postPerspective Update

The gritty and realistic sounds
of Warner Bros.’ Joker
By Jennifer Walden

The grit of Gotham City in Warner Bros.’ Joker is painted on in layers, but not in broad strokes of sound. Distinct details are meticulously placed around the Dolby Atmos surround field, creating a soundtrack that is full but not crowded and muddy — it’s alive and clear. “It’s critical to try to create a real-feeling world so Arthur (Joaquin Phoenix) is that much more real, and it puts the audience in a place with him,” says re-recording mixer Tom Ozanich, who mixed alongside Dean Zupancic at Warner Bros. Sound in Burbank on Dub Stage 9.

One main focus was to make a city that was very present and oppressive. Supervising sound editor Alan Robert Murray created specific elements to enhance this feeling, while dialogue supervisor Kira Roessler created loop group crowds and callouts that Ozanich could sprinkle throughout the film.

During the street scene near the beginning of the film, Arthur is dressed as a clown and dancing on the sidewalk, spinning a “Going Out of Business” sign. Traffic passes to the left and pedestrians walk around Arthur, who is on the right side of the screen. The Atmos mix reflects that spatiality.

“There are multiple layers of sounds, like callouts of group ADR, specific traffic sounds, and various textures of air and wind,” says Zupancic. “We had so many layers that afforded us the ability to play sounds discretely, to lean the traffic a little heavier into the surrounds on the left, and use layers of voices and footsteps to lean discretely to the right. We could play very specific dimensions. We just didn’t blanket a bunch of sounds in the surrounds and blanket a bunch of sounds on the front screen. It was extremely important to make Gotham seem gritty and dirty with all those layers.”

The sound effects and callouts didn’t always happen conveniently between lines of principal dialogue. Director Todd Phillips wanted the city to be conspicuous — to feel disruptive. Ozanich says, “We were deliberate with Todd about the placement of literally every sound in the movie. There are a few spots where the callouts were imposing, but not quite distracting, and they certainly weren’t pretty. They didn’t occur in places where it doesn’t matter if someone is yelling in the background. That’s not how it works in real life; we tried to make it more like real life and let these voices crowd in on our main characters.”