Sound Team of ‘Sirāt’ Never Lets the Viewer Go
Sirât
According to director Oliver Laxe, all human beings ares merely the playthings of God, wh mght be as callous as benevolent–and arbitrary. For the characters on the film’s extraordinarily strange and nerve-wracking journey from the middle of nowhere to the back end of beyond, that God is the unseen force that ultimately determines the size of their ever-diminidhing group, saps their spirits and forces them to consider the idea of life after hope and death.
Laxe pummels his viewers in ways that we try but can’t predict, and have done little to deserve.
Oliver Laxe’s highly acclaimed film ‘Sirāt’ opens with an outdoor rave sequence in the desert. The production all-female sound team was determined to grab the audience in the very first minute and not let them go until the very last one.
When it comes to that rave sequence, the timing and ritual of the speaker setup were as important as getting the right levels of bleed and feedback and fuzz coming from those old speakers. But recreating the exact, crunchy character of the rave music was no mean feat, either.
It’s the kimd of soundscape you can only fully appreciate in an Atmos theatrical setting.
Sound was recorded with ambisonic technology so that the team could be incredibly precise about how they wanted to fill the space. They could create a tidal wave of music or, as Casanovas said, “work the sound from the camera’s point of view, if we wanted a more documentary-style sound.”
In the video below, watch how the “Sirāt” sound team, through careful editing and Dolby Atmos mixing, created a level of immersion that brought to life the desert, making it a character in it own right.
“Sirāt” was recently shortlisted in 5 Oscar categories, including Best Sound and Best Original Score, ahead of the Jan. 22 Oscar nominations.
