Comments on: The Voice Amidst the Noise

By: PooterGeek » Bruce W. Wayne

PooterGeek » Bruce W. Wayne — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:11:05 +0000

[...] win an Oscar™ then there’s no justice—and my friend in return sent me a link to this article by someone who knows more about this sort of thing than I do who felt the same way about the same [...]

By: Ed Novick

Ed Novick — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:02:34 +0000

Nicely written. Thanks for the kind words. Send me an email, Benjamin, so I know how to contact you.
-Ed Novick

By: Shaun

Shaun — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:18:07 +0000

In regard to Bale’s voice while in the Batsuit, a lot of people seem to have forgotten the bit in “Batman Begins” where Lucius Fox (Freeman) shows Bruce the voice modulator which is built into the headpiece. He even holds up small speakers/amplifiers which he explains are embedded in the “ears” of the headpiece.

My wife also didn’t like the change in Bale’s voice, and I agree that at times it definitely felt an increase from the first film, but generally… It didn’t bother me. Maybe because I remembered the above mentioned scene.
Thought I’d remind people.

By: John

John — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:12:24 +0000

As a movie theater manager who saw the film many times not only at my place but other cinemas, I abhorr the mix of this film, and everyone I know in the industry thought it was awful AND I had to give a lot of refunds away because NO ONE could understand the dialogue whenever there was any action, and of course the final speech was unintelligible. BAD BAD mix and people were upset. They all thought it was our sound system, but of course it was across the country (and the world, from what I can tell). We managed to save the last few performance by raising the centre channel on our amp, bringing the dialogue centre stage. Nolan was sooo in love with his sound effects he forgot to leave the dialogue in!

By: Brendon Connelly

Brendon Connelly — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:19:10 +0000

Er… right.

The thing is, you know, the sound on The Dark Knight isn’t special at all. The score is bland, didactic and superficial; the “live recording” not such a feat when you consider how essential this apporoach is and has been for most lower budget films.

This entire article read like somebody trying to heap yet more undeserved praise on a tedious, unspectacular piece of dross.

By: Pax

Pax — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 23:18:33 +0000

To Olof, regarding the score: I listen to a ton of film scores, and from my understanding of the way they worked The Dark Knight score contained more of Hans Zimmer, and less of James Newton Howard, than Batman Begins. Zimmer specifically stated that he was inspired for the gut-wrenching “Joker theme” by early Kraftwerk.

And give the guy some credit — take a listen to “The Thin Red Line” sometime and tell me he can’t work well on his own. He and his former Media Ventures colleagues are just overused, especially by Jerry Bruckheimer.

By: Daniel's Critical Corner

Daniel's Critical Corner — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:00:47 +0000

WOW. Fascinating piece. This is one of the best write-ups
of “The Dark Knight” I have read yet !!! The sound is amazing,
and it is one of the main reasons people keep coming back for
more !!!

By: Maad

Maad — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:45:39 +0000

The Dark Knight is excellent, but I must say, Danny Elfman’s Batman themes are much, much better than the bland, forgettable wallpaper of Zimmer and co… If only they could have found a subtle, less bombastic variation on Elfman’s melodies and used them instead!

By: Sam Haft

Sam Haft — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:24:01 +0000

And flame me in 3… 2… 1…

By: Sam Haft

Sam Haft — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:22:34 +0000

I have to say, I’ve seen some foolish responses etc.

First of all, Batman’s voice. I hate Batman’s voice, without a doubt. It sounds a little ridiculous. And yes, I imagine they do a bit of mixing for it. However, there is no actual modulation; that is Christian Bale talking like that, they’re not changing his voice lower. He, like any other actor with any sort of modicum of talent, can voice act. It’s not even a little bit hard to speak EXACTLY like Batman. The voice wasn’t changed. Mixed? Yes. Everything is mixed. However, that is Bale you’re hearing, not modulated Bale.

And in the film, obviously, the purpose is to obscure his identity.

Makes sense – Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne has a very recognizable voice.

But I do agree that they brought the music in too strong at the end monologue by Jim Gordon. However, I have a love/hate for Oldman’s voice as Gordon. I think he’s an unbelievable actor, but he couldn’t quite pull off the Chicago accent he was going for, and at times he even sounded a little English.

But anyway, I did love TDK. I’m not going to call Ledger’s performance Oscar Worthy, it isn’t. It’s nomination worthy, perhaps, but I think it’s simply a taboo to give an Oscar to a comic book action film performance, no matter how good. I love comics, I’ve worked at Marvel, I know much more about any comic character than anyone I’ve met, but still. I love cinema as well, and I know that Oscars really SHOULD go to intense dramatic performances. And Heath’s was great, and it was a total transformation, but I’m sure that someone is going to act better in a film this year. In fact, if someone DOESN’T, I’ll be disappointed in Hollywood.

-Sam