Dialogue in rear channel?

[amahler]

Hello!

I've been loving the immersion that comes from a DD 5.1/DTS DVD that is well mixed. I'm curious, though, if anybody has seen any movies that have placed any dialogue or sounds other than atmospherics in the rear channel? I'd think a movie where you hear a voice from off-screen (a person not in the current shot) would benefit from this kind of realism. I've certainly not heard any spoken dialogue coming from anywhere but my center channel (primarily).

If there aren't any, what would be the reason? Problems with the 2/0 mixdown maybe... or assuming that most home systems don't have good enough quality rear channels to depend on it working?

This also brings me to wondering whether movies that play in DD5.1/DTS theaters are brought straight to DVD, or is the sound completely remixed before a DVD release?

Thanks!
- Aaron

[Taxi]

Well, the Video Essentials disc has spoken words in the rear channels.

Other than that, I can't think of any examples.

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Taxi
DVDFile Administrator

[samuelk]

Most dialog that's recorded on set between main characters is played in the center channel simply because the characters are too close to the "camera" to be heard in rear channels.

Movies like Saving Private Ryan, in which there's lots of shouting and many many voices in the background, have some rear-channel dialog, but usually it's short and most likely, it's unimportant "foley dialog", added when the final soundtrack is mixed together. Usually, any voices/dialog in anything other than the center channel are considered background sounds. I'd imagine there are quite a few movies out there that have that kind of dialog in the rear channels...but it's probably not what you're looking for.

In a particular case, you might hear a character yell "Hey, over here!" to get another character's attention. In a scene like that, the camera acts as another character and "responds" to the off-screen voice by turning to face it...in this case, the first shout by the off-screen character is probably in the surround-sound mix (maybe rear channel), and isn't captured on-set.

Despite the amount of re-dubbing or looping of dialog necessary in a film, there's still a great deal of dialog that is caught on set (by the main boom mikes of course). I'd imaging that kind of thing would be hard to separate into the surround mix (and probably not really worth it in the long run).

How's that for too much information?

Sam

[amahler]

Sam:

Yeah, I have Saving Private Ryan and am aware of that kind of "dialogue" (I consider it atmospheric).

Your example of "Hey, over here" is almost precisely what I was thinking... somebody calling to a main character before the camera moves to include them. It seems to me that hearing that behind you and to your left, for instance, would be very realistic.

As for the boom mikes, yes, that had occurred to me. I was thinking of the mix, though, in that hearing it in the center at a lower volume wouldn't hurt as long as the primary source of the voice was coming dominantly from a rear channel. This might be even more realistic... hard to say.

Thanks for the response... it was purely curiosity on my part.

Thanks!
- Aaron

[esc]

a really good example of real surround dialogue is in chapter 37 of Devils Advocate, where Keanu walks into Milton's penthouse. it really freaked me out when i first heard it.
another is in 12 monkeys in a couple scenes where a character is walking around Bruce Willis's jail cell and talking.

[Brian G]

Strange Days has some POV (Point of View) scenes where the character's voice is in the rear channels.

I thought I just watched another movie with a POV scene which did the same thing with the characters voice during the dream sequence.

Brian

[Taxi]

Ooh, I just remembered one.

In Dragonheart, there is a scene where Draco's voice swirls around all 5 speakers. It's quite impressive. It's the scene where they're walking through a field, pretty early in the film, if I recall.

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Taxi
DVDFile Administrator

[This message has been edited by Taxi (edited 09-20-2000).]

[Ambushbug]

I suspect you'll hear it in the X-Men mix as well. I remember a scene where Prof. X's voice bounced around the theatre from speaker to speaker this summer...

[Jay M]

Another film that has a scene with a lot of "ambient" dialogue is The Faculty. When the main protagonists are leaving the school you can hear what their class mates are saying from several directions at once. Pretty cool. Had me looking around the room the first time I watched this disc thinking I had company.

Jay M

[This message has been edited by Jay M (edited 09-21-2000).]

[Frankie]

Mission to Mars does this type of scene where the camera pans around the room and the mission directors voice moves from the center speaker to the left front then rear right and so on. It's pretty cool.

[Hank]

Check out Mission to Mars. This has some major dialog around chapter 11?