“Conspiracy of silence” is a phrase that came to mind when re-recording mixer and sound designer Ben Baird read Edward Berger’s script. secret meetingabout the mysterious events surrounding the election of a new pope.
secret meeting Starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini, the film follows Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Fiennes) as he organizes a papal During the secret meeting, you find yourself uncovering the secrets of each candidate. The process is often silent, amplifying the importance of each sound.
To capture them, Baird’s first priority was to travel to the Vatican, which coincided with a speech by the Pope on Sunday. Although he couldn’t record any sounds (filming and photography were prohibited), Baird made many notes of the sounds he could hear: singing, bells—sounds that had a “carnival atmosphere,” but were different from those sounds You’ll hear it at football games or other large events like parties.
To recreate these sounds—Baird says there aren’t many available in the traditional catalog of sounds—his team assembled a small group from a church where his father played the organ and sang hymns in various languages. These will unfold in the movie.
Because there is only a small amount secret meetingThe film’s running time takes place outdoors—after all, the cardinals were sequestered indoors while they voted—Baird said he “had to create the entire outdoors from the inside.” They did this by letting the outside world filter through the Vatican’s doors and windows. filter to do this (especially later in the film, when the drama outside the walls echoes within them).
Baird and his sound team emphasize the shiny floors of the Vatican, which may cause some sneakers to squeak, which is a clever way to introduce Lithgow’s character. “One of the things Edward was concerned about was that when John showed up, it wasn’t just [him] Just being in front of the camera,” Baird said. “So we thought, ‘Why isn’t he wearing sneakers?’ So he came into the scene squeaking, and you could hear him arriving three or four steps before. You can imagine, under his great cassock, he had A pair of sneakers because he likes to be comfortable when everyone else wears sneakers, which fits his personality perfectly.
Other sounds crucial to the storytelling include the breathing of Cardinal Lawrence and the flicker of fluorescent lights.
“Fluorescent lighting is kind of representative of the fact that we all share the business world, where the functionality of the lighting and the economics of fluorescent lighting is more important in the back room, office type of place. You have nice big There were fluorescent lights in the foyer and then where people were working,” Baird said. “And breathing is interesting. I’ve always been fascinated by breathing because it’s something that people often shy away from. [sound recording].
“It’s interesting because Lawrence is under pressure from the beginning, but he has to remain stoic and control himself. Ralph is completely interested in this, and he breathes the entire movie with his true feelings inside, rather than the character he plays. character. …At one point we turned everything off and just let him breathe, and then we lost all the dialogue and his breathing was just telling the story.
Berger felt it was important for viewers to feel like they were standing on Lawrence’s shoulders, “and the weight of the world,” Baird said. The sound of breathing in helps with this. “He was in almost every shot, so breathing was like we were right next to him,” Baird added. “We feel what he feels.”
This story first appeared in the December Independence issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
