things; visuals, and sound.

David Fincher has always pushed the envelope when it comes to the visual aspect of his

films, and has been a strong advocate for the use of CGI; even all the way back in 1999

with "Fight Club".

Visuals stand out, they're often the first thing people notice when watching a film,

but sound is different, by design.

You're not meant to notice sound, because good sound design is meant to be paired so

perfectly with the visuals that they go unnoticed.

In most films, the only sound recorded on set on the day of shooting is dialogue, especially

if it's in a controlled environment like a closed set.

This ensures the purest quality of the actors voices, which makes mixing and EQing that

sound much easier than if there's a bunch of background noise to filter out.

Everything else you hear has been added in later, an effect done so seamlessly that most

people would never notice.

Like this scene in The Social Network, the loud club music, the faint sound of the rest

of the crowd cut underneath, but this is what it sounded like during filming.

As a sound designer, you're responsible for everything the audience will hear over the

course of the film, with exception to original music.

And while Fight Club hits the nail on the head

throughout, with scenes at the office, or at Lou's tavern, where it really shines for

me is in the fight scenes.

Just listen to that sound, there's a visceral realism to it, that frankly is missing in

most other film's fight scenes.

Take this scene in Die Hard, which is arguably one of the greatest action films of all time,

a film even I love.

But listen to that...

I don't even know what that sound is, but it doesn't sound like fists crunching into

a body to me.

Getting hit hurts, a lot, throwing a punch hurts, a lot, and I just don't feel that when

watching this scene, and sadly this is how I feel when watching fight scenes in most

movies, there's just no sense of realism, even when it's choreographed well, the sound

just isn't believable, and while realism isn't the goal of every film, it's still worth acknowledging

how effective the sounds are in the fight scenes in Fight Club.

Not only does Fincher not shy away from blood or bruising, but that sound effect just adds

a whole other layer to the power of these scenes.

Honestly, it seems like that has a lot to do with why the film was so controversial

upon release, outside of the support group scenes that rubbed some people the wrong way,

mostly it seemed to be the incredibly harsh nature of the fight scenes that sparked controversy.

And I can see why, let's see what happens when we change the sound effects to more of

your standard fare.

Without the proper sound effect to match the visuals, it just doesn't

carry the same weight in my opinion.

It completely ruins that immersive feeling that I get when watching the film, and I think

the sound designers, Ren Klyce, and Richard Hymns deserve a lot of credit for the effects

they created.

Sound designers or foley artists, are probably the most underrated jobs in all of cinema.

Because if they're doing their job right, you're not even supposed to notice.

When done well, you'd never know those sounds were created in a studio, and not captured

the day of shooting.

And it goes further than just creating an ambience to a scene, or something like a realistic

punch effect, but creating sounds that don't exist in our world, like this one.

Chances are you already know exactly what that sound comes from, but how?

It's just a combination of the idle sound of a projector and the hum of a TV recorded

from the right angle, but we all know that's the sound of a lightsaber.

A blaster is just a slinky stretched out and then struck.

That's the power of good sound design, making our ears believe a lie, it's how you can use

a soundbyte of bacon cooking, cut under footage of rain and no one can tell it's out of place.

Where a good film score will often be credited for part of what makes a film memorable, all

too often good sound design goes underappreciated and undiscussed, but it's an integral part

of what can make a film great, just try and imagine Star Wars without the sound of a lightsaber,

or Chewbacca's and Darth Vader's signature voices, and I don't think we need to revisit

what Fight Club would sound like with different sound effects.

Sound design can absolutely make or break a film, and while Fight Club has many things

going for it besides good sound design, I feel that the work of Ren Klyce and Richard

Hymns are every bit a part of what makes Fight Club so great.