windhoek
The Phoolosopher
Apart from having just bought an OLED TV the other thing that's making me want to watch a lot of film and TV content of late is sound, because, without wanting to sound like a crazy man who's hearing things - no pun intended - my 4.0 system does realism and gives you the sense of being right there like no system I've ever heard before, including cinema sound systems; I've been to the cinema twice this year and my sound system beats the cinema sound system hands down for realism and the sense of being practically right there with the action, almost as if what you hear is exactly what and how the POV camera operator would have heard (plus more once you factor in the extra sound effects the POV camera operator wouldn't have heard), and it's not even close! All of which is to say I'm now noticing and taking an interest in film and TV content due to sound design.
For example, I watched Avatar about a month ago and, due to the sound design and my sound system's ability to pull you right into it, I literally felt as though it was the best film I've ever seen, and this considering I've seen quite a few times already and knew for a fact it wasn't the best film I'd ever seen. I mean, I laughed and cried and felt fear and impending doom aplenty from start to finish along with all the other emotions that the story and sound design conveyed. Simply incredible! I just Googled sound design winners at the Academy Awards (link) and although Avatar didn't win in 2009 (losing out to The Hurt Locker), it turns out it was a nominee.
I've got 15 films on DVD or blu ray from the main list of winners/nominees and 11 on the list of shortlisted finalists. I reckon I'll make an effort to watch more from these two lists, although I'll probably focus on the more recent ones, the ones from the high definition era, so that I can enjoy content with great visuals as well as great sound design. I doubt I'll end up buying many though as I prefer to curate a collection of high quality media (subjective high quality) as opposed to expanding my collection with subjective weak-ass content just for the sake of it. So if there are films on that list I know I don't like or it did very little for me at the time, I'll probably just give those films a miss. That said, one film that stands out is Heat. I've seen it a couple of times already and so I know that the action scenes have terrific sound design so I reckon I'll be buying Heat for sure.
What have you just watched and enjoyed/disliked etc?
For example, I watched Avatar about a month ago and, due to the sound design and my sound system's ability to pull you right into it, I literally felt as though it was the best film I've ever seen, and this considering I've seen quite a few times already and knew for a fact it wasn't the best film I'd ever seen. I mean, I laughed and cried and felt fear and impending doom aplenty from start to finish along with all the other emotions that the story and sound design conveyed. Simply incredible! I just Googled sound design winners at the Academy Awards (link) and although Avatar didn't win in 2009 (losing out to The Hurt Locker), it turns out it was a nominee.
I've got 15 films on DVD or blu ray from the main list of winners/nominees and 11 on the list of shortlisted finalists. I reckon I'll make an effort to watch more from these two lists, although I'll probably focus on the more recent ones, the ones from the high definition era, so that I can enjoy content with great visuals as well as great sound design. I doubt I'll end up buying many though as I prefer to curate a collection of high quality media (subjective high quality) as opposed to expanding my collection with subjective weak-ass content just for the sake of it. So if there are films on that list I know I don't like or it did very little for me at the time, I'll probably just give those films a miss. That said, one film that stands out is Heat. I've seen it a couple of times already and so I know that the action scenes have terrific sound design so I reckon I'll be buying Heat for sure.
What have you just watched and enjoyed/disliked etc?