Sound Editor: Craig Henighan on ROTSS

[Advanced Dark]

Movies Features

The 'Surf' Sounds of 'Fantastic Four's' Craig Henighan

"Pan's Labyrinth" actor Doug Jones (UPI Photo/Phil McCarten)


By Mark London Williams May 11, 2007, 21:22 GMT


Craig Henighan knows the shake, rattle and roll of superheros: He was sound designer on the last "X-Men" franchise (and even performed the same duties for a pair of Robert Rodriguez' films, "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl," and "Sin City").
But as both sound designer and supervising sound editor on the latest "Fantastic Four" installment, "Rise of the Silver Surfer," Henighan realized that his previous sound work was for the equivalent of superhero hodads – a sleek, silver-skinned Kahuna from the cosmos demanded "new sounds."
Working with supervising sound editor John Larsen, who oversaw auditory chores on the previous "FF" film, Henighan worked "from the ground up" to give the celestial tube shooter a distinct aural identity.
"The board has its own power," Henighan says, perhaps inadvertently repeating a philosophical observation that could've first been uttered on Malibu Beach circa the mid-60's (not coincidentally, around the time Stan Lee and Jack Kirby first invented the likewise philosophizing cosmic rider in the pages of the FF comic). So his charter – with Larsen – was to "bring the board to life."
And life requires breath, and so too, the Zen concentration often required of surfing. Thus it should be no surprise that Henighan notes he "used my own breathing" as part of the surfboard's aural signature, performing what he calls "breath-bys" as the board – manned by actor Doug Jones, of "Hellboy" and "Pan's Labyrinth" fame, donning a special silver suit—rips through the atmosphere during showdowns with the heroic quartet, and later, his planet-destroying boss, Galactacus.
As Henighan notes about the Surfer's board, "we didn't want to go with 'classic' whoosh-bys," or even "flame-bys," which are generally reserved for the FF's own Human Torch.
Other elements that went into this particular surfin' sound including "recording big Whiffle balls – they make great little sounds," which anyone who's mastered throwing a fastball with one of the plastic orbs already knows. Henighan would tie them to a string, and "woosh" them around, recording the sound.
"The Silver Surfer is very fluid, he has a grace to him," Henighan declares. And while he keeps refining the Surfer's sounds, initially, it literally started with fluid: for the trailer, he took various oils, and water, and pour them over sheet metal, moving them around with his hand as he recorded effects that could only be called tubular.
But all was not honkers and wipe-outs in the mixing room – there were other sounds to attend to. Among those, for returning nemesis Victor von Doom, an "electrical-based" aural identity, whereas Reed Richards, who can stretch, is mixed with more rubbery, elastic-y sounds.
And while the sounds themselves may differ, Larsen notes of his collaboration with Henighan that it's all "very similar to what did on 'X-Men.'" Though here there was the added challenge, on the "Surfer" side, of dubbing in a separate voice, since actor Lawrence Fishburne was hired to give voice to the character's quantum-fueled introspection. "The scenes we've mixed so far," he notes, "it kind of works," he says, of Fishburne's stentorian tones.
"I like the dynamics in his voice," Larsen adds.
Henighan's aesthetic is to "keep it organic, or (at least) not so synthetic." He wants things to sound like they would if they really happened. "It's all about making sounds that fit the picture," he concludes.
Indeed. And once the surf – and other—sounds are locked, Henighan and Larsen both declare it will be "vacation time after this."
No mention at all of whether they'll be bringing their own longboards.
- Mark London Williams is the author of the "Danger Boy" time travel books, where characters also "surf" the cosmos. Additionally, he does an occasionally gnarly job covering Hollywood as a columnist for the trade paper "Below the Line," which ran a longer version of this article, and as a contributor to Variety, Moving Pictures Magazine, the LA Times Online, and other publications.
http://www.btlnews.com/blog/
www.dangerboy.com
http://markwilliams.livejournal.com/

Cool huh? Oh hell it confirms Surfer vs Galactus.

 

[Carp Man]

Cool. I'll still wait to see if it is humanoid Galactus, or a purple fart cloud. Hope it is the former t: , not the later.

 

[Advanced Dark]

I can assure you he's not a purple fart cloud. Whatever they did it makes sense in the film and the average moviegoer won't blink an eye. He's a planet devouring entity with a herald called the Silver Surfer. the fact that he's probably not a huge humanoid with a giant purple headpiece is probably good. The studio surely did what they though made the most sense "on screen" and not what makes sense in a 4 color comic.

 

[Retroman]

Nice interview.
Still doesn't confirm that we will see Galactus since it's not a direct qoute from the sound editor himself.

BTW where is this article from?

 

[Nokio]

I can assure you he's not a purple fart cloud. Whatever they did it makes sense in the film and the average moviegoer won't blink an eye. He's a planet devouring entity with a herald called the Silver Surfer. the fact that he's probably not a huge humanoid with a giant purple headpiece is probably good. The studio surely did what they though made the most sense "on screen" and not what makes sense in a 4 color comic.

Makes the most sense to who??? FOX did not do what they think is best regarding galactus. As far as I and many others it's NOT GALACTUS. Why even use these characters name if it's not going to be the characters the way they were originally created. How the hell are you going to take a classisc character and change it beyond reconition because it's not something you do like or don't think it won't work. I won't even get started on the fact that the SS doesn't have any power but uses an artifact for power. FOX just should have let the SS and Galactus stay in the freaking comics.

 

[highguard]

I can assure you he's not a purple fart cloud. Whatever they did it makes sense in the film and the average moviegoer won't blink an eye. He's a planet devouring entity with a herald called the Silver Surfer. the fact that he's probably not a huge humanoid with a giant purple headpiece is probably good. The studio surely did what they though made the most sense "on screen" and not what makes sense in a 4 color comic.

Stop teasing us AD, its maddening, do you know something. It can't be a fact if you are assigning a probability to it.

I know I know I am irritating but I need to have answers about Galactus and soon if possible.

 

[Immodicus]

the fact that he's probably not a huge humanoid with a giant purple headpiece is probably good.

Wrong. If he is anything BUT it will be bad.

 

[Advanced Dark]

^ Read my post again. Maybe bad for Galactus fans or comic book purists but the average moviegoer won't know the difference...nor will they care. Let's see what happens first before a a few hundred militant comic book purists vapor lock at the thought of a 150 million dollar film not being made to their tastes.

 

[highguard]

^^ You are really scaring me AD, it sounds like you have the goods, and the goods don't sound very good.

Anyway I will just have to wait and see.

 

[Fantastic-Boy]

Thanks!