MovieChat Forums > To Rome with Love (2012) Discussion > No more 'MONO' soundtracks for Woody All...

No more 'MONO' soundtracks for Woody Allen films?

posted 12 years ago by TxMike
1 reply | jump to latest

It was rather well-known by those of us who inquired, for most of his filmmaking career Woody Allen has stuck to a "mono" soundtrack for his movies, all sound coming out of one channel. He insisted, to him that is the way movies are meant to be shown.

About half-way through watching this one on DVD I noticed sounds coming from the rear speakers of my home theater system. So I checked, yes it was digital Dolby surround sound. It makes the scenes so much more realistic.

So I next went back to check on the IMDb list of Woody Allen movies. The 2011 "Midnight in Paris" was also Dolby surround sound. I saw that movie on DVD but failed at that time to make the connection.

But every movie before all show "mono" for the sound track. They are Dolby and DTS, but in "mono".

Do you suppose Woody Allen has finally given in to modern sound design?

TxMike
Make a choice, to take a chance, to make a difference.

[–] alifeatthemovies 12 years ago

I believe the first one he did in stereo was "Cassandra's Dream." He ran into composer Philip Glass in a bookstore, and they really wanted to work together. He had Glass do the score for that, but Glass insisted that it be recorded in Stereo. So for that film, the dialogue is in mono, and the music is in stereo. Maybe he became more open to leaving mono behind then. Or maybe he has compromised with his producers, who see "Dolby Surround" as a selling point.