Director and screenwriter Michael Tyburski’s first feature film, The Sound of Silence, premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and is now available to stream with your Hulu subscription. In Episode 2 of this H8URS Exclusive series, Tyburski explains how sound is used to direct audience attention, and how he came to collaborate with Dolby Atmos on his film.

Playtime: Early Experiments with Sound Manipulation

Tyburski cites Jacques Tati’s Playtime as a key influence in his use of sound to create an immersive atmosphere. This may come as a surprise to those familiar with the French filmmaker, as his signature comedic style is noted for its roots in the silent era and Tati’s own background as a mime—his films typically contain very little dialogue. But as Tyburski points out, Tati was meticulous with his use of ambient sound. Tati would emphasize specific sounds in order to direct the audience’s attention where it needed to go, particularly to comedic effect. Tati was also an early pioneer of manipulating the direction of sounds, using the stereo sound systems available at the time.

In this scene, the silence of the waiting room is used to exaggerate all of the small sounds from the footsteps to the leather chairs.

For more on Tati, check out this video by the Royal Ocean Film Society.

Coppola and Murch: Separating Sound and Image

More of Tyburski’s influences are the films featuring the collaboration of Francis Ford Coppola and Walter Murch, specifically how they would separate the sound from the image in order to suggest where the characters’ minds are.

Notice how in this scene from The Godfather, the sound of the train is not realistically occurring in the restaurant, but rather adds to the tension while Michael Corleone contemplates murder.

Coppola and Murch worked together on a number of films including The Godfather series, Apocalypse Now, and The Conversation. Perhaps most notable of these is The Conversation, which is in many ways a film about sound.

In the opening of the film, it is sound that guides us through the scene.

This use of sound that occurs in the “mind’s ear” of a character has roots in the earliest days of film sound—perhaps one of the oldest examples is this scene from Blackmail, Alfred Hitchcock’s first talkie. Here, the film’s protagonist, Alice, has recently stabbed a man to death. As the chatty woman talks about the murder, her words become muffled until all Alice can hear is the word “knife.”

How Tyburski’s Partnership with Dolby Atmos Came About

When it came to the sound design for Tyburski’s The Sound of Silence, in which sound is itself an important character, he knew it would be vital to have a great sound mix. Tyburski initially became aware of the Dolby Atmos sound system through their work on Roma. The Dolby Atmos technology premiered in 2012 with Pixar’s Brave and tends to be associated with big-budget action films, such as the Transformers series and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What Roma shows is that Atmos can be just as useful in smaller, more intimate films, by helping to create a highly realistic aural experience that envelopes the viewer in the world of the film.

You can see how much power the sound of the ocean gives to this emotional scene.

In this larger scene, notice how the chaotic sounds from outside slowly infiltrate the calm store.

So how does an indie filmmaker get access to such sophisticated and expensive technology for his first feature? Well, before production began, Tyburski submitted the screenplay for The Sound of Silence to the San Francisco Film Fund (SFFILM) who were working with Dolby at the time. SFFILM shared the script with Dolby and they liked this story of an inventor obsessed with sound so much that they gave Tyburski a grant to work in Dolby Atmos for his film. As Tyburski notes, The Sound of Silence was an ideal project for Dolby—Dolby’s founder, Ray Dolby, was known as a “sound tinkerer,” much like the film’s protagonist.

How Does Dolby Atmos Work?

Mixing sound for The Sound of Silence

Without going too far into the nitty-gritty technical details, Dolby Atmos has more tracks and speakers than other sound systems and uses metadata that allows it to assign specific sounds to specific locations. So rather than a sound coming from the broad directions of left, right, or center, a sound can be programmed to come from, for example, the front right corner a few feet away from you.

Photo: Dolby.com

The biggest change from other systems is that with Atmos, there is the added dimension of height. So really, individual sounds can be programmed to come from anywhere, creating a more textured and realistic experience.

For a more detailed explainer on how Atmos works, check out this video.

As technology advances, undoubtedly there will be even more ways to use sound as both a creative tool and an enrichment of the cinematic experience. But it is worth remembering that, as with any new technology, the result will only be as great as the thought and creativity put into it by the writers, directors, editors, sound designers, and other creative professionals who use them. If you’re interested in learning more about film sound, check out these other great videos below.