Fade to zero, then BANG

Question

I'm watching Inception for the 2nd time and I had to write about it:

In a particular scene something happens during an action scene (don't worry, no spoilers in this post), and the audience is lulled to silence for a split second and then is hit with an extremely loud impact.

I think the silence just before the impact made the impact seem far greater in volume because of the contrast. Even the music faded out and some very low-level sounds like breathing and ambience and cloth movement foley were brought up.

This was highly effective and I've got to practice and use this technique!

Does anyone else use this to add more impact? It probably depends heavily on the picture editor to create a pause to slow down and fade out your soundtrack before a large impact...

Answer 1

This is a classic technique.

2 great examples are Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix. Voldemort and Dumbledore are duelling at the end. Voldemort appears to take in a lot of black stuff (magic?) into his hands, he then flings his hands open and creates a tremendous shockwave. I thought the sounds was really well done and used this technique brilliantly.

Another great example is in Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers when an Uruk Hai runs towards some explosives beneath the wall of Helm's Deep. The sound dips just prior to the explosion. Again, another good example.

Answer 2

The use of silence and uncomfortably quiet moments can be extremely powerful, as you've noted. I try to use it as much as possible and where appropriate; one recent example where it seemed to work well was in Terminator Salvation, when the resistance fighters are tracking Marcus down in the forest. Right before John Connor detonates the perimeter, the entire soundtrack fades down to almost complete silence, then comes back suddenly with the whomp of the massive blast. The sound crew designed it that way early on in the rough mixes, and fortunately it survived through the final mix.