Warp wrote:
> Chambers <ben### [at] pacificwebguycom> wrote:
>> Not necessarily.  When watching a really good movie, I feel like "I am 
>> there."  It's a strange split; I experience the Point of View (gotta be 
>> careful writing POV in these forums!), yet without the concerns of 
>> actually being there such as danger from suffocation (or errant enemy 
>> fire!).  As long as I can imagine that I see and hear things from the 
>> point in space where the camera sits, I can forget about the camera and 
>> merrily enjoy the illusion.  This is, after all, what Suspension of 
>> Disbelief is all about.
> 
>   So if the camera is filming, from 10 meters away, two subjects talking,
> you expect to be just barely able to hear some talking, but since the
> movie soundtrack will nevertheless have them talking at a clearly audible
> volume, that ruins the movie for you?

Not at all, and it really isn't the same thing.

Having the volume of the conversation boosted, while irrelevant parts 
are subdued, mimics the way our minds already work.  We filter out 
irrelevant sounds, and pay attention to relevant ones.  Moreover, 
hearing the conversation is vital to our understanding of the story, and 
not being able to hear it well gets in the way of our enjoyment more 
than quibbling about the mixing levels.

>   If they are inside an establishment and the camera is outside, filming
> them through a window, you expect not to hear what they are saying?

I was recently watching a movie where, in one shot, the camera started 
outside an establishment, and then moved inside the building.  The 
ambient sounds, the conversation of the main characters, and even the 
soundtrack all were adjusted from being bright and clear while outside, 
to echoing and (slightly) subdued inside.  It worked surprisingly well 
to convey the sense of entering the building.

>   Why is this movie convention ok everywhere else, but not in space?

Because it's not really the same.  I, at least, don't think of the 
camera as a camera - I think of it as a point of view.  I am perfectly 
willing to believe that there is a point of view which allows me to see 
and hear what's in the movie, without worrying about whether or not 
there is a camera and microphone.

...Chambers

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