Nathan Robitaille, Sound Designer and Supervising Sound Editor; Nelson Ferreira, Supervising Sound Editor, Christian Cooke, Re-Recording Mixer; Brad Zoern, Re-Recording Mixer, and Greg Chapman, Production Sound Mixer—Members of the Frankenstein sound team join Awards Buzz’s Shadan Larki for a discussion about their work on the film.
Conventional wisdom says good sound design is meant to go unnoticed. But Nelson Ferreira, who served as a supervising sound editor on Frankenstein, argues we may be entering a new “golden age” of sound design. As movie-going audiences grow increasingly aware of filmmaking techniques, sound designers are taking bigger risks. Ferreira cites Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest as recent examples of showier design choices.
Frankenstein is a perfect marriage of the bold—the creature ripping through flesh with abandon, and the subtle, like the soft rustling of delicate silk dresses worn by Mia Goth in the film. Frankenstein’s sonic landscape is layered and rich, soft when necessary, yet visceral. There’s a big shipwreck scene with hundreds of extras. And the intricate sound work to create Jacob Elordi’s vocals, combining Elordi’s warm tones with more guttural, animalistic notes. From crisp dialogue to the creation of the creature, every sound element of Frankenstein is designed to immerse you, whether you’re watching Guillermo del Toro’s latest Oscar contender in a grand theater at the Toronto International Film Festival, as I was lucky enough to do. Or on streaming on Netflix, as I have also done multiple times, the sound is seamless.
Good sound design may go unnoticed, but it should not go unappreciated.
Watch our full interview with the Frankenstein sound team above to learn about their collaboration and the intricacies of their craft.
Frankenstein is streaming on Netflix.
