taxi driver : true force, all the kings men cannot put it back together again

martin scorsese - taxi driver - 1976

classic drone series
sound, sound design, music in film

 taxi garage (rotating camera shot)

 street, night

 shooting (western sequence)


music - bernard herrmann
music editor - shinichi yamazaki
sound re-recording mixer - tex rudloff, rick alexander, vern poore
sound effects editor - frank e. warner, gordon davidson, james fritch,
sam gemette, david m. horton
sound recorder - roger pietschmann

la société des poètes disparus

peter weir - dead poets society - 1989

classic drone series
sound, sound design, music in film

 opening credits - reverberant space (dialogue cut out)

 going to the first meeting of the dead poets (david hykes)

suicide (david hykes)

music - david hykes - rainbow voice
sound - alan splet

rio bravo

howard hawkes - rio bravo - 1959

classic drone series
sound, sound design, music in film
(univers du western)

 opening sequence with dean martin looking for a drink in the cantina
unusual edits in the music plus changes in the mood of the music accentuate
the action and violence
in contrast to the editing of the picture, which is pretty standard, except for
the drawing and firing of the pistol by joe burdette (screen captures)

certainly one of the most striking and inventive opening sequences in film history
the first dialogue is at 4.45 into the film

(for more unusual editing in a fight scene : see the bar fight with bogart in
nicholas ray's in a lonely place - 1950)


music - dimitri tiomkin,
dean martin, ricky nelson, walter brennan - my rifle my pony and me, cindy, rio bravo
(see dean martin bear family box set return to me)
sound - robert b. lee (the treasure of the sierra madre, the big sleep)

(number 11 of 500 detailing westerns)

pickpocket : footsteps, car loops, train drones and station ambience

robert bresson - pickpocket - 1959

classic drone series
sound, sound design, music in film

 opening sequence at the races, repetition of ticketing devise (exaggerated)

 doors, footsteps and car drones

 subway, pickpocket activities, footsteps
(dialogue edited out, 3 sections combined)

 car drone repetitions which are looped and layered throughout film,
either in the foreground, or background
(2 sections combined)

 train stations sounds, footsteps, distant electronic voices
(voices similar to tati films)


sound - antoine archimbaud *

badlands

terrence malick - badlands - 1973

classic drone series
sound, sound design, music in film

 train speeding by

 car chase
zooming through a wire fence at 8 seconds

music - george aliceson tipton
sound effects - sam f. shaw
sound re-recording mixer - john wilkinson

lontano

martin scorsese - shutter island - 2010

classic drone series
sound, sound design, music in film

subtle relationships of sound and music found in shutter island
(the soundtrack being an outstanding gathering of 20th century classical music)

specifically, sounds of:
rain, snow, wind, thunder, water and the sea, fire, vinyl lps (surface sounds, memory), distant melodies, distant voices, dreams, bird sounds and other animals, drone, reverberant spaces (military architecture)

 boat ride to shutter island, flash back (includes record player no. one)

 voice fades when women becomes visible

records and record players (odeon records, moments of nazism *)

record player no. two - it's mahler

record player no. three - memory of nazi's office

record player no. four - wife flash back two

record player no. five - nazi's office

distant melodies (from two different sequences in the film, first one with delay)

thunder / john cage (with voices, snow fall, and a girl's voice) / mahler
girls voice reminiscent of the twins in the shining

 the sea / man falling into the sea (heard, not seen) / feldman's rothko chapel /
scelsi's uaxuctum and small rodents

also worthy of mention is the ward c section with bird sounds, water dripping, electronic outbursts, and distant voices


music supervision - robbie robertson
sound mixer - petur hliddal
supervising sound editor - eugene gearty
music editor - jennifer l. dunnington
music researcher - jared levine

music:
- john cage - root of an unfocus, music for marcel duchamp
- brian eno - lizard point (from on land)
- morton feldman - rothko chapel 2 (from rothko chapel)
- lou harrison - suite for symphonic strings, nocturne
- györgy ligeti - lontano
- ingram marshall - fog tropes, prelude: the bay (from alcatraz)
- krzysztof penderecki - symphony no.3, 4th movement: passacaglia - allegro moderato
- max richter - on the nature of daylight
- giacinto scelsi - uaxuctum 3rd movement
- alfred schnittke - four hymns: hymn II for cello and double bass
- lonnie johnson - tomorrow night
- johnnie ray - cry
- kay starr - wheel of fortune (also used in l.a. confidential)
- dinah washington and max richter - mixed by robbie robertson

valentinus, butler's lives of the saints

i had an idea
with thoughts of collapsing stars
that i wanted to see
your thoughts of collapsing stars
so i cleared my sights
thoughts of collapsing stars
so that it could be
the thoughts of collapsing stars
i rowed to the other side
then i rowed back again
to the edge of the outer limits
and then along you came
it's a journey in the mind
thoughts of collapsing stars
our mental states aligned
thoughts of collapsing stars
we're going back to creation
thoughts of collapsing stars
we're seeing spirals in the sun
and thoughts of collapsing stars
i rowed to the other side
then i rowed back again
to the edge of the outer limits
and then along you came

through the alley, behind the market place, this is the way to the past

david lynch - inland empire - 2006 *

classic drone series
sound, sound design, music in film

opening drone, vinyl surface sounds & vinyl section from 1 hour 12 minutes
(w/ minor edits)

polish streets

cast out this wicked dream
(see : thomas köner & jürgen reble tabula smaragdina from kaamos
and work by keith berry)


sound design - david lynch
sound mixer, supervisor, re-recording mixer - dean hurley, ronald eng
music - marek zebrowski, krzysztof penderecki (als jakob erwachte)

related recordings:

jürgen reble & thomas köner - materia obscura sonic acts


- william basinski / works
- keith berry / works
- black swan - in 8 movements - ethereal symphony/experimedia - 2010
- ákos garai - til ødslig horisont - trente oiseaux - 2005
- john hudak / works
- philip jeck / works
- basil kirchin - worlds within worlds - emi columbia - 1971
- basil kirchin - worlds within worlds - island records - 1974
- thomas köner / works
- jean-françois laporte - soundmatters - 23five - 2007
- lustmord / works
- machinefabriek - marijn - lampse - 2006
- stephan mathieu / works
- nurse with wound - salt marie celeste - united dairies - 2003
- nurse with wound - soliloquy for lilith - united dairies - 2003
- dj olive - buoy - room40 - 2004
- dj olive - sleep - room40 - 2006
- dj olive - triage - room40 - 2008
- yui onodera - suisei - and/oar - 2007
- adam pacione / works
- akira rabelais / works
- steve roden / works
- simon scott / works
- colin andrew sheffield / works
- stars of the lid / works

in dreams

david lynch - blue velvet - 1986

classic drone series
sound, sound design, music in film

opening - blue velvet / man watering yard and dog / drone and camera goes underground

stairway and hallway, ambient sounds (repetition of notes in background / melody)

 rossellini apartment, ambient sounds (melody repetition in background)

 dream after leaving rossellini apartment

 industrial music, driving with thunder

music - angelo badalamenti
roy orbison (in dreams) , julee cruise (mysteries of love), ketty lester (love letters),
bobby vinton (blue velvet)
sound design - alan splet

(the score makes direct quotations from shostakovich's 15th symphony, which lynch had been listening to regularly while writing the screenplay * **)

the conversation

francis ford coppola - the conversation - 1974

classic drone series
sound, sound design, music in film

opening sequence (some minor edits)

elevator drone, ends with reel to reel spinning, sounds like birds

dream sequence - train heard, not seen


music- david shire
sound editor, sound montage, sound re-recordist - walter murch

the radio mikes we had back then were not that good, and they picked up miscellaneous static and the microwave transmissions that swamp a city like san francisco. that meant that the actual soundtrack we were getting at the time of filming was about as imperfect as the track that harry himself records in union square! everything would be fine, and then suddenly there'd be the sweep of a microwave pulse across the track. you'd hear distortion and some garbled tonality that would obliterate everything else.
i used some of that noise in the finished film; as noise, it's very good.

from the conversations: walter murch and the art of editing
(michael ondaatje) - knopf - 2002

other films with walter murch on sound:

- francis ford coppola - the rain people - 1969
- george lucas - thx 1138 - 1970
- francis ford coppola - the godfather - 1972
- francis ford coppola - the godfather, part ii - 1974
- francis ford coppola - apocalypse now - 1979
- peter medak - romeo is bleeding - 1994
- anthony minghella - the english patient - 1996
- anthony minghella - the talented mr. ripley - 1999
- francis ford coppola - apocalypse now redux - 2001