MovieChat Forums > Mank (2020) Discussion > The sound design took this film to anoth...

The sound design took this film to another level

posted 4 years ago by Interlepos (1807)
2 replies | jump to latest

I noticed instantly what Fincher did with the sound -- making it sound like an old film with "thin voices". This totally works, and it makes the film unusual and singular simultaneously. It gives the film weight, and an advantage over other retro films.

The film was really good. Only problem was the discredited notion that Mankiewicz wrote Citizen Kane alone. Orson Welles had a big hand in shaping the screenplay for the screen. For example the famous breakfast scene in Citizen Kane was Orson's invention.

[–] liscarkat (18429) 4 years ago

The most noticeable thing about the sound in old films--all the way back to 1929, if they're in good condition--is that I can always understand every word that everybody says without even having to try. In movies of the last couple of decades the dialogue is poorly recorded and the music and background noise often obscure it. The technology to record dialogue properly has apparently been lost.

[–] KBiker (991) 4 years ago

Yes, agreed on both points: 1) that you could always understand actors in old movies, all the way up til the 60s; 2) after that, something happened, as follows.

The problem, , as liscatkat points out: ...the dialogue is poorly recorded and the music and background noise often obscure it. I would add to that, the naturalistic trend in acting has actors speaking as they would in real life, often mumbling and speaking too rapidly. Fine in real life, but not always a good idea in filmmaking.