"Less" is more—however— "less" can also be difficult to achieve. With sound, I always find films with subtle soundtracks to be more enjoyable than films that have hundreds of sound effects all popping on at the same time. As we get closer to the Academy Awards, I'm interested in analyzing two of this year's nominees for Best Sound Editing: Roma directed by Alfonso Cuarón and A Quiet Place directed by John Krasinski These two films really speak to me sonically because of the elegance in their simplicity. I personally take pride in achieving realness with foley—human elements. To me, it's harder to make a human sound, well, human. The concrete steps, the movement of the pants hitting the leather boots every time this person does as much as taking a full step forward are always crafted perfectly to match the character on-screen. When there's no music, when there's nothing more than digital silence, our ears go straight to the loudest sound that...
Nicole A. Watlington is a sound editor and designer based in New York City. She holds a B.S. in Recording Arts and a B.A. in Screen Studies.