Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1316380
40 I M PS E . O R G between scenes in the show are very bold and at times unnaturally amplified, meaning the track feels aggressive, propulsive and at times slightly uncomfortable. There are a number of occasions in the show where the focus is on our characters actually listening. This results in a rather dynamic track as we at times conversely utilize some very quiet and subtle atmospheres such as the rattling windows that preempt the massive landslide or the soft wailing tone of the wind as the villagers strain their ears for the sounds of survivors in the aftermath of the disaster. We created a variety of designed winds for the show basing the sound around wailing and crying. In the absence of score, we utilized this palette after the disaster, the landscape echoing the distress of the community. We also used the sound of screaming a number of times earlier in the show as an unsettling precursor of the disaster to come. The screams of the children as they run across the playground in the rain, the screaming of metal cables up on the top of the pit when the first sinkhole opens. WADE: The Boys is a unique show because each episode feels quite a bit different than the others. So yes, I'd say it was different. That might be because there are only eight episodes in the season, but they each have a unique feel to me. It was actually really hard to pick an episode on The Boys because there was a handful that had interesting content and difficult scenes to tackle. It's interesting picking episodes because some of the hardest episodes to cut aren't always the episodes that are as flashy and cool sounding. The episode we chose, the Pilot episode, was good because it had a mix of cool action/sound design scenes mixed with great storytelling. NICK: It was a little different. Almost the entire episode is about two guys that get lost in the desert with the cartel chasing them. Since the landscape was the same throughout most of the episode, it was important for us to subtly change the sound to get the feeling of more despair when they start to lose hope. As they got deeper in the desert, we began pulling back elements to make them feel even more isolated. As the characters got weaker, their movements and footsteps get heavier. One of the characters is carrying two very heavy bags of money. We really tried to make the bags feel like they were getting heavier the longer they were out there. It really helped keep focus on their personal struggle of trying to survive in such a dreadful place. MATTHEW: This is a fairly busy series with new design challenges in every episode. I have to say this nominated episode is the busiest. From a sound creation point of view: there were a lot of new technologies needing design, yet also from a sound supporting story point of view, a lot of story arcs are resolving so we needed to carry along those motifs along as well and complete their development. BENJAMIN: It's the first episode of the season so it set the tone for the season. They are a lot of new challenges and things to design and lots of introductions. It's the showrunner's episode so there are a lot more VFX. A little bit longer episode so there are more scenes to chose from. WILL FILES (Stranger Things): It was the biggest for one thing. It was almost an hour and a half long. In terms of the scope of it, it's like a feature film. But it also had such a multitude of different things happening in it. We felt it was everything that that season of Stranger Things had represented. CRAIG: The mind flair, the monster in the shopping mall, Hopper's death for lack of a better way to put it, was a big thing in the opening episode. I think the way the Duffer Brothers structured the story, by the time you got to eight episodes, all the pieces came together. Sonically, we were able to do a lot of different things with the monster, all the stuff with the laser machine and then, David Klotz's The Never Ending Story musical montage in the middle of it. We had action stuff and a real nice dramatic scene. A really beautiful ending scene of no sounds and just music when they are driving away from the house. And then the little button at the end, the little teaser at the end of the episode, where we're in Russia and out comes what you think is a demogorgon or a half demodog for Season 4. We just covered a lot of sonic real estate in that episode. PAULETTE: How would you define the "sound" of…your particular show? What do you think makes it unique? LEE: The Crown's ambition is big screen production values on the small screen. For each episode, we try to create a unique track full of bespoke original design and recordings. I would say the sound on the show is rich, focused, subtle, and detailed. In the palace, all spot effects sound decadent and expensive. Doors have amplified bass, scale, and reverb highlighting the size of the rooms. For The Crown, all of our footsteps are recorded in live locations rather than on a Foley stage. In the palace, these live perspective recordings mean we can recreate the sonic character such vast floors have in reality and also have entirely natural off-screen long walkoffs down the maze of corridors. WADE: Fucking diabolical (haha). Sorry, a little Boys humor there. I'd say the show has a dark and gory vibe to it. We had a lot of moments to really push the gore and make it sound visceral which was fun. NICK: I like to call it environmental sound design. Everything and anything in a scene can be used to help drive a story and create mood. We don't have a lot of action scenes and we don't ladle the show with music, so sound is really important to hold scenes together. We treat