Learn about four key movies that showed Mark Mangini the power of cinematic sound design.
Today, Oscar®-winning sound artist Mark Mangini’s credits include landmark films like Dune and Mad Max: Fury Road, but everybody has to start somewhere. In this video, Mangini recounts the movies that made his ears perk up and set him on the path to becoming one of the industry’s top sound artists.
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00:00 - Grand Prix (1966)
Mangini’s first encounter with cinematic sound design happened when he saw the Formula One racing film Grand Prix at age five.
“I remember going to the movie theater with my parents, and the sound of those Formula One cars just blew me away,” he recalls. “They were loud and they roared and screamed in ways that really spoke to me and I thought, ‘Boy, sound is just so incredible in motion pictures.’ I'm only six or seven years old. I'm not thinking about a career in sound at all."
00:36 - Forbidden Planet (1956)
The next movie that stands out to Mangini is the sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet, which he saw around the age of 13 or 14—still well before he had decided to pursue a career in sound. “Forbidden Planet had this amazing soundscape that was designed by Beebe and Louie Barron through the manipulation of dead and dying electronic circuits,” he explains.
“What I loved about Forbidden Planet was that I couldn't tell which were the sound effects and which were the music, because they were all the same thing,” Mangini continues. “To me, that's almost like sound nirvana, when you just lose track of what you're hearing—it's just right for the project. And so that was a revelation to me; that symbiosis that I still try to achieve on every project by working directly with composers so we can have the most seamless handoff when we create sound for a movie.”
01:46 - Star Wars (1977)
“Star Wars got me into sound design,” Mangini declares. “I had gotten my first gig at Hanna-Barbera as a cartoon sound effects editor, and I was just kind of like a workaday dude: show up, cut in the funny boings and zips and ricos [ricochets] and go home and have a beer.” But when he saw Star Wars, a light bulb went off and he realized that there was so much more to sound design than what he was doing.
“Hanna-Barbera, we were more like an assembly line, like somebody threw reels in at one end and out came a soundtrack,” Mangini recalls. “I wanted to be in that universe where I sat with the director and we talked about movies and we designed them together with an artistic approach. That's what I wanted to be a part of, and Star Wars did that for me.”
03:03 - Working with Ben Burtt on Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Just a few years after his revelation, Mangini found himself working alongside Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt on another George Lucas picture: Raiders of the Lost Ark.
“That was a pinch-myself moment, because I was already besotted with his style of work from Star Wars, and then we had this opportunity to work on Raiders and work with the master himself,” Mangini says. “And I still believe he's the master. I still, to this day, think he's as good as it gets. His cinematic sense is unparalleled.”
Which Films Have Inspired You?
If you’ve ever been blown away by the sound of a certain movie or show, leave a comment on this video and let us know! Stay inspired by browsing our blog and YouTube channel, and follow us on social media for more videos like this one.
Many thanks to Mike James Gallagher for leading this interview! Mike is an Emmy-nominated sound effects editor & sound designer (Weird, Selena) and creator of INDEPTH Sound Design. Check out his work here: mikejamesgallagher.com
