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A scene from STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS
Television:
Exclusive Interview: MATTHEW WOOD MAKES THE SOUNDS OF 'STAR WARS THE CLONE WARS' - PART TWO
The supervising sound editor talks about what it takes to produce the sounds of the animated series
By EMMANUEL ITIER, Contributing Writer
Published 1/9/2009
Sound can make all the difference in the world when it comes to science fiction. In a cult series such as STAR WARS with so many familiar sounds and characters, it is even more important as much as arduous task for any sound editor. Matthew Wood, supervising sound editor for STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS animated serious on Cartoon Network, he is tasked with making sure everything sounds like it should and all new sounds conform to the STAR WARS universe. Wood sat down to talk about his job on the series and the differences of being in an animated series.
iF: In a Star Wars universe especially, the sounds – the light sabers clashing, blasters blasting, droid noises, Wookie growls and more – are all so vital and essential. Compared to past things you’ve worked out how much of a challenge is this?
MATTHEW WOOD: The fact that Star Wars has such a huge legacy in visual and sounds – we have those light sabers and the lasers and various creatures and such that have been established in the original films, we’re taking that legacy and adding upon it. So we’ve got planets and vehicles and things we might’ve seen briefly in the original prequels and now we expand upon them and make them huge because a whole episode’s dedicated towards them. I got my personal mentorship in this company through Ben Burtt, the man who created the original sounds in the ‘70s. And I’ve been with this company about 18 years. So I worked on all the prequels and all the remastering of Episodes 4, 5 and 6, so I’m pretty familiar with universe.
iF: Even though Clone Wars was launched on the big screen, with advent of what’s happened with television, all going to digital/HD next year, does that change the way one approaches doing sound for an animated TV series?
WOOD: Well, for instance, I worked on the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles TV show about 15 years ago and that one, nobody really had surround sound in their house then, it was a big deal for us to even do that. But now, people have 5.1 theaters in their homes, they can play back as good, if not better, as in movie theaters. And we want to fill up that sound stage. And I definitely want to make it so when we put up our show against Episodes 1,2,3,4, 5, and 6 that it’s still going to sound as good. We’ve got a really good music score and I’ve got a foley department and do the same kind of mixing that I do as, for instance, on Revenge of the Sith on this show. We’ve got a foley studio to do all the different sound effects; we’ve got a huge library of sounds, hundreds of thousands of sounds and we’ve got a sound designer who goes and records new sounds. So we definitely are building this like it’s a feature film.
iF: Has digital tecnhology – pro-tools and such – changed the way you’ve worked in the past decade or more?
WOOD: I started here when I was 17 years old, right when digital technology for audio was starting to take hold. We actually had our own division out here developing software because there was nothing that was working in the way we wanted to do it, so I had this program I was working on called “sound droid” and it was George’s attempt at non-linear sound editing for film. And we ended up using some of that technology on Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. That was right about the time magnetic film was starting to get out of the picture and digital was starting to come in. So I got in at a really good time to learn that technology and supervise the crews that use it. I’ve definitely watched computers shape and change this industry, just like other industries.
If: Talk about the process, who does what for sound?
WOOD: We still divide the labor: One persona does dialogue. Another does foley, which is all the sound effects which as too specific to be found in our library, like footsteps and clothing movement and utensils and things like that. And then we have a sound effects person and a music editor. I think you have a lot more opportunities to create better sound design with the computers, ‘cause you have everything data-based at your fingertips and also the manipulation of the process.
iF: And you’re also “on-screen talent” so to speak, in Clone Wars.
WOOD: I also act in the series. I play the voice of General Grievous and the battle droids. A lot of that wouldn’t have been possible without, y’know the computer technology I have to manipulate my voice to sound a certain way.
iF: From the bad guy to those Marx Bros. comical droids.
WOOD: Yes, those guys. I’ve done a few bit parts here and there for Star Wars over the years. But Grievous was the big one I got cast for in Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. I thought the character was dead since they killed him off, but now since this takes place in the timeline when he was alive, they’ve brought him back for a few episodes and it’s been fun to play him again. And the battle droids were something I had done, Ben Burtt and I had recorded them for the prequels and so I just continue doing that on Clone Wars.
iF: How long does it take to complete your work on an episode?
WOOD: It takes three weeks to finish each show for sound. George likes to call sound fifty percent of the motion picture experience and technically, it is. But it’s an experience you just try to forget about. I think if it calls too much attention to itself, it’s not doing it’s job. You want to have it kind of seamlessly linked to the picture, it’s part of the story, you’re not thinking about the sound.
iF: How involved is George on your end?
WOOD: Two years ago, George was saying “just work on this and we’ll just do a few episodes to get people started and then we can hand it off.” Now, 26 episodes later, he’s still involved. Him and Dave Filoni, they definitely run the ship and it’s been great watching Dave work. I’ve worked with George since I started out here and having Dave come on to Clone Wars has been great. It totally invigorated the Star Wars story. He’s so passionate about it – he’s fan like myself and absolutely grateful and humble to be working her and he comes to the mix – the final point when we’re finishing – he can really fine-tune his craft. He’s really excited about the sound. And a lot the character’s I play don’t have any mouths, so we can change the voice, the dialogue up to the last minute. That’s why the battle droid humor can get kind of crazy. We can look and see, ‘Oh, let’s fit a joke in there” or have them react funny. They’re so mass produced, the CPUs inside them aren’t very efficient and they’re just kind of dumb. And against humans, they work out okay, but against Jedi, they’re not. A Jedi can take on hundreds of them, no problem. But the Clones are definitely afraid of them.
READ ALL ABOUT THE FIRST PART OF THE CLONE WARS HERE
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