We all know the modern complaint: movie sound sucks now unless you have a high-end sound system. Frantically turning down the volume after turning it up to hear the dialogue only to need to turn it up again can be frustrating. Now, this doesn’t solve the underlying problem, but why not have a “Volume A” and “Volume B” you can easily set and toggle between with the simple press of a button?
That’s what I do, and I installed an audio compressor to level out the audio volume. Now I don’t have to stress about disturbing the neighbours with TV explosions.
You’re probably one of the few people that has heard the dialog from Tenet then. Christopher Nolan films are some of my favorites, but wow, was that audio messed up. I had to create an equalizer profile just for that.
While watching Tenet, I quickly realized I can’t watch this movie in the normal way. Subtitles were obligatory, but the plot is such a labyrinth that you’ll get lost in no time. I ended up taking notes and referring to some videos that explain what’s actually going on. I also had to jump around the timeline many times. While “watching” the movie that way, I ended up spending several hours. A simple two hour movie became a two day project.
Yes, I know I’m doing it wrong. You’re supposed to just watch it the usual way, be super confused, watch it again, be a little less confused etc. After watching it about 10 times you’ll probably understand what’s going on. If you don’t use subtitles, even 20 times won’t be enough.
I don’t think that’s wrong at all. I gave it 3 tries and then started looking for outside analyses. Movies are made by groups of people. It makes sense that it would take groups to understand them. I had to do the same thing with Coherence and Primer.
That was the longest movie experience I’ve ever had. I started watching it on Saturday, finished on Sunday. For every 1 minute of going forward in the movie, I must have spent more than 2 minutes writing notes, watching YT explanations. I also had to jump back and re-watch older parts to understand the 1 minute I’ve just gone forward in the plot. Maybe all of that jumping around adds up to watching the whole thing 3 times. 😅
I guess I’ll need to put Coherence and Primer on my watch list then.
I’d recommend them, if you enjoy that experience/process.
I did like that Tenet has layers. You can watch it as an action movie, no problem, but you can also go as far down into the story as you want to also.
I just used subtitles
Subtitles are great. I almost always have them on to aid comprehension. I find that I pick up on more subtleties that way. I feel like I still want to be able to process almost all of the dialog with audio alone so that the subtitles add an extra layer of understanding.