Star Wars' Cinema Technology | The Audience is Listening | 3
American Innovations
Audible
4.6 • 4.1K Ratings
🗓️ 30 May 2019
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
By 1975, George Lucas knew exactly what he wanted Star Wars to look like, but what it would sound like was another story altogether. Lucas was tired of Sci-Fi’s typical synthetic and electronic cliches; he wanted a sonic world that felt organic and personal. So he hired a young sound designer named Ben Burtt, and sent him out into the world with a recorder and microphone.
Burtt would need to blend and manipulate his recordings in order to achieve original sound designs, customized in every way to help bring the Skywalker saga to life. Like a detective, Burtt would have to hunt for the perfect buzz, bark, or hum to make Star Wars come alive. And in the process, he and Lucas would help to change the way audiences experience sound in films.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, prime members, you can listen to American innovations, add free on Amazon music, download |
| 0:06.0 | the app today. |
| 0:15.3 | It's the spring of 1975 at the University of Southern California, and 27-year-old Ben |
| 0:22.1 | Burt is on a mission. |
| 0:24.6 | With a microphone in one hand and a portable tape recorder slung over his shoulder, he checks |
| 0:29.2 | his watch almost six o'clock. |
| 0:32.2 | Uh-oh. |
| 0:33.8 | Burt begins to jog, then the jog becomes a run. |
| 0:37.2 | They usually lock the room at six, and time is running out. |
| 0:41.6 | Burt sprints across USC's campus, but the stupid 25-pound recorder is weighing him down. |
| 0:47.6 | Burt knows this campus well. |
| 0:49.4 | He got his masters in film here, so he takes all the shortcuts. |
| 0:53.4 | Sweating, he finally reaches his destination, the screening room. |
| 0:58.8 | The door is shut. |
| 1:01.2 | Locked. |
| 1:03.1 | He spots a nearby janitor and hurries over. |
| 1:05.6 | Hey, excuse me, hold on a second, just please. |
| 1:07.9 | I got a favor to ask you. |
| 1:09.9 | Yep. |
| 1:10.9 | Do you have keys to the screening room over there? |
| 1:13.2 | I just need to get in for a minute. |
| 1:14.9 | Could you open it up? |
... |
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