Why Movie Dialogue Has Gotten More Difficult To Understand

“The most important component in a movie is sound.” It’s one of those adage’s that have been expressed so often it lost its meaning. The problem is that sound is not the sexiest aspect of filmmaking, and professionals from studio execs to directors and actors often give it a lower priority. Filmmakers today need to be reeducated about the importance of sound.

It’s The Director’s Choice
As I said in the introduction, the clarity of sound can be a passive choice on the director’s behalf, because he or she simply does not prioritize sound mixing. And this trap befalls not only budding directors. Top dogs like Christopher Nolan received a lot of backlash over the clarity of his dialogues in popular films like The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar. The dialogues in these movies repeatedly played second fiddle to the loudness and intensity of the sfx.

But it can also very much be a conscious decision by the director. With today’s digital advancement, directors are no longer limited in terms of audio tracks. So, the temptation becomes bigger to shovel more effects and sound into the audio mix, to overwhelm the audience with a rich and deafening soundtrack.

A third issue is the optimization of the soundtrack for different formats or viewing situations. Sound requires different optimization for delivery in movie theatres, television, or streaming. But movie productions output only one version, so it depends on which format the director optimizes the sound for. This is why most of us have to adjust the sound multiple times while watching a film at home because it often switches from speaker-crushing dramatic music and explosions to whispered dialogues.

It’s In The Acting
The clarity of the dialogue is not only the responsibility of the sound crew. Actors form an important factor in the sound quality, too. Obviously, since they’re the ones uttering the words. Many actors today don’t have the theatrical training of their forebears and don’t give enunciation or volume the importance it deserves in their trade. Some actors, like Tom Hardy, are just inherently hard to understand. Others even consider whispering or the breathy delivery of their lines as their acting trademark.

Of course, it’s the job of the sound crew to get the desired quality of sound out of any dialogue, whether the actors whisper, scream, or mumble. But often, in the mix with music and sound effects, the specific delivery by an actor can become problematic.

Sound Isn’t Respected Enough On Sets
It’s also a lot about politics. Sound crews rarely have enough decision power on film sets to create the optimal conditions to capture high-quality sounds. And in sound more than in footage, fixing issues in post is rarely a viable option. Sound plays second fiddle in terms of schedule, budget, and on the set. If it prohibits a desired lighting or camera angle, the boom mic is the first thing to have to move away from the actors, to the detriment of the sound quality. And sound is rarely a reason to “do another take”.

All these issues demand a multipronged approach. Film crews need to be reeducated about the importance of sound, sound crews need to technically adapt their mixes to the different conditions in which people view movies, from theatres to streaming on multiple devices and sound systems. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, sound crews and sound, in general, should get the importance they deserve on the film set. The production should invest time and resources in getting the sound right “in the box”, rather than relying on post-production.