Warning: Long Rant
I have watched so many films and TV shows lately that have been near unwatchable in their usual form recently. Sometimes because it is too dark, and sometimes because it is too inaudible. I need to up the brightness of my screens, hurting my eyes when the films switch to a brighter scene. I need to turn subtitles on to hear mumbling actors, turning the film into a book, ruining jokes, and ending up with poor transcriptions. I have seen lots of discussion of this online, to the point that it has become a meme unto itself. The most confusing thing is all the apologists out there.
Some have said it’s just how encoding works. When you’re delivering content over streaming, you have to compress it, and lossy compression is the standard now. Or that this is what good sound engineering looks like, we need to keep the dialogue low so the explosions and action are louder, because dynamic range requires it.
Some have said up the volume. It’s meant to be loud, that’s what we mixed for. If you can’t hear it, it’s too quiet. Such as Phil Lord: “if you get to the theater early and you want a fun mission ask someone to check that the theater volume is set at reference (7)! If it sounds a bit quiet, invite them to turn it up a touch to 7.5! If they give you flack… tell them we said it was okay.“
Some have said get better technology. We’re mixing for films in theatres, not phones and TVs. Go watch it in a theatre if you want areal experience. Buy the right equipment and it’ll sound great. This is one of the most common suggestions I’ve seen people make online.
Some have said this is good filmmaking. The brooding actor makes for a more immersive and emotional storytelling. The quiet story is how we intended it. Such as Christopher Nolan: “I actually got calls from other filmmakers who would say, ‘I just saw your film, and the dialogue is inaudible.’ Some people thought maybe the music’s too loud, but the truth was it was kind of the whole enchilada of how we had chosen to mix it“
Nonsense, I say. Bull. Poppycock. All absolute hogwash.
The encoding? If I’m paying for high quality streaming, I expect you to give me good quality files. I don’t care if I’ve got a 1080p display and not a 4KHDR3Dwhatever screen, if you’re not delivering me what I’m paying for, you’re defrauding me. If encoding can’t handle dark darks and low quiets, well, make better codecs. And if you’re struggling with the dynamic range because you’ve shoved everything right to the extremes, you might be making a bad film.
The volume? I already struggle at cinemas because I find the action scenes and music too loud as they are, I don’t want them any louder. If I’m watching at home, I don’t want to bother my neighbours or other people in the house. If I’m using headphones I don’t want to risk giving myself hearing damage every time I want to listent to something. I also don’t want to have to keep twiddling the remote every other scene switch because the audio levels are going nuts. That’s not enjoyment, that’s annoying.
The technology? You’re making a film for cinema theatres, but you know people are going to watch it on TVs with cheap built-in loudspeakers, on phones through tinny bass-boosted earbuds. If the studios are failing to provide mixing for those audiences, or if sound engineers are straight-up ignoring that, they’re dropping the ball. The audience shouldn’t have to go out and buy a Hollywood audio setup just to hear the film right.
The acting and directing? This is the most feeble argument of the lot. An actors job is to get their character across the medium to the audience. The director’s job is to make sure the story comes across in the right way. Theatre know this. The voice over and radio industry knows this. If the movie folks don’t, and prefer to be broody and quiet, then I think that maybe makes them bad at their jobs.
Anyway, that’s my little spiel over. On the off-chance there are any Hollywood folk that make it here to read this, please try to do something about it.
