Efforts toward “sound” that transcends the boundaries of “Schindler's List” and “Spielberg films”

Adopting a digital sound system that we developed ourselves

On the other hand, the sound effects include the life-ending sounds of gunfire such as the Luger P08 and Vz24, as well as the yelling of the SS over a loudspeaker, all of which add to the discomfort and make the audience tremble from the auditory senses. . I apologize for my personal experience, but when I saw this movie at Kyogoku Toho in Kyoto on its first day of release, I wrote in my notes that the sound effects aroused my fear. He says, ``The bullet of the K98K rifle grazed the side of my ear, and for a moment I had the illusion that the customer next to me had been shot.''

Although not actively mentioned when discussing ``Schindler's List,'' the development of sound technology in movies was instrumental in this approach. This work uses the then-state-of-the-art digital sound system ``DTS (Digital Theater Systems)'' to enhance the sound.

DTS provides high-quality multi-channel sound by synchronizing the time code recorded on screening prints with the CD containing audio data. Now that the movie standard has changed from film to DCP (Digital Cinema Package), the system itself is a thing of the past, but the digital process is revolutionizing the flow of movie sound.

Spielberg made an advance investment in DTS Inc., which developed this method, and used DTS in its first film, the dinosaur panic movie Jurassic Park (1993). They equipped 876 theaters in the United States with a playback system and established the infrastructure for screening the film using this method. And this series of events served as the foundation for ``Schindler's List.''

Above all, this work was produced in parallel with ``Jurassic Park,'' and although it is a different genre, it has the DNA of two brothers in terms of sound design. Because of the subject matter, we tend to look for proof in the story, themes, and ideas when analyzing the work, but above all, ``Schindler's List'' makes us realize that advanced technology lies there as a basis for judgment. .

"Schindler's List" (C)1993 UNIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS, INC. AND AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

However, one thing does not mean that you know everything. In the second half of the story, when Schindler's workers who were mistakenly sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp are taken to the shower room and tremble in fear, wondering if it was poisonous gas or hot water flowing from the pipes, the sound of a violin is heard. The depiction of thrillers will be doubled. As usual, Williams and Spielberg's harmonious underscore direction can be seen in this work. However, Spielberg possesses outstanding compositional ability and excellent directing ability. It is a known point that these basic artistic qualities direct the audience's consciousness toward emotion without relying on Underscore's research.

This approach to sound practiced in ``Schindler's List'' was carried over into the later World War II film `` Saving Private Ryan '' (1998). The film's opening 25 minutes of the Omaha Beach landing, as well as the climactic 30 minutes of the battle between Miller Squad and Nazi tanks, feature no underscores, and Spielberg and John Williams' musical approach is more The aim is to increase precision and achieve minimalism.

References:

“25th Anniversary Edition Soundtrack Schindler's List” La-La Land Records

Franciszek Palowski“The Making of Schindler's List:Behind the Scenes of an Epic Film”Birch Lane Pr

Text: Kazuo Ozaki

Film critic and writer. His main writing sites include print media such as ``Figure King'', ``Champion RED'', ``Eiga Hiho'', and ``Hokkaido'', and web media such as ``Eiga.com'' and ``The Cinema''. In addition, he has contributed many explanations and essays to theater pamphlets, movie mook books, and DVD & Blu-ray software booklets. She also formed a cinema comedian unit [Movie Gachinko Brothers] under the name "Dolly Ozaki" and appears on TV and at talk events.

Twitter: @dolly_ozaki

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25th Anniversary Edition of “Schindler's List”

[4K ULTRA HD+Blu-ray+Bonus Blu-ray set] [3-disc set]: 5,990 yen + tax Released 2019/04/10

Publisher: NBCUniversal Entertainment

(C)1993 UNIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS, INC. AND AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

*Information as of July 2019.