Kat Weightman
9/11/2022
Both seeing and hearing are used in the movies. Although filmmakers sometimes believe that the cinematographic picture is more important, what we hear on the screen is often more important than what we see. In Whiplash, director Damien Chazelle has fashioned a ruthless beast. It centers on Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller), a budding jazz drummer, and Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), a renowned teacher and conductor at the Shaffer Conservatory, a made-up institution where Neyman is enrolled. Neyman is initially thrilled at studying with Fletcher, but he rapidly learns that the latter's methods are frantic, profanity-laced, and occasionally violent. The movie soon transforms the idea of a classic mentor-protégé movie into something more exciting and ominous.
The sound designers' highly skilled work flawlessly matches the on-screen action with music, sound effects, and silence. The key challenge for Mann and the other sound team members was to create novel moments utilizing familiar sounds like a saxophone or drum equipment. Drum crescendos and jazz music are employed throughout the film to complement and occasionally overpower the intensity of a scene. It's an intriguing back-and-forth of an asset that isn't handled sufficiently in the film.
The sound in the film Whiplash is simply not used for effects. In the film, Foley is used well to communicate information. It helps to create a sense of authenticity by making the graphics appear real. The use of foley for the characters of Andrew Neiman and Terence Fletcher differs.
The foley utilized to depict Neiman's voyage has generally been non-diegetic. The most critical scene in which this element is shown is when he returns home after a successful performance of 'Whiplash' with the band. The sounds of cutlery and dining convey the information, yet there is little activity on the screen.
The sound in the classroom scenes is a combination of diegetic and non-diegetic. As the film goes on, there is a significant decrease in foley, replaced by ambient sound. The leitmotif captures the closeness between Neiman and Fletcher's relationship perfectly.
Whiplash is an incredible musical that combines sound effects, music, and speech in unique ways. The music of the movie has continual jazz drumming and a dramatic score, which heightens the mood of the picture. An audience would be able to tell the dramatic and occasionally scary tone of the movie without viewing it.
Works Cited
Barsam, Richard Meran, and Dave Monahan. Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film. W.W. Norton & Co., 2019.
Radford, I. (2015, February 23). Birdman, whiplash and the sound of drums. Den of Geek. Retrieved September 25, 2022, from https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/birdman-whiplash-and-the-sound-of-drums/
Radford, I. (2015, February 23). Birdman, whiplash and the sound of drums. Den of Geek. Retrieved September 25, 2022, from https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/birdman-whiplash-and-the-sound-of-drums/
Universal pictures. (2014). Whiplash. United States.
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