The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves, is a new visual experience that offers a dark and deep perspective of Gotham City, as well as a somber sound that weaves, second by second, a unique atmosphere. Composer Michael Giacchino and supervising sound editors Will Files and Douglas Murray traveled a long creative road along which they were able to build each sound throughout the film. 

Let’s take a look at the sound micro-universe of this work, and let’s start by saying that Giacchino's justification was always to ask himself the question about what would Batman hear. The composer got really deep into the obsession and pain that consumes Bruce, and this is a display of profound artistic skill: creating from the point of view of a tremendously tormented character. Giacchino's specific method of interpreting composition often results in some of Giacchino's finest film

In reality, here we have three hours dark in form and brilliant in execution that break with labels and preconceived ideas, making the concept of superhero cinema lose all meaning no matter how many capes and masks appear on the screen. In the case at hand, the director, aligning himself with the realistic vision projected by Christopher Nolan in his Dark Knight trilogy, although taking it even further in terms of tangibility and verisimilitude, finally does justice to Batman's nickname that defines him as the world's greatest detective, turning this epic set during his second year wearing the mantle of the Bat into a procedural thriller with strong noir echoes.

For the unique look of Robert Pattinson's sports car Batmobile, the sound designers had to sculpt what this specific Batmobile might sound like. Because of the way Reeves directs the scene, the audience hears the menacing roar before they see it. This tactic required the sound design to do the heavy lifting to make the scene convincing. The layered sound adds a level of uncertainty to what it could be and means it's something of Batman's own creation before thrusting the audience into one of the best action sequences in the film.

The intention behind the Batmobile is to shock the audience somehow. For that to work, the sound not only had to match the look of the handmade car, but it also had to sound like a diabolical beast. The trick the sound editors used here was the same way the sound editors treated dragons in Game of Thrones. Although created entirely in post-production, the sound needed to feel real. To do this, the sound editors treated the sound as if a real microphone was being used and the sound was so overwhelming that it cut through the audio and distorted it. This is the same tactic used for the dragons to make it sound like it was actually roaring right in front of the viewer. As always, great technical feats arise from great difficulties during the making of such a work. Production was well underway well into the pandemic, forcing the creative team to make adjustments at every single step. One, in particular, was the recording of the score. The musicians were not allowed to be in the same room, which proved to be a challenge. The solution was to split the orchestra between two studios, recording simultaneously with two conductors under sanitary protocols which allowed the musicians to hear each other. These kinds of challenges seem impossible, but the pandemic has taught us to be quite recursive.

While this was not ideal, however, it presented an interesting opportunity to record while mixing the film. There was simply no other way, and it’s crazy. Giacchino had the advantage of the musicians playing together, and the mixer had the advantage of having the separate sounds to place around the speaker, which really allowed the music to flow through the theater in ways not necessarily found during traditional, full orchestra recording.

Professionals like Enhanced Media know that sound mixing is a long and grueling process that usually results in many late nights. For supervising sound editor Will Files, one of those long nights resulted in a mixing decision that Giacchino has referred to as insanity. The visual effects shot in which Batman searches a cage for Riddler's note while a bat shreds his hand was delivered late after a full day of mixing, and the sound editor decided to test the correct placement of the sound. The nighttime experiment worked because the camera was placed inside the cage, throwing the bat sound into the audience, swirling in terrifying madness. Furthermore, another recording decision was to place Riddler's microphone inside his mask. This close placement allowed Paul Dano's performance to feel like the sound was too close, which added to the creepiness. Supervising sound editor Douglas Murray has explained that the audience gets all that sound of spit and breath overloading the mic when placed inside the mask, and it’s true. It just accentuates Dano's already incredible performance, simply from a sound perspective.

Finding new paths in the midst of difficulties is the best ingredient in the recipe for creative success, and this film is proof of that.

If you want to take the audio quality and technique of your production to the next level, don't hesitate to contact us, Enhanced Media.

*The images used on this post are taken from Pexels.com