Sure to be one of the most under-appreciated aspects of “The Social Network”‘s below-the-line is the sound design. Most will likely take note during a club scene that filters dialogue between Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake without sacrificing the thumping rhythms of the setting, but there are a number of instances where I felt it was a refined piece of work from Academy Award winner Michael Semanick and company.
There is also the idea that an Aaron Sorkin script involves a lot of overlapping and competing dialogue. It’s a film with a lot of information to carry across and it’s imperative that you hear everything. And that’s before we even get into how Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s ambient score is layered in throughout.
The SoundWorks Collection, as ever, is on the case here. The site’s latest profile illuminates the club scene among others and is worth a look and listen. Head on over there now and check it out or watch the embed after the jump.
[Photo: SoundWorks Collection]
Comments
17 responses to “On the sound of ‘The Social Network’”
Kris, now that the major reviews of The Social Network are in, I wanted to ask you about your pet theory that the older print critics (the so called top critics) vengefully out of spite gave Inception a lukewarm reception.
Now how do you explain The Social Network’s reviews. Didn’t the two movies follow the same path, showing the online/blogger crowds first, their hyperbolic raves being bandied about and then the print critics getting their word in. The reception even from the older print critics is still earth-shattering for possibly an even younger-skewing film than Inception.
Would you admit to the possibility that those critics genuinely did not think much of Inception than simply downgrading it because they could not see it first?
Since you grossly exaggerated my position (rendering your final question here entirely moot), allow me to clarify it for you.
I never said anything was done “vengefully” or “out of spite,” I said that whatever the opinion was, it may have been intensified by having to read rave after rave. I also never even hinted that the early raves of Inception were enough to make a critic who liked it suddenly dislike it. This is you allowing a fallacy to grow in your mind.
Luckily the wave of Social Network web reviews wasn’t propagated with the same consistency. But while I had a sinking fear that traditional media might take that course again, I’m glad they didn’t.
Of course it helps that The Social Network is vastly superior to Inception…
Kris I didn’t mean to be snarky but the argument seemed a bit dubious to me and you and Anne devoted one entire show I think talking about it. They were plenty of raves for The Social Network as well. I hope you can discuss this with Anne that how hyperbole supposedly sabotaged one film’s reception but not another’s. Or like you said (though I haven’t seen it yet), maybe The Social Network is an infinitely better movie and could withstand and gratify those high expectations.
As it stands, the reviews of The Social Network are obscenely good at this point, on Rottentomatoes, the film has an unholy score of 9.4 out of 10 which makes it the best reviewed film of the current century(it is one of the highest scores ever on RT putting it closer to Kane reviews-wise than many people might feel comfortable with) surpassing even Toy Story 3’s 8.8, already one of the highest ever scores for a modern film. Toy Story 3 must give up the crown of being the year’s best reviewed film to Social Network at Metacritic too.
Fincher’s and Sorkin’s Oscars are becoming almost unquestionable now, though Best Picture might still have some uncertainty.
I haven’t seen the film yet (I will on Sunday) but I’ve listened to the score twice now and it’s beautiful. I cried at the last song. IMO, it’s the best album Reznor’s done since “Fragile” and my favorite score of the year (The only score I can possibly see topping it is Daft Punk’s score for “Tron: Legacy” or possibly Desplat’s score for HPatDHP1. He has an excellent grasp on mood and the score is brilliantly subtle but also overt enough.
I really hope it’s recognized by the academy, even though the Best Score selection is very exclusive and doesn’t usually go for this sort of music, and isn’t disqualified by a technicality.
Kris, vastly superior to Inception? I know you gave Inception 3.5 stars, and had some issues with the narrative, at times. But, to you, The Social Netowrk is still “vastly” superior? Is it a 4 star knock-out for you (dare I say, masterpiece, haha)? Or is it just a fantastic 4-star movie, quantifiably.
“The Social Network” is far from a masterpiece, but it is extremely solid. And yes, it’s vastly superior to the non-dreamlike farce called “Inception.”
I don’t think the film is a knockout, per se, just a strong biopic about one of Internet’s most important additions. As such, it’s a huge success. But, for me, the problem with the film is what everyone else seems to think is its strength: the lack of a three-act structure. It moves swiftly and coherently, but the effect can be numbing. A solid, three-star effort.
JJ: I like Inception quite a lot but TSN reaches a different thematic level. It’s not a masterpiece (IMO), not even Fincher’s best, but yes, it is “a fantastic 4-star movie, quantifiably.”
Got it. Thanks, Kris! Can’t wait to see it on Saturday with my peeps.
Man I love these little tidbits of Trent Reznor’s score. I think it is going for $2.00 on Amazon right now. Thinking about purchasing it.
Imagine a year where Inception, The Social Network, and Tron Legacy got nominated for score. That won’t happen though.
If The Hurt Locker could get nominated for score, one that wasn’t very memorable IMO, then I think Reznor has a chance with the Academy. But then again, like Jacob S. said, this group is very exclusive.
The score’s $3 on Amazon for a limited time (I think) now, but only in the US. You can download it in FLAC or high-quality MP3 (320 kps) anywhere in the world from the official website for $5, though. Reznor wanted to release it for free, but since he made it under Sony he couldn’t, so he fought to get the price as low as possible.
I do think The Social Network will definitely get love in the sound categories.
“It’s a film with a lot of information to carry across and it’s imperative that you hear everything.”
I guess the mixers for Inception didn’t get this memo…..of course, it’s always hard to hear dialogue in Nolan movies.
Anyone know what track was playing during the club scene at ruby skye in the movie ?
Thanks!
Just watched a Netflix copy of The Social Network, and we literally couldn’t understand the dialogue in the club scene mentioned in this review. The voices were at such low volume compared to the music that I wondered whether it might actually be something wrong with the DVD copy we got. The only other explanation I could think of was that this was some kind of artistic decision, to make it literally impossible to hear the dialogue so that you just get a sense of facial expressions and body language but don’t know what is being said. The scene went on an awfully long time if we were just supposed to be looking at faces, though. Very strange. If this movie gets any awards for sound design, I sincerely hope that the DVD we got had a production error.
Me too. I’m really angry. I was looking forward to watching “social network” but after about 20 minutes of trying to adjust my tv, adjust the DVD player – even listening to the descriptions for blind people, I gave up. The music was so damned loud (and offensive) that I had no idea WHAT they were saying.
Offensive. What kind of prepubescent ego tripper thinks that the music is more important than the dialogue?
I suppose I should have turned on the closed captions for the hearing impaired…?
I was really looking forward to watching Social Network. I have tried to watch it 3 times, we have tried adjusting the sound because we cant hear the dialogue.Its a really important part of the film in fact i would say “the” most important part of the movie and yet the music is so loud I cant make head nor tail of what they are saying and so i just gave up at chapter 3. So what could be a good movie is in fact a crap movie because of the music!!!