“Sound is of no use to human evolution; in fact, it gets in the way”—thus wrote Haruki Murakami in Hard-Boiled Wonderlandand the End of the World . I couldn’t disagree more. At least in the world of cinema, after the demise of the silent era, sound remains a critical component. I must confess that like most average cinema punters, I took sound for granted, an afterthought even. It is only after several long conversations with sound designers that I learnt the value of what we hear at the movies.
It is therefore with much delight that I jumped at the opportunity to meet the legendary Mark Mangini, sound designer extraordinaire, at the 46th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa. His credits include some films that you may have heard of, like Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), and more recently, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and Black Mass (2015). Mangini rightly says that on a film production, the sound designer must work closely with the director and enjoy equal status with the likes of the writer, cinematographer and editor. He is delighted with the advent of the digital format in the creative industries, saying that it gives the sound designer so many more tools to play with and hundreds of additional audio tracks at his disposal.
While he does not mourn the passing of analogue, he does miss the discipline that the older format demanded, as one had to be very precise due to the sheer amount of work involved. “In analogue, you had to learn to pre-visualise in order to save time,” says Mangini. He gives the example of ace American photographer Ansel Adams, who, before even stepping out for a shoot, had a mental image of the pictures he wanted to take, including the framing, composition and even the lenses and f-stops he would use.
Mangini’s Indian connection is strong. As expected, he is familiar with the work of local hero Resul Pookutty and loves his Oscar-winning sound work in Slumdog Millionaire (2008). However, Mangini has a stronger India connect. He came across a Kickstarter campaign for Brahma, which the blurb describes as “an affordable, high-quality ambisonics microphone that captures the true three-dimensional representation of an acoustical ambience.” Mangini wrote to Brahma creator Umashankar and offered to beta-test the product. Umashankar sent him a couple of early versions of the microphone and Mangini tested them and offered suggestions to improve it.
Two years later, last week in Goa, Mangini conducted an IFFI sound master-class and Umashankar was in the audience. Post class, Mangini called Umashankar up on stage and introduced him to the audience that largely comprised sound professionals. Consequently, Umashankar is now flooded with orders.
Mangini is also a Governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the body that, amongst other things, awards the Oscars. Along with Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Mangini is on a campaign to increase diversity in what is a largely white male organisation.
