One of my March viewing highlights is this documentary I stumbled upon on Prime Video. The film’s tagline is ‘sound is 50% of the cinematic experience’ which is 100% correct. Making Waves is a comprehensive exploration of the history and emotional power of cinema sound, highlighting one of filmmaking’s unsung heroes. Our movie-watching experience wouldn’t be complete without great sound… so to say that films are a purely visual medium isn’t exactly accurate. Steven Spielberg says it best, ‘Our ears lead our eyes to where the story lives’ he said during one of the interviews featured in this doc. The opening sequence of Omaha beach battle in Saving Private Ryan is one of the clips featured here and it’s just as harrowing to listen to this scene as it is to watch it.
This film is directed by acclaimed sound editor Midge Costin. She’s been working in the sound department for over 3 decades, some of her notable works include John Waters’ Crybaby, Kenneth Branagh’s Dead Again, Tony Scott’s Crimson Tide, and Jerry Bruckheimer’ The Rock. She then transitioned into teaching, she’s a tenured professor & initial holder of the Kay Rose Endowed Chair in the Art of Sound Editing at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. With her extensive experience in the industry, Costin is the perfect director to tackle this topic.
The title Making Waves is fitting for obvious reasons, but also ironic as the sound crew (sound designers, engineers, editors, etc.) aren’t the kind of people who cause trouble/disturbance, nor do they call attention to themselves. For instance, most people can likely name the top Hollywood cinematographers, but few can name award-winning sound designers. The word of sound is stealthy, it flows under the radar, but we as the audience will definitely notice it when the sound work isn’t up to par. I remember watching screeners of ultra-low-budget indie films with terrible sound design, regardless of how good the story/acting is, it’s hard to enjoy the film.
Costin interviewed visionary directors and showed clips from various movies, some of the talking heads are George Lucas, Ryan Coogler, Sofia Coppola, David Lynch, Ang Lee, Ryan Coogler, Robert Redford, and of course, Spielberg. It’s great to learn from the sound artists themselves and know a bit more about their actual process of creation and discovery. I’m eternally fascinated by Ben Burtt who’s responsible for most of the iconic sounds of Star Wars. I’ve already seen Burtt, who got his big break straight out of film school, talk about his work in the documentary Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy, and it’s really astounding how instrumental cinema sound can be. I mean, you instantly think of Star Wars from just hearing the ‘whoosh’ of the lightsaber for mere seconds.
Given that the film industry is still very much male-dominated in Hollywood, it’s great to see Costin highlight a few female sound experts such as foley artist Alyson Dee Moore who often collaborated with Christopher Nolan in Inception, Tenet, The Dark Knight, etc., and Ai-Ling Lee who’ve been nominated for Oscars for her sound work in La La Land and First Man.
Most people know that Star Wars introduced stereophonic sound to moviegoers which helped put Dolby Stereo Sound on the map, but what I didn’t know was how revolutionary Barbra Streisand was when she was making A Star is Born in 1976. She believed in the importance of having that enveloping sound for the concert scenes, so much so that she said she’d be willing to pay for it herself when Warner Bros refused to adjust the budget for it. That’s just one of the many interesting anecdotes, there are also fascinating tidbits from cinema sound legends such as Walter Murch (The Conversation, Apocalypse Now), Gary Rydstrom (Jurassic Park), Mark A. Mangini (Dune, Mad Max Fury Road), Lora Hirschberg (The Dark Night, Inception), among others.
I love this doc and it’s definitely one of the most insightful and entertaining docs I’ve ever seen. A must-see for movie lovers everywhere, but even if you’re just a casual movie fan, watching this will make you appreciate there are so many below-the-line crew who can make or break a film.
Have you seen Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound? I’d love to hear what you think!
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Sensational review🤩 (need a starry-*eared* emoji here lol) Each of these movie references is more epic than the next. My sound instructor at Colorado Film School would tell us that same message of the tagline – sound is 50% and I have come to understand – Sound is more physical. Which means You have the opportunity to literally bump people out of their chair with a timely bass drop. Picture can’t do that – that should excite any film maker!.. a must watch. Thanks 🙏🏼
This is something I do want to see this as I tend to liken this as a companion piece to a documentary in 2004 about the art of film editing and a documentary in 1992 about cinematography.
Ah I know that ‘04 doc, “The Cutting Edge,” right? Another good one! “Movies are smarter than the people who make them” And now i forget which editor said that; will have to go back!
That’s the documentary.
Thanks for sharing the name of the doc! I gotta look up where I can rent The Cutting Edge.
It’s on Youtube. Annd so is Making Waves! I just realiZed🕺🏽(Funky wave hands)
Yay!! Good to know!
I was about to ask what’s the doc about Editing, which one is the Cinematography one? That’s good that Hollywood are highlighting the below-the-line crew!
It’s called Visions of Light and it’s also available on YouTube. I know it’s an old documentary from 1992 but I enjoyed that one.
Great! Thanks, Steven, I will definitely watch it!
Thanks for the recommendation, I’ve never heard of this doc before but will watch it soon. “Sound is 50% of the cinematic experience” I wholeheartedly agree with that tagline. As someone who’s very snobbish when it comes to sound in movie theaters, I truly appreciate films that were well mixed and sounds great in theaters.
Also, having a home theater, when I watch older films that received a remix in modern audios like Dolby Atmos or DTS: X, it’s like seeing those films for the first time.
Hey Ted! Yeah sound is supremely important, that’s why I love watching movies in Dolby theaters and we installed surround sound in our home cinema. I agree that watching the remixed classic films are like watching them for the first time. I don’t even mind grainy picture if the sound is good, but not the other way around.
Another great review! Like television shows, I’ve never been a huge fan of documentaries. Unless I’m really interested in the subject, I honestly find them quite boring. That being said, I do believe this one sounds interesting. I agree that sound has always played pivotal roles in movies. Spielberg has always used sound beautifully in films, and this is most evident in “The Fabelmans”. One of my favorite films of 2022 that I was shocked didn’t win a single Oscar. Here’s why I loved that movie: https://huilahimovie.reviews/2022/12/01/the-fabelmans-2022-movie-review/
Hi Huilahi! Sorry for the late reply. That’s too bad that you find documentaries boring but I think you just need to find the right docs to watch, ahah. So many of them are as riveting if not more so than narrative features. This one is one of them but there are so many great docs worth checking out.
That’s a great review of The Fabelmans, love that line ‘Movies are dreams that you never forget.’ I’m not as in love w/ that film as you but it’s a terrific film that’s obviously very personal for Spielberg.
Maybe I should have clarified. I do enjoy certain documentaries. It depends on whether or not I am interested in the subject. For instance, I loved “George Harrison: Living in the Material World” because I’m a huge fan of The Beatles. But on the whole I prefer watching movies to documentaries.
Ah I see, yes I prefer narratives to docs as well generally. I haven’t seen that doc of George Harrison but there are lots of great music docs out there.
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