In an interview with the website Designing Sound, sound designer Chuck Michael said that what guided him as he created the sonic landscape for Stoker was “this idea of paying attention to elements that lie deeper than the surface.”
In Stoker, Park Chan-wook’s first American outing, there are several scenes with spiders crawling up the legs of India (Mia Wasikowska). In the later scenes, when the spider crawls past India’s thighs and disappears underneath her skirt, their eight legs sound like keystrokes of a piano. The sound collates her loss of innocence with the sound of a piano, setting up the climax of the symbolism in a majestically sensuous – and incestuous – four-handed symphony with her uncle. Park leaves all the clues in the audio track.
Liked what you saw…and heard? Then don’t miss our other “Sounds of…” videos on the Coen Brothers and Paul Verhoeven. And if you want to dive a little deeper check out our SFX Secrets on sound editing and mixing. Want more “Oldboy?” Check out our videos on Remaking “Oldboy” and the film’s place in our New Canon.
