Dolby Creator Talks

The Sound of Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley

December 23, 2021

In Part Two of our conversation about "Nightmare Alley," we are joined by an impressive team of sound artists, who worked very closely with Guillermo del Toro in crafting this film:

One of the things Guillermo said to us is — it's really important that we emphasize the freedom in poverty at the carnival, and the restriction and that suffocating isolation in the wealthy back half of the city, once they start to succeed and they go to the big city. That was the big global bird's-eye note. And so from there forward, that would influence every choice that got made, as we started doing pre-design elements and sourcing the bits that would eventually build the cacophony that was the carnival and the Copacabana and all.

Nathan Robitaille, Supervising Sound Editor, "Nightmare Alley"

- Nathan Robitaille, Supervising Sound Editor - Jill Purdy, Supervising Sound Editor - Christian Cooke, Re-recording Mixer - Brad Zoern, Re-recording Mixer - Greg Chapman, Production Sound Mixer We've included some additional material from our one-on-one interview with the director himself, so that we could discuss some key creative decisions and how the team responded to his direction. They remarked not only on his famous eye (and ear) for detail, but how every creative decision seemed to be driven, as always, by story: Definitely check out Part One of this discussion, where we sat down with Guillermo del Toro himself to discuss his filmmaking techniques & philosophies which he applied to "Nightmare Alley," as well as many of his other hit films. That episode was released just a few days ago and can be found wherever you get your podcasts. While you're there, be sure you are subscribed to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast. Afterwards, be sure to check out "Nightmare Alley" in a Dolby Cinema near you! You can also check out the video for this episode. Learn more about the Dolby Institute and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

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