In preparation for Dune Part Deux, I rewatched Dune Part Une. I lost patience with it on release, because I thought it was all style over substance, and the “low light” scenes – and a lot of them had me gurning at the screen and tilting it away from the light – drove me to mild distraction. Why not make it a Radio 4 production if you can’t see what’s happening during crucial moments? My irritation with the Dark Stuff is still there – it’s a stylistic affectation, nothing more. But I enjoyed what of the movie I could see a lot more the second time around, and I’m what the young people are calling “stoked” for the second part, which is already at the Eel Market. I only hope they find the light switch or a box of candles or something.
So – impenetrable darkness, “naturalistic” sound editing, over-loud music, and a general tendency to be over-long. These are characteristics of “modern” movie making. Give me a beautifully lit scene, with real lights, and well-placed mics making the dialogue easy to hear. And a great script, while you’re at it.
*shouts at clouds*
Moose the Mooche says
Dune. Lawrence of Arabia for children.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Ewwww! Get you!
Junior Wells says
Back in the day singles were road tested on a small player or in a car to get an impression of how they sounded in real life.
I wonder if the Dune directors took into account the film’s reproduction on a disc from the Eel Market or a pirate site and played on a desk top computer screen. If they didn’t I think it was remiss of them.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Oh, it’s not just my very lo-fi set-up that’s causing the sound problems. The complexities of “modern” digital recording make cinema playback a frustrating experience, too. It’s basically because the sound is a compromise solution to any number of playback possibilities. I think we had a thread about this?
Lodestone of Wrongness says
99.93% of movies from the Eel Market are at the very least DVD quality. Our TV is not the smartest of smarts but the sound does run through a Sonos system.
Increasingly my admittedly aged ears need subtitles because of the deliberately muffled sound and as for those “in the dark what just happened?” scenes – have these filmmakers no compassion? Don’t they have grumpy granddads or are they too busy being arty to care?
Gary says
Junior does make a good point, though. It was remiss of them.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
“You, boy. Yes, you. Play this scratched, whatyamacallit, disc through your ZX Spectrum and don’t forget to turn the speaker down to 1. Report back.”
Two days later. “You couldn’t understand a word and you couldn’t see most of it? Great, Oscar for sure.”
H.P. Saucecraft says
*sigh*
Please see my answer to Escher’s smug comment below.
Gary says
One word: Apple Vision Pro. Too dark? Adjust the brightness on your 500 foot screen with just a slight tilt of your little toe.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Apple Vision Pro? What’s that, Gar?
Gary says
Well, H, I’m glad you asked. What it is, is the future in the present. It is the pinnacle of household gadgetry thus far, a process that was begun with the invention of the telephone by Antonio Meucci in 1857. It allows you to immerse yourself, like in a bath but without the hassle of getting wet. And you can watch films and access The Afterword both at the same time without the hassle of leaving your hammock. Without moving at all in the slightest, in fact, except your eyes. Like when Jennifer Saunders tried doing sit-ups in Ab Fab. I haven’t got one yet because people are too stingy, but as soon as I win one somehow I’ll have one.
H.P. Saucecraft says
This sounds fantastic! Whatever next? Robot cars that drive themselves??!! What a time to be alive!
Jaygee says
It’s a good job D2 wasn’t a BBC production or feature a performance from Tom Hardy or you wouldn’t have a clue what the characters were saying either
Gardener says
I’d rather see this tbh
H.P. Saucecraft says
“Howya Dune?” comes from a similarly ribtickling exercise featuring Matt LeBlanc out of Friends.
mikethep says
Me too!
Hoops McCann says
Saw part 2 at the weekend and thought it was stunning. Definitely one to see at the cinema.
the californian says
Having missed P1 first time round, I went to Glasgow Imax last week and spent from Thursday at 9pm until Friday at 2:30am. watching P1 & P2 in quick succession. I have to agree with Hoops that it was a stunning experience. Car on auto pilot for the return to Dumfries afterwards.
MC Escher says
“The house is too hot and humid. I complain but no-one listens”
It’s a movie released in 2021, naturally the producers want to deliver the best sound and vision for available technology. If you have a Bluray or better copy and a decent TV from the last 5 or 10 years it looks great. If you can’t hear it, that sounds like a “you” problem, sadly. Put the subtitles on.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Thanks for trying to make the complexities of movie sound production about “me”, Escher, but they’re not. This is a fairly long piece but do your best, as it’s very informative, and I think you have need of information:
https://www.slashfilm.com/673162/heres-why-movie-dialogue-has-gotten-more-difficult-to-understand-and-three-ways-to-fix-it/
Regarding Dune, I had no problems – sorry, issues – with the sound. My speaker set up may be inexpensive (another advantage of living in the Far, Far East) but it is pretty damn impressive. The darkness, though – I’m watching on a big – really big – flat screen, in as dim a room as I can manage, and it’s still issuematic. This is a stylistic affectation, and I say the hell with it.
MC Escher says
Yeah right, Like I’m gonna read something that might refute my argument.
Is it from the Eel market? Is there a bloke with a hat on in front of the camera? That could obscure a lot of available light.
Plus, yeah, I saw it in a cinema and could hear every word.
H.P. Saucecraft says
How’s your Lobster?
MC Escher says
Still ticking, thank you 😘