I have always been fascinated by what goes on behind-the-scenes of films, and sound recording, production and design in one of the most interesting components, so this documentary film was just what I was looking for. This film examines the history of sound design in cinema, from its origins in the early 20th century to modern day moviemaking. Motion pictures came along in the 1890s, with no sound, with recognisable features like The Great Train Robbery (1903) and Wings (1927). Originally, silent films were accompanied by live orchestras, musicians and stage performers who would accompany with music and implements to match images onscreen. The first successful "talkie" that changed the future of cinema was The Jazz Singer, released in 1927, which included the iconic Al Jolson line "Wait a wait, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet!" (it won an Honorary Oscar). Since then, advances in sound have been made to films throughout the years. Among the many clips shown, it sees how the roars of King Kong (1933) were captured, the contributions from Orson Welles during Citizen Kane (1941) (Oscar nominee for Best Sound),Alfred Hitchcock and the squawks of The Birds (1963),the clanging of armour in Spartacus (1960),the sounds in assassination scene in The Godfather (1972) (Oscar nominee for Best Sound),the music and splashes of the shark by John Williams in Jaws (1975) (Oscar winner for Best Sound),the live singing in A Star Is Born (1976) (Oscar nominee for Best Sound),the laser blasts and spaceships in Star Wars (1977) (Oscar winner for Best Sound),the helicopters and weapons in Apocalypse Now (1979) (Oscar winner for Best Sound),the punches in Raging Bull (1980) (Oscar nominee for Best Sound),the speeding jets of Top Gun (1986) (Oscar nominee for Best Sound),the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park (1993) (Oscar winner for Best Sound),the bullets and explosions on Omaha Beach in Saving Private Ryan (1998) (Oscar winner for Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing),the digital sounds of The Matrix (1999) (Oscar winner for Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing),and the noises in the world of Wakanda in Black Panther (2018) (Oscar winner for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing). It explains all components and processes that go into making and editing sounds in a film. In the "Circle of Talent" there is production recording (the actors and objects on set),dialogue editing (increasing actor voices and removing unwanted noises in backgrounds),ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) (actors re-recording dialogue and making noises to be added),SFX (Sound effects),Foley (sound artists in a recording studio creating sounds, in synchrony with the picture),and finally Ambience (adding the little touches to make a scene authentic, i.e. background sounds, e.g. busy cities, windy landscapes). Other popular movies and their sounds seen and discussed included: Dracula (1931),The Wizard of Oz (1939),Gone with the Wind (1939) (Oscar nominee for Best Sound),Singin' in the Rain (1952) (which itself paid tribute to the introduction of sound to cinema),The War of the Worlds (1953) (Oscar nominee for Best Sound),Forbidden Planet (1956),The Ten Commandments (1956) (Oscar nominee for Best Sound),The Seventh Seal (1957),North by Northwest (1959),Breathless (1960),2001: A Space Odyssey (1968),Funny Girl (1968) (Oscar nominee for Best Sound),Easy Rider (1969),THX 1138 (1971),The Conversation (1974) (Oscar nominee for Best Sound),Nashville (1975),All the President's Men (1976) (Oscar winner for Best Sound),Eraserhead (1977),The Shining (1980),The Elephant Man (1980),Raging Bull (1980),Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (Oscar winner for Best Sound),E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) (Oscar winner for Best Sound),Yentl (1983),Luxo Jr. (1986),Do the Right Thing (1989),Dead Poets Society (1989),A League of Their Own (1992),Braveheart (1995) (Oscar nominee for Best Sound),Toy Story (1995),Titanic (1997) (Oscar winner for Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing),Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000),Road to Perdition (2002) (Oscar nominee for Best Sound),Lost in Translation (2003),Monster (2003),Brokeback Mountain (2005),WALL·E (2008) (Oscar winner for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing),The Hurt Locker (2008) (Oscar winner for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing),Inception (2010) (Oscar winner for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing),Argo (2012) (Oscar nominee for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing),Life of Pi (2012) (Oscar nominee for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing),Wild (2014),Selma (2014),Wonder Woman (2017),and Roma (2018) (Oscar winner for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing). This film really goes into a lot of detail about the technical stuff into making those recognisable and often iconic sounds, and the emotional impact and reaction they create when heard in films. It really does make you realise the artistry and the importance sound has been to the industry, with interviews from great filmmakers and the sound creators themselves, many who have had award-winning success, this is perfect viewing for any cinephile (huge film fan and buff) like me, a most interesting documentary. With contributions from Erik Aadahl (sound designer and editor),Richard L. Anderson (sound effects editor),Karen Baker Landers (sound editor),Bobbi Banks (ADR and dialogue supervisor),Richard Beggs (sound designer, editor, and re-recording mixer),Anna Behlmer (re-recording mixer),Mark Berger (supervising re-recording mixer),Christopher Boyes (sound designer, editor, and re-recording mixer),Ben Burtt (sound designer and editor),Ryan Coogler (director of Black Panther),Sofia Coppola, Alfonso Cuarón, Dane A. Davis (sound designer and editor),Peter J. Devlin (sound mixer),Teri E. Dorman (dialogue editor),Teresa Eckton (sound effect editor),Jessica Gallavan (ADR supervisor),Eugene Gearty (sound designer, editor, and re-recording mixer),Ludwig Göransson (composer),Cecelia Hall (sound effects editor),Greg Hedgepath (sound effects editor),Lora Hirschberg (re-recording mixer),Richard Hymns (sound editor),Pat Jackson (sound editor),Richard King (sound designer, editor, and re-recording mixer),John Lasseter, Ang Lee, Ai-Ling Lee (sound designer, editor, and re-recording mixer),Skip Lievsay (re-recording mixer and sound editor),George Lucas, David Lynch, David MacMillan (sound mixer),Mark A. Mangini (sound editor and re-recording mixer),Alyson Dee Moore (foley artist),Walter Murch (re-recording mixer),Christopher Nolan, Lee Orloff (sound mixer),Robert Redford, John Roesch (foley artist),Gary Rydstrom (sound designer),Victoria Rose Sampson (sound designer, editor, and mixer),Steven Spielberg, Andrew Stanton (screenwriter),Barbra Streisand, Randy Thom (sound designer, editor, and re-recording mixer),Douglas Vaughan (boom operator),James E. Webb (production sound mixer),Peter Weir, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle (sound editor),and Hans Zimmer. Very good!

I love music and I love music in movies, but besides music there are lots of people working on a movie that do nothing else but get the sound right of people talking, wind rushing throuhg the trees, robots squeeking and water streaming.

Amazing to see how BIG these sound studios are in which all these sound artist create the perfect sound that accompanies the images. Sound is emotion and I really value good sound in a movie.

This documentary features some of the biggest classics in American cinema, like "The Godfather", "Apocalypse Now", "Star Wars", but also some movies that might not seem so classic but still truly are because of the use of new techniques in sound editing, like "Toy Story", which was the first movie which was totally digitally edited.

Even Barbara Streisand of all people has played an important part in movie sound history because one of her seventies movies was the first to be recorded IN STEREO!

Lots and lots of interviews with sound editors, who show HOW they created sounds for the biggest movie classics in history. What a joy to watch! Recommended for the fans of the technical parts of a movie, but also for the casual viewer because it is a revelation to learn how they create these magical sounds in these classic movies that have mesmirized me to this very day!

So looked forward to this and by and large it was mostly good. But what really irked me was that they implied Barbara Striesand was responisble for bring stereo sound into cinemas in 1976 with A Star is Born. what nonsense the missed out so much, Disney was the first to use Stereo with Fantasia in 1940, Fox then made it much wider with their 4 track stereo staring with the Robe in 1954, thereafter all big road show films could be shown in big theatres in stereo.as early as the graduate stereo was being used more often, its a shame that such an important part of cinema sound was completly left out, cannot believe they did this