sound design in saving private ryan and in Star Wars
The Star Wars series And Saving Private Ryan are both exceptional films in sound design History. Both have received outstanding achievements and have an effect on the viewer. In my essay I will compare and contrast the sound design between the two films and how the sound design effects the viewer.
Ben Burtt is the sound designer for the Star Wars series he has won an Academy Award for best sound effects editing of Star Wars in 1977 and was nominated for another Academy Award for best sound effects editing in 1999 for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Star Wars falls under the science fiction genre, therefor all the sounds are meant to sound mythical and somewhat magical and/or out of this world, and that is exactly what the sound designers did in these films. I’ll briefly explain how they achieved the sounds for various things in the film and how this shaped a surreal world for the audience.
By altering the sound of a punch press along with the sound of bicycle chains being dropped on concrete Ben Burtt created the sound of the Imperial Walkers, this gives them a sense of mass and greatness. The sound of a TIE Fighter is made from an elephant bellow however it was drastically electronically altered to make it sound more futuristic and create a sense of speed, it makes the audience aware of how fast they travel as it swooshes past the screen multiple times. The Wookie (Chewbacca) sounds where constructed of walruses, bears and other animal sounds because the character is animal like and looks somewhat like an adapted bear, the audience can relate to this because its sound is an expectation of the viewers. R2-D2’s voice is a combination of electronically generated sounds, water pipes, whistles, and vocalizations by Ben Burtt himself, he is a robot and is expected to make little electronic and beeping sounds.
The laser blasts was the sound of a hammer being hit onto the wires of a radio tower, this is what people assume lazer guns would sound if the existed
Ben Burtt is the sound designer for the Star Wars series he has won an Academy Award for best sound effects editing of Star Wars in 1977 and was nominated for another Academy Award for best sound effects editing in 1999 for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Star Wars falls under the science fiction genre, therefor all the sounds are meant to sound mythical and somewhat magical and/or out of this world, and that is exactly what the sound designers did in these films. I’ll briefly explain how they achieved the sounds for various things in the film and how this shaped a surreal world for the audience.
By altering the sound of a punch press along with the sound of bicycle chains being dropped on concrete Ben Burtt created the sound of the Imperial Walkers, this gives them a sense of mass and greatness. The sound of a TIE Fighter is made from an elephant bellow however it was drastically electronically altered to make it sound more futuristic and create a sense of speed, it makes the audience aware of how fast they travel as it swooshes past the screen multiple times. The Wookie (Chewbacca) sounds where constructed of walruses, bears and other animal sounds because the character is animal like and looks somewhat like an adapted bear, the audience can relate to this because its sound is an expectation of the viewers. R2-D2’s voice is a combination of electronically generated sounds, water pipes, whistles, and vocalizations by Ben Burtt himself, he is a robot and is expected to make little electronic and beeping sounds.
The laser blasts was the sound of a hammer being hit onto the wires of a radio tower, this is what people assume lazer guns would sound if the existed