Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2002 15:26:59 +0200
From: Luca <nodoubt@domain.elided>
Subject: The Graduate, dumb question.
This past saturday I found a DVD remaster of THE GRADUATE movie.
I love it because it's original language, ... unlikely
the 100% of italian imported movies who gets an audio modification
so that each actor got its own italian voice (ever heard Stallone
speaking Italian w/ a pretty obvious Roma zone accent???).
Well, I was discussing with a friend of mine about the sound of
the Spider that Hoffman drives around in the movie. I hardly
doubt that's an Alfa sound.. but there's also to say that's an
old movie and the audio is pretty low quality compared to
nowadays Dolby Surrounds systems. What my friend says is that
usually (But I don't agree), american movie maker do use direct
sound, and do not replace it with something else studio created.
I guess there are many guys in this list who watched this movie
many times... what can you tell me about the car sound originality ??
There are scenes that, among the wind, I feel something familiar, but
there are also other scenes it sounds all but a Bialbero sound.
Ciao
Luca
Car engine sounds are almost NEVER captured live (or 'wild' as its
called in the business) during motion picture production. There are
exceptions, of course. You are right about "The Graduate," That's not
the Duetto's engine you're hearing. It always sounded to me like a
British OHV six, perhaps an Austin Healy. Background sounds (footsteps,
car motors, the tinkling of tableware at a dinner party, gunshots, etc.)
are almost always added in post-production. When they are "performed" by
someone mimicking the actors on screen (like for footsteps) its done by
a certain type of performer called a "foley" artist. The sound-effects
guy has recordings of practically everything else and just uses what's
available for many sounds, including cars (you have noticed that
'Bullit's' Mustang GT sounds NOTHING like an American V8).