I read the complaint about sound so much that I wonder if they could change the sound mixing ibefore the release in the US. Also, Nolan most likely screened the film to friends all throughout July, and none of them would have told him they didn't understand anything ? Feels like such a strange mistake, at this level...
Remember people complaining about sound issues with Interstellar, Inception, Dunkirk and other non-Nolan films, never had any probs where I’ve watched films tbh.
i watched interstellar on a normal DCP and had no problems understanding most of the dialogue, i watched Dunkirk on a liemax, not many issues either, perhaps in the farrier scenes, but wow a ton of people are complaining with tenet, im baffled if not a bit worried for the sound aspects.
I agree with Intonestellar. I didn’t have problems understanding those movies for the majority of the time despite the sound. Personally, I think some people are more sensitive than others when it comes to that. Besides, Nolan has said this "I’ve always loved films that approach sound in an impressionistic way and that is an unusual approach for a mainstream blockbuster, but I feel it's the right approach for this experiential film (...) Many of the filmmakers I’ve admired over the years have used sound in bold and adventurous ways. I don’t agree with the idea that you can only achieve clarity through dialogue. Clarity of story, clarity of emotions—I try to achieve that in a very layered way using all the different things at my disposal—picture and sound." So it might be intentional as well and not just a sound problem.
Whatever the reason, it doesn’t seem like it’ll change that easily. Otherwise, it would’ve happened already after the other films. But if you ask me, I don’t have a problem.
I read the complaint about sound so much that I wonder if they could change the sound mixing ibefore the release in the US. Also, Nolan most likely screened the film to friends all throughout July, and none of them would have told him they didn't understand anything ? Feels like such a strange mistake, at this level...
I think we all know he doesn't give a shit lol
-Vader
Yep, that is the truth. It will require WB putting their foot down on future projects with him.
Why? It’s no accident or mistake. He explained several times that he doesn’t really care about making every line of dialogue clear for the audience. I personally don’t mind it but I haven’t seen Tenet yet. I like it when music or sound effects take over but it could be exaggerated here.
And to be honest in some cases you wouldn’t really hear voices clearly and although filmmakers cheat a lot, I still like this approach towards realism.
Also, I feel he intentionally drowns out dialogue scenes shot in IMAX because the dialogue recordings are probably very noisy to begin with. His stance against ADR might have caused this. Like, seriously. He films on location and on a noisy camera - unless ADR is used it won’t be perfectly clean.
OK after having slept on it and thinking about it, I'm becoming fonder of it.
One reason is (HUGE SPOILERS)
the ending, where the Protagonist asks "Who recruited you?" and Neil says "You did, my friend. This is just the beginning for you but for me it's been the end of a long and beautiful friendship." or something like that.
I teared up in the theater, and even just thinking about now makes me emotional.
Sound design is his biggest flaw. This was not the case before 2010. It’s strange that a director who wants people to watch movies on the big screen also insists on creating sound design that has a major clarity problem.
This is just my opinion and experience, and some may disagree. I have to say that I feel people need to step back and stop reflexively criticizing Nolan for this. I've seen every single Nolan film in IMAX going back to The Dark Knight. I've never had a serious sound issue in any of his films while watching them in IMAX. Any minor issues were easily explained, like Watanabe's thick English accent in Inception. I truly feel a lot of this has to do with the fact that IMAX calibrates and constantly tunes and monitors the audio in all IMAX auditoriums worldwide. It's a shame you had a bad experience in a Liemax, but even in Liemax I've never had a bad experience watching a Nolan film. Your bad Liemax experience must have been a rarity I would say.
As a film buff of many years, I've seen many films in non-IMAX auditoriums and the experience has varied dramatically. From projector issues, to sound issues I've had inconsistent experiences in non-IMAX auditoriums. In fact my worst theater experience watching a Nolan film was one showing of Inception back when it came out in a non-IMAX auditorium. The audio experience was absolutely terrible. About 50% of the dialogue I couldn't hear whatsoever, and I have good hearing. This was because for that specific theater room, the audio volume was turned too low, and on top of that the tuning and calibration of the audio was horrible.
So my main point is that I would not criticize Nolan for problems and faults that lie with theater owners and employees. The reason I always go out of my way to see Nolan films only in IMAX is not just because that's how Nolan intends for his films to be seen (since The Dark Knight) but also because watching a Nolan film in IMAX gives a very high chance of having a good audio experience.
Sound design is his biggest flaw. This was not the case before 2010. It’s strange that a director who wants people to watch movies on the big screen also insists on creating sound design that has a major clarity problem.
This is just my opinion and experience, and some may disagree. I have to say that I feel people need to step back and stop reflexively criticizing Nolan for this. I've seen every single Nolan film in IMAX going back to The Dark Knight. I've never had a serious sound issue in any of his films while watching them in IMAX. Any minor issues were easily explained, like Watanabe's thick English accent in Inception. I truly feel a lot of this has to do with the fact that IMAX calibrates and constantly tunes and monitors the audio in all IMAX auditoriums worldwide. It's a shame you had a bad experience in a Liemax, but even in Liemax I've never had a bad experience watching a Nolan film. Your bad Liemax experience must have been a rarity I would say.
As a film buff of many years, I've seen many films in non-IMAX auditoriums and the experience has varied dramatically. From projector issues, to sound issues I've had inconsistent experiences in non-IMAX auditoriums. In fact my worst theater experience watching a Nolan film was one showing of Inception back when it came out in a non-IMAX auditorium. The audio experience was absolutely terrible. About 50% of the dialogue I couldn't hear whatsoever, and I have good hearing. This was because for that specific theater room, the audio volume was turned too low, and on top of that the tuning and calibration of the audio was horrible.
So my main point is that I would not criticize Nolan for problems and faults that lie with theater owners and employees. The reason I always go out of my way to see Nolan films only in IMAX is not just because that's how Nolan intends for his films to be seen (since The Dark Knight) but also because watching a Nolan film in IMAX gives a very high chance of having a good audio experience.
Not all IMAX screens are equal. Experienced it myself with Dunkirk. In any event, many of the critic screenings are on IMAX-branded screens.
Not all IMAX screens are equal. Experienced it myself with Dunkirk. In any event, many of the critic screenings are on IMAX-branded screens.
Yes I am aware of this. I haven't seen this confirmed that most critic screenings are in IMAX auditoriums. That would be curious if true.
It’s not a curious thing. You are claiming all IMAX screens have equal sound and it’s just not the case. Interstellar premiered at the Chinese IMAX in Hollywood. WB and Nolan were fine using this auditorium, but there were a ton of complaints about audio clarity problems from critics and other movie insiders who attended that show.
It’s not a curious thing. You are claiming all IMAX screens have equal sound and it’s just not the case. Interstellar premiered at the Chinese IMAX in Hollywood. WB and Nolan were fine using this auditorium, but there were a ton of complaints about audio clarity problems from critics and other movie insiders who attended that show.
Huh? I said it's curious because I have never seen proof that the majority of critic screenings for Nolan films have always been held in IMAX auditoriums. I've only come across anecdotal reports. Specifically regarding Tenet, do you have concrete proof that most critic screenings for Tenet were in IMAX auditoriums? Yes I am aware of that instance of Interstellar's premiere at the Chinese IMAX in Hollywood. However given that WB and Nolan were fine with it, and that there wasn't 100% unanimous criticism of the audio experience, this is simply a case of opinions may differ. I am not necessarily defending that instance as I wasn't there myself. Point is, opinions may differ. I said that my opinion and experience has been good, and some may disagree. Why not leave it at that? Many people over the years have seen Nolan films in IMAX auditoriums around the world (such as myself) and haven't had issues with the audio experience, while other people have. So therefore it's a subjective experience where opinions may differ, so Nolan shouldn't be getting all this criticism for it.
Please don't put words into my mouth. I never claimed all IMAX experiences have exactly equal audio. Let me make it clear, my main point was that regardless of differences in the audio systems and differences in subjective experience IMAX tunes and calibrates the audio systems in all IMAX auditoriums, whether IMAX or Liemax. Dont believe me? Feel free to contact IMAX directly yourself and talk to them. I've spoken directly with IMAX employees in years past and know this to be a fact. IMAX also has sometimes mentioned this in marketing. The tuning is specific for each IMAX auditorium based on a variety of factors.
Does an IMAX auditorium guarantee a good audio experience? No, but it gives one a really good chance of having a good audio experience, versus a non-IMAX auditorium where it's much more of a gamble.
