FROM THE FILMMAKERS · CREATIVE PROCESS
About Sound: Making Fire Flies
关于声音：《咒语》的制作
Zheng Lu Xinyuan on finding the sound of Fire Flies with Akritchalerm “Rit” Kalayanamitr.
CREATIVE PROCESS · By Zheng Lu Xinyuan
创作过程 · 文／郑陆心源
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About Sound: Making Fire Flies
Akritchalerm “Rit” Kalayanamitr and Zheng Lu Xinyuan in the sound studio.
A first collaboration
A first collaboration
Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr, people call him Rit.
Getting to know some lovely human beings through filmmaking might be one of the best aftereffects of cinema. I’ve long been aware of his brilliance in building atmospheric soundscapes and his practice in experimental works. When I first mentioned to producer Mui about inviting Rit to be on board, we both thought that, as our first collaboration, Fire Flies—light in its approach and emphasizing sensory experience—would be a good match.
At the editing stage, I placed some sound elements there, for example, the whistles of dolphins. With the long distance between Hangzhou and Bangkok, we had a phone call to communicate our early ideas.
Rit: Do you want to keep the dolphins?
XY: Do you like it?
Rit: Yes.
XY: Great, I like it too.
第一次合作
Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr，大家都叫他 Rit。
因为电影而认识一些可爱的人，或许是电影最美好的后效之一。我很早就知道，他在营造氛围声景方面才华出众，也一直从事实验性创作。最初我向制片人 Mui 提议邀请 Rit 加入时，我们都觉得，作为第一次合作，《咒语》在方法上轻盈，又强调感官经验，会是一个很合适的项目。
剪辑阶段，我先放入了一些声音元素，比如海豚的哨声。杭州与曼谷相隔遥远，我们通过一次电话，交流了最初的想法。
Rit：你想保留海豚的声音吗？
XY：你喜欢吗？
Rit：喜欢。
XY：太好了，我也喜欢。
Inside the mix
Inside the mix
After he had cooked the project for a while, he mentioned to me that there were two formats in the film, 2.0 and 5.1. He asked me to borrow a friend’s studio with 5.1 equipment to check the situation and see if I wanted to keep the difference. My friend’s studio was quite small. I sat alone in the dark. With the 2.0 sound, we walked through the forest and came to the 5.1 phase—boat motors rumble, the tactile quality of the rain, soft metallic sound materials surround me. I opened my eyes wide and watched the fluorescent pixels dancing on the screen.
Before the final mix, Rit asked us about the size of the cinema for our premiere, so he could rent a studio accordingly. Soon, I arrived in Bangkok and sat down beside him. Right after we met, the first decision we needed to make together was what to have for lunch.
Rit: How about Chinese?
I frowned immediately, thinking, are you kidding me: I just came from…
He smiled. It was a joke.
In some sections, he put in sonic sound, physical vibrations captured through waves, which elevated the listening experience of the film. The experimental nature of the film gave us room to play. Meanwhile, based on the demands of the content and the movement of the rhythm, we worked on foley, layers, how to enter a space—the curvature and volume of sound, and also, when the flashlight circles, what kind of sonic well has been stirred.
Lunch was Pad Kra Pao chicken.
走进混音室
他把这个项目酝酿了一阵之后，向我提到片中有两种声音格式：2.0 和 5.1。他让我借用朋友配备 5.1 系统的工作室听一听，再决定是否要保留这种差异。朋友的工作室很小，我一个人坐在黑暗里。伴着 2.0 的声音，我们穿过森林，然后进入 5.1 的段落——船的马达轰鸣，雨有了可以触摸的质感，柔和的金属声环绕着我。我睁大眼睛，看着荧光般的像素在银幕上跳舞。
正式混音前，Rit 问起首映影院的大小，好让他租用规模相应的录音棚。不久后，我到了曼谷，坐在他身旁。我们见面后需要共同作出的第一个决定，是午餐吃什么。
Rit：吃中餐怎么样？
我立刻皱起眉头，心想，你是在开玩笑吗？我才刚从……
他笑了。确实是个玩笑。
有些段落里，他加入了声波性的声音——通过波动捕捉到的身体振动，让电影的聆听经验提升到另一个层次。影片的实验性给了我们玩耍的空间。同时，我们也依照内容的需要和节奏的运动，处理拟音、声音的层次，以及如何进入一个空间——声音的弧度和体积；还有，当手电筒画出圆圈时，究竟搅动了怎样的一口声音之井。
午餐是打抛鸡肉饭。
Beyond the cinema
Beyond the cinema
Rit asked me if I had ever thought about showing my works in white boxes. He said that he could see Fire Flies playing in such settings. He also shared his collaboration with Apichatpong and their ideas of bringing cinema into contemporary art spaces. On our way back to the studio, a huge tortoise was crawling quietly by my side. I couldn’t help but stare at it.
Rit: It is a robot.
XY: Really?!
Rit: : )
Later in the afternoon, I stepped out for a smoke break. Rit stayed and kept on tweaking the details. He said that he barely looked back at his old films, because once he did, he might find places that he wanted to remix. The last decision that we made about the film was the spatial placement of the dialogue. We chose the modest approach. Before I left, I waited for Grab to pick me up in the lobby of the post-production company. It was a cloudy day, but the plumerias were blossoming.
About two weeks ago, I came back home after our premiere in Toronto. Jet lag hit me hard. I was still sleeping at odd hours, falling in and out of dreams. Finally, I caught a chance to write down these words and would like to say thank you to Rit again.
银幕之外
银幕之外
Rit 问我，有没有想过把作品放进白盒子里放映。他说，他可以想象《咒语》在这样的空间里出现。他也谈到自己与阿彼察邦的合作，以及他们把电影带入当代艺术空间的想法。回工作室的路上，一只巨大的乌龟静静地从我身旁爬过，我忍不住一直盯着它看。
Rit：它是机器人。
XY：真的吗？！
Rit：: )
下午晚些时候，我出去抽烟休息。Rit 留在里面，继续微调细节。他说自己几乎不回头看以前的电影，因为只要一看，可能就会发现某些地方又想重新混音。我们为这部片作出的最后一个决定，是对白在空间中的位置。我们选择了较为克制的处理。离开前，我在后期制作公司的大厅里等 Grab 来接。那天阴云密布，但鸡蛋花正在盛开。
大约两周前，我结束多伦多首映回到家。时差狠狠袭来，我依然在奇怪的时间入睡，在梦境里进进出出。终于，我抓住一个机会写下这些文字，也想再次向 Rit 说一声谢谢。
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