Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Victor Khomenko (M) on July 11, 2005 at 07:06:35

In Reply to: Re: Have you ever heard a real cannon shot? Doesn't sound like the ones in the movies. posted by rico on July 11, 2005 at 06:49:32:

That is why traditionally in sound design not real shots but some other means are usually used. The real shot has just too much sound pressure, and its onset is way too fast for any media to capture, so no matter what you recording (real cannons, etc) you are only producing a pale copy of it, severely compressed and softened.

And of coourse then it goes through the amps and speakers, and these distort it even more.

Anyone who has ever been close to real one will tell you. Even a pistol shot. A puny .22 shot indoors will scare most people shitless right there.

But I understand that the movie has to do the best it can, so it does.

One saving grace here - when the sound comes from a distant source, like that French ship, then you have a chance, and those were good. But generally speaking shot reproduction in movies is always rather bad. For instance, when the shot happens in the woods, there is that particular after-sound, as the shock wave makes it way through the foliage, that is never persent in the movies, and it should be.