Some of the Oscar awards puzzle me. Take sound editing,what is that for? Or art direction? Thats puzzled me for a long time so i would really appreciate it if someone would tell me what they are about.
“A sound editor adds sound effects . . . Sound editors routinely manufacture footsteps, cars crashing, pistol shots, a fist thudding into flesh . . . In Terminator 2 the sound of the T-100 cyborg passing through cell bars is that dog food sliding slowly out of a can . . . Sound-effects technicians have sensitive hearing. One veteran notes the differences amongst doors:“The bathroom door has a little air as opposed to the closet door. The front door has to sound solid.””
David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, 6th edition, p. 25
“Under the production designer’s supervision, an art director supervises the construction and painting of the sets.”
ibid., p. 20
ROFL, I’ll never be able to watch that movie the same way again. I put the curse of Wilhelm on you! I’m familair with the Foley artists tricks like the bone crunching sound of celery but this is a new one.
Plus add that sound editing includes the art of placing the sound in the surround. When a guy on screen shoots towards the camera and then you hear a ricochet behind you is sound editing. (well sound effects editing)
Basically the sound you hear in a movie on the screen is either greatly enhanced version of what was recorded when it was filmed or was something 100% created after filming and edited into the final product.
Art direction is the design and production of the sets. That may not sound like much but look at films like Batman or Star Wars or Titanic. Some films recreate exactly (almost) a time and place like Titanic. Other films like Batman create something that is both familar but streaches the imagination and then there are films like Star Wars that create things that don’t exisit. What does the inside of a smugglers space freighter look like? An art director had to figure that out and then build it, and build it in such a way that it can be light up and filmed while actors work on it.