Original raw Star Wars footage highlights the impact of good sound design – Also, Han totally shot first
Feb 19, 2019
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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We’ve posted before about the massive amount of work that went into the creation of Star Wars and how the movie was basically saved from disaster in the edit. And there has been plenty of content made over the years covering how some of the crazy sound effects in the Star Wars universe were created, like the iconic light sabre.
One thing not often shown, though, is how scenes compare with their original sound vs the final production sound – well, except for Darth Vader voiced by David Prowse’s before James Earl Jones was dubbed on top. Here, though, we see the original dailies from the Cantina bar scene from Star Wars: A New Hope, and you really realise just how much difference sound design makes.
There’s no music coming from the band, no dull roar of background discussions from the bar’s patrons, and no sound at all in some parts so that they can be given that audio magic in post.
Naturally, for a scene like this, you really don’t want live background noise, usually, because the microphones recording your actors will also pick up that background noise, which may overpower the talent. But it sure feels weird watching it.
I remember a similar scene being featured on The Matrix DVD as an extra, showing how they filmed the club scene where Neo meets Trinity for the first time, and it offered a similar eerie feeling with people intensely dancing to a lack of Rob Zombie music.
Anyway, if you need a refresher of how the final Cantina scene appeared in the film, here you go. Yes, it’s the one from before they changed it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6PDcBhODqo
While the impact of good sound design should be fairly obvious when you see the original, it’s pretty amazing just how well they did. How much it sounds like the experience we might see in person, as our ears and brain tune into the person across our table, and block out the rest of the room.
So, don’t neglect sound design in your film folks. It’s important!
[via No Film School]
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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3 responses to “Original raw Star Wars footage highlights the impact of good sound design – Also, Han totally shot first”
Duh… Everyone in the universe knows Han shot first.
Well, yeah, most of us do, but these young kids today seeing it for the first time have never seen the real Star Wars. ;)
True, but that’s why responsible parents need to seek out the De-Specialized editions ;) Difficult to find, but totally worth it to see the original versions in HD, and reinforces how unnecessary the subsequent alterations were.