Quietest Detail in a DVD scene

[mpompey]

I know a lot of time is spent comparing scenes for sub-sonic bass, enveloping surround, etc. But I was wondering what you guys feel is the most subtle quietest sounds in a DVD mix. Sometimes its the little things that really help drawing you into a movie.

The other day I was watching the short in the Animatrix series called "The Program", in it there is a scene where the two principal characters are talking in a bamboo forest, and you can just hear the bamboo leaves falling around them. A good part is when the black Samurai is confessing that he turned off communications.

 

[Jack Hammer]

I've found that sounds like birds chirping subtley(sp) in the background or wind noise and such often goes unnoticed yet draws you in. I watched one movie, forget which one, where a delivery truck drove by outside the apartment in the movie, and I thought it was outside my place.

Jack

 

[j_garcia]

Want some subtle sounds? House of Flying Daggers - there are a number of scenes where there are things like leaves rustling and wind blowing. There is one scene in particular where the guy is walking around tapping his sword to let her know where he is, and you can hear the sound as he moves away and it goes to one side and gets softer.

Both Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence have some excellent scenes where minimal sound is used. In the first one, when the guy is running down the alley, you hear his footsteps and their echo, his breathing, the sound of the plane flying over and then he stops to check his clip - very small details but an impressive scene sound wise IMO. Another is when the Major is "floating" back to the surface and you can hear the bubbles in the water as the soft music is playing all around.

 

[Jedi2016]

Pretty much anything with the wind blowing through the trees. Shows good attention to detail in the sound mix. Especially if they actually mix it equally through all of the surround channels, something I've noticed is generally quite rare for some reason. For example, in most movies, when it's raining, the sound of the rain is only coming from the front speakers. It's much more immersive when the rain is everywhere, just like it is in real life.

 

[Sheep]

When King Kong approaches for the first time in Peter Jacksons movie is good. Starts off subtle, and get greater and greater, while the sound moves around the room.

Another goody for car guys in Initial D: The Original Drift. In the final battle between the Evo3, RX7(FC), and the AE86, there is a part where they go out of sight through thick trees and the Blow Off Valve on the Evo3 is going off all around you. The Camera is panned out, not quite a birds eye view. Sound comes from everywhere fronts, sides, back, center. It's not loud and paints a giant detailed picture of the race going on. This Movie has DD:EX, DD, and DTS:ES. But only DD in English.

Theres many more that I can't quite think of ATM.

SheepStar

 

[Sounds Good]

I like watching war/army type movies... i love when there are scenes with alot of gun fire and you can hear spent casings hitting the floor... i love it... or when you hear rounds "whizzing" by

 

[darien87]

I'm a big fan of J-horror and Japanese movies in general. One that particularly impressed me was One Missed Call 2. There's a scene where one of the characters has a leaky faucet in her bathroom, which is behind you. At first you BARELY hear the water dripping. It had me looking around to find what the hell that weird noise was.

Great movie, by the way.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

There is a restaraunt scene in "What Lies Beneath" with two couples having two simultaneous conversations across a table. As the camera shifts from one to the other, you hear each conversation in turn, like a simulation of the "cocktail party effect". This scene really impressed me the first time I owned a surround sound system.