In this post, I will discuss some inspirational sound designers that have created an initial grounding for what I hope to achieve within sound design. As of now, most of the sound which I’ve taken resonation with is the soundscape of Sci-Fi, with movies such as Star Trek (2009) and Bladerunner: 2049 (2017). However, to not limit myself to one genre of sound design, I have also taken other genres which serve as either an experimental approach to sound or a hyper realistic approach; both of which explained in further detail below.

Mad God, directed by Phil Tibbet is a claymation/stop motion film which heavily rely on the aspect of gratifying the sense experience as opposed to the standard for narrative storytelling. In such, however, Mad God utilizes this to its advantage especially through aggressive soundscapes; designed by Dan Wool. [link to the trailer for Mad God: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPScwQ-FAbI]. From the trailer alone, we can analyze the sound to appear aggressive and an overload to the senses; yet when paying close attention to the details of the soundscape, it can be heard to be far more distorted and reverbed than the average soundscape of the Sci-Fi genre. The raw sound effects of electricity, metal thuds, and the hissing of steam all create a sense of overload and hyper realism as unlike most soundscapes within cinema, the brutal nature of these sounds remaining untouched allow for a ‘beyond realistic’ approach to the idea of something sounding ‘too real’.

To divulge further into the hyper realistic versus the ‘too real’; where one tries to emulate the sounds of reality, it becomes comfortable for the audience to listen to and it wouldn’t require much of the imagination to take into account of what’s being heard. With hyper realistic sound, however, the raw and brutal soundscapes are too jarring and bizarre for the audience to initially get a hold of. It forces the audience into a reality of sound which isn’t too understood but when the effort is placed to listening to it, the appreciation of Dan Wool’s work in Mad God could only be further appreciated. The same can also be said for Mad Max: Fury Road.

Mark Mangini was the lead sound designer for Mad Max (2015), where in the film, we stray further from the experimental side of Mad God‘s sound and instead breach further, and more direct, into the hyper real. To emphasize this claim, the entire film’s sound was recorded and mixed at the same time [https://enhanced.media/blog/2019/3/18/oscar-for-best-sound-mixing-and-editing-explained]. In doing so, all voice lines were recorded in post-production, making it seem somewhat odd at times to watch the characters speak. Yet, what was achieved in the making of the sound of Mad Max, was instead the masterful blend of atmosphere and loud engines/explosions at a constance rapid pace. The ‘hyper reality’ which is achieved here is instead explored via the sound effects in contrast to the voice lines of the characters. The distinguishing elements between those sounds can seem jarring at times and hard to follow yet nevertheless accentuate the soundscape of the Australian desert in its hellish environment.

In these two films, after being analyzed and argued for their experimental and hyper realistic soundscapes, I find inspiration, alongside my resonation with the Sci-Fi genre, to learn more about the sound of Cosmic Horror as it entails elements of both concepts explained. I believe Mad God in its entirety, rather than just the trailer, explores the concept of Cosmic Horror. Other films also explore this but I’ll need to further my research into it. Instead, as of now, the inspirations I have for sound design which hopefully will allow me to lean into the sound of Cosmic Horror are Dan Wool and Mark Mangini.