I forget the name of the intricate Japanese style? patterning on a black background).

 

[mhardy6647]

ahem.
another personal pet peeve at my house. Since the bald eagle has a pretty wussy call, whenever one sees a majestic bald eagle soaring by, the sound that accompanies it is usually the decidedly more majestic call of a red-tailed hawk.

"high, weak-sounding whinny"

Bald Eagle Photos and Videos for, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

The Bald Eagle has been the national emblem of the United States since 1782 and a spiritual symbol for native people for far longer than that. These regal birds aren’t really bald, but their white-feathered heads gleam in contrast to their chocolate-brown body and wings. Look for them soaring in...

www.allaboutbirds.org

Bald Eagle Sounds, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

The Bald Eagle has been the national emblem of the United States since 1782 and a spiritual symbol for native people for far longer than that. These regal birds aren’t really bald, but their white-feathered heads gleam in contrast to their chocolate-brown body and wings. Look for them soaring in...

www.allaboutbirds.org

compare the red-tail...

Red-tailed Hawk Sounds, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

This is probably the most common hawk in North America. If you’ve got sharp eyes you’ll see several individuals on almost any long car ride, anywhere. Red-tailed Hawks soar above open fields, slowly turning circles on their broad, rounded wings. Other times you’ll see them atop telephone poles...

www.allaboutbirds.org

As an example, the keening sound of the eagle in the opening credits of the old TV show Northern Exposure... you guessed it: red-tail.

Plus -- eagles are raptors, and thus kind of apex predators, but, truth be told, they'd much rather antagonize other raptors and steal their catches than hunt their own.


Ol' Ben Franklin was probably right (for a lot of reasons), the US's symbol probably should've been the turkey rather than the eagle.
Turkeys don't soar much, though.

 

[Chr1]

This fella sounded pretty authentic to me as a youth...